Discipline for Smart People    

Sometimes what we want others to do so focuses our attention that our actions become counterproductive.

You will find this worth reading to truly understand the significance of this truth. It is from a post on the Mailring.

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Hello, everybody. I feel a little frustrated and would like some words of wisdom or support.

INCIDENT #1:
I was pleased to be asked to speak to a group of new teachers on the nature of motivation. I printed out an article by Marvin Marshall and articles by Ryan and Deci. My principal has been impressed and intrigued by my philosophy and approach, which he sees as successful.

The very next day there was a Veteran’s Day assembly for the entire school. In between musical numbers, the principal would call on kids to answer questions, such as which are the branches of the military? At the next interlude, he would ask who remembered whatever he had asked before. When a child answered his question correctly, he made a big deal out of sending the student across the gym to an assistant who was holding a big bag of candy. My heart sank. I felt like my whole talk was completely invalidated in front of all those new teachers who had heard me the day before.

INCIDENT #2:
I have had many conversations with our school counselor about Discipline Without Stress and its applications in my classroom. She admires my approach and more than once has said that I should do staff development for the whole school. (She’s also recommended this to the administration.) She said she considers me the behavior expert at the school—not herself. Well, she pulled me into her office on Thursday and said she and the principal are excited about a new plan they’re putting together. She held up a “positive behavior card” which they want the children to wear around their necks on a lanyard. The teachers would carry around a hole puncher, and when we have “caught them being good,” we would punch a hole in the card.

After 10 punches, they would get a prize, and they would also get to take the card home to show their parents how well they were doing.

This counselor is very sweet, very sensitive, and one of my biggest supporters, so I did not want to hurt her feelings. I said, “Well, you are right; it’s not my kind of thing.” She said, “But there are lots and lots of research that proves that some kids need this kind of thing!” I said, “Yes, and there is research on the opposite side, too.”

Then I said, “Look, you already know my philosophy and how I feel about this kind of thing. I don’t expect anyone else to adopt my views. I’m not criticizing you if you want to do this, but I just don’t want to have to do it.” She said the principal wants everyone to do the same thing, so the kids wouldn’t be “confused” by different things each school year.

I countered that kids naturally learn multiple sets of rules/procedures, e.g., at mom’s house versus dad’s house, parents’ house vs. grandparents’ house, Sunday school vs. baseball practice—and that no matter how people try to standardize procedures and practices, all teachers are different and children always have to learn their different teaching styles, personalities, etc.—which they have no trouble doing.

Nevertheless, later that day we received a note in our boxes asking for our classroom rules, consequences and “rewards.” She and the principal plan to cull through what we report and make ONE system for us all to consistently follow. I typed up a three-page single-spaced reply explaining my philosophy and procedures.

A lot of this is driven by the fact that our state department of education is promoting “Positive Behavior Support,” a method originally designed to deal with the most difficult special education students. It is straight-out behavior modification stuff. The hole-punched card is a perfect example. And since this has Department of Public Instruction approval, it must be right!

So the irony is, that even though they both admire what I do and see it working, they would have me abandon it to “catch kids being good” and start trips to the prize box. It makes me sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The concept that is so simple and yet so significant: PUT PEOPLE AHEAD OF THE IDEAS to which you are committed.

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Posted In: Increasing Effectiveness On: August 31, 2008: 2:01 pm: By Marvin Marshall

While strolling and listening to the following story, I requested the storyteller send it to me so that I could share it using her own words. For obvious reasons, the author of the letter requested anonymity.

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After six years of using the Raise Responsibility System in our home, we had an amazing incident with our fifteen-and a-half-year-old son.

We live on a very large piece of property and my husband was preparing our son for driving by allowing him to drive the firewood truck from one area to another under his guidance and supervision. He would also allow him to move our vehicles around in the driveway. The expectation was always the same. This was a privilege and only possible when my husband was in the vehicle. One day while we were at work, my son decided to drive the car up and down the driveway. Of course, the neighbors reported this to us the moment we arrived home. We were very disappointed. My husband grounded him for two weeks.

