Rodney Colley #1

October 23, 2014

Dr. Hawk
EDUC-370 Theorist Paper
Discipline with Dignity
Discipline with dignity is a management theory developed by Dr.
Richard Curwin and Dr. Allen Mendler, drawn from their many years of
experience. Curwin appeared in many educational articles speaking from
his experience as a professor, consultant and specialist in school
discipline. Mendler helped teachers and students of all ages by being a
school psychologist and psych educational consultant. (Charles, 2011)
Updated multiple times originally published in 1988, Discipline with
Dignity, was written to supply with teachers strategies to support
students who are behaviorally at risk by creating a healthy classroom
environment.
Discipline with Dignity is an approach to classroom management
that calls on teachers to maintain students dignity while not deterring
the student from learning, through tools that benefit individuals longterm. It offers shared decision-making and mutual respect through social
contracts, underlining the fine line between consequences and
punishments by providing strategies to enhance the dignity of students.
Curwin and Mendler suggest, students believe that school has little value
for them, without the support of teachers who do not tolerate their

actions. Students then misbehave in order to regain control from a

system that has damaged their dignity. (Charles, 2011) It is imperative
for teachers to shape the curriculum and provide feedback that it is
attractive to students to promote creativity and not cause resistance
from students.
Three-Dimensional Discipline is a combination of discipline
approaches developed by educators and psychologists to maintain
teacher responsibilities and student dignity pointed out by Curwin and
Mendler. The three dimensions are: The Prevention Dimension, The
Action Dimension, and The Resolution Dimension. (Curwin & Mendler,
1988) Where The Prevention Dimension provides structure and direction,
and can be seen through social contracts used to govern the classroom.
The class agrees upon the rules, from here you can act on misbehavior in
an appropriate manner. It is important to have a range of consequences
so that the student is reminded of the rules and warned first. There
needs to be equality for all, where punishments cause tension and
attacks students dignity and, consequences are related to the rule and
simple. Punishments normally take away from the instruction time, Bran
Mendler son of Allen Mendler believes that teachers main goals should
be to keep students in class (instead of kicking out through punishment),
and get back to teaching (instead of ranting on about the misbehavior).
(Mendler, Curwin, & Mendler, 2008) The second dimension is action,
when problems occur, the teachers roll is to intervene to address the

social contracts violation and give an appropriate consequence.

Throughout the year the teacher should take note how the social contract
is doing, if there is a rule violation that keeps occurring then it would be
wise to edit or rewrite that rule. The man goal of the social contract is to
keep everybody in tuned with the rules and have students be successful.
Wrapping up the Three-Dimensional Discipline is, The Resolution
Dimension, the most challenging of the three is designed through
activities to connect with out-of-control students. Typically these types of
students have been through nearly all of the discipline interventions and
have lost hope. According to Brian Mendler, these students believe
teachers will quit on them just like everyone else. When the teacher
keeps working to get to the student he temporarily acts worse trying to
prove that teachers will give up, secretly knowing he does not want that.
(Mendler, Curwin, & Mendler, 2008) Connecting with the out-of-control
student is not easy and requires time and effort without the guarantee of
getting through to that student. When teachers take the time to
implement new strategies while remaining competent and having their
dignity intact to reach difficult students, they gain the awareness and
ability to teach all students. (Curwin & Mendler, 1988)
A critic of the Discipline with Dignity theory is Alfie Kohn, who
believes that students are not becoming more ethical through by putting
rules up on a wall but doing what they are told. Saying that you can get
a student to stop an action if you threaten to punish them. Kohn said,

It's even more crucial that we overcome a preoccupation with getting

compliance and instead involve students in devising and justifying ethical
principles. (Kohn, 1996) On the other hand I fully agree with the theory
especially with all of the experience and success Curwin and Mendler
offer. I love the idea of a social contract where you the teacher and
students layout what is expected of the class and collectively agree upon
them. I believe there needs to be various levels of consequences so that
not all rule violations are the same especially with repeat offenders. For
example if the rule is that a student has to finish homework during recess
because they did not do their homework, it is unfair to have Student A
have to miss some recess because they had to go to the hospital with
their parents and was unable to do the homework while Student B
intentionally did not do it. I agree there have to be levels and equality
when implementing the consequences.

Works Cited
Charles, C. M. (2011). Building Classroom Discipline (10th Edition ed.).
Boston, MA: Pearson.
Curwin, R., & Mendler, A. (1988). Discipline with Dignity. Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Kohn, A. (1996, November). Beyond Discipline. Education Week .

Mendler, B., Curwin, R., & Mendler, A. (2008). Strategies for Successful
Classroom Management. Thousand Oaks, California: The Teacher
Learning Center.

Management theorist(s)_________________

Student

Name_________________#_____

Choose a theorist and write a 4-5 page paper which explains the theory.
The paper should:
___/ 4

Give BRIEF biographical information about the theorist(s)

Describe the main focus of the theory including specific terms and
concepts.
___/24

___/4

Indicate how the theory looks in the classroom.

Evaluate the theory (What do the critics say? What are the
advantages/disadvantages?)
Articulate your opinion about the theory.
___/8

___/16

Utilize appropriate grammar/mechanics

___/ 12

Include at least 3 scholarly sources cited correctly in APA

style within the paper and at
the end. The Primary source
should be the text assigned.

Make a visual or a model which can be left in the class that summarizes
the theorists (or theorists) work
The visual or Model should:
Give an appropriate overview of the theory-BRIEFLY (only major
components)
___/4

___/4

Be neat, attractive and creative

___/4

Have sources correctly cited (Use a 3x5card to cite sources used)

___/80 = ___/10
Plan for your classmates to learn about the theory/theorist in an
Interactive Learning Experience. This will be assessed according to:
___/10
___/10

Fit into the time frame

Gave accurate and essential information about the theorist(s)

___/10 Was interesting and engaging.

___/30 (Part of class participation grade)