A lemur for sale is a good pet to have at home. Lemurs are really good companions to have at home because they are really energetic. If you are munching on something, he wants to have a piece of it as well. This sounds fun but this also means that you need to discipline your lemur pet by establishing manners. This needs to be done while lemurs are still at a young age. By doing so, you can teach your lemur pet that he can eat your food if you hand it over to him and not when it’s on your plate. If he doesn’t stick with the rules placing him inside his cage when you eat meals will be a good idea to do.

A lemur for sale may look really cute but you need to set rules if you want to have a harmonious relationship with your pet. This will also help you prevent your exotic pet from ruining furniture at home. Lemurs will steal food from you and your family if you allow them to do so. This is actually their way of getting your attention and causing you to have a reaction. This is something they really love. Knowing that your pet is interested in spending time with you is good but not all the time, which is why teaching lemurs some manners at an early age, is very important. Provide your pet the proper discipline and you’ll save yourself, your family, and your house a lot of trouble.

Lemurs are very smart exotic animals. They are also known to be really agile. Lemurs usually don’t knock things over, hurt themselves, or destroy things around them but a few precautions are still necessary and you should be well aware of them. If you decide to let your lemur run loose inside the house, make sure that you don’t let him get inside rooms that have ceiling fans in them. Ceiling fans are considered a big no, no when lemurs are allowed to run loose inside the house as these may cause them some serious injuries. Your pet lemur may decide to jump on the fan and hit the middle of the blades and as a result, get injured. Aside from ceiling fans, lemurs also quickly get excited about sudden loud noises so you need to take some caution when you’re cooking in the kitchen. It is highly advised that lemurs be kept in their cages whenever you need to cook food inside the kitchen.

When the time comes that you need to place your pet lemur back in his cage, be sure to allot some time for this as these exotic animals can determine when you want to catch them and when you want to just pet them. This may cause you to have a chase inside the house but that is something you don’t want to do as this can result to broken furnishings, future behavioral problems, and a scared pet. Instead of chasing your lemur around the house, try using treats to lure him inside his cage.

Parenting. It can be the hardest job in the world, and yet it can also be the most rewarding. Do you wish there were a set of rules to follow, guidelines at least? We want to do the best for our children, we want them to have and be everything that they can. Making choices when it comes to parenting and discipline can be very difficult. How do we want to discipline our kids, and which way is the best?

How we parent often is a direct result of how we were parented. When I was young and head strong, I swore I would never raise my kids like that! And yet, as I grow older, I so often will find myself saying or doing something the exact same way that my parents said or did to me. I catch myself doing it, and it brings a smile to my face. Do you catch yourself doing this too?

When it comes to parenting and discipline, there are a few different approaches/techniques that we can look at.

Authoritarian Parenting – This is when we rule with an iron fist. It is about controlling our kids. Some of the more harsh (violent) techniques that are used in this approach are spanking, hitting, yelling, laying blame, using guilt, humiliating, criticizing and so on. The children learns to listen out of utter fear of what will happen when they don’t.

Punishments and Rewards – Although this is a less violent method, it is still based in fear, to achieve the desired outcome. Children are either punished by removing privileges, time-outs, withdraw of love and guilt; or by rewards that can include money, extra privileges, new toys and the like.

Studies have shown these two methods to be quite damaging to children because it hurts them emotionally, ruins their self-esteem and confidence, while removing any sense of power or control over their own life and actions.

Permissive Parenting – This is way on the other end of the scale. Parents do not feel in control, and will parent through trying to coax the child, bribing, pleading, and negotiating with the child. In this approach to parenting, it is the parents who feel at wits-end, and have lost their own sense of personal power.

This method can also be damaging to the child. Often in this situation, the needs of the child are not being met. Believe it or not, all children do need rules and routines to function at their best.

Democratic Parenting – As the name suggests, this is more of a win, win for parent and child. This approach to parenting is where there is a level of trust and respect toward each other. The children are included in the process. This method comes from a place of love. Rules and routines are still in place, but children are not being controlled with fear tactics. Discipline is used as it should be, to train the child. It allows the child to grow and gain self-esteem, confidence and power while at the same time respecting what is asked of them by the parent.

This method lessens conflict, and stress for both parent and child because it based on a connection.