My son came to me and said, “I thought we didn’t handle things this way anymore? Being grounded has nothing to do with what I did and I won’t learn anything from it. I think that I shouldn’t be allowed to get my learners permit on my birthday. I should have to wait an extra month. I was not responsible about driving and the consequence should be related to that.”

I told him that this was between him and his dad and that he would have to discuss it with him.

They both agreed that this was a more acceptable solution. His birthday was five months away. When his birthday arrived, he did not mention his learner’s permit. One month later he announced that it was time to go to the licensing office.

The best part of this story is that he assumed full responsibility for his behavior. We did not have to suffer through two weeks of grounding and he never drove the car again unattended.

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Posted In: Promoting Responsibility On: August 30, 2008: 3:02 pm: By Marvin Marshall

Everett McKinley Dirksen (1896 - 1969) was a U.S. Congressman and Senator from Illinois. As a Senate leader he played a highly visible role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and played the decisive role in its passage. The Dirksen Senate Office Building was named after him.

One of my favorite quotes is attributed to Everett Dirksen, viz., “I am a man of principle and my first principle is the ability to change my mind.”

So it is with me when I decided to emphasize “discipline” in my newsletters. A few comments influenced me to return to my original emphasis on “responsibility”:

1) Harry Wong, who reminded me that my mission is to promote responsibility.

2) Steve Sroka, who said to me, “Responsibility connotes action from INSIDE, and discipline usually connotes someone else’s action to someone else—from the OUTSIDE .”

3) Kerry Weisner’s approach that NEVER refers to “DISCIPLINE.” Rather, she thinks of the hierarchy of the RAISE RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM (Part III of the Discipline Without Stress Teaching Model) as an OPPORTUNITY for young people to have a reference or rubric for making decisions in life

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Posted In: Promoting Responsibility On: August 29, 2008: 3:24 pm: By Marvin Marshall

Most of the extrinsic school rewards are of little motivational value to students who fail or fall behind.

Once children have a year or two of struggle in primary grades, once they feel and know for themselves that they are “behind,” they resign themselves to lower status and acquire a defeatist attitude.

The stickers, teacher approval, honor roll, family (and extended family) encouragement become less frequent, less meaningful, less sincere, and less valued. Even peer approval and acceptance begins to wane. Meanwhile, learning becomes more of an effort with fewer rewards and more discouragement, more negativism, more privileges withheld, and more on the punishment end of the reward-punishment continuum.

–Bill Page, “At-Risk Students: Feeling Their Pain,
Understanding Their Plight, Accepting Their Defensive Ploys”
pp. 49-50, Copyright 2006. http://www.teacherteacher.com.

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Posted In: Promoting Learning On: August 28, 2008: 7:51 pm: By Marvin Marshall

Dear Dr. Marshall,

I am the mother of 7 children working on my counseling degree. I spent the last school year as an intern at both an elementary and middle school. It opened my eyes as to why children become disruptive. Punitive teachers ratchet up the anxiety and hostility. Reading your book has shed further light on what does works and why.

Thank you for writing such an inspirational book.

Susan Reeve
Tabernacle, NJ

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Posted In: Discipline without Stress On: August 24, 2008: 9:23 am: By Marvin Marshall

QUESTION:
I am a kindergarten teacher in Spokane Valley, Washington. My colleagues and I have adopted your behavior plan. We are having some difficulties getting kindergartners to value the importance of intrinsic motivation. They’ll tell me they are showing level A or B behavior, and they’ll even do a reflection to focus on better choices and better behavior; then before I know it, they have repeated showing A or B behavior.

Can we really expect ALL children (kindergartners) to understand and abide by these 4 levels without ANY rewards?

RESPONSE:
The answer is, YES, but you start by differentiating between ACCEPTABLE levels and UNACCEPTABLE levels. See the posters and cards at impulse management.

Also, and—this is critical—be sure you have taught, practiced, and practiced again EVERYTHING you want your students to do. A MAJOR ERROR EVEN EXPERIENCED TEACHERS MAKE is ASSUMING that students, of any age, know what to do without first learning, practicing, and ritualizing the procedure or skill.

