Great discussions again today. I know it gets a little off the topic from to time to time but it still is meaningful. And besides, not one of you is on a steady diet of government cheese living in a van down by the river. Seriously, one of the areas I liked from this morning was when we discussed what we would like to work on for next year. The idea of using a sign in sheet to manage tardies was excellent...thank you Matt.
1. Our first prompt will relate to the Glasser presentation (Noncoercive Discipline). Explain any merits of this system (teacher dispositions, approaches to misbehavior) that might have potential for your classrooms. You may weigh his pre-1985 arguments or post 85 arguments or both.
2. Sarah did a nice job discussion the merits and concerns of the classroom meeting. My question is this...if we don't go the road of classroom meetings...how do you communicate and teach your management system? Are the foundations of your system written down in a syllabus or other document? If you use a web page...are they posted in this space? Do you model them for clarity? Are there any creative ways of doing this?
3. We had an ethics discussion out of Warren's presentation about winners and losers. This partially stemmed from the Gordon position on how we might perceive a misbehavior. Have you ever had an experience in which a positive emerged from a misbehavior. In other words, you witnessed student growth or progress that stemmed from a misbehavior. Please don't give rich detail about the the incident...rather tell us what interventions occurred to foster any growth. These interventions may be the result of your actions, the actions of an administrator or counselor, parents, student peers...
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1. Glasser's theory reminded me of the basic needs concept that I can't say is always in the forefront when I'm in the trenches of classroom management. I mean, how many of us say something like this, "I am very distracted by the extra talking going on right now, and oh by the way, did you have a good breakfast?" Or, "Are you getting out of your seat because you are hungry?" I know we all consider those basic needs, but maybe not when we are deciding what type of classroom management we are going to attempt.
We are all also in the same boat when it comes to depth of curriculum. I know there are many subject areas that I would love to pick and choose the areas that are usefull to my students. Unfortunately, our hands are somewhat tied and we are forced to stretch or words when attempting to describe how students can relate to the subject/topic.
2. As I've said, I spend the first 2 weeks creating the routines and procedures that promote success in my classroom. I have no academic goals during that time (although some things are reviewed and introduced). All of the expectations and procedures are made into posters/graphic organizers and posted in the room. I can't say that I have much scholarship to back up my theory other than, "it works for me!"
So I guess I kind of do the classroom meeting more so than most. It does not continue throughout the school to the same degree as during those first weeks. We do return to the posters/G.Os. and review the expectations and procedures regularly through the year. I do think this has merit for me, but certainly could never dedicate that amount of time during the entire school year. I also have most of the key concepts on a flip chart that I can hand to students who are new or have a hard time remembering from time to time.
3. I don't know that I have a good example for this, but...
I had a boy about 7-8 years ago that was very discouraged about school. He wasn't a good reader and struggled with just about every subject. He was frustrated as well because his older brother was just a wiz at everything. He started to "misbehaive" on a very small scale and he and I had many discussions about it. He wanted to be good at things and just couldn't make it work. His parents and I talked...alot...and decided to have evaluated for learning support. Turns out he was mildly dyslexic. Well, after we figured that out and he learned how to cope with it, he did get good at things. In fact, I just saw that he won the Junior of the year award at the end of the school year and is involved a whole bunch of community orgainizations.
So, if he would not have misbehavied, he probably wouldn't have received the help that he did as early as he did. It may have taken him a few more years to get that help and who knows what attitude he would have had toward school by then.
1.I personally like Glasser's approach to discipline because I agree that students respond better to noncoercive approaches. Focusing on meeting students’ basic needs is a great suggestion because it helps us remember that we are teaching individuals with needs and not just trying to teach the content. I appreciate that Glasser focuses on the responsibility of the student to make good choices, but also provides important suggestions for teachers to accommodate the students. Regarding the warm, supportive classroom climate, I agree that providing this atmosphere to students makes the learning experience more enjoyable and hopefully more effective for students.
