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Discipline

Behaviorism’s Founder

On August 29, 2012 / Discipline, Effectiveness, Learning

Frank Knight (November 7, 1885 – April 15, 1972) was a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Four of his students received the Nobel Prize for Economics (Paul Saluelson, Milton Friedman, George Stigler, and James Buchanan, Jr.) . Professor Knight was rather outspoken. The short paragraphs below are his comments about behaviorism and its best known founders, John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner.

John B. Watson was a founder of the psychological school referred to as behaviorism. Behaviorists, represented more popularly by the controversial utopian B.F. Skinner of Harvard University, argue that all human behavior can be understood in terms of stimulus-response models that have been developed from studying the behavior of rats in mazes.

In 1932, … >>>

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Rewarding Can Backfire

On June 29, 2012 / Discipline, Learning

It is counterproductive to give tangible rewards to young people for doing things that they should be doing.

This belief was reinforced by the following e-mail I received from someone who had just subscribed to my free monthly newsletter, Promoting Responsibility & Learning.

“I found out about you from another teacher who told me about your website. I called and got info on the phone about signing up for the newsletter. I also ordered your book from Amazon.

“I had a situation this year that I did not know how to deal with. I had a very bright class who were lazy. Usually I am a very motivational teacher and do not use bribes. However, this class had … >>>

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Bullying, the Bus Driver, and Punishments

On June 24, 2012 / Discipline

Karen Klein, the bus supervisor in Greece, New York has recently been in the headlines since a student videoed her being bullied by some middle school students and then posted it on the Internet. The video went viral.

The media has been clamoring for the involved students to be punished.

What form should the punishment take? The usual approach is to have punishment imposed. In this way discipline standards will be maintained. However, a more effect approach is to ELICIT the punishment. Having the person or people involved will have them committed to responsible behavior. The reason is that when punishment is imposed, future motivation will be based on fear. Having young people committed to responsible behavior is far … >>>

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Classroom Management and Motivation

On June 20, 2012 / Discipline, Effectiveness, Learning

A common confusion of teachers and school leaders is that classroom management and motivation are the same.

Successful classroom management does not create motivation to learn. More and more teachers complain about the apathy of students to put forth effort in their learning. However, a teacher can have the most effective classroom management but still not prompt student effort. The reason is that classroom management has nothing to do with student motivation. Classroom management has to do with what the teacher does—specifically, the procedures taught, practiced, and reinforced to ensure that students understand how to implement what has been taught.

Motivation, in contrast to making instruction efficient, is about making instruction effective. What does the teacher do to … >>>

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Impulse Control and School Achievement

On June 18, 2012 / Discipline, Parenting

Kids who can control their impulses do better in school.

It is common for people to believe that intelligence plays the key role in children’s academic achievement. However, a study by Pennsylvania University researchers found that the ability to self-regulate—to pay attention to a task and inhibit impulsive behavior—was more important than intelligence for early academic success.

A child’s ability to monitor his or her thinking and behavior develops rapidly during school. Parents who are interested in boosting their children’s school readiness should engage them in some activities that involve taking turns, paying attention for sustained periods, and for prompting them to reflect on their self-control.

One procedure that can be practiced to help in impulse control is explained in … >>>

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Discipline Without Stress and Hard Evidence

On June 13, 2012 / Discipline

At a presentation in St. Louis yesterday, June 12, 2012, I was asked a question about having hard evidence for the success of “Discipline Without Stress.”

In order to accurately assess the program, it is necessary to validate that all parts of the system be implemented. Specifically,

I. Did the teacher model, teach, and reinforce procedures? (the essence of good classroom management) Or did the teacher ASSUME students knew what to do? This is one of the most common mistakes of teachers.

II. A. Was the teacher positive in communications with students?

II. B. Did the teacher stop coercion and empower students with choices?

II. C. Did the teacher ask reflective questions to prompt change?

III. … >>>

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What to Do when PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) is Mandatded

On June 11, 2012 / Discipline, Learning

A teacher who still subscribes to the newsletter but changed her subscription from her school to her home e-mail address, informed me of the reason for the change. She wrote, “I still subscribe at my home e-mail; however, my school is totally into PBIS and therefore, I have to follow that program.”

Thousands of teachers in the United States are in this same situation. I understood her dilemma. I shared with her what others are doing to implement BPIS while using DWS.

PBIS does NOT mandate that the TEACHER is the one who MUST reinforce expected and appropriate behaviors with some form of “reward.” Have the students do it. They can appoint a committee to set the procedures, which may … >>>

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How To Be Consistent

On May 29, 2012 / Discipline

Although consistency is important, imposing the same consequence on all students is the least fair approach.

A significant trait that teachers, students, and parents are concerned about is being consistent.

“How can I be fair, firm, and CONSISTENT?” was a question I continually asked myself—not only as a teacher, but especially as an assistant principal of supervision and control in a high school of 3,200 students. The question was also on my mind when I disciplined students as a middle school assistant principal and as an elementary school principal.

