Lee Canter's Assertive Discipline: Positive Behavior Management for Today's Classroom

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Summary: Assertive Discipline Works
Review: Assertive Discipline is an effective way to control behavior in order to help create an environment where learning can occur.

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Summary: A good organized approach
Review: I felt the information was most helpful developing a discipline program for our school.

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Summary: If you yelled at your class this week, you need this book
Review: I first encountered Lee Canter's Assertive Discipline concepts in college, and again later while on the board of directors for a school.

Canter's approach is PRACTICAL, not ideological, and his goal is for you to have a classroom in which you can teach.

That's it: simply a classroom environment that is functional enough that you can teach.

I disagree with a previous reviewer: the point behind classroom discipline isn't to teach "critical thinking skills" or to have students analyze whether "Please take out your homework and pass it to the front of the classroom" is a reasonable, just, appropriate, or relevant instruction.

Getting compliance with basic classroom rules is NOT the same as controlling or manipulating students. You, the teacher, are supposed to be in charge of what happens in your classroom. Living up to your job description will not hurt your students or turn them into uncritical automata.

The real purpose of classroom management is to make it possible for you to TEACH in the first place. The fact is that, no matter how brilliantly you present today's objectives, if the classroom is too loud and chaotic for students to pay attention, then you might as well have just stayed in bed.

I really believe that the first step in direct instruction is to provide a classroom where students are able to be in their places, to look at you, and to pay attention -- or at least not prevent everyone else from doing so.

One idea I developed from Canter's book: attitudes are the family's problem. Even if the family is failing at their job, I'm STILL not the parent, and -- while I want my students to be happy and well-adjusted, and I certainly facilitate that noble goal -- my REAL JOB is to get them to do their work, not to throw a fit if they don't happen to hand in their papers with gracious smiles. Similarly, I actually do NEED my students to be quiet when I'm explaining the next assignment, but I don't NEED them to "wipe that scowl off your face while I'm talking."

Canter's book helps you understand the effectiveness of clearly drawn "lines in the sand" and absolutely certain, wholly impartial, escalating consequences which are given to any student crossing those lines.

I have used Assertive Discipline techniques to help parents. In one memorable instance, a young mother was very inconsistently screaming and paddling her toddler for "thinking(!) about getting into the refrigerator."

Using Canter's framework, we worked out the difference between perceived intention and actual action, and the importance of a clearly understood, black-or-white rule.

This mother resolved to enforce "Do not OPEN the refrigerator" as her rule, and developed a escalating list of reactions, so that she had clear alternatives to her screaming fits and paddle-swinging.

Consequences were applied with 100% certainty and 100% impartiality. Screaming was forbidden. The mother decided to make paddling an absolute last resort.

Two weeks later, the problem was completely gone, and the mother felt more confident, more capable, and more effective than ever before. Best yet, her child didn't need to be afraid of accidentally provoking a screaming fit any longer: everyone knew where the line in the sand was.

The same system can work in your classroom, and Lee Canter shows how to create a functional classroom without throwing a temper tantrum in front of the class.

It can be done. YOU can do it.

For some teachers, Canter's approach will be a significant departure from their "style," but if you (or your neighboring teacher) screamed at the class this week, then it's probably time for a departure from that "style," even if someone has been perfecting that temper for decades.

Let me strongly recommend that you do NOT read the first edition of this book; there are clarifications of his ideas and methods in subsequent editions that will help you avoid some common mistakes. In particular, the common misunderstanding that the author wants you to "publicly shame your students into better behavior" is specifically and categorically rejected as both cruel and ineffective.

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Summary: Lee Canter's Assertive Discipline
Review: My experiences with Canter's approach have been disappointing. It can be that this approach will work, though not with the students who have the real problems, but it does NOT TEACH students how to control their behavior. It does not teach students anything except how to receive rewards and how to avoid punishments. Better to read some research on classroom management, Alfie Kohn, or Love and Logic. I believe what we need to do is help our students make better choices. I don't think this approach does that. Read lots of things and decide for yourself.