2.On the first day of the 15-day class that I teach each quarter, I explain my rules and expectations to students. The rules are clearly explained and include being respectful, getting to class on time, raising hands to talk, no side conversations, participating, etc. I assign up to 10 points for the daily assignment and I assign up to 5 points for their participation and following the class rules (up to 15 points per day total). On the second day of class, I briefly cover the rules and expectations again and then personally go over the rules with any absent students. I’ve been really impressed with the students’ behaviors in guidance class and have only had 2 students in 2 years show up to class after the bell rang.
3.Something that comes to mind is a situation with a student that outright refused to do any work for a teacher. The student talked back to the teacher, refused to do work, would crumple the papers, and just sit at the desk and stare after refusing. After a few situations like this followed by administrative discipline, the student continued to refuse and misbehave. I met with the student a few times to just “calm down”, relax, and even walk up and down the halls. After brief conversation (about other topics), the student started to open up and reveal personal things, academic frustrations, and there was definitely underlying themes of learned helplessness and hopeless feelings. Interventions that we tried were things like allowing him to go for a drink or go for a short walk when frustrated, allowing him to visit guidance, earning an ice cream pass, etc. The student also met with me and we called mom together to talk about concerns. Mom ended up getting the student into counseling and I’ve heard that the student is now completing assignments and is no longer causing behavior problems. With teachers, admin, guidance, and family working together and creatively designing interventions, this student made real progress.
#1 - I found a lot of valuable possibilities in Glasser’s research. There were aspects from each of the main four concepts that Denise reviewed with us that I see as fitting together. Under Basic Needs, students need to have fun. Under Quality Curriculum, content should be up-to-date and meaningful. Under Quality Teaching, activities should be interesting and meaningful to students. Finally, under Lead rather than Boss, teachers need to encourage students by making curriculum interesting through an active and engaging learning environment. I found these small aspects from each heading related to a course I took last week called Meaningful Activities to Generate Interesting Classrooms (MAGIC). The main premise of that course was that through careful and creative lesson planning, students will be more involved in learning both content and life skills and spend less time goofing off, sleeping, talking, etc. Perhaps the concept of that course was designed with Glasser’s principles in mind. I am very motivated to try ideas from that course in my class this year. Now, as I take this course, I’m even more excited because research by many different individuals, particularly Glasser, seem to back up the theories from MAGIC. Although a majority of my lessons are hands-on by nature in the art class, there are still occasions when students misbehave. Usually these students have no interest in art, are embarrassed by their skills, or see no value in the content as it relates to their lives. I definitely want to work on the aspects of Glasser’s principles that I mention above in class this year. If I can show kids that art is fun and has meaning, my hope is that they will want to create art rather than mischief in the classroom.
#2 Because this was my presentation, I had already given this some thought. I really like the idea of students taking ownership of their poor behaviors and fixing these behaviors rather than punishing them. I did not like the classroom meeting concept at all for the reasons we discussed today. I would love to have students brainstorm solutions to misbehaviors, although I’m not sure I’m ready for them to determine the class rules just yet…only the solutions (our new word for consequences). Having experience in the art room, I can better anticipate the misbehaviors that might come up better than they can. This year, I would like to try giving them my rules and either modeling the correct behavior or have the students role-play the correct and/or incorrect behaviors at the start of the year. In each case, I would then have students come up with a list of solutions to each problem. I would post these solutions around the room for students to see everyday. When misbehavior occurs, I can respectfully remind them that this is the solution you and your class determined for the behavior. If the poor behavior continues, I would then ask the student to individually come up with a different solution and follow through by calling the parents to get them on board (hopefully) as well. Finally, if the whole class seems to be breaking down or just as a halfway through the course reminder, I might have another brief “meeting” to refresh their memories on the classroom expectations and the solutions the students devised should they not be met.