If the democratic parenting approach is not how you were raised, you may have a difficult time wrapping your head around the idea at first, but after some time implementing this method you will see how much less stress is involved and you will notice a great improvement in the whole process. You will enjoy parenting your child, and you will both be happier for it.

To learn more about parenting and discipline, please stop by my website and sign up for my mini-course entitled “Parenting Happy Children”.

An effective discipline plan will take into account your child’s comfort objects, which is in itself a control pattern. By removing these comfort objects, your child’s behavior will improve dramatically.

So, what exactly is a comfort object. Well, you know them all too well, A blankie, pacifier or bottle, television, candy, rocking, maybe a favorite toy. Whatever it is, it is an external object or maybe even an action that can become addictive if not properly handled.

If you child cannot leave the house without their security blanket or pacifier, then this behavior is signalling a much more serious problem. Your child is using this behavior as a way to hold back emotions and he or she will use it again and again to keep the feelings from escaping.

This is your childs way of soothing their emotions away. Eventually however, these soothed away hurts and emotions will burst out in a display of anger and temper tantrums. In order to cope with these emotions, he or she will use these objects over and over to cope with the pain.

But, these same control patterns will cause your child to disconnect with their pain and emotions. This in turn will lead to insensitivity towards other people and their environment as well. Comfort objects are what children use to cling to that will distract them from their emotions. Through this clinging, your child feels a sense of control.

These are mechanisms that children use that allows them to connect with a pattern and not their parents. Every time your child gets angry or upset, they will reach out for this object or habit to help soothe away the pain or sadness. This takes on an addictive pattern as he or she uses the object as a crutch of sorts.

However, once you connect with your child and listen to them and their feelings, these control patterns disappear rather quickly. By listening to what your child is feeling, after some time, you will notice that they will no longer be grasping for their comfort object or display their comfort behavior or habit.

Probably the best thing that you can do is to get rid of the comfort object. Yes, your child will probably just establish another object or habit, and you will have to get rid of that as well. But if you follow an effective discipline plan that encourages listening to your child and staying connected with them, the control patterns will melt away.

Remember that control patterns are used by children to suppress emotional feelings. These patterns disrupt and prevent any true closeness and bonding between you and your child. And even worse, these patterns usually manifest themselves into adulthood, where addictions such as nail biting, food addictions, smoking and gambling become the comfort objects.

So, before you feel that by taking away the comfort object from your child will just make things worse, understand that by listening to their feelings and emotions you will be helping them release their pent up pain, which in turn will help them to give up their control patterns.

When students aren’t listening, it’s usually because of one main thing: they are not engaged with the setup of the classroom and how the lesson is structured. As you may have already realized, when students don’t understand the rules and procedures in your classroom, they then begin to take control in the classroom. And you know what that means, right?

As a new teacher, you’ll want to set up three simple systems in your classroom that effectively engage your students. Simple systems help students become more self-directed. They know how your classroom is run and feel safe with a sense of a routine. Simply put, your students know they can succeed and won’t challenge your authority because they WON’T need to.

Here are three basic systems which you should implement from the first day of school:

* Set up your expectations for success in the classroom so students always know exactly what to do. This goes for every task, rule and procedure.

* Set up a system of rules, procedures and consequences. Teach and reinforce those rules and procedures using consequences that are most crucial for running your lesson effectively. Ideally, you should have three or four rules and a variety of procedures for running your classroom effectively.

* Cater to a variety of learning styles and abilities. Using differentiated instruction, teachers cater to a wide variety of varied interests, cultural backgrounds and world knowledge which results in more dynamic classroom interaction. In a differentiated learning environment, students feel safe because they know they will learn something in your lesson.

Tips for Establishing Procedures

1. Set up the classroom with procedures that aim to establish self-directed behavior that engages students right away so you can start content teaching rather than managing a class. Use time saving management strategies such as a timer or a “Do Now” activity so students know exactly what to do and what not to do the minute the lesson begins. I begin my lesson by writing on the board in big letters “To Do Now” and then say to the class: “let’s see how many vocabulary words you recognize in five minutes.”

2. Many discipline problems occur when students feel that the lesson isn’t organized properly with appropriate activities for the beginning, middle and end parts of a lesson. Write down the activities and what students will do for each one. Write the number of minutes for each activity

and then check off when that activity is completed.

