Student Discipline - Another Way to Support Students & Teachers

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and getting the same results. This is how I felt as a new school principal when I dealt with discipline. Within a few weeks, I could tell you exactly what was going to happen when a discipline issue made its way to my office.

1. Teacher calls down to office about student.
2. Student either comes to office or I escort them to office.
3. Teacher shares what happens and leaves (because they have students in the classroom).
4. Student is upset.

   

   http://www.greatschoolsinwake.org/student-discipline/

5. Student either yells, cries, or goes silent.
6. Student eventually shares what happened.
7. Student and teacher story doesn’t match.
8. I wasn’t there and am now batting cleanup. The need to support the teacher is necessary, yet the student perspective weighs on my heart.
9. Offer a solution that isn’t really going to change behavior. I tried to use natural consequences.
10. I’ve spent anywhere from 15-30 minutes on the said discipline issue.

Sure, the steps may have varied time to time. But, this was the Groundhog’s Day experience.

Somewhere in my second or third year as principal two things made me turn behavior upside down in some cases.

• Teachers give up control when they send a student to the office and loss of respect and trust occur between student and teacher.
• The discipline issue almost always had a broken relationship between teacher and student.

Instead of following the 11 Steps of Madness, I turned the entire process on it’s head. I probably should have warned the first unknowing teacher what I was about to do. But, it came to me as I walked to her room from the office to retrieve a student for their 100^th time (it seemed like it).

I got to the door and the teacher shared all the infractions that said student did. She had him at the door ready to leave. He heard it all and I could see the anger in his face.

I asked the student to wait inside the classroom and asked the teacher to join me just outside the door. Then, the following happened.

• I shared that the only two people who can change the behavior in the classroom is the student and the teacher.
• I will support you (the teacher) in any consequence and even help brainstorm the consequence with you. But, you are going to deliver the consequence to the student.
• But, before the consequence you must spend 10-15 minutes talking with the student to learn his perspective, share your perspective, and get to the root cause of why the behaviors were occurring. The key is for you to listen to his feelings and perspective.
• You need to develop a plan that you can both agree upon.
• While you do this, I will teach your class.

You read the last bullet correctly! I traded spots with the teacher. While she had a conference with the student, I worked with the other 26 students in her classroom. What’s my thinking you are asking right now…

1. I am going to spend 15-30 minutes dealing with the incident and I wasn’t there.
2. The relationship is between the student and the teacher. By her conferencing with the student, the perceived power rests with the teacher and no longer with me. I am now just a “Yes Man”. I support and reiterate the decision of the teacher.
3. The teacher and student work on his/her relationship.
4. I get to work with 26 other students – something we rarely get to do!  I get to build different relationships because many of the students I rarely get to spend time with. Plus, I get to hone my own teaching skills so they don’t get rusty and I get too far removed from the art and science of teaching and learning.

The process worked beautifully. Did it solve all behavior issues? Of course not, but there were far less incidents. I didn’t use it every single time, but I used it frequently enough that we started to see our culture of discipline slowly change. There were less referrals, students were less angry at teachers, and everyone seemed to love what they did a little bit more.

Sure, there was a learning curve for everyone – students, teachers, and me. But, the benefits outweighed the challenges.

Remember, 100% of the students, 100% of the time. Think outside the box. Above all else – be tenacious! 

The Power of Reflection

If you've been an educator you know that more than 1000 decisions are made in a single given day. From instructional design choices to feedback for students, we are in a mentally exhausting position each and every day. Please note mentally exhausting does not mean that we don't love what we do. That's hardly the opposite. To know that we have the ability to impact three generations of family members each year is an opportunity that inspires, challenges, and if we are honest - terrifies - some days or weeks.

Sometime we are challenged in the day to day decisions that we make that we forget to stop and reflect on the actual work we are doing (think of a hamster wheel right now)! it's easy to get caught up in each moment and those moments pile on top of each other. But, a critical piece in making the BEST decision in our classrooms and schools occur when we have spent time in reflection about the work of you - the educator - and our students.

I know you are thinking, "My internal voice is reflecting with me all day long." I get it. But, what I am talking about is a different type of reflection. This is a deep, purposeful reflection on the work that happens in your role as an educator. We need to spend time thinking critical about how our students are learning, and how my voice impacts that learning.

Consider the idea of Friday Reflections to build purposeful reflection in your daily life.

Friday afternoons: Let's face it. End of the day Friday is often the least productive day of the work week for many. So, instead of wasting this time let's put it to good use. Spend 30 minutes every Friday after students leave and journal about how the week went for you. Consider these questions:

1. What went well this week and, why did it go well?
   
2. What did not go well this week, and why did it not go well?
   
3. What one activity assumed the most amount of time for the week, and how did it better the school because of the time spent?
   
4. What are your three goals for next week, and how will you achieve these goals?
   
5. What do you identify as a major obstacle for next week, and how will you manage the expectations for this task?

      Consider keeping a weekly journal as you answer these five questions. What you will find by spending time in personal reflection around these questions is that you feel accomplished about your work week (who doesn't want to feel good?), and you have your priorities set for the next week before you leave for the weekend (a focus for the next week eases anxiety and offers direction). 

      Give it a shot. Commit to the next four Fridays. It could change your outlook and your effectiveness. If nothing else, you give your brain some mental space to breathe! We all need that every now and then! 

      Hint: If you want to keep your responses electronically, consider creating a Google Form (see image). Happy Friday. It's almost time for me to reflect on my week. How about you?