#3 didn't fit...here it is:
#3 Ummmm…this one is tricky. I can remember a kid who just wouldn’t stay in his assigned seat. He was very nice, very polite, very outgoing, and very talkative. He was always out of his seat talking to everyone in class! I knew the best approach with him would be what he did best…talking. I used proximity and stayed close to his table. I would try to engage him in conversation frequently so that he would stay in his seat and work on his art project. When he would get up, I always asked him if he was running for mayor. He would laugh and I would say I need you to work on your art now. There was never a power struggle or yelling. I tried to build a good relationship and show mutual respect. I can’t say he ever completely stopped getting out of his seat, but it was much less frequent by the end of the year. I think the calm approach to solving the problem, along with praise when he was working as expected did the trick.
1. It seems like most of us are incorporating some Glasser style non-coercive discipline in our classes. Most of us seem to be using humor and allowing our students some choices in certain situations. I do think that when a discipline case arises that we may want to keep in the back of our heads that some students may not have enough food or may not be free from harm. This may affect the way we deal with them.
I like some of Glasser's ideas about being a lead teacher. I think that we should be trying to make our classrooms as interesting as possible. As a science teacher I try to maximize experiments, demonstrations, group activities as much as possible. It is more work but I think it is well worth it.
2. I think that much of what we cover the first few days of school (class rules/expectations) can be done in a meeting like format. Rules can be written down, handed out to each student, reviewed, and taken home for parents to sign. Periodic meetings can be held to refresh everyone's memory about what the rules are if necessary. Should an important situation come up that needs discussing a class meeting would be fine. We team teach at Palmyra middle school and do this type of thing (have an entire team meeting) if an important situation or problem that concerns everyone comes up.
3. I've only been teaching for two years and have only had an indirect experience like this. In the district where I worked before Palmyra I had a student in my class who was on parole because the year before he had smashed a foster sibling over the head with a heavy object. He had also been a problem in school. I received special paper work on him because he had been violent. Something clicked inside of him somewhere because in my class he was quiet, polite, incredibly helpful and a solid B plus student. I absolutely loved him. At the end of the year he received an academic award for improvement. It was a joy to see.
1. I like the idea that the work would become valuable to the students. I am always stressing in art class that it is not the end product that is always the most important thing, but the process. Taking pride in putting effort into something. Quality being more important than quantity. These are ideas that I try to emphasize to students when they are creating their projects. It becomes very difficult in a world of “instant gratification”. It is hard sometimes to convince kids that there is value to completing a project by hand even if it can be done on the computer. I think the general disposition of the teacher “leading” rather than “bossing” is effective in the art room. Most art teachers when overseeing projects won’t tell the students what to do, but propose guidelines and/or a problem to solve within the project and see where it takes the students and how they decide to run with an idea, particularly in the higher grades when the art students want to be more expressive. So, I can see the value in being consistent with this approach when dealing with discipline issues, as well.
2. In my classroom, I am at an advantage. I see all the students, and I see them every year. I begin implementing age appropriate rules in Kindergarten and continue to build on them throughout 5th grade. By the time they are in 5th grade, they know all my rules and what behavior is expected. If there is something that isn’t working well, I can start a new year by saying, you know how we did this last year? Well this year we are going to do it just a little different, or something like that, but Kindergarten will do it the new way from the start. It is definitely an advantage to have that consistency. I don’t focus on the rules in my classroom. With nature of what I do, I have few behavior problems, and the ones I do have usually aren’t major. The biggest behavior problems I have are the inclusion students who have disabilities or sever autism, etc. I will take time out of my first class of the year to review rules and what is expected. I do have a list of rules that I hang. As the need arises, I might review particular rules. For example, If we are working with pencils and erasers, I might review the “take care of your materials” rule, stating specifically how it would apply to that lesson. I might say that I don’t want to see anyone poking pencils into the erasers and remember to sharpen pencils when I am finished talking, not during. We do have a school-wide practice that works like a charm for quieting the students down. It is a special clap. When students hear that clap, they immediately quiet down and clap the rhythm back. You might have guessed it was started by the Music teacher!