Examples of self-directed procedures

o Have a box for turning in work.

o Have students do something else while you are dealing with administrative matters.

o Have routines for concluding each day: turning in folders, completing a check-off sheet or behavior chart

o Have a cue or signal when noise level is unacceptable

o Procedures for students coming to and going from the bathroom. (i.e. students can go to the bathroom only once during a given lesson)

Developing Consequences

It is important always to invoke a consequence for any violation of a rule. Therefore, teachers should develop a range of alternative consequences, beginning with one that is a warning. Having a range of consequences enables teachers to be consistent yet not be trapped into applying a consequence that exceeds the offense.

Summary

o State the consequences in clear and specific terms so that the students will know exactly what will happen if they break a rule.

o Determine a range of alternatives (maximum of five) so that you can always implement a consequence.

o Relate the consequences to the rule as directly as possible.

o Make the consequences logical to help emphasize a cuase-and-effect relationship.

Additional considerations

o Severe behavior clause

o Sending discipline plan to parents/caregivers

o Cooperative plan with administration

Tips for Setting up Systems for Success

It is our goal as educators to communicate success in an attempt to enhance student motivation and engage students. When teachers communicate their expectations for success, they will also enhance student motivation. Teachers can employ certain strategies to increase the motivation factor:

Strategies teachers can use to increase the expectancy component of success

o Teachers provide success oriented activities (there is an appropriate level of challenge that will bring success.

o Teachers establish a positive learning environment

o Teachers introduce cooperative learning using group and pair work.

o Teachers can cater to different individual interests

o Teachers can provide choice leading to more student autonomy.

o Teachers can provide a variety of positive reinforcement

o Teachers can personalize the learning tasks.

Using easy to engage lesson beginnings

Activities: Easy to engage lesson beginnings

* A review of previously learned words

* An activity with a personal element

* A light activity such as a game

* Write the plan of the lesson on the side of the board and go over.

* Go over class behavior and rules

* Write new vocabulary words on the board and try to elicit from them the meaning.

* Write a short story or several sentences and have them copy.

* Start with something surprising like a strange object or question or picture. Ask the students why you have brought it.

* Write the goals of the lesson on the board and discuss them.

* Have short conversations with them like: “Good Morning, How are you?”

* DO NOW – write a few exercises on the board for them to do as soon as they enter the class.

Procedures for Transitioning from one lesson part to the next

It’s important to communicate success by using transitions to glue one lesson part with the next such as “Good! You did that very well. Now let’s see how you can apply your knowledge of vocabulary with the reading comprehension.” Think of 1 personal and 1 transitional statement you can use to “glue” each part of the lesson with the next.

As a post part of your lesson, you can ask the class what you did in the class in order to give a sense of closure.

When talking about Karate to the uninitiated, I always highlight the importance of Respect and Self-Discipline. More often than not, particularly when I am talking to parents of young children and teenagers, I am asked the question; “How do you teach respect and self-discipline? We’ve tried everything and nothing seems to work.” I have found that when you truly engage the student and provide them with the opportunity to find their boundaries, both physical and mental, and make mistakes without retribution, you have created a level of credibility with them that will allow you to push them and extend their self-imposed limits.

Before we get to that stage, we have to attract the students to the dojo and this requires a whole range of commercial activities involving branding, marketing, sales etc. Notwithstanding those commercial realities, attracting the students and enticing them to stay in the first place demands a level of credibility that underpins and supports every word and action to which the school is connected.

To establish credibility, it is critical to establish and maintain standards of behaviour which truly represent the image we wish to present to the world at large. To build and strengthen Karate, there must be a continual process of induction of new students, a process of renewal. Unless we are seen to be competent, ethical and trustworthy, it will become increasingly more difficult to attract those new students.

A Code of Conduct is a means by which we can establish standards of behaviour, develop respect for authority, self-discipline and avoid placing ourselves in conflict with others.

Because of the serious damage to personal and School reputations that can be caused by breaches of the Code of Conduct, any such breaches will be dealt with swiftly and in keeping with the severity of the offence. In the most extreme cases, the stripping of rank and expulsion from the School would not be considered too harsh a penalty, notwithstanding any legal action that might be subsequently initiated. In the less serious cases, the appropriate School Authorities will exercise their discretionary powers in determining the type of punishment to be meted out.

