It is a sad reality that many middle school students have problem behaviors and at times the schools are at their wits end on how to address such issues. Schools are placed in a predicament over having to penalize or punish bad behavior and yet understanding why students act out or demonstrate bad behavior. For such a long time, the issue of punishment in schools have been debated on as to whether it is effective in correcting problem behaviors or does it not just aggravate the situation and affects the self-esteem of the students. Middle school students are in an especially vulnerable age where they are coming of age and discovering that they can think and decide for themselves and it is also when peer pressure is very high. Bullying has become more common in schools this days and sometimes teachers and staff do not know how to deal with this effectively. It has been established that adolescents who are hurting also tend to hurt others, and putting students into detention, or suspending them from school makes their feelings worse and will only perpetuate the cycle. Indeed it is high time to rectify such practices, based on numerous research reports and teacher experiences, the best way to deal with problem behaviors is not to punish them but teach them why their actions are bad or wrong and then enable them to make it right. Teenagers should be taught self-discipline for middle school students.
Middle School Students
Middle school students generally fall between grades 7 to 8 and they are between the ages 12-14 years old. It is a transition phase from being a child and being an adolescent, and one of the most difficult developmental stage any person could be in. it is the time when puberty kicks in and hormones are raging and children are figuring out who they are and what they want to be in the future. It is the start of identity formation and for some children, this is a scary stage, more so with children who do not have a stable home and family life. At this age, peers play an important part of student’s perception of who they are, so that if they feel their peers do not like them, they believe that it is because they are not cool, attractive, popular or important enough. Thus, students who feel alienated, bullied, pressured by their peers and other people’s expectations of them tend to act out or misbehave or demonstrate problem behaviors like absenteeism, truancy, bullying, underperforming in class, fighting, talking back to teachers of simply defying the authority of their teachers, principal and school staff. Children who have self-discipline are able to regulate their emotions, thoughts and behaviors and are therefore less likely to have problem behaviors. Which tells us that the best way to help children at this age is to teach then self-discipline for middle school students in a fun and engaging way.
Self-discipline
Self-discipline is the ability to regulate one’s self and manage one’s feelings, way of thinking and behavior. It is a personal character that enables the individual to take control of his or her thoughts and the emotions generated by those thoughts and the behavior that is ultimately produced because of those emotions and thoughts. For example, a student without self-discipline would not be able to wait for their turn in the cafeteria during lunch because he or she may become impatient, irked and angry by the slow service, thus he or she may cause a scene, bully the lunch servers or just jostle their way to the front of the line. Having self-discipline is important, it is associated with better emotional quotient, more appropriate socioemotional responses and better behavior all in all. But the question is can self-discipline be taught to middle school students, and if yes then what is the best way to do it? Self-discipline cannot be taught in one-sitting, you cannot change how students feel and think about themselves in one activity or one session. Becoming self-disciplined is a process and needs the support and encouragement of teachers and school administrators and staff. Sadly, not all schools and even teachers are equipped to facilitate the teaching and learning and acceptance of self-discipline in schools. In which case, it is important to look into how other schools have achieved it and what where the strategies and tools that they used. Self-discipline should not just be the end-goal of the school, but rather a way of life for their students and the entire school.
Teaching Self-discipline
Based on theories of development, it is a fact that puberty and the beginning of adolescence can be the most stressful stage any person could experience. It is also one of the most crucial stage since it is the beginning of the formation of one’s identity. It is also an opportunity to mold and teach young teens into becoming better persons in the future. By equipping them with life skills and forming their characters and values in the right way, they will become responsible, dependable, hardworking and driven young men and women in the near future. However, it is also a reality that with the changing times, the old techniques and strategies used to raise children is not as effective as it was before. Thus, relying on punishment to teach self-discipline will never bring about the change in behavior that teachers and parents want from their students. It is high time that schools approach the teaching of self-discipline for middle school students be more reflective of the kind of teenagers they are, one that will not just punish them, but will teach them better ways in dealing with their own personal issues.
Technology and Self-discipline
Nowadays, more and more people rely on the internet and social media platforms to interact and communicate with friends, family and other people. A crucial character trait such as self-discipline cannot just be taught in a lecture or a presentation, or even in detention period at the present time. Self-discipline should be taught in structured learning activities and experiences on a fairly consistent manner on a regular schedule. As much as it is an important skill, students should also be able to experience what self-discipline is and learn how to use it in their daily lives. It is in this aspect that teens could benefit from a more integrative approach to learning self-discipline. There is a new method that have increasingly been used by schools across different states and all of them have positive feedback on how well it can transform problematic teens and curb bad behavior in school. The logic behind this approach is to provide students with a means of experiencing and learning self-discipline through various modes of delivery, from class activities, guidance sessions, forums, homework, worksheets, personal discovery modules, integrated social media content and a tracking system that measures how students are performing in the said activities. The system is integrated into the school framework and thus becomes part of the curriculum, students will be doing the work but not even notice that they are being changed.
A New Way to Teach Self-discipline
The adage that says walk the talk means that merely talking about being better or changing bad habits or behavior is not enough, for everything that you say, you need also to do the work. Thus, teaching self-discipline should also follow that adage. This new way of teaching self-discipline for middle school students have been developed based on the numerous and extensive experiences the creators have had in the educational system and how problem students are being dealt with. They say that merely punishing them through detention only reinforces their problem behavior. When a student misbehaves, it is usually because they have personal issues that they are not able to address on their own so they take it on other people like being bullies or cutting class, or engaging in risky behavior such as smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages or gambling or even finding fistfights wherever they may be. By putting them into detention, it is teaching this teens that doing something bad or breaking school rules could lend you an hour of peace and quiet or that escape from that awful teacher or subject that you do not want to stay in class for. This new way completely abolishes detention period as it really does not do anything for the students, instead the lessons and activities on self-discipline and other important life skills are integrated or embedded into the school curriculum. Students are constantly and consistently working and experiencing the concepts and activities on self-discipline in a fun and engaging way. It gives students the opportunity to experience little successes on telling right from wrong, understanding their misbehaviors and its root causes and taking the steps to rectifying it and demonstrating positive behavior. The activities are done during classes and whenever the students have time to do it on their own thus eliminating the negative impact of being labeled as a bad student or having to be placed on detention. This new way may just prove to be the best way you can help children entrusted to your care and nurturance.
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