Only when I returned to the classroom after 24 years in counseling, staff development, and administration did I realize that my mindset of being consistent in dispensing punishments was unfair and … >>>

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Research on PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports)

On October 20, 2011 / Discipline, Learning

I received the following excerpt from a doctoral dissertation and reproduce it with the author’s permission:

“As you can tell from the dissertation excerpts I sent you, I have thoroughly researched your approach to discipline, as well as countless others. Unfortunately, the many other more traditional approaches have failed us as educators. I spent the past nine years in administration trying to make a difference in public education.

“But more importantly, I wanted to impact the course of public education positively. Catching kids doing something good and then reinforcing those acts by positive rewards is a component of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) that I experienced firsthand. As a matter of fact, I was delighted to spend my first … >>>

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PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) Ethical Consequences

On October 18, 2011 / Discipline, Learning

QUESTION:

Positive Behavioral and Interventions and Supports(PBIS) is the discipline approach that is being mandated by many states. Do you have any thoughts on this approach?

RESPONSE:
This antiquated and backwards approach is based on the ideas of Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner. Without going into detail explaining the differences, they are “behaviorist” and have the following in common:

1. Behaviorism is naturalistic. This means that the material world is the ultimate reality, and everything can be explained in terms of natural laws. Man has no soul and no mind, only a brain that responds to external stimuli.

2. Behaviorism teaches that man is nothing more than a machine that responds to conditioning. The central tenet of … >>>

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When to Teach the Raise Responsibilty Sytem

On September 6, 2011 / Discipline

QUESTION:

I had the pleasure of hearing you speak in New Orleans. Thank you for your encouraging words.

I am a fourth grade teacher who desperately wants to move away from students only working for rewards, which is the nature of “behavior plans” at my school. After implementing a few of your strategies in my classroom, I am pleased with the way my students have responded. Because I, and all their previous teachers, have used rewards, I am unsure how the students will react if I do away with all tangible rewards.

———

MY RESPONSE:

Use principle two, CHOICE, of the THREE PRINCIPLES TO PRACTICE of the Discipline Without Stress Teaching Model.

Rather than stopping the use of rewards, give … >>>

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PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) Backfires

On August 25, 2011 / Discipline, Learning

The following was posted at the DisciplineWithoutStres mailring hosted by yahoo groups.com:

I just wanted to quickly relay a rewards-based disaster.

One of our seventh-graders, in fact, the daughter of a teacher, recently wanted to go to the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) reward dance. She is an A honor roll student, never a discipline problem, and a wonderful kid. In the haste of “bribing” misbehaving students to be good, we neglected to “reward” her for doing what she had motivated herself to do. Long story short, she did not have enough PBIS tickets to go to the dance. How horrible!!

Looks like rewards systems don’t quite cover the good kids as well as they should. Good thing that … >>>

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Eliciting Procedures

On July 26, 2011 / Discipline

The question was asked: “How can I talk to my students or help them to change without their leaving the classroom?”

Kerry responded:

In my primary classroom, the kids aren’t yet able to read or write well enough to do written activities and in my high school job at the alternate school, having students write about their behavior would be seen as too negative. The type of student we have there would simply get up and leave the school, or more likely, just swear at us.

I think that a student can be given a fresh start each day provided that the same type of action doesn’t keep being repeated. In other words, when a particular type of behavior has … >>>

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New York Times Reports on Discipline in Schools

On July 21, 2011 / Discipline

The New York Times reported in the Education section on July 19, 2011: “School Discipline Study Raises Fresh Questions.”

The article raised questions about the effectiveness of school discipline. A study found that 31 percent of Texas students were suspended off campus or expelled at least once during their middle and high school years at an average of almost four times for each student.

The article reported, “In the last 20 to 25 years, there have been dramatic increases in the number of suspensions and expulsions,” said Michael Thompson, who headed the study as director of the Justice Center at the Council of State Governments, a nonpartisan group.

The findings are “very much representative of the nation as a whole,” … >>>

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Guided Choices of the Raise Responsibility System

On July 19, 2011 / Discipline

I received the following that refers to the Raise Responsibility System.

“When using GUIDED CHOICES, I am having difficulty understanding why a student acting up each day gets a fresh start daily. Do I really have to stick to this? I’ve had several students that I’ve given the essay to three days in a row. They say that they will commit to changing their behavior but apparently they do not. I’m getting frustrated with the same kids and the same behavior daily. Couldn’t I just hold onto the essays and after three give them a self-referral?”

I responded to the teacher that I have moved away from using the forms to a more effective approach of ELICITING A PROCEDURE … >>>

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Free Books and Staff Development for USA Schools

On May 10, 2011 / Discipline, Learning

The mindset of current educational approaches regarding student behavior unfortunately focuses on obedience, which turns out to be a common source of reluctance, resistance, resentment, and even rebellion. Simply stated, OBEDIENCE DOES NOT CREATE DESIRE.

However, when the focus is on promoting responsibility, obedience follows as a natural by-product. The reason is that motivation to be responsible requires a DESIRE to do so. The motivation must be INTERNAL.

Many schools use EXTERNAL motivation of stimulus-response psychology in the form of rewards, threats, and punishments. However, these approaches (a) foster compliance rather than commitment, (b) require an adult presence for monitoring, (c) set up students to be dependent upon external agents, and (d) do not foster long-term motivation for responsibility. In … >>>

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