In my style, Tetsute Do Karate, I have imposed a Code of Conduct, clearly defined Tenets, or principles, by which we endeavour to conduct our lives and, standards for Dojo Etiquette, or the way we conduct ourselves whilst in class. It is the acceptance of and adherence to these three key elements that helps build confident, self-disciplined and compassionate citizens of our students.

Tetsute Do Karate Code of Conduct

1. A Karateka shall not publicly denigrate, or otherwise display disrespect toward, any Martial Arts style, School, Instructor or Student.

2. A Karateka shall not deliberately provoke a physical confrontation with any person, be they Karateka or not.

3. A Karateka shall make every effort to assist beginner students and students of lower rank, in the development of their Tetsute Do skills.

4. During general training and sparring sessions, there shall be no attempt to use deliberate excessive contact, nor any deliberate attempt to cause injury to others.

5. All sparring activities will be undertaken only when agreement has been reached by all parties on the level of contact permitted, the purpose of the sparring activity, including duration, and the “safe” word or action, e.g. slapping the thigh, that indicates capitulation and the end of the bout.

6. A Karateka shall not participate in any event or perform any act which would bring the Martial Arts into disrepute.

7. Students and Instructors of Tetsute Do Karate may only participate in sanctioned tournaments and events.

All Instructors of Tetsute Do Karate will obtain, and keep current, a valid Working with Children Blue Card, Public Liability Insurance and First Aid and CPR certification.

Tenets of Tetsute Do Karate

The Collins English Dictionary defines ‘Tenet’ as; “any opinion, principle, doctrine, dogma, etc., especially one held as true by members of a profession, group, or movement.” In this context, the tenets, or principles, of Tetsute Do Karate are:

1. Self-knowledge. Developing an understanding of one’s own character and identify one’s strengths and weaknesses.

2. Self-discipline. Developing the strength of character to control one’s impulsive nature and practice those things that need improvement.

3. Humility. Understanding that none of us are perfect.

4. Indomitable Spirit. The desire, motivation and purpose to continue against overwhelming odds.

Mastery of these Tenets may never be achieved by the average person. The act of committing to attempting to master them and striving, on a daily basis, to fulfil that commitment is what is expected of every Tetsute Do Karate Student and Teacher.

Dojo Etiquette

For a Dojo to operate efficiently and to maintain discipline, it is necessary to establish a set of rules governing behaviour within the Dojo. Without these rules, a training session would deteriorate into a noisy shambles. This type of situation is obviously not conducive to quality instruction or effective learning.

Dojo etiquette is based upon, and is an expression of, respect. Respect for the traditions of Karate, the place where one trains, the Instructors and fellow Karateka.

The Rules of the Dojo are as follows:

1. Bow on entering and leaving the Dojo, as a mark of respect for the traditions of the Dojo and the “Spirit” of Karate;

2. Be dressed and ready for the training session before the specified starting time;

3. If you have arrived early, it is much better to practice techniques, kata or yaksu quietly, than to stand around talking;

4. If you should arrive late, enter the Dojo quietly, sit in Seiza at the back of the class and wait until you are given permission to join the class;

5. During the lesson, remain attentive to what is being taught and refrain from talking unless asked a question or you wish to ask a question or there is a break during training;

6. If you are injured during training, bring the matter immediately to the attention of the Instructor, so that treatment can be initiated, to reduce the extent of the injury; and,

7. Treat your Instructors and fellow Karateka with respect you would expect for yourself and carry this attitude with you outside of the Dojo.

If Dojo etiquette is allowed to lapse, the quality of the training sessions will deteriorate to the extent that the students will not progress through the ranking structure as quickly as might normally be possible. Failure to comply with Dojo Etiquette will result in a warning to the offender. Subsequent and/or repeated warnings will result in disciplinary action being taken, up to and including expulsion from the class.

In comparison with contemporary behavioural standards, these Rules and Guidelines could be considered Draconian and unreasonable. I argue that I am teaching a traditional martial art that has its roots in medieval times and requires extraordinary amounts of self-knowledge, self-discipline, humility and an indomitable spirit in order to become proficient and to understand the spiritual and philosophical core of the art.