3. I don’t know about positives emerging from negatives, but I have had instances where giving a detention helped cut back chronic misbehavior from students. Once in a while I get students that just don’t seem themselves and I report that, but I really don’t know much about the follow-up that goes on with that. I do pay particular attention to special needs kids who have emotional problems. I have had defiance issues and strange behavior where the guidance counselor came down to observe and/or remove students. I’ve had students draw devil faces on portraits, and take clay from my class and that sort of thing, that resulted in a talk from the teacher or principal and they had to come back to apologize. I have a couple of students who draw really bizarre, bloody and/or scary stuff when I let them choose subject matter or free draw. When this happens, I take it right to the guidance counselor. Usually the student is one they already know about and are keeping an eye on and documenting. So they are happy for my input. We are constantly being asked for input from our guidance counselor since we see the students all the time. So I don’t know that I saw changes, or helped foster growth, but it did help the guidance counselor in their process of evaluating behavior to know how they are doing in different classroom situations. On a positive note, many times the guidance counselor will e-mail me about students and I can tell her that they are a great student and really love art class and are doing well. This might be an area where a student can shine. The special teachers, learning support teachers, nurse, and guidance counselor have quarterly meetings and discuss students with IEP’S or other problems.
#1 Glasser…. Glasser’s thoughts on giving students in-depth information about topics they recognize as being useful or relevant in their lives, could be seen in Technology Education Department. (Shops) Giving some of the kinesthetic students the skills they can use right away should make it more relevant. By relating the skills to a potential career, such as a carpenter’s hourly wages, should peak their interest.
#2 Classroom Meetings….. I could see myself using a classroom meeting in the beginning of the year. The rules would be handed out and posted in the room. When broken, they would be reviewed.
#3 still thinking about this one!
1. I like the point made about revising out dated curriculum/lessons. I take a look at my lessons from year to year and decide what worked well and what needs something added or just needs to be thrown out! Often when I hear other teachers complain about a student's behavior, it is a teacher who I feel might not change their lessons enough and the students are bored in their class. At the beginning of the year I have the students write down things that other teachers have done in class that they would like to try in my class. I try to incorporate the ones that many students enjoyed in other rooms.
This year I will try to give the students more chances to make decisions and be a lead teacher rather than a boss teacher. I want to get better at teaching the students how to evaluate their own work and actions.
2. I truly wish I could utilize the classroom meetings, but we really don't have enough time in the 49 min period :( Like many of you, I take the first few days to have the students establish rules that are then posted in the room, I model good and bad behaviors, I explain the school wide and classroom expectations, go over procedure, and allow the students to ask questions about anything they heard/saw. Nothing too exciting here, but they do feel special when I ask them which rules we should have. The expectations are also written in the syllabus that gets signed my parent and student.
3. I feel that I have a good relationship with my students that they trust me when I say they all start with a clean slate each class and that I truly am there to help them and I don't want them to fail. I had a student my 1st year that was in a low math class with 4-6 other behavior problems :( It was a tough year, he was usually misbehaving because he didn't have the basic math skills needed, and I always tried to help him. He failed my math class but I found out that when he got to 7th grade and was again having math troubles he was asked who he got along with best in the school and would like to have tutor him...he said my name and the counselor said that was the only time during the conversation that she saw him relax :) made me feel special, and I let my kids know that I will not give up on them!
#1 Quality of work and relating the instruction to real life. I really connected to these two areas during the presentation. I would rather learn or teach four concepts to their fullest extent, then to glaze over eight or ten concepts that will not be remembered.I also attempt to relate the material as much as possible to real life and and show the curriculum connection. The students will buy into the class if this is achieved.
#2 I agree with Sarah and Donna in that I believe that things can be dealt with at the beginning of the year with a letter or statement of fact and some role modeling. this can be sent home and after this point I expect that the students take ownership of the class and the role they will play in it. This will teach the numerous skills which will serve them throughout life.
#3This one goes along with the idea of getting material at the end of the year fro the custodians. One of the students was really mean spirited to other students and seemed ill prepared for any of the assignments. The students took notice of this and whispered behind their back. This only made matter worse and would result in anger and outburst. I finally called the student over and started to get to the root of the problem and found out that he did not have the money to buy all the supplies and materials for class. He felt ashamed and lashed out at the students who made fun of him.I had gathered alot of supplies for the supply room and from the custodians at the end of the year. I told him to come back at the end of the day and let him take anything he wanted. He looked like a "child at Christmas". I gave him a bag to take it home and told him that if he need any more supplies to please come and talk to me. Once he came in a couple of days with the supplies,not only did his attitude change but also the attitude of other toward him. So today I still try to do this as we said today in class at the end of the year. Sometimes I think I get more out of it than the students do.
