Turning Points 2000: Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

This chapter discusses how educators can create a safe and healthy school environment; as the authors stress if a student doesn’t feel safe they can’t be expected to perform academically. Teachers interviewed said they felt discipline was a big problem in their schools; the authors suggested the following strategies: common expectations for all students’ behavior, clarifying the consequences of misbehavior, having all staff members assume responsibility for student discipline, specifying teacher and administrator roles in handling discipline problems, and being consistent when implementing school wide discipline policies. Another problem in middle schools is the increased awareness of racial and ethnic differences between students. Lastly, the authors stress that teachers be aware of students risky behavior because there is an increased use of drugs, alcohol, and unsafe sex.

For me this chapter was nothing new, but it was a good recap of things I had heard from other classes. I actually found this chapter funny because all the topics the authors covered was recently discussed in my Special Education classroom; we had to create a positive classroom management plan. In this plan we had to include positive and negative consequences, a specific hierarchy, how to address cultural differences and classroom rules. I feel like because of this plan I am more prepared to create a safe and healthy environment for my students. The one aspect that I need to address when I’m in the field is how to encourage students to deal with risky behavior. Overall, I liked this chapter because I felt it discussed a lot of important issues that we face as pre-service teachers.