Wrapping It Up

Many schools report that the greatest successes with MYD have come when teachers are vigilant about implementing and maintaining the structure.  This vigilance generally occurs naturally within the first few months of each school year.  Although I have discussed the need for hyper-focus during the final few months of school, this process may distort the true measures of success that we are seeking for MYD.

If MYD is truly to be considered a successful system for developing student self-control and motivation, there must come a time when we, as teachers, must step back and allow the process to work.  It is important, as a life lesson, for our students to impose limits similar to those we have created in MYD.  The only way that we can determine whether our students have internalized the process is to become observers.

Informal measures that give us this insight would most likely occur in less structured settings within the school.  Hallways, playgrounds, and other common areas, as well as more loosely structured classroom activities allow our students greater opportunities to demonstrate how well they have internalized self-management skills.  Spontaneous acts of kindness, walking away from confrontation, and waiting for points to handle difficulties with peers are some of these informal measures.  If self-assessment during points has become more focused on effort than behavior, our students are "getting it."  If the interaction during concerns is viewed by all as no more than an opportunity to help, then we've all "gotten it."

The last month of school it may be most insightful to interview and observe the students who will soon be leaving our setting to move on to new schools and upper grades.  They have "nothing to lose" and may give us the most honest assessments.  We tend to fear some of these students and might look forward to their exit.  These students should be challenged to leave behind a legacy.

The student committee for the next year should be established at the end of the previous year.  Offering those students an opportunity to consider throughout the summer some of the unsolved issues at the school may help the committee in getting a head-start the following year.  The committee should then be off and running in their first meeting.

And, finally, it is important that staff members be interviewed and polled within the last few weeks of school.  It is at this time when we can evaluate the effectiveness of MYD for teachers (which includes everyone who works on campus).  If the need for modifications is identified through these processes, it gives us all the summer to consider alternatives.  If we wait until the beginning of school to identify these needs, we tend to forget some of the frustrations that were freshest to us the last day of school.

All this being said, it's time to take ourselves less seriously and refresh and renew ourselves throughout the summer as we can only offer our students our best when we have the energy to do so.  Relax and enjoy.  See you next year.