Richard L. Curwin

In this revised and updated 4th edition, Discipline with Dignity provides in-depth guidance for implementing a proven approach to classroom management that can help students make better choices and teachers be more effective. Emphasizing the importance of mutual respect and self-control, the authors offer specific strategies and techniques for building strong relationships with disruptive students and countering the toxic social circumstances that affect many of them, including dysfunctional families, gangs, and poverty. Educators at all levels can learn:The difference between formal and informal discipline systems and when to use each.The role of values, rules, and consequences. How to address the underlying causes of discipline problems that occur both in and out of school. What teachers can do to defuse or prevent classroom disruptions and disrespectful behavior without removing students from the classroom. Why traditional approaches such as threats, punishments, and rewards are ineffective—and what to do instead. How to use relevance, teacher enthusiasm, choice, and other elements of curriculum and instruction to motivate students. How to reduce both teacher and student stress that can trigger power struggles. With dozens of specific examples of student-teacher interactions, Discipline with Dignity illustrates what you can do—and not do—to make the classroom a place where students learn and teachers maintain control in a nonconfrontational way. The goal is success for all, in schools that thrive.

This publication offers clear and positive strategies that empower teachers and administrators to develop effective rules and consequences. Richard Curwin's approach emphasizes student and parent engagement; schoolwide collaboration; and developing student responsibility. Curwin shows how educators and administrators at all levels can:Ensure that classroom and schoolwide rules are meaningful and significant.Involve students to develop effective rules and appropriate consequences.Collaborate with parents and colleagues to foster a sense of community.Treat students fairly by enforcing consistent rules while adapting individual consequences to fit the circumstances.The strategies offered aim to make schools more harmonious and equitable environments, where students and teachers can move beyond discipline problems and get down to the real work of learning and teaching.

Motivation and hope are two items in short supply in many urban schools. But it doesn't have to be that way, according to Richard L. Curwin. Based on input from teachers across the United States and on his own personal experiences, Curwin offers suggestions that every school can use to keep students in the classroom and looking toward a brighter future.In Meeting Students Where They Live, Curwin urges teachers and administrators in urban schools to move away from a focus on control, uniformity, lack of tolerance, and ironclad rules toward an approach based on compassion, understanding, tolerance, and safety for all. Each chapter examines problems common to urban schools and offers comprehensive, long-reaching remedies, plus concrete strategies for engaging troubled and hard-to-reach youth.Meeting Students Where They Live explores ways to:Welcome all students.Build lessons that involve and engage.Stay motivated and energized.Design assignments that students will actually do.Use evaluation to encourage and build learning rather than defeat it. Meeting Students Where They Live also includes classroom activity sheets submitted by teachers working in a variety of urban environments—from inner-city schools to a detention center.

"The content is crucial for classroom teachers who want to help children learn alternatives to aggression. The authors don't just 'talk the talk,' they 'walk the walk.'"—Deborah Alexander-DavisEducational Consultant"The authors provide a clear rationale for teaching values and behaviors that can go a long way toward building learning communities."—Barbara K. Given, Codirector, Adolescent and Adult Learning Research CenterGeorge Mason UniversityUse these innovative strategies and provide positive role models for classroom and schoolwide behavior!From the authors of the Discipline with Dignity series, this practical resource offers the best motivational practices that make difficult students want to behave. This book emphasizes specific things to say and do to stop most problems before they start and how to handle disruptive student incidents without losing your dignity or attacking theirs. Teachers, administrators and counselors will find guidance for:Teaching conflict resolution and anger managementEnding complaints of "That's not fair" Stopping power struggles Helping students prevent and respond to bullyingDeveloping effective school rules and consequencesThis invaluable resource is ideal for educators dedicated to creating and sustaining safe, stable school environments where learning can flourish.