Discipline and Citizenship
In recent years, more schools have chosen to title their program "Make Your Day
Citizenship Program" rather than "Make Your Day Discipline Program." For some
reason, discipline can have a negative connotation as it relates to working with
kids. Years ago, having a classroom or school with good discipline was considered
an attribute. Self-discipline still appears to maintain a universal positive
status. Some individuals get caught up in semantics.
Schools that have used citizenship as part of their title generally focus on
different elements of Make Your Day than those who see it as a discipline model.
In evaluating schools through the years there actually have been some observable
differences between a focus on citizenship and a focus on discipline. Most schools
demonstrate the characteristics of both good citizenship and good discipline.
Some of the following characteristics differentiate these settings.
Students will tell you when the structure of the setting is imposed or owned.
When asking students to regurgitate the rule I always ask them "Whose rule is
it?" When students immediately respond with "It's mine," they own it. These
students can articulate the specific implications of the rule and tend to adhere
to it based on this ownership.
In observing behaviors within the classroom and in the common areas, it is evident
when students are showing compliance based on the presence of adults. When citizenship
is the focus, students seem to have a greater level of understanding and ownership.
Their behaviors appear to be more automatic. Attitudinally, one group shows adherence
and the other a willingness to comply. There's a greater likelihood that the
students who own the structure will generalize limits and apply them without prompts
(steps).
A good discipline model tends to develop effective solutions to behavioral challenges.
A good citizenship model seeks to find, not simply the solution, but the causative
factors and seek a greater focus on therapeutic remedies. Both are effective,
the emphasis is simply different.
Although there are many more characteristics that differentiate citizenship and
discipline, in the interest of time and space, I will address only a couple more
differences at this time. Schools with an emphasis on discipline utilize the
MYD Student Committee as a valuable resource. The schools that focus on citizenship
utilize the MYD Student Committee in the capacity of an authority. The students
are not there simply to give feedback, but have been empowered to make the changes
necessary to create the fairest, most reasonable, logical, and predictable setting. An
additional observable difference between the two approaches is students who appear
well-managed and students who manage themselves.
Next month, I will continue to describe differences between discipline and citizenship.
Points and Concerns: A Tool for Improving Instruction
Many teachers use the process of points and concerns to evaluate and improve
instruction. One teacher who moved from kindergarten to fifth grade wanted to
extinguish cueing - a necessary tool for kindergartners but not appropriate for
fifth graders. She asked her students to share a concern for her during points
and concerns if she cued them rather than honoring their request to take some
time away. Her cueing behavior was eliminated in three weeks and she was appreciative
of her students' efforts to support her as she learned how to work with students
without cueing.
For those teachers who are still uncomfortable with allowing their students to
help them, I would recommend reading an excellent article published by The Council
for Exceptional Children in the March/April 2005 Teaching Exceptional Children, "'I Said That?' How to Improve Your Instructional Behavior in Just 5 Minutes
Per Day Through Data-Based Self-Evaluation." Research has identified self-evaluation as an effective tool for improving
teaching skills. This article describes a step-by-step process to evaluate one's
instruction and how to develop a plan to improve. For example, Tracey estimated
that she praised students 3-4 times within a 5-minute time period; however, when
she listened to the tapes she had made she discovered that she had only used specific
praise one time in six days. The use of objective data collection allowed her
to develop a specific plan to improve in this area.
Either of these techniques will help all teachers improve their skills. Remember:
As long as you're still teaching you're never as good as you're going to be.
Discipline Tips
A Service of The MASTER Teacher (used with permission of The MASTER Teacher)
Positive Preventive Briefing
An effective technique for avoiding discipline problems is the technique of “Positive
Preventive Briefing.”
In such a “briefing,” a teacher offers advice and reminders to students in any
situation in which judgment and experience indicate the possibility exists for
problems.
The objective is to teach acceptable behavior in specific situations when students
might not know exactly what is expected of them.
Do not confuse this technique with the common “teacher warning.”
When briefing students, a positive attitude is maintained, and the teacher approaches
the situation from the standpoint of “what students need to learn—and what they
can expect to happen.” Then the teacher takes positive action to emphasize what
students should do rather than what they should not do.
Discipline Tip of the Week is a free service of The MASTER Teacher. It briefly addresses a proactive discipline technique each week, the majority
of which are philosophically aligned with Make Your Day.
Congratulations to Ann Spratt, Principal
Ann Spratt, Principal of Icicle River Middle School in Leavenworth has been named
2005 Middle Level Principal of the Year for Washington state. The students and
teachers honored her with a huge handmade card and a celebration. The Cascade
School Board honored her at the February 15 meeting. Upon receiving this honor,
Ann made a point of meeting with each class and letting students that they all
had earned this award because it is a collaborative achievement - every person
on campus is responsible for and a recipient of this recognition.
The following excerpts from The Leavenworth Echo, February 23, 2005 are reprinted with permission of The Leavenworth Echo.
"I can't say enough about the job Ann does," said Superintendent Dr. Rob Clark.
"It gives me great pleasure to make this announcement."
Spratt said her achievement would not be possible without the efforts of her
staff. "I have a great staff," said Spratt. "They are devoted, passionate and
smart."
After receiving her award, Spratt gave a detailed presentation on Icicle River
Middle School titled "The Power of Teaming." From paraprofessionals to food service
workers, every staff member is part of a team at Icicle River Middle.
Spratt also touched on the benefits of the Make Your Day Count program in students
taking responsibility for their behavior and learning.
Although, Make Your Day philosphy, principles and components are aligned with
decades of research on schoolwide positive behavior support, there have been many
requests for research specific to Make Your Day. Northwest Regional Educational
Laboratory (NWREL) has been selected to evaluate the impact of Make Your Day at
schools. Michael Coe and Elizabeth Vale will be contacting randomly selected
schools to ask for data and to interview staff in order to prepare an integrated
evaluation report of their findings. We look forward to this objective look at
the program so that we can share the results and make improvements based on their
findings. The expected completion date is January, 2006.
