FREDRIC JONES:POSITIVE DISCIPLINE

MODEL

By Lacey Head and Brittany Vance

DEFINITION

According to Fredric Jones, classroom

discipline is “the business of enforcing

classroom standards and building patterns of

cooperation to maximize learning and minimize

disruptions.”

In order to make Positive Discipline

successful, these four components are needed:

limit setting, omission training, positive

training, and backup system.

TEACHER’S RESPONSIBILITY

Teachers must model appropriate behavior and use proper

classroom management techniques.• Teachers must respect students in order to get respect from

them in return.• If a teacher acts mature then the student will more than likely

model the teacher’s behavior.

Teachers need to organize classroom furniture to maximize

mobility and accessibility to students.

Teachers need to establish control in the classroom by using

body language such as eye contact, physical proximity, facial

expression, and body carriage.

CONTINUED…

Teachers should provide incentives for students so

that they have motivation to get work completed.

A teacher needs to provide a back up system.• In Jones’s words, “a back-up system is a series of

responses designed to meet force with force so that the uglier the student’s behavior becomes, the deeper he or she digs his or her hole with no escape.”

• Some examples are: warning, conference with student, time-out, loss of privileges, being sent to the office, detention, conference with parent, in school/out of school suspension (three days), expulsion.

CONTINUED…

Not only do good teachers tell students how they

should act, but they demonstrate appropriate

behavior in all of their interactions and daily

routines. Be the example.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

If the teacher is doing his or her job by setting an

appropriate example for students, then the students

will duplicate that behavior in their own lives.

KEY TERMS

Limit Setting- Actions that the teacher takes to stop a student’s

inappropriate behavior and to prompt the student to on-task

behavior through the use of body language.

Responsibility Training- A system for ensuring positive cooperation

in the classroom.

Omission Training- The individualized incentive program that

encourages defiant students through the omission of unwanted

behavior.

Backup system- System of consequences that we explained before.

PROS AND CONS OF MODEL

We were trying to think of a con to this model, but we

feel that every teacher should act this way naturally.

If a student refuses to follow the teacher’s lead in

setting an example then the backup plan will come into

effect.

We feel that even though this plan may have flaws, it is a

great plan to enforce in the classroom because it covers

such a wide array of issues.

RANDOM FACTS:

Jones found that 50% of classroom time is lost due

to student misbehavior and being off task.• 80% of lost time is due to talking without

permission.• 19% is lost to daydreaming, students being out of

their seats, making noise, etc.• 1% is lost due to more serious behaviors such as

fighting.