The idea of using a repair room for discipline challenges was sent to me by Cathy Rogers, a National Board Certified Teacher in Verona, Kentucky.
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I began using the Raise Responsibility System in my classroom of 7 and 8-year-olds.
After learning the different levels, the students and I discussed that our class, when working in levels C and D, was a “learning machine.” When someone was behaving on level A or level B, our learning machine became like a bicycle with a broken piece; the piece needed to be fixed, and the machine could not work correctly until that was done.
We need everyone’s contributions to be a whole. We decided to call our area of the room where students are sent when they need some time to reflect on their behavior the “repair shop.” While sitting in this area, they were to draw and write what they should have been doing.
This worked out so well, and parents loved the idea. I did not have one complaint about sending a child there. While students were composing themselves so they could rejoin the “learning machine,” they were also creating visual images of what they should be doing. They were creating an image in their mind of correct behavior.
I wanted to share this with you since it is one of those little success stories that make teaching fun.
Thanks so much for all the work you have done. You have touched many people in such a positive way, myself included.
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Cathy also reminded me that Antonio Damasio (the famous neuroscientist now at the University of Southern California) also postulates that internal communications are image-based. Perhaps this is another reason that the Discipline without Stress system is so successful. The discipline part of the system starts with creating images of four levels of social and personal development.