User:Bdavis6868

Introduction
The question that had crossed everyone’s mind as a teacher is whether or not positive discipline works better? There are many discipline problems in the classroom, but the most frequently disruptions in the classroom are, acts of disruption such as talking and fidgeting, acts of defiance such as disrespectful behavior and disobedience, and acts of inattention such as being off task, not doing one's work, or out of their seat( Geiger,2000, par. 3). Should these students be punished with the zero tolerance or by the positive discipline method? In this article we will go over positive discipline, zero tolerance discipline, and which way is really the best way.

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Positive discipline
This new orientation called positive discipline; aims at establishing a nurturing learning environment by using positive approaches for intervention (McGinnis, Frederick, & Edwards, 1995, par. 7) Misbehaving children are discouraged children who have mistaken ideas on how to accomplish their primary goal, which is to belong. Their mistaken ideas will eventually lead them to misbehavior. We cannot be effective unless we address the mistaken beliefs rather than just the misbehavior. An example of positive discipline is instead of saying, “don’t kick the desk,” you could say, “keep your feet on the floor.” Some good ways to handle misbehavior with positive discipline is to ignore. Effective ignoring involves not talking to or looking at the child or using any body language that indicates attention. Redirecting is another good way to help the child find an alternative activity that is relative to the work. Cooling off is another way to help with sudden outbursts or anger, and sending a child somewhere quiet to cool off is a good way for children to calm down and get their thoughts together. The last way to handle misbehavior with positive discipline is with allowing consequences do they have choices and learn from the consequences of their choices. According to Jane Nelson who wrote a book called Positive Discipline Guide she said that, “Punishment may "work" if all you are interested in is stopping misbehavior for "the moment." Sometimes we must beware of what works when the long-range results are negative—resentment, rebellion, revenge, or retreat” (Nelson, 2001, par 13).She also talked about that teaching children that make mistakes are wonderful opportunities to learn and that you can do this by using the three ‘R’s, which are to recognize your mistake, reconcile: Be willing to say "I'm sorry, I didn't like the way I handled that,” and resolve: focus on solutions rather than blame (Nelson, 2001, par.14). The overall goal of positive discipline is to give them skills for making decisions, gradually gaining self control, and being responsible for their own behavior.

Zero Tolerance
“Zero tolerance means that a school will automatically and severely punish a student for a variety of infractions (Tebo, 2000).” By 1993 zero tolerance policies were being adopted by school boards across the country, often broadened to include not only drugs and weapons but also tobacco-related offenses and school disruption (Russ Skiba and Reece Peterson par. 7). It has been almost a decade since school districts first began to adopt zero tolerance policies, and it has been four years since the policy was institutionalized nationally in the Gun-Free Schools Act. It was first started to keep violence out of schools, but now it has been adopted as a solution for any kind of problem a teacher may be having with a child. How exactly has it been working out for schools? After four years of implementation, the NCES found that schools that using zero tolerance policies are still less safe than those without such policies (Russ Skiba and Reece Peterson par. 17). “School administrators and school boards claim that their hands are tied by federal or state law and they also claim that continuation of the application of zero tolerance is necessary to send a message to disruptive students”( Russ Skiba and Reece Peterson par. 17)

Which is better?
So overall, which way of discipline is actually better? Well the zero tolerance approach has led to increases in the use of school suspension and expulsion; unfortunately, there is no evidence that suspension and expulsion are effective in changing student behavior or improving school safety. “Despite a widespread perception that suspension and expulsion are reserved for serious incidents, those consequences are often used indiscriminately; in 1997-98, only about 4% of the suspensions and expulsions in Indiana were in response to serious disruptions (Indiana University). Also, exclusionary approaches tend to be used inconsistently: one researcher concluded that students wishing to reduce their rates of suspension would do better changing schools than improving their behavior or attitudes (Indiana University, 2000, par. 5). Finally, while there is little data on the short-term effectiveness of suspension, in the long term, it is associated with higher rates of school dropout. Other strategies found ineffective included threats, warnings, and taking no action which had respectively 27, 14, and 20 percent success rate (Tulley & Chiu, 1995). Corporal punishment, public humiliation, and reprimand were the least desired interventions (Ringer et al., 1993). Based on student-teachers' narratives, the most effective strategy to resolve discipline problems was found to be positive reinforcement. Praise, approval and/or reward, and planned ignoring were reported to have a 92 percent success rate when used to solve disruption problems (Ringer, Doerr, Hollenshead, & Wills, 1993; Tulley & Chiu, 1995, par.11).

Conclusion
After researching for the positive discipline and the zero tolerance discipline, I have learned a lot about both sides of these two disciplines. Although zero tolerance is a quick solution to a problem at that time, but it is not a lasting effect on the student. With the positive discipline, you are working with the child and understanding their problems more and you are also getting to know who they are. When I think of zero tolerance, I begin to think of children that bring guns to school or threaten someone’s life, or something that is endangering someone’s life. I don’t think of zero tolerance as someone being suspended for being tardy a few times or just acting up in class. There is a place and time for zero tolerance to be in effect but for most schools around the country, they are not having problems related to that. Positive discipline has seemed to work in the past years for students, and statistically positive discipline works a whole lot better than zero tolerance, and positive discipline is definitely a strategy that I will be using with my students in the future

Questions
1) Which of these problems is a problem in the classroom? a. disruption b. playing c. working d. listening

2) Which of these is one of the three "R"s? a. relisten b. resolve c. revisit d. recall

3) Which of these is an example of zero tolerance? a. bringing a gun to school b. talking too much c. getting up out of your seat d. not doing your work.

4) Which way has proved to be a better choice of discipline? a. positive b. zero tolerance

5)Which one is an example of positive discipline? a. Don't do that b. Let's see how we can fix this c. what's the matter with you

Answers
1. A 2. B 3. A 4. A 5. B