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Question: I’d like your opinion on the following discipline technique used by one of my 7th grade son’s teachers:  My son’s table (4 students) was told to leave the classroom during correction of a test because someone at the table was talking. The teacher knew who was talking. She told all four students that the […]

Question: This summer I read your Positive Discipline books for teachers. I was totally enthralled with this new approach and couldn’t wait to begin. It is now the third week of school and my classroom is in total chaos. I know that the books said it often takes a while for the kids to get […]

Jane, I am a teacher of children in 3rd grade and I am taking a graduate class on positive discipline. We have class meetings several times a week and the children show great problem-solving skills while we are still in our circle. However, they make little or no carry over to the actual situations. They […]

Questions: I’ve got a student whose frequent behavior is slamming books on desks, disrupting other students, giving dirty looks, and calling me a dirty bitch—suggestions please? I’ve got a student who is arrogant, constantly instigating problems, copies home work, cheats on tests, coerces others to get her way, and appears to have stolen money during […]

Q. Is there any teaching style (i.e. cooperative classroom vs. traditional teacher centered classroom) that is more conducive to a disciplined class when students are lower level and are lacking in the basic social skills?  If you feel that one is better than the other, will you please give a reason for this. Thank you […]

Q. I wanted to tell you how much the positive discipline techniques have helped my teaching. I experimented with class meetings at the end of the past year. It was a great success. Let me begin by telling you that I teach band. I tried the meetings with my small bands (approx. 25 people). I […]

To: Jane Nelsen   Our K-4 elementary school punishes minor infractions with detention. This has come to, for some teachers, standing facing the wall at recess from 10 to 30 minutes depending on the seriousness or number of infractions. Many parents have requested a more constructive method of discipline. Any suggestions? Hearing stories like yours […]

Dear Jane Nelsen I am concerned with my daughter’s kindergarten teacher saying, “I hear a tattle-teller” when the children bring their problems to her. I feel that this statement negatively labels appropriate behavior for five-year-old children. I would prefer she first listen to the problem, consider offering the children appropriate suggestions, and encourage them to […]