Classroom Management Videos

Maintaining Classroom Discipline (1947). 13:43 minutes.

Good and bad methods of disciplining inappropriate classroom behavior. This is an instructional movie for teachers. While there are new and different problems in the modern schools, the basic ideas of this film still hold. The messages reflect what the best research on classroom behavior tells us: 1) The vast majority of behavior problems in the classroom involve minor problems. 2) These incidents originate in the classroom situation itself and are within the control of the teacher. 3) Disciplinary problems in the classroom are symptoms of underlying weaknesses in the total learning situation. By contrasting methods of handling the same class, techniques are shown for securing class discipline and stimulating the interest of students. Producer: McGraw-Hill Films; Creative Commons license: Public Domain.


Maintaining Classroom Discipline by using Democratic Methods(1953). 20:44 minutes.

This film points out that democratic techniques are more effective in teaching good citizenship than laissez-faire and authoritarian methods. This educator instructional film advocates the use of democratic principles within the classroom. Even today, many classrooms are based upon teacher-centered, autocratic methodologies, making this a timely message. This film displays many practices that are at the heart of progressive educational thought: student-centered learning, authentic tasks, collaborative work, and authentic assessment. This is all couched in the framework of bolstering democracy, which it does, by promoting an independently thinking citizen who tries to gather facts and reason, rather than relying on what others say to be true. Producer: Educational Film Service. Creative Commons license: Public Domain.


Positive Discipline in the Classroom. Part 1 - 2007. 4:33 minutes.

This film is based on materials developed by Jane Nelsen, Lynn Lott and H. Stephen Glenn. Text material is found in Positive Discipline in the Classroom (2000), Positive Discipline for Teenagers (2000) and Positive Discipline (1996). One reviewer noted that "the jargon-free concepts and strategies are easy to follow and have changed my life as a principal, as well as the lives of my teachers and students. We have all grown together to create a school climate in which everyone is treated with dignity and respect and in which students can learn the skills they need for success. Without question, Positive Discipline in the Classroom is a must for every educator."


Positive Discipline in the Classroom. Part 2 - 2007. 9:13 minutes.

This film provides additional material to supplement the previous film. The viewer is taken through a simple eight-step process for creating a positive learning environment:

  1. create a circle,
  2. give compliments,
  3. create and agenda,
  4. create communication skills,
  5. learn about separate realities,
  6. solving problems through role-playing,
  7. recognizing the four reasons why people do what they do,
  8. and applying logical consequences.


One humorous method to solve the discipline problems in a classroom. About 1 minute.

There is little or no valuable information here about classroom discipline. That said, it is an interesting idea to provide students the opportunity to create a film depicting how classroom problems might be solved. They must role-play the person (teacher) who makes decisions about students who misbehave. The making of the film is both a creative outlet as well as a thinking exercise about "good" and "bad" behavior.


Discipline without stress - 2007. 5:24 minutes.

Esther Severy, principal of Mcfadden Intermediate School (Santa Ana, California) describes her experience with Marvin Marshall's book Discipline without Stress (2001). This program is a blending of three subject fields - education, parenting, and personal growth. It provides helpful suggestions that show both teachers and parents how to heighten positive thinking in school or at home, give students and other family members the power to choose, and discover productive means of reflection and self-evaluation.


Charlie's Tips on Teaching #3 - 2007. 6:15 minutes.

For 30 years, Charlie Sposato taught in Framingham, Massachusetts public schools, first at Farley Middle School, then at Framingham South and Framingham High. In 2000, he became the founding principal at the MATCH (Media and Technology Charter High) school in Boston. Along the way, he racked up scores of awards, including the state's Teacher of the Year in 1990 and finalist for the Teacher in Space program in 1985.

Mr. Sposata has a number of short videos with his "teaching tips." In this one he summarizes five classroom discipline challenges:

  1. student doesn't raise hand,
  2. chats with friends,
  3. wants to sleep,
  4. demands bathroom pass,
  5. and won't leave when sent to the office.
For each, he provides his advice on how to handle the situation.


Cooperative Discipline - 2008. 10:24 minutes.

Instead of delivering a traditional lecture on Adler, Dreikurs, and Albert's Cooperative Discipline model, this film was created instead. Here is presented the Cooperative Discipline model as thoroughly as possible. The film is intended to be used with discovery notes. For further clarification on the model, please consult Solving Discipline and Classroom Management Problems by Charles H. Wolfgang (Wiley, Jossey-Bass Education: 2005).



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