Copyright © 2014 by Drew Dale

All rights reserved. This article or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

People in the real estate business talk a lot about the power of leverage. Essentially, it means investing a limited amount of personal cash to geometrically increase net worth through appreciation. Let’s say you buy a piece of rental property for $300,000 with a down payment of 20%. You laid out $60,000. The rental on the property covers your monthly mortgage and all of the expenses to maintain the property, so the investment is cash-flow neutral (for simplicity sake).

In seven years, you anticipate selling the property for $600,000. After you pay off the mortgage, you get a return of $360,000 on your original investment of $60,000. Six times your down payment in seven years. Not bad, if a bit ambitious!

If this was totally new information for you, you’re probably reading the wrong newsletter. I do have two bigger points: First, leverage has power in every area of life. Second, the failure to exploit leverage will lead you to an unsatisfying life.

Let me explain.

My “bigger” definition of leverage: Employing time, talent and money to create a disproportionately high level of value. Let’s take a look at a business example. Years ago John (a client) owned one car dealership. His personal annual income and net worth ($500,000 and $3.5 million, respectively) were enviable for a guy in his early 40s. John was not, however, a happy camper. He had not taken a vacation of longer than three days in six years. His relationship with his family was tenuous at best. He was also an anal, detail monger in the office. Although he professed that he trusted his people to do their jobs well, his demeanor portrayed something else. He submerged himself in almost every decision – even those for which he had no background or expertise – not because he added value, but because he could. The length of his work week, typically 75 to 80 hours, was a source of pride to him. John was also 50 lbs. overweight and suffering from high blood pressure because according to him, he was forced to eat on the run and had no time for a fitness regime.

Let’s review the bidding here. We have a financially successful guy with an unrewarding, unhealthy, unbalanced, obsessive/compulsive life. Would you want that for yourself?

Four years later, here’s the picture: John has an income and net worth of $1.5 million and $12 million, respectively. Last year, he took off 180 days (that’s not a typo)! He has a hyper-qualified (and highly paid) president now running the business. John is working about 40 hours a week. His time in the office is now consumed in two areas – the performance and development of people and prospecting for acquisitions. His family life is much improved, and he has lost the 50 lbs. with a regular routine of running, lifting weights, yoga and meditation. His blood pressure has improved to 105/70.

The only difference in John is his leverage. He now dedicates his time and talent to activities that give him a disproportionately high payback for the resources he invests. That requires a complete understanding of his strengths and passions. Where they intersect, he wades in. Where they don’t, he steers clear.

Many business people become martyrs and then brag about it as if self-sacrifice for money is sexy! Tony Robbins says, “life rewards action.” That’s an incomplete assertion. Life really rewards RELEVANT action. In order to be relevant, action has to produce the results you intend. Otherwise, it’s just MOVEMENT. Relevant action must also create leverage. Otherwise, personal and professional growth and success are not possible.

A second prerequisite for success is “discipline.” That word has gotten a bad rap because many people infer that it means rigid and austere. Discipline really means the ability and inclination to delay gratification. In his book The Road Less Traveled (simply the best personal development book ever written), Dr. Scott Peck said the following: “Delaying gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such a way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with. It is the only decent way to live.” He goes on: “This tool or process of scheduling is learned by most children quite early in life, sometimes as early as age five.” Later he says: “By the age of twelve, some children are already able to sit down without any parental prompting and complete their homework before they watch television. By the age of fifteen or sixteen, such behavior is expected of the adolescent and is considered normal.”

Discipline is learned early. If you want your kids to lead disciplined (NOT austere and rigid) lives, make sure they do their homework first.

In practice, here’s what disciplined adults do: They do WHAT needs to be done, WHEN it needs to be done, THE WAY it needs to be done – EVERY TIME! Discipline, in practice, means delivering on commitments consistently, and success requires both leverage and discipline.

How do you measure up in these two areas? If your answer is “not well,” then dedicate yourself to improvement. The difference in your success and happiness will be substantial.

Understanding important facts about being self-disciplined is the first step to mastering self discipline. Learn these three facts and be one step closer to being the most disciplined person you can be.

