Always Treat Students with Dignity

Our classroom management philosophy says to ALWAYS TREAT STUDENTS WITH DIGNITY. This is perhaps the most important of all our classroom management principles because without dignity students learn to hate school and learning. When we attack students' dignity, we might get them to follow the rules but we lose them to anger and resentment. Discipline techniques must be compatible with helping students maintain or enhance their self-esteem. Methods that attack dignity are generally those that include put-downs, sarcasm, criticism, scolds, and threats that are delivered publicly. It is easier to treat "good" ids with dignity, although all too often even they feel discounted. ignored, and put down by important adults. Listening to what a student thinks, being open to feedback from students, using I-messages to communicate your feelings to them, explaining why you want something done a certain way and how that will likely be of benefit to the student, and giving students some say in classroom affairs are all ways of communicating dignity to them. This message is: You are important.This exerpt is taken from the nationally acclaimed book by Dr. Allen Mendler, What Do I do When... How to achieve Discipline with Dignity in the classroom.