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.
