At a Texas conference, an elementary school assistant principal approached me and said, and I quote verbatim, “I’m addicted to you.” Needless to say, this captured my attention, and I asked for an explanation to this rather embarrassing compliment.
She explained that after reading the Phi Delta Kappan article, she decided to try the approach described in the article.
After she told me of her immediate successes using the levels of social development, I encouraged her to consider writing an article which perhaps could be published in a state or national journal. She sent the beginning few paragraphs of the article to me. The following is from her writing:
“I had 20 students on behavior contracts that ranged from kindergarten to fifth grade that would talk to me at 2:45 p.m. before they left for the day. The eagerness of trying this out on them made my excitement grow. I also asked my principal to come watch me talk to each student. She and I could not believe how easy and how articulate the students were being about their behavior when I used the levels of development primary poster and only asked questions.”
