Posts Tagged procedures

Important information to consider when planning/teaching procedures.

In his book, The First Days of School; How to Be an Effective Teacher, classroom management guru, Harry Wong, quotes research conducted by Madeline Hunter.  He asks us to consider the following information:

  • For a child to learn something new, you need to repeat it on the average 8 times.
  • For a child to unlearn an old behavior and replace it with a new behavior, you need to repeat the new behavior on the average  28 times.
  • 20 of those times are used to eliminate the old behavior and 8 of the times are used to learn the new behavior.

The implication of this information is enormous:

There is great value in thinking out your classroom procedures carefully before … >>>

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How can procedures be used when students misbehave?

QUESTION:

I’m trying to get a handle on this whole concept of guided choices and procedures.  I guess I don’t really understand what a procedure is or how you would use a procedure when a student is misbehaving.