Customer Reviews

Setting Limits in the Classroom: How to Move Beyond the Classroom Dance of Discipline

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After my first year of teaching, it was clear to me that I needed some help with classroom management. I read this book during the summer and applied most of the strategies (they were easy and logical) to my classroom the following year. It made the world of difference. My classes not only improved discipline-wise, I began looking forward to my classes all year. There was also a significant imporovement in the realtionships between student and student, but more dramatically between student and teacher. This should be maditory teacher reading.

All I can say is, "Where in the world was this book in my teacher education courses?" This book gives effective, practical methods for managing the classroom. It finally helped me recognize what I was doing wrong in my approach to discipline. I put the suggestions to use in my classroom and saw real, positive changes. Sudents' behavior actually improved as we approached the end of the school-year rather than deteriorated. It's as if someone finally let me in on the secret of a well-managed classroom. I highly recommend this book. It should be required reading for all teachers.

If you are looking for a book with practical advice that can be used immediately and with success right away, this is the book. If you are looking for a book that gives you realistic solutions to quickly handle your "very worst students", this is also the book! If you want to eliminate classroom behavior disruptions so you can get on with teaching, this is definitly the book!

Besides its quick to-the-point format, I appreciated the author's insight about a teacher's valuable teaching time and how we can't spend fifteen minutes "talking it out" and reasoning with every student who is disruptive.

I am currently using his method, and it works every single time. With his technique, I'm finding that I use it less and less every day because the problems in my classroom are disappearing (just like he said they would!)

If you are exhausted with going over the same issues again and again with the same students, then please add this book to your library.

Having worked in a job sharing arrangement for my first year of teaching, I thought I was all set for a full-time classroom on my own. WRONG!! I was ready to quit by Halloween.

It wasn't the academic side that was a problem. I still loved the teaching and learning part, but I never seemed to be able to get much done. I spent most of my days "putting out fires," for behavioral problems (including ADD and ADHD, also covered in the book)with absolutely no other adult help whatsoever.

I considered not going back next fall. Then, I found this book!! I ordered it, along with a couple of others that looked good. When it arrived, I read it from cover to cover over the course of the next 24 hours. I couldn't put it down!! I saw myself on every page. All the things I had done wrong were spelled out in black and white for me. Every mistake I made was in print. Everything I had tried, to fix the mistakes I had been making ,(which themselves turned out to be mistakes) was there. This book could almost have been about me, and my first year on my own. (At least there is comfort in knowing that the mistakes I was making are so common that lots of people make the same ones! :) )

As I read, I found myself saying, "Hey, this is SO simple! This system makes SO much sense! Why didn't anyone ever tell me this before?!" The book does not espouse a "belief system" or any other sort of cult-ish ideas. The main idea is that the teacher is the adult in the room, and her/his job is not only to teach academic subjects, but to guide students through a little piece of their own personal socialization process. This is done through consistency and respectfulness (on the part of both student and teacher.)Once students are acclimated to the culture of the classroom (and hopefully it's the same throughout the school) then they are ready to learn. It's that simple.

There are no harsh methods suggested. There are logical, simple, respectful methods that allow students to make choices, while preserving the standards the teacher sets for the classroom.

I KNOW that come September, I will be ready to head back into the classroom, looking forward to a wonderful new year - the year I had expected to have last year! The way I think about classroom behavior management has totally changed, and I know I have left my old methods way behind. The straightforward, logical and respectful strategies set out in this book have given me the confidence I need to start fresh, and head back into the career that I love.

This book was a great read! From the minute I read the first chapter, I knew this book would be an asset to my teaching career. As a first year teacher, classroom management has been one of the things that I truly felt needed improvement. One learns only so much in one's education classes at college. No textbook can ever truly prepare oneself for all of the behaviors, attitudes, problems, etc. that a class will throw at a teacher. However, Dr. Mackenzie has written a book that comes very close.

All fourteen chapters of this book really help demystify the act of managing a clasroom. The first third of this book helps teachers see what things they are doing that may not be working for them and their students. This is done through real world examples and through tables that chart what the teacher is doing and comparing that to how the student is reacting. There are many examples of different management styles and how students react to them. The reader can pinpoint the exact moment where the loss of control occurs. (When I read these chapters and saw the tables, I realized some key points in my managing style that I definitely needed to change.)

The next chapters of the book give real world examples about how a teacher can get his/her message across to the students clearly the first time. These chapters also discuss how to not fall into the power struggle trap with students while supporting teacher-made rules with "instructive consequences."

The last two chapters show teachers how to apply what is in this book towards real life situations within their classrooms. They discuss solving problems with homework, and there is a chapter devoted solely to the children who suffer from hyperactivity or inattentiveness. This was an eye-opening chapter. Dr. Mackenzie puts "the shoe on the other foot" and makes teachers see how the ADD or ADHD child perceives the classroom. In his examples, he showed stimuli that could be thought of as an infintesimal distraction but to the ADD or ADHD student, this stimuli could throw the student off for an entire day.

I loved this book because it was clear and to the point. It provided tangible examples. It made me realize that I can have a better and more successful classroom management style that the students will understand and respect. Dr. Mackenzie is very supportive and reminds teachers that these changes will take time, but the results will be seen. I can say that my teaching has improved for the better after reading this book, and I would highly recommend it to every teacher not just first year teachers.

I couldn't put this book down. New and experienced teachers should read this book! All teachers will get tips (or personal affirmation) for dealing with student behaviors that distract everyone from the "job" of learning. I appreciated the way MacKenzie broke down typical misbehaviors into parts, thus showing how they escalate. He then gives practical advice on ways to "nip them in the bud." The chapters on ADD and homework hassles were helpful too. This book is not theory, but REAL LIFE!

I am a first-year teacher, and this book has been instrumental in my success. I have been able to establish mutual respect (most of the time), and as a result, I am a way better teacher now than I was last August. My students are noticing, as well. The book should be seriously considered by any professor of education and every graduate program in education. Never in our country's history has there been a greater need to retain and develop teachers, and books such as these are part of the solution. Brian Willard, Science Teacher, Santa Ynez High School, Alumnus Physicorum, Cal State Chico

There's a reason that this book receives 5 stars from all its reviewers. It's brilliant. I've read dozens of discipline books and parenting books and found this, a book aimed at teachers in the classroom, to be the most rational, effective book of all for me as a parent. I've recommended it to my friends and bought copies to give to my children's school principals.

Teachers, spread the word about this book to parents! Don't just keep it for yourselves. After all, we're all in this as a team. Put a copy in your classroom library and show it to parents when they ask about classroom discipline during conferences. Then offer to lend it to them. But don't be surprised if you have a tough time getting it back!

I am a first year teacher who was seriously considering a career change by the time I reached my 1st summer vacation! I had absolutely no control over my H.S. Freshman classes and really could not figure out what I was doing wrong! This book opened my eyes and showed me not only what I was doing wrong, but helped me to understand WHY I was making the discipline errors that were keeping me so unhappy! The book offers practical solutions to a wide variety of situations and is much more realistic than some of the other books I have read!

I am a student teacher, but I have a background in teaching (i.e. I was a teacher's assistant, as well as a substitute teacher). This is a great resource for those a little shaky on what EXACTLY to do when a classroom problem pops up. This book pounds into your brain the importance of taking the least amount of steps to solve a discipline problem, while still giving the children guidance in their actions. This is a wonderful book, especially the chapter that covers the disciplinary concerns of the ADD/ADHD child in your classroom. I've already lent this book to a first-year teacher I know, and I doubt I'll get it back anytime soon!