MS,

Do yourself a favor and (immediately) buy Alfie Kohn's
book, "Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community." He
does a masterful job at showing why coercion, punishment,
rewards, and praise dehumanize, creating resentment and
mutual disrespect. In short, a teacher's efforts to control
kids into compliance actually does the opposite, leading to
mutual DISrespect rather than mutual respect. And the less
overtly compliant the kids are, the greater will be the
disrespect and alienation such efforts to control will cause.

Luckily, it also works in reverse - the less the kids feel
respected outside of school, the greater the impact of a
truly respectful teacher can be. However, it ain't easy ...
but it may be a lot easier than you think, based on your
current disciplinary paradigm.

You might also look into Luann Johnson's books (Dangerous
Minds...) - she was the teacher who taught inner city kids in
Oakland, then wrote several books about her experiences. The
Ronn Clark Story would be another place to investigate, since
he taught inner city middle schoolers.

I began my teaching working as an aide/co-teacher in a middle
school class for severely emotionally disturbed kids ... and
can attest that what you will read in Kohn's book is 100%
accurate - I had extreme success with what I call "true
mutual respect."

For more on the system I personally used for decades, check
out this post:

http://teachers.net/mentors/discipline/topic1758/8.20.09.17.49
.07.html

All my best,

Tom

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