Once STUDENTS (especially young ones) HAVE LEARNED what YOU want them to do, they will want to do it. Learning for them is fun. If you are POSITIVE with your kids, they will like you and will want to please you. Boys and girls have a natural desire to please their teachers (level C-external motivation). They will readily do what you ask them to do—if they know HOW to do it.

Once young students have learned what you have taught, many will TAKE THE INITIATIVE to do exactly what you have taught because they then KNOW HOW TO and WANT TO do the right thing—simply because it is the right thing to do. This describes level D-internal motivation.

QUESTION;
The 2nd and 3rd grade teachers are curious to know who is supposed to propose the consequences for poor behavior, the student or teacher?

RESPONSE:
Review the text again at impulse management.

The key is to ELICIT a procedure or a consequence—rather than impose one. This is a critical component of the approach. If you impose it, the student becomes the victim. If it is elicited FROM the student, the student owns it. And ownership is a critical component for change.

Review the Significant Points of the Hierarrchy.

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Posted In: Discipline without Stress On: August 23, 2008: 9:16 am: By Marvin Marshall

A post was made at the Discipline Support mailring wherein the teacher oftentimes used the word “discipline” with students.

Clarification is necessary because the term, DISCIPLINE” should BE USED ONLY with ADULTS—not with students or children.

The ONLY part of the approach young people need to understand is the levels of social development, the first phase of the Raise Responsibility System—which is only a small but foundational part of the teaching and learning model model outlined at the Discipline Without Stress Teaching Model.

I - CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT vs. DISCIPLINE
TEACHING PROCEDURES (the essence of classroom management) is the responsibility of the ADULT.

II - THREE PRINCIPLES TO PRACTICE
A) Communicating with people in POSITIVE ways STARTS as the responsibility of the ADULT.

B) Reducing coercion by OFFERING CHOICES (which people have anyway) is the responsibility of the ADULT.

C) Asking REFLECTIVE questions—to prompt people to evaluate their decisions—is the responsibility of the ADULT.

III - The RAISE RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM
A) TEACHING
Teaching the hierarchy is the responsibility of the ADULT.

The foundation of the Raise Responsibility System is for young people to LEARN and UNDERSTAND the four levels of social (and personal) development.

B) ASKING
Asking REFLECTIVE questions referring to the hierarchy to prompt young people to EVALUATE and ACKNOWLEDGE their CHOSEN LEVEL is the responsibility of the ADULT.

C) ELICITING
Eliciting a procedure to help the student help her/himself or elicit a consequence is the responsibility of the ADULT.

IV. USING THE SYSTEM TO INCREASE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Describing what the levels would look like BEFORE an activity, and then AFTER the activity, asking young people to momentarily REFLECT on the level they chose to act on (during the activity) is the responsibility of the ADULT.

Of the entire TEACHING MODEL, the only area students need to learn at the outset is III (A) the levels of social development—the first part of the RAISE RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM.

Rather than the term, DISCIPLINE, the word to be used with young people is, RESPONSIBILITY—that which we are trying to promote. This is indicated in the title of the RAISE RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM.

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Posted In: Discipline without Stress On: August 22, 2008: 7:53 am: By Marvin Marshall

In a few presentations to teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District, one of my charges was to include some ideas about differentiation. The following are some ideas on differentiation (both in content and process) that I shared.

ASSESSMENT (before):

Write a letter to your parents. Include interests, talents, learning preferences, long-range plans or desires, and goals in the class.

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Topics for class meetings with PRIMARY students:
–Why are we here?
–What are we trying to do?
–What does it mean to do something well?
–How will we know if we are doing it well together?

Topics for class meetings with OLDER students:
–What does it mean to do quality work?
–How will you know that a quality level has been attained?
–How will I, the teacher, know that a quality level has been attained?
–What do you need to do to attain a quality level?
–What can I, the teacher, do to help you attain the level?
–How will a third party know that a quality level was attained?

—

Selected ideas to develop the criteria and evaluate against it:
–Give examples of good and bad.
–What makes an essay persuasive?
–What makes a story interesting to read?
–What makes a math solution elegant?

