[etni] Re: [FWD: Classroom rules - enlightening reading
- From: "Henia Deul" <heniadeul@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ask@xxxxxxxx, etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, cindy@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 18:21:57 +0300
**** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org ****
Hi Cindy,
Your enthusiasm aroused my curiosity therefore I searched the Internet for
material on The Essential 55. Below are sites with excerpts from the book
anda review by a teacher who also adapted Clark's Essential 55.
In addition, I added sites with articles and excerpts from books by the
educators Alfie Kohn [Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community] and
Richard Curwin [Discipline with Dignity]. I hope you and others find their
theories enlightening.
Keep in touch,
nbspHenia
http://www.ivillage.com/books/excerpt/spirit/articles/0,,245450_582341,00.htm
'l[1]
"The Essential 55" by Ron Clark - book excerpts
"The Essential 55" by Ron Clark reviewed by Beth Lewis
http://k6educators.about.com/cs/classroommanageme3/a/essential55.htm[2]
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/1996kohn/1996kohntoc.html[3]
Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community
by Alfie Kohn - Introduction and Chapters 2 &10 of book[4]
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/1999curwin/1999curwintoc.html[5]
Discipline with Dignity
by Richard L. Curwin and Allen N. Mendler
- Introducduction and Chapter 1 of the book
http://www.disciplineassociates.com/dwd.htm[6]
Discipline with Dignity - summary of program
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/ditpnts.htm[7]
Discipline Is The Problem --
Not The Solution
By Alfie Kohn
When things in my classroom hit bottom, there were days when I was convinced
that the kids stayed up nights plotting ways to make my life miserable. It
was only later that I realized their disruptions were basically just
intendedto make the time pass faster.
And it was later still before I could admit that I didn't blame them. The
problem wasn't with the students -- it was my curriculum and my reliance on
textbooks, worksheets, and a diet of disconnected facts and skills. Did I
really expect my students to be eager to learn about "Our Friend the
Adverb"?Given these types of assignments, it would have been amazing if they
hadn't acted up.
Of course, most articles on disciplining students would brush aside such
reflections. Instead, they'd remind me that it's my right to demand that the
students act "appropriately" -- which is to say, do whatever I tell them.
They'd offer an assortment of tricks to get the students to comply with my
wishes. In fact, the whole field of classroom management amounts to
techniques for manipulating students' behavior.
This is awfully convenient for teachers because it takes for granted that
thefault lies completely with the children. But consider:
* Maybe when there's a problem, we should focus not only on the child who
doesn't do what he's asked, but also on what he's being asked to do (and how
reasonable it is).
* Maybe when a student is off task, the right question to ask isn't "How do
Iget him back on?" but "What's the task?"
* Maybe when a student does something inappropriate, we should look at the
climate of the classroom that we have helped to create.
Working with students to build a safe, caring community takes time,
patience,and skill. It's no surprise, then, that discipline programs fall
back on what's easy: punishments ("consequences") and rewards.
Do they work? Yes and no. Threats and bribes can buy a short-term change in
behavior, but they can never help kids develop a commitment to positive
values. In a consequence-based classroom, students are led to ask, "What
doesshe want me to do, and what happens to me if I don't do it?" In a
reward-based classroom, they're led to ask, "What does she want me to do,
andwhat do I get for doing it?"
Notice how similar these two questions are. Rewards and punishments are
really two sides of the same coin. And notice how different either one is
from what we'd like children to be thinking about: "What kind of person do I
want to be?" or "What kind of classroom do we want to have?"
To help kids engage in such reflection, we have to work with them rather
thandoing things to them. We have to bring them in on the process of making
decisions about their learning and their lives together in the classroom.
Children learn to make good choices by having the chance to choose, not by
following directions.
Suppose it's been taking a long time for your class to get settled after
returning from lunch. What are your options? You could threaten to take away
a privilege or humiliate the slowest kids. You could dangle the equivalent
ofa doggie biscuit in front of the class if things improve tomorrow. Or you
could set up one child as an example to manipulate the behavior of everyone
else ("I like the way Doreen is taking her seat so quickly!").
All of these "doing to" strategies are about demanding obedience, not about
helping kids think their way through a problem -- or pondering why what's
happening might even be a problem in the first place. As a result, the need
for discipline and control never ends.
But what if you engaged the students in thinking for themselves?: How long
isit taking us to get settled? Why? What can we do about that? This approach
saves time in the long run, reduces the number of problems, and ultimately
gets kids started thinking their way through their problems.
Each time I visit such a classroom, where the teacher is more interested in
creating a democratic community than in maintaining her position of
authority, I'm convinced all over again that moving away from consequences
and rewards isn't just realistic -- it's the best way to help kids grow into
good learners and good people.
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/edweek/discipline.htm[8]
Gradually, though, I began to wonder whether even this was the last word.
Rewards and punishments are instruments for controlling people, and the real
problem, I began to suspect, was the belief that the teacher should be in
control of the classroom. If all these discipline programs disappeared
tomorrow, a new one would pop up like the next Kleenex in the box if
teacherswere determined (or pressured) to remain in control and needed
methods for making sure that happened.
The students weren't trying to make my life miserable; they were trying
to make the time pass faster. This recognition offered a fresh way of
lookingat my own experiences as a classroom teacher, and at what I had seen
in countless classrooms over the last few years. Students are far less
likelyto act aggressively, intrusively, or obnoxiously in places where the
teacher is not concerned with being in charge--and, indeed, is not
particularly interested in classroom-management techniques. I realized that
the discipline problems I had experienced with some of my own classes were
not a function of children who were insufficiently controlled but of a
curriculum that was insufficiently engaging. (The students weren't trying to
make my life miserable; they were trying to make the time pass faster.) It
occurred to me that books on disc ipline almost never raise the possibility
that when a student doesn't do what he is told, the problem may be with what
he has been told to do--or to learn.
Of course, none of this would make sense to someone who believed the only
alternative to control was chaos. Even if such a teacher found continuing
problems in a strictly controlled classroom--especially when she was
absent--that might lead her to blame the students and to answer with more
discipline, tougher consequences, tighter regulation. And the worse things
got, the more "unrealistic" it would seem to her to give up control, the
lesslikely that she would consider bringing the students in on the process
ofthinking about the kind of classroom that they would like to have, and how
to make that happen.
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/wtlfiacchart.htm[9]
GOOD SIGNS
POSSIBLE REASONS TO WORRY
>From: ask@xxxxxxxx >Reply-To: ask@xxxxxxxx >To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject:[etni] [FWD: Classroom rules - Questions] >Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004
01:21:33 -0700 >>**** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il
http://www.etni.org **** >>> -------- Original Message -------- >
Subject: Fwd: Classroom rules - Questions > From: "cindy komet"
<cindy@xxxxxxxxxxx> >>Hi Daniel, >The best idea I can share is this: Make a
list of rules that YOU can >live with. Pay attention to things that are
important to you. Enforce >these rules UNTIL... Until what? Until the kids
get them and know that >you are serious about them. Then you can start
getting lenient - even >very lenient, but the kids still see you as strict.
>>Consistency is the key to good discipline. If kids know what you expect
>>from them, they will behave appropriately (or suffer the consequences).
>Another important thing to consider is that the rules must suit the
>population. Find out from other teachers at your new school what the
>typical discipline problems are and then think of what you have to do to
>>prevent them from happening. >Last but not least, read the book: The
Essential 55 by Clark. The book >is great, not only because of the rules,
butbecause of the rational >behind each rule. Mr. Clark knows why he has
each particular rule and >why it is important. You should know too. >Enough
said. >>Cindy >>>##### To send a message to the ETNI list email:
etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ##### >##### Send queries and questions to:
ask@xxxxxxxx #####
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--- Links ---
1
http://www.ivillage.com/books/excerpt/spirit/articles/0,,245450_582341,00.html
2 http://k6educators.about.com/cs/classroommanageme3/a/essential55.htm
3 http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/1996kohn/1996kohntoc.html
4 http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/wtlfiacchart.htm
5 http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/1999curwin/1999curwintoc.html
6 http://www.disciplineassociates.com/dwd.htm
7 http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/ditpnts.htm
8 http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/edweek/discipline.htm
9 http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/wtlfiacchart.htm
10 http://g.msn.com/8HMBENUS/2731??PS=47575
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