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Common Core Curriculum

On May 30, 2012 / Learning

The new “Common Core State Standards” are sweeping the USA as the newest approach to improve K-12 education.

The new “guidelines” are designed to shape how students will learn and be held accountable, beginning with English and math. So far 45 states have joined the charge. One of the major investments to proceed requires schools to adopt new textbooks that are aligned to the “national curriculum standards.” Estimated costs range between $1 and $8 billion—not million, but billion—in order to be ready for the 2014-2015 school year when districts will most likely start taking federal funds.

Texas, one of the larger textbook buying states, is not participating. California, another large textbook purchasing state, has a particular dilemma. At the height … >>>

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Working With Boys

On February 12, 2012 / Learning

A boy measures everything he does or says by a single yardstick: “Does this make me look weak?” If it does, he isn’t going to do it. That’s part of the reason that video games have such a powerful hold on boys. The action is constant; boys can calibrate just how hard the challenges will be; and when they lose, the defeat is private.

With this in mind, it’s important to remember that PUBLIC competition improves performance, but not learning. Some students will practice for hours spurred on by the competitive spirit in music competition, athletics, or speech contests. These students are motivated to compete. Competition can be fun, as witnessed by the hours that young people invest in such … >>>

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Learning Climate

On February 12, 2012 / Learning

If learning is what we value, then we ought to value the process of learning as much as the result of learning.

People are attracted to activities where they feel free of psychological or emotional pain. Learning is promoted in a climate where people feel safe and cared for. The adage, “People don’t care what you know until they know you care,” is applicable.

When working with one middle school, William Glasser stated,

The teachers stopped almost all coercion—an approach that was radically different from the way most of these students had been treated since kindergarten. When we asked the students why they were no longer disruptive and why they were beginning to work in school, over and over they

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Rethinking Our Thinking on Discipline Empower—Rather than Overpower

On February 12, 2012 / Learning

Originally published in EDUCATION WEEK

Volume XVII, Number 37, Pages 32 & 36

We need to rethink our thinking about discipline.
We cannot change other people
but we can empower them to change themselves.

Peter Drucker, the country’s dean of business management, said that people fail because of what they won’t give up. We cling to what has always worked—even after it has clearly stopped working. We are clinging to a way of managing students that no longer works with far too many young people. Society and the nature of youth have changed, but we still think external controls are the way to change people.

External Controls

After a seminar in Washington, D.C., I received a letter from one of … >>>

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Using A Discipline Approach to Promote Learning

On February 12, 2012 / Learning

Read how a simple discipline system is used to tap into internal motivation to promote learning.

The following is a letter sent from a teacher to another teacher who inquired about using the Raise Responsibility System. The approach promotes responsible behavior by using INTERNAL motivation.

The writer sent a copy of the letter to me and has given me permission to reproduce and share it.

The simple-to-implement discipline system that promotes both responsibility and learning can be found at A Quick Start.

Marv Marshall

Hello!

Just last year, I too, found Marvin Marshall’s Discipline without Stress® Punishments or Rewards book. My teaching partner and I had been looking for YEARS for a concrete approach to teaching and discipline based on … >>>

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Promoting Positivity, Choice, And Reflection:

On February 11, 2012 / Learning, Responsibility

These three simple practices can make school a place where teachers and students want to be.

By Marvin Marshall

Originally published in Leadership Magazine by the Association of California School Administrators – Vol. 34, No.5, pp. 28-30

Theme:
How to Champion A Positive Learning Climate

No student comes to school with the deliberate intention of failing or getting into trouble. Similarly, no adult enters the teaching profession with the intention of not being successful or not enjoying it. Yet, the profession loses fifty percent of its new teachers within five years and a rapidly growing number of students are demonstrating irresponsible behavior.

This article describes three simple practices that foster positive school climates—where both teachers and students want to be.… >>>

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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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An Interview about Where We Are Going – Part V

On October 13, 2011 / Interviews, Learning

This is the fifth part in a series of interviews about “Where We Are Going” with Michael F. Shaughnessy of Eastern New Mexico University.

QUESTION:
School reform has now been a topic for generations but there seems to be little improvement. Any suggestions?

RESPONSE:
Any meaningful reform must affect the student-teacher relationship. I cannot think of a single school reform that started top down (and was a headline twenty years ago) that is still being used today.

Now education leaders have given their leadership over to government and business leaders. What reason do we have to think that legislators can improve education? On what basis can we assume that business is a model for education when every few months a … >>>

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An Interview about Where We Are Going – Part IV

On October 11, 2011 / Interviews, Learning

This is the fourth part in a series of interviews about “Where We Are Going” with Michael F. Shaughnessy of Eastern New Mexico University.