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Activities to obtain curiosity and interest (Japanese approach): Pose a question, explore an event, start a story, solve a problem. WHEN STUDENTS “GRAPPLE” WITH A SITUATION AT THE VERY OUTSET OF A LESSON, MOTIVATION IS ENHANCED.

APPLY a concept:
Applies, changes, computes, constructs, demonstrates, manipulates, modifies, operates, predicts, prepares, produces, relates, shows, solves, uses.

ANALYZE a situation:
Analyzes, breaks down, compares, contrasts, diagrams, deconstructs, differentiates, distinguishes, identifies, illustrates, infers, outlines, relates, selects, separates.

SYNTHESIZE by putting together parts to create something:
Categorizes, combines, compiles, composes, creates, devises, designs, explains, generates, modifies, organizes, rearranges, reconstructs, relates, reorganizes, revises, summarizes, tells.

EVALUATE ideas or situations by making judgments about them:
Evaluates, appraises, compares, concludes, contrasts, criticizes, critiques, defends, explains, interprets, justifies, relates, summarizes, supports.

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EVALUATION (after) - Evaluate quality of one’s own work and progress toward goals:
–What worked?
–What didn’t?
–What am I proud of?

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EXAMPLE: high school biology:

Teacher reflection:
1. What should students KNOW as a result of what we do?
Names of the cell parts, their functions, and how the cell actually works.

2. What should students UNDERSTAND?
The cell is not just a bunch of isolated things; it has interrelated parts where everything affects everything else.

3. What should students be able TO DO?
Analyze these interrelationships in a way that makes them clear to their PEERS—not the teacher.

Here’s how the teacher approaches the students:
“I have 150 students, and I don’t know you very well, but I know that you learn in different ways. And I also know that you know more about yourselves and how you learn better than I do. So although I don’t know how you learn best, I have a hunch that YOU know how YOU learn best.”

The assignment is explained:
“Design a graphic organizer and label the parts with directional markers to be sure someone who is clueless understands your work.”

ALTERNATIVE POSSIBILITIES:

ANALOGY: Relate the working of a cell to human interactions.
–Family - Near relatives and far relatives - Is there someone whose role it is to protect the family (cell)?
–Orchestra - Leader and people with different parts to play
–Basketball team - . . . .
Find an analogy and make it visible to an audience of peers so they’ll understand how a cell works. Emphasize both the individual parts and the relationships.

BUILD SOMETHING:
Use stuff in the room to make cells.

WRITING:
Tell a story as though the cell is the story. Who is the protagonist? Who is the antagonist? Where is the rising action? Where is the falling action? What’s trying to damage the cell?

ADDITIONAL CHOICE:
If you don’t like any of these and have a different or better idea for your learning, come and talk with me.

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Students work in groups of three—two (2) times.
1st time: Share with others who used the same approach.
Result: Reinforce and refine understanding

2nd time: Share with people who did different things.
Result: Further reflection and extended understanding

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Posted In: Promoting Learning On: August 21, 2008: 8:35 am: By Marvin Marshall

People of all ages have an innate desire to feel included. This is especially important to remember for those who work with youth who have a compelling feeling to be accepted.

Even when the person is different from others, when the young person FEELS INCLUDED, the natural human desire to belong is met. Without that necessary feeling, everything else takes a subservient role and its effectiveness is significantly diminished.

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Posted In: Improving Relationships On: August 20, 2008: 7:31 am: By Marvin Marshall

Darlene Collinson in British Columbia related to me a success story that we should all remember.

Her 81-year-old mother was in the hospital and needed to participate in physical therapy before she could be released. The nurses, physical therapists, and physicians were not successful in convincing the patient to engage in the physical therapy.

After hearing of this, Darlene asked her mother, “What do you want?”

Her mother replied, “I want to go home.”

Darlene simply inquired, “What do you need to do to make that happen?”

Her mother replied, “Do my physical therapy,” which she started to do in order to accomplish her objective.

As skillful influencers know, the art of influence is to influence the person to influence herself.

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Posted In: Increasing Effectiveness On: August 19, 2008: 7:27 am: By Marvin Marshall