#3…on one of my last days substituting, I had a group of students pull a stunt on me at then end of the period. Per my instructions, I wrote them up for the regular teacher to discipline them. My next period, I was to fill for a gym class and one of those same students was also there. He came up to me and asked if I hated him. I was able to show him, this period was a clean slate. He was a completely different student in gym class.
Sorry for the delay of this post, I was having internet difficulty.
1. I agree with Glasser in that misbehavior is often caused when the needs of students are not met. While I know student needs are tied to discipline, they are not always in the front of my mind when I am managing my classroom, because my school, (like many others) has programs in place to address those needs. Like Warren, the first thought in my head isn’t “I wonder where he slept last night” or “ I wonder if he had breakfast” Unless, the cause of the problem is obvious or the offense is habitual, I chalk it up to the student having a bad day. Often the student doesn’t even know the cause of their behavior, so me playing “Guess the Problem” isn’t going to help. Even if I did try to guess the problem the student may admit to a false issue just to lure me away from the real concern. I agree with the theory of the team meeting, but in the average school setting (especially middle and high school), is logistically impossible because it devotes a large amount of instruction time to meetings and the make up of classes changes throughout the day. Also, Glasser’s plan relies heavily on the teacher as a counselor, which puts a lot of added pressure on the teacher and may put them in a situation where they may not be the best qualified individual for the job.
2. I do not openly “teach” my rules. I discuss the rules on the first day and give
students a hard copy to review and take home to get signed by a parent. I also
have my syllabus prominently displayed on my website. If there are any issues or
changes to my policies, I e-mail parents. I do provide a slight grace period
(usually the first cycle) for some rules which are unique to my room or new to
freshmen. During the grace period, I give warnings, but not consequences for
infraction I deem to be caused by ignorance.
3. The most recent incident that turned positive occurred this past semester. I
discovered that a 15-year old student of mine was telling classmates that she was pregnant at the hands of her 19 year old boyfriend and that she feared for her safety from her parents and her boyfriend. Due the legal implications of the situation, I immediately went to administration. They quickly got a statement from me, investigated the claim, notified the police, and called her parents for an emergency meeting. Thankfully the claims turned out to be completely false and the student was just trying to appear “mature” to her classmates. While the situation was stressful, it ended positively because it educated the parents to the needs and struggles of their daughter and caused them to get her some help from the counseling department.
Denise’s Essential Question for 7/31:
EQ: What classroom management approaches are the most likely to be effective for students with continual, ongoing behavioral problems in my school?
Answer: Utilizing a combination of the “big ideas” from various classroom discipline models that are consistent with my personal and professional beliefs about the role of the school, the purpose of discipline, and the most ethical and effective methods. This workshop has truly helped me identify effective strategies for assisting students with behavioral and/or motivational problems. For the rest of the summer, I’m going to review my class notes and organize some of the concepts and ideas that I’ll start using this fall. Some of my favorites for preventative & supportive discipline are: focusing on the importance of dignity and building hope (Curwin & Mendler), teaching students the definition of and strategies for building their own Inner Discipline (Coloruso), removing the pressure and forcefulness of making students do work, just because (Glasser, Kohn, and others), clearly outlining rules & consequences (Canter), being aware of my own body language and reducing wasted time (Jones), and avoiding the use of communication roadblocks (Gordon).
I also liked these strategies shared by others in the class or ideas that popped into my mind while brainstorming: having a late to class sign-in notebook, reading a little bit from a chapter book at the beginning of each class, having students start class with a warm-up activity, helping students by allowing them to experience natural consequences more often than giving rewards, etc.
Thanks everyone! I learned a lot from our class experience together! Denise
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