QUESTION:
What kind of assistance is found at your website?

RESPONSE:
MarvinMarshall.com is the foundational site that contains free information explaining the entire system. This site includes such links as The Discipline Without Stress® Teaching Model, The Hierarchy of Social Development, support links, and other links to implement the proactive, totally noncoercive (but not permissive) system .

My aim is to have teachers increase their joy of teaching, reduce stress, improve relationships, and become more effective.

In addition to this main website, there are other sites to help teachers and parents: Discipline Without … >>>

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An Interview about Where We Are Going – Part III

On October 6, 2011 / Interviews, Learning

This is the third part in a series of interviews about “Where We Are Going” with Michael F. Shaughnessy of Eastern New Mexico University.

QUESTION:

Your book “Discipline without Stress” has been out there for several years. Any idea as to how many schools use and refer to it?

RESPONSE:
Since the book was published in 2001, 50,000 copies have been sold so far. The next 10,000 copies will be off the press within the next few weeks. I’ve heard it said that the book is perhaps the best ever published on how to discipline and promote learning.

The comments on the homepage for the book give an indication of its popularity. Here is an example I received from a … >>>

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An Interview about Where We Are Going – Part II

On October 4, 2011 / Interviews, Learning

This is the second part in a series of interviews about “Where We Are Going” with Michael F. Shaughnessy of Eastern New Mexico University.

QUESTION:
I have enjoyed your Oliver Wendell Holmes story about the issue as to where we are going. With all this emphasis on Annual Yearly Progress and the re-authorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) , where indeed are we heading? Can you tell us the story to set the context for this interview?

RESPONSE:

As the train conductor made his way down the aisle collecting tickets, the forgetful Oliver Wendell Holmes saw him coming. The Associate Justice reached into his pocket—first into one, then into another, then into a third pocket. When the conductor arrived … >>>

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Some Challenges of Classroom Teaching

On September 13, 2011 / Learning

Work and learning both require effort. However, they are so different that I devoted the epilogue in my book to the differences between “work” in employment and “work” in learning. The differences are so apparent to me that the only time I use the word “work”—as in “homework”—is in the index.

With this in mind, enjoy the following e-mail I received.

Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show? Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 6 weeks.

Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district’s curriculum and a class of 28 students. Each class will have five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.D., one gifted child, and … >>>

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Having a System is Superior to Having aTalent

On September 1, 2011 / Learning

Working in Harlem under contract for three years with the New York City Board of Education taught me an invaluable lesson: Having a teaching SYSTEM is superior to talent when a teacher faces challenging behaviors in the classroom.

The assistant superintendent and I were very impressed while observing a teacher one year. We agreed that the teacher was a “natural.” However, when I visited the teacher the following year, she told me three boys were such challenges that she could use some assistance.

Even teachers with a “natural talent” are challenged by student behaviors that teachers in former generations did not confront. To retain the joy that the teaching profession offers and to reduce one’s stress, a SYSTEM to rely … >>>

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Japanese Motivational Approach to Increase Learning

On August 30, 2011 / Learning

The following is from a communication I received:

Dr Marshall:

I really enjoyed your presentation in Margate, New Jersey. I am a strong believer in positive thinking and you verified many aspects that have been helpful to me. You specifically spoke about a Japanese classroom during your talk. Unfortunately, I did not hear what you said because I was taking notes. Would you mind telling me the benefits of a Japanese classroom?

I also enjoy your newsletters. Even though I have been teaching for over 30 years, there is still so much to learn especially from experts like you.

Thank you,

Kathy Revelle

========
I responded as follows:

Dear Kathy,

The JAPANESE teaching model starts by tapping into student motivation. … >>>

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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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Charity to Reduce the Drop-Out Rate

On August 19, 2011 / Learning

An issue of USA Today concluded an editorial entitled “Dealing with Dropouts” as follows:

“In this global economy, where post-high school study is often required even for blue-collar jobs, dropping out of high school usually amounts to an economic death sentence.

“It is imperative to get the size of the dropout problem out in the open and throw a lifeline to the young people at risk.”

Obviously, students who drop out of school are more likely to lack literacy skills or become responsible citizens. This is not only a school challenge, IT IS AN INCREASING HEALTH AND SAFETY CHALLENGE FOR SOCIETY.

In an attempt to develop more socially responsible young citizens and have youth find more success and satisfaction in … >>>

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