Assertive Discipline--New and Revised: Positive Behavior Management for Today's Classroom [Paperback]

National Galleries Of Scotland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 2002

Up-to-date strategies that address the complex issue of managing student behavior in the classroom of the 90s. For K-12 teachers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 263 pages
• Publisher: Canter & Associates; Revised edition (January 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939007452
• ISBN-13: 978-0939007455
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #401,988 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Canters' book offers a practical way to reach every child., January 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Assertive Discipline--New and Revised: Positive Behavior Management for Today's Classroom (Paperback)

I felt that this was a well thought out method of providing structure in the classroom. The ideas presented are practical and allow a teacher to satisfy the needs of all students while teaching. I have put some of these methods into practice with amazing results. Suddenly, even the most troubled student feels that he can be successful in class. Most students with behavior problems simply need the right type of attention - once they have it, their unproductive behaviors begin to fade. I was amazed at the response I received from using these techniques - I connected with a particular student that I thought would never be reached.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional resource for new teachers!, July 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Assertive Discipline--New and Revised: Positive Behavior Management for Today's Classroom (Paperback)

As a new teacher, I was desperately searching for a guide to assist me in classroom management and Lee Canter provided it! This book can be useful for all K-12 teachers. It includes helpful examples of classroom situations, many which explain actions to take when students do not respond to preliminary behavior management. This book provides realistic, practical and applicable advice for today's classroom teacher. I highly recommend it.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you yelled at your class this week, you need this book, February 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Assertive Discipline--New and Revised: Positive Behavior Management for Today's Classroom (Paperback)

I first encountered Lee Canter's Assertive Discipline concepts in college, and again later while on the board of directors for a school.

Canter's approach is PRACTICAL, not ideological, and his goal is for you to have a classroom in which you can teach.

That's it: simply a classroom environment that is functional enough that you can teach.

I disagree with a previous reviewer: the point behind classroom discipline isn't to teach "critical thinking skills" or to have students analyze whether "Please take out your homework and pass it to the front of the classroom" is a reasonable, just, appropriate, or relevant instruction.

Getting compliance with basic classroom rules is NOT the same as controlling or manipulating students. You, the teacher, are supposed to be in charge of what happens in your classroom. Living up to your job description will not hurt your students or turn them into uncritical automata.

The real purpose of classroom management is to make it possible for you to TEACH in the first place. The fact is that, no matter how brilliantly you present today's objectives, if the classroom is too loud and chaotic for students to pay attention, then you might as well have just stayed in bed.

I really believe that the first step in direct instruction is to provide a classroom where students are able to be in their places, to look at you, and to pay attention -- or at least not prevent everyone else from doing so.

One idea I developed from Canter's book: attitudes are the family's problem. Even if the family is failing at their job, I'm STILL not the parent, and -- while I want my students to be happy and well-adjusted, and I certainly facilitate that noble goal -- my REAL JOB is to get them to do their work, not to throw a fit if they don't happen to hand in their papers with gracious smiles. Similarly, I actually do NEED my students to be quiet when I'm explaining the next assignment, but I don't NEED them to "wipe that scowl off your face while I'm talking."

Canter's book helps you understand the effectiveness of clearly drawn "lines in the sand" and absolutely certain, wholly impartial, escalating consequences which are given to any student crossing those lines.

I have used Assertive Discipline techniques to help parents. In one memorable instance, a young mother was very inconsistently screaming and paddling her toddler for "thinking(!) about getting into the refrigerator."

Using Canter's framework, we worked out the difference between perceived intention and actual action, and the importance of a clearly understood, black-or-white rule.

This mother resolved to enforce "Do not OPEN the refrigerator" as her rule, and developed a escalating list of reactions, so that she had clear alternatives to her screaming fits and paddle-swinging.

Consequences were applied with 100% certainty and 100% impartiality. Screaming was forbidden. The mother decided to make paddling an absolute last resort.

Two weeks later, the problem was completely gone, and the mother felt more confident, more capable, and more effective than ever before. Best yet, her child didn't need to be afraid of accidentally provoking a screaming fit any longer: everyone knew where the line in the sand was.

The same system can work in your classroom, and Lee Canter shows how to create a functional classroom without throwing a temper tantrum in front of the class.

It can be done. YOU can do it.

For some teachers, Canter's approach will be a significant departure from their "style," but if you (or your neighboring teacher) screamed at the class this week, then it's probably time for a departure from that "style," even if someone has been perfecting that temper for decades.

Let me strongly recommend that you do NOT read the first edition of this book; there are clarifications of his ideas and methods in subsequent editions that will help you avoid some common mistakes. In particular, the common misunderstanding that the author wants you to "publicly shame your students into better behavior" is specifically and categorically rejected as both cruel and ineffective.