Re: question when I start

[Betty Dawn Hamilton <bhamilt@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>]

Richard Vance Carson wrote:

> How does a new media coordinator maintain discipline in the
> media center. How much responsibility for discipline should
> the teacher take and how much should the media coordinator
> take?

Hi Richard and Group,

I will tell you the method that evolved for me that seemed to work
best.  Because I was a disciplinarian in the classroom, I had already
learned the methods of moving into a troublemaker's territory without
bringing a lot of attention to us and other subtle ways of discipline
without being grouchy.  I also like order and consideration in a
learning environment; therefore, I frequently could not wait for a
"relaxed" teacher to discipline his/her students.

What I learned to do was at the beginning of the year, I would announce
to each group as they came *in the presence of their teacher* that "this
is MY classroom" and that MY rules had priority.  I explained that when
there was more than one teacher, of which I am one, that students might
be confused as to which one's rules to abide by.  Therefore, MY rules
applied in the library, regardless of the kinds of behavior that is/was
allowed in the individual classrooms.

Then I softened my statement by explaining that there would be days when
we might have as many as 3 classes in the library at once and each class
would have a teacher.  If I detected a problem, I would wait to see if
the student's teacher saw the problem and would correct it.  If he/she
did not, then *I* would step in and do it.

By the time I had oriented all of the classes, the teachers pretty well
knew how I expected discipline matters to be taken care of.  Because our
library is so spread out, they usually were greatful that I had firm
rules that students knew they had to follow.  It was very hard in a
"different" environment for them to see everything at once.  I was
accustomed to the area, so I could head problems off before they
started.

In short....MY rules had priority in the library because I had to make
sure the facility was functional for everyone in the school.  I
recommend that you establish that idea early.

Good luck!
Betty
Betty Dawn Hamilton, LRS * mailto:bhamilt@worldnet.att.net
Historian, Terry County Historical Commission
Librarian, TEXAS LIBRARY JOURNAL Contributing Editor
911 East Oak Street, Brownfield, Texas 79316
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/bhamilt

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