Many people in this world have the “Burger King” mentality – have it your way, and have it right now. Everyone wants a nice house, a solid relationship, a great body, and money. They want it all right out of college, and they want to work 20 hours a week to get it. This instant-gratification mentality will lead people down the road to failure. Understanding how the self disciplined live their lives will make it easier to learn how to be self disciplined.

1. The Self Disciplined are Realistic

• Self-disciplined people say no to the have-it-your-way mentality and realize that instant gratification may create a short-term happiness but in the long run will lead to disappointment and failure.
• They have learned that the things they desire won’t come automatically. They have an accurate perception of reality because good things take hard work. Their happiness might be delayed as they work to achieve this goal, but their realistic outlook on life ultimately increases their chances of being happy in the long run.
• They know that to have the success, money, and happiness they desire, they must set goals and be motivated to see those goals through to the end, even if the end is more than a moment away.

2. The Self Disciplined Set Goals

• Self-disciplined people don’t just wander through life expecting to have success and happiness.
• They set goals and are motivated to see those goals through to fruition.
• When setting goals, they first consider what they want to achieve during their lifetime – or at least a minimum of 10 years from the present. Setting these long-term goals helps form a mindset that can be the base of all other decisions.
• They create a list of smaller goals that will help them to reach their lifetime goal.
• They create a daily to-do list that helps them to reach a milestone of their lifetime goal.
• They regularly review their to-do list and plans, to make sure they are consistent with the goals they are striving to reach.

3. The Self Disciplined are Motivated

• Self-disciplined people constantly encourage themselves. They don’t insult themselves or discount their abilities. They talk to themselves with respect, patience, and understanding. This positive attitude keeps them motivated and not discouraged.
• They do not go through the day with a monotone list in their heads of things they have to accomplish. They have passion about what needs to be done, and their enthusiasm motivates them to the end. Just like a football coach wouldn’t mundanely ask his players to win the game, elf-disciplined people motivate themselves with passion and excitement, and that energy gets them moving.
• Self-disciplined people stay motivated by knowing how to feel good even when they are having a bad day. Everyone has days that make them want to crawl into bed and never get out, but disciplined people will motivate themselves by taking control of their thoughts and making themselves happy. They choose to run their brain in a positive way.

Understand the Self Disciplined

By learning three things that self-disciplined people do, it becomes easier to see how to model our own lives so that we too can be self disciplined. Self-disciplined people are realistic and know that success, wealth, and other things people strive for won’t come automatically. They require hard work, self discipline, goal setting, and motivation. Strive to be realistic, set goals, and be motivated to accomplish things, and the self-disciplined lifestyle will bring you the happiness and success you have always dreamed of possessing.

To achieve discipline is one of the hardest battles you can and will face. The fact is to achieve discipline is not easy, If you fall down, the way you will succeed is by getting back up. It takes more than will power. The most successful people are the people who have fallen down the most, but have had fought to get back up each time. This battle can take a life time to achieve but it may be the best thing you can achieve. It is easy to speak words, but it is harder to live by your words. But to get up after a fall is the way you must walk if you are to achieve discipline. You will achieve success, but you have to keep getting up every time you fall.

The greatest battle you might face every day is the battle in your own mind. The toughest fights that you could have are the battles with the thoughts in your own head. To win can only take complete determination, more than just the will to succeed. The battle can be very complicated, and the task very sensitive, but to win, that is the road that you will need to travel. You have to continue to learn from your failures and learn all the lessons well. Only by looking carefully at your mistakes, and working out the corrections is how you will succeed. There is no easy formula, but you will succeed, you just have to keep trying, and keep modifying your plan each time you fail.

Look Inside for Your Source

Your source of strength might not come from outside of you, your strength might only come from within. Words spoken can effect you, so you have to learn to avoid being hit by damaging words and thoughts. You have to develop routines to help you to find the discipline that you need. You will find it, but you will need to search skilfully and carefully, and diligently. This is a battle that you fight in your mind daily, and you will fight it every day of your life. But you will win, keep seeing the picture of your success. Keep working within your mind, the battle is within you, within your own mind. But you will win, keep learning from your mistakes, keep getting up when you fall. You will become more and more skilful, you will learn from your mistakes.

