1. The right to establish a classroom conducive to learning
2. The right to determine and expect appropriate student behavior
3. The right to ask for help from parents, the principal, and other professionals to produce an orderly classroom
Based on these rights, teachers create rules that are implemented at the start of the school year. Acceptable behavior based on the rules is reinforced by a variety of means, such as praise, special privileges (i.e. free time), positive notes or phone calls to parents, and awards (i.e. food, certificates, prizes.) Consistency is the key to assertive discipline and the �broken record� technique, where the teacher repeats the request up to three times, can help teachers maintain their focus in the middle of a management problem.
Serious problems, such as fighting, require immediate action. Immediate action includes: 1) stopping the incident (if possible), 2) protecting the victim, and 3) getting help. The book tells us that teachers are legally required to intervene in the case of a fight or risk being sued for negligence by the parents of the victim. Intervention does not mean breaking up the fight, but instead refers to immediately reporting it to the administration.
I found this chapter to be very informative, since I feel that classroom management will be my biggest challenge as a new teacher.