Praising, Scolding, and
Molding:
A Systematic Approach to Discipline
Presenter:
David A. Welch, Principal
Windermere Elementary School
Windermere Intermediate School
P.O. Box 259
2 Abbott Road
Ellington, CT 06029
[email protected]
Workshop Agenda
• Researching and Adopting a Framework
• Building/Maintaining a Positive School
Climate
• Formulating a Plan with Specific Structures
• Setting the Table
• Including All!
• Assessing and Tweaking
• Communicating and Keeping Everyone in the
Loop
Holistic School Behavioral Systems
• PBIS – Positive Behavioral Interventions and
Supports
• Responsive Classroom and Morning Meeting
• Capturing Kids Hearts
• Peaceful Playgrounds
• Compilation of Researched Ideas
All of the above profess positive whole-school
structures, teaching/re-teaching, and consistency
with language, modeling, and proaction.
9 C’s at Achievement Academy
We are committed to the following as a school community:
• Collaboration – decision-making, teaming, and
administrative practices…
• Connections – creating viable and important connections
with ALL students so necessary for any school’s success!
• Communication – timely, consistently to
parents/students/one another/community…
• Credit – embracing positive programming – holistically and
by teams – constant, meaningful, and purposeful!
• Cultural Celebration - cultural awareness, diversity,
sensitivity, understanding, and teaching for all;
• Common Core Concentration – continuity with rigor in and
outside of classrooms.
Positive School Climate
Qualities of
Leadership Award
Principal’s Plus
Coupons
Clean Bean Award
Applause-A-Grams
Tireless Teacher
Award
Prize Para Award
Watch D.O.G.S.
Muffins for
Moms/Doughnuts
for Dads
Volunteer
Breakfast
Positive Programming is Key!
• Al More
• Lunch for a Great Bunch
• Family Tree Bulletin Board
• Surprise Breakfasts/Picnics/Food at Meetings
--------------------------------------------------------------• W.O.W. – Wall of Wonders
• B.U.G. Award – Bring Up a Grade
• Top Table Award
• Web Club – Website Bragging and Communication
• D.U.D.E. Award – Doers of Unusual Deeds of Excellence
• Clean Bean Award
• Weekly Trivia Contest
• Street Signs for Hallways
• Good News Postcards mailed home
• Honor Roll/Parties/Tea
• Displays (Celebration) of Student Works
• Birthday Recognition
• Brag Box Correspondence
TABOO
An Energizer for Consistency w/ Discipline
 Taboo = Inexcusable, utterly unacceptable (expulsion
possible)
 Very Serious = unacceptable and warranting a serious
consequence
 No-No = behavior that may not be considered extreme
but is unacceptable and needs to be addressed
 Uh-Uh = verbal reprimand, perhaps light consequence
based on an adolescent, impulsive, impropriety
Beginning/Modifying/Developing a
Behavior Management System
• Form a DOC (Discipline Oversite Committee) or Climate
Committee;
• Implement positive programming, agreed-upon structures,
whole-school toolbox initiatives, and consistency with day-today operations;
• Adopt a schoolwide data base for climate and behavioral
analysis;
• Arrange for consistency through adoption of holistic plans and
initiatives;
• Collaborate with faculty and agree/compromise on
consequences;
• Implement incremental strategies for teachers/administrators
to utilize – Classroom Guidelines, Team Guidelines , and
Administrative Guidelines;
• Assess, tweak and monitor system in place.
Discipline Over-Site Committee
Components of a comprehensive discipline program
logically include an assessment strategy which
monitors progress and effectiveness. Comprised of
an administrator, one teacher from each team, a
related education teacher, three students, and two
parents this committee is formed to discuss
problems and propose solutions in regard to
discipline. Also, the committee acts as a liaison to
administration for the entire faculty and staff.
Making Connections is Vital!
“ I have come to a frightening conclusion. I am the
decisive element in the classroom. It is my
personal approach that creates the climate. It is
my daily mood that makes the weather. As a
teacher I possess tremendous power to make a
child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of
torture of an instrument of inspiration. I can
humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations
it is my response that decides whether a crisis will
be escalated or de-escalated, and child
humanized or de-humanized.”
-Dr. Haim Ginott, author
Peer Leadership Councils
Peer Leadership is Important!
Create Community
Empower Students
Promote Participation
Prevent Bullying
Infuse Culture of Caring
“Leadership consists not in degrees of
technique but in traits of character.”
The Peer Leadership Program was conceived to
invoke student involvement, holistically, so they feel
part of the educational process rather than dictated to
by adults. Thus, a myriad of councils are established
to have students learn, apply, and demonstrate their
leadership skills according to their own comfort zones
and personal expertise. The councils which will meet
regularly and employ specific skills to various aspects
of school life for students include, but are not limited
to: Peer Mediation Council, Peer Orientation
Council, Principal’s Advisory Council, School
Beautification Council, Cultural Diversity Council,
Peer Tutoring Council, and Special Project’s
Council.
Setting the Table
GOAL: Ensure a safe, secure, and positive learning environment.
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Morning Greetings…from bus to door…outside/inside supervision;
Hallway/Doorway Supervision…teachers greet students at doorway during passing
Behavioral Expectations and Regular Communications
No Double-Indemnity – Never administer verbal or other consequences twice – in other words,
after a student receives a consequence, teachers and/or other adults never “hold it against
them.”