The Lesson From Food

You can only become healthy by eating healthy food, Your mind can only become healthy by having healthy thoughts. You have to find out the food that makes you healthy, in the same way you have to find and develop the thoughts that keep your mind healthy. Life can be a series of test, so continue to learn from each test every day. Just keep learning and developing, you can only get to the light at the end of the tunnel if you keep walking. If you change your out look on a situation, then the situation might change, Discipline could be said to be a set of action steps so keep taking the actions that help you to develop your discipline.

M G A Brown (c) October 2014

Okay, you’ve just distributed what you think is a fantastic activity that will engage all learning styles and groups but there is just one thing – a small group of students isn’t paying attention and already it’s causing a bit of havoc in your classrooms.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Lack of student cooperation can mean many things – sometimes it’s a classroom management issue and sometimes they are tired from running ten track laps. It’s hard for a new teacher to constantly read the cues. But there are a few general areas that can help you prevent issues before they interfere with the classroom and the learning environment.

Modeling and Explaining the Task

Are students self-directed in their work or does it take them a while to settle down and focus? Maybe you need to explain and provide more concrete and visual instructions.

Providing Engaging and Suitable Learning Material

Is the task challenging and motivating for all learner levels and abilities? If not, perhaps you need to differentiate instruction so that all learners are engaged.

Varying the Mode of Interaction

Do you vary the mode of interaction with peer and group work or are all eyes constantly on you? Introduce pair and group work gradually based on small mini tasks that students can do.

Keep tasks short and focused

Avoid prolonging activities. Leave also time for summing up the lesson. Unfinished work can be left for homework or “left-overs” for the next lesson.

Sustain lesson continuity with 1-2 transitions

Transitions can be “Great – you did that very well. Now let’s see how you understand how to work with issue X.”

Remember, successful teaching is largely a performance art at large. Experienced teachers know that they are able to build a teaching presence when they have successfully established their classroom management presence. They then use students’ responses as information to help them plan their lessons.

Dancing is fun and should be enjoyed, but if you are going to get into a serious dance class, I believe that you should understand the essence of discipline.

What is discipline in dancing?

Every kind of dance requires a specific type of discipline. But what’s sad these days is that the upcoming generation seems to have so much energy, talent and enthusiasm for dancing yet fails to keep up because of the discipline?

Discipline in dancing is expected to be taught early on when students are starting their dance classes at the age of 5. And the kind of discipline taught at this age is more of “self- discipline.”Any kind of learning requires this for the obvious reason that nobody would really learn if one doesn’t have this. The age factor is critical when we are talking about discipline in dancing. Kids who are 7 years of age and above usually are hard to control and teach. They already know how to reason out, answer back and intentionally pour out their tantrums.

Having all these as a premise, dancing per se can be one of the effective tools on teaching a child about discipline. Dancing opened up so many doors of opportunity, fun and exploration for all kinds of people, from young to old. Kids enjoy it, adults love it! And even those who are disabled can equally enjoy dancing.

Dancing is a very encouraging activity, whether just for fun, for career, or for motivation. Dancing has its way of making you feel that there’s always hope and that even if you fail, you can always move on and do more next time. For instance, wheelchair dancing, who would even think that this would be enjoyable for those in wheelchairs, it is already tough as it seems. But these people who dance on wheelchairs find so much hope and motivation in this activity. It gives them a feeling of fulfilment, that even though they are disabled, they can still do things that normal people can do. They don’t stop till they finally get it! This shows a lot of discipline in dancing.

What worries most of the dance teachers now a day is the thought that they might bore their students. Present generations aren’t so patient; they want to move on from one thing to another without considering all the important factors of learning. And this specific reality shows the lack of discipline among the young generations. Life poses a lot of boring situations, learning takes time; you cannot rush things and expect best results. Same with dancing, it will take a lot of practice, same routines over and over again, till you master it. If students are not willing to learn according to the normal curve and pattern of learning, they could possibly miss out on the essentials of the topic being taught. Discipline in dancing shouldn’t be something children should fear of, it is something they should understand. Our older generation created a different meaning for discipline; this is why we have this notions and repulsive responses to discipline.

One of the very good things about dancing is that it is very easy to love! Everybody loves music, everybody loves dancing. Dancing builds a good character, brings out a good level of discipline and it makes life a better place to live in!

Life is learned a lot better through learning discipline in dancing!