DancingDiva736 wrote:

RileyA wrote:




So Riley, just out of curiosity, what is it that you use in your class if you follow this practice? It seems as though most of us agree that further physical activity like crunches or pushups are handed out for poor behavior. What do you do?

My opinion comes from my own experiences as well which have coloured how I deal with things. As some of you know, I have ADHD. I was the kid who loved to do jumping jacks and push ups. It was my favourite part of class, the problem with ADHD is that doing exersizes like this will tend to make the behaviour problems worse. If you are hyped up and being silly then doing things like jumping jacks and push ups and other jumping and moving around makes you more hyperactive not less. I found sitting out worked much better for me as it was quieter and calmer, which meant when being silly there was a chance to settle down rather than get more hyped up.

I know most of our students are not likle this, but often the ones with chronic behavioural difficulties are and those who are not are more likely to grow to loathe the physical exersizes.

For discipline in my classroom I use a variety of methods.

# Lots of praise and encouargement of good behaviour
# Seperating the talkers from their friends
# Sitting out for a short time out on their own
# For the younger ones (most of my students are 4-9), choosing leaders and things from the students who are working hardest.
# Missing out on fun activities
# Keeping the class very active and moving so the kids dont get a chance to get bored or talk
# Sitting out for a longer period of time if doing it for a short period of time has not stopped the behaviour.


I find sitting out works the best no matter what the age. The younger kids hate to sit still and be bored. They would rather be doing anything more than doing nothing.

For the slighlty older age group they hate the feeling that they are missing out on something, and being away from the other kids usally gives them a chance to settle down and get their heads back in the right place.

For the older kids they are often embarrassed at having to sit out and hate being seperated from their friends.

Thee methods have all worked well and I have very good behaviour in my classroom. Where possible I turn my focus and attention too encouragming and rewarding the behaviour I do want rather than giving attention to the behaviour I dont want. Kids quickly learn that its easier, faster and more fun to get attention for the good behaviour.

Of course I like every other teacher have threatened the physical punishment. Like saying "if anyone else talks they will have push ups" however the problem iss that my kids all seem to love push ups and sit ups and burpee's and any other physical exersize (I guess its true what they say that teachers attract students with similar personalities to their own). The vast majority of the 350 kids I teach each week are highly energetic fit kids, which is probably what draws them to my studio which teaches a combination of dance and gymnastics.

Of course each teather needs to do what works for them and their own kids.

balletstar05 wrote:

"I find sitting out works the best no matter what the age"

Ugh, I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "YES! I get to sit out! Fine by me!"



That's when I started telling them to do crunches instead.

I'm so sick of all the PC crap that is now accepted as the best way. If you are good you will be rewarded, if you aren't you will get punished...not fair? Actually it's totally fair because everyone has the opportunity to be well-behaved.