Yes, I too might be a reluctant disciplinarian... But after hearing all of the horror stories from the 2nd years about what happens in the absence of a good, consistent classroom management plan, I am much more willing to be extremely firm in doling out rewards and consequences in my classroom. The book The Reluctant Disciplinarian only further emphasizes the importance of remaining in control of one's own classroom. The themes of this book are very much in line with everything we have discussed with the MTC vets and with Dr. Monroe. Validity is gained when veteran teachers, professors, program managers, and published authors all stress the same ideas: establishing control early, remaining consistent and appearing confident in from of the students (even if this confidence is merely a facade).
In class we have discussed that you must model the behavior you want to see in your classroom -- you can model what you DON'T want to see, but follow it up by what you DO want to see (and never permit a student to act out the "wrong" way). This book is one mega example of the wrong way. The author learned from his mistakes and has lived to tell about them (in an extremely humorous fashion), but the events described in the book were not humorous to the author in the slightest when they were taking place. I think that the classroom management role playing workshops we are a part of during TEAM will provide us with additional examples of the wrong (and consequently the right) way to handle many of the situations described in this book.
While I am sure that reading accounts of others' discipline strategies (or lack there of) will aid us in developing our own classroom management plans, there is nothing that can truly, fully prepare us for the fall. Even if we have read every possible work on the subject, when we are witnessing fights in our schools and disruptive, disrespectful students in our rooms, we are going to make split-second decisions regarding what the best course of action should be. In this slpit-second, we may not recall all of the advice we have received, rather we will go with our instincts.

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