Incentive programs and reminders of them – whole school and on team
Visual Messages – consistent and highlighted and visible in all classrooms
Administrative Discipline Guidelines/Team Discipline Guidelines/Classroom Rules - POSTED
Proactive Programs of Recognitions (i.e. B.U.G. Award, D.U.D.E Award, STARS Award, Peer
Leadership Award)
CTC and Classroom Management Initiatives
Parental Integrations – Shadowing students, Behavioral contracts, Saturday School?, Parent
Evenings, Vacation I.S.S.
Making Good Decisions Cards, Assignments/Tasks, “Warning Phone Calls,” etc.
D.O.C. (Discipline Oversite Committee) – Parent and Student Inclusion
Atmosphere Survey to Students
Keep/Stop/Change process to Faculty
Achievement Academy’s
Student Guidelines for
Making Good Decisions
(Cards)
STEP 1...................Identify the decision to be made.
STEP 2...................Think about the options. Throw out any options that could lead to
trouble. If you're not sure ask yourself:
Is it against the law or school or moral rules?
Is it harmful and/or unsafe to me or to others?
Would it disappoint my family or other important adults?
Is it wrong to do?
Would I be sorry afterward?
Would I be hurt or upset if someone did this to me?
STEP 3.....................Predict the consequences of each
positive option.
STEP 4.....................Choose the best course of action.
STEP 5.....................Do what you decided.
STEP 6.....................Rethink your decision. How did
Critical Thinking Center
(Commonly Referred to as Classroom Time-Out)
We need to be consistent with discipline or it becomes ineffective.
• The concept of the Critical Thinking Center (CTC) is to modify a
student's behavior as well as limit the amount of time a teacher
must utilize to address off-task behaviors. It is unobtrusive and
provides another way in which a de-escalated situation can occur
in a classroom setting. The CTC provides an added dimension of
structure to redirect a student's behavior with minimal classroom
disruption. The CTC is an alternative learning tool to develop a
student's self-awareness and strategy for self-monitoring of
behavior while preserving his/her self-esteem.
• For the purpose of consistency, each classroom should have a
CTC in some area, preferably out of direct eyesight of other
students to prevent a stage for the uncooperative individual. A
CTC affords each student the opportunity to learn from his/her
behavior and to cooperatively develop strategies through analysis
of the behavior. The teacher is a mentor in guiding the student
through critical thinking -- problem-solving steps increase
Achievement Academy CTC Form
1. What behavior got me here? The behavior
that got me here was…
2. How could I have acted differently? I could
have…
3. Next time I will…
Student Support Center – Safe Harbor
Rationale
There are students within a school building who present at-risk behaviors
pertaining to school safety and instructional integrity. System programs to better
manage these problems will create a positive climate, relieve the school office,
ensure confidentiality, enhance public relations, and potentially change
behaviors.
Process
• Receive student sent from class/building areas
• De-escalate
• Process
• Prep for consequences, if necessary
• Re-direct for return to class
• Data Collect and monitor for future
Help Center
Like the Student Support Center, paraprofessionals/tutors/support staff who are
trained in de-escalating angry, frustrated, and/or misbehaving students supervise
this area/room. However, this center is earmarked specifically for special
education students who are finding difficulty in the mainstream and are meeting
with adversity triggered primarily from their individual disabilities. Rather than
punish, this center exists to help students assess and adjust their own behavior
so as to return to the mainstream in a timely fashion.
INTERVENTION TOOLBOX
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Behavioral Expectation Assemblies
Clear and Consistent Communication to Support Staff
Home Communication – phone calls and emails, “Happy Notes” home
Parent Meetings/Conferences
Monthly Town Meetings
Coupons
Homework Extension Coupons
Progress Point Coupons – focused on individual behavior goals
Raffles and Rewards
Team-Building Activities
Weekly Reports/Grade Sheets/Student Contracts
Sign Agendas/Student Planners
L.U.K. (Let Us Know) Boxes
Critical Thinking Center (CTC)– establish and utilize
Team Time Outs
Lunch Detentions
Student Support Center/Help Center
In-School Suspension (administrative)
Mentors – Peer and Adult – (In-School Mentor Program)
One-on-One meetings with students
Parent Observations (Parent visits the classroom)
Community Service
Hot Seats (Students sit in meeting with all teachers)
Peer Mediation
Survey… Staff, Students,
Parents
Please answer the following questions thoughtfully and truthfully. Put a 1,2,3,4, 5 in the
blanks next to each statement. (5 represents always and 1 represents rarely.)
1. I feel safe in this school.
2. I feel successful in this school.
3. I feel that the rules are fair.
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4. I feel that the rules are fairly enforced.
5. I feel safe on the bus or walking home. ____
6. My teachers care for my education.
7. My teachers care for my well being.
8. My education is important to me.
9. I’m enjoying my experience at school. ____
10. People recognize and follow the tenets
of the school behavioral systems.
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Please answer the following questions to help us make school a better place for staff and
students:
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What do you think would create a better learning/living environment for all students at
Achievement Academy?
If you were Principal, what changes/additions would you make at the Achievement
Academy?
What do you like best about Achievement Academy? Least?
In the space below or on the back of this sheet, please write any information that you think
we should consider when thinking of students:
The Secret of Education is Respecting the Pupil
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Education has for its object the formation of
character
-Herbert Spencer, Social Statistician
A young branch takes on all the bends that one
gives it
- Chinese Proverb
Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together
is progress. Working together is success.
-Henry Ford
A hundred years from now, it will not matter what
my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in,
or the kind of car I drove…but the world may be
different because I was important in the life of a
child
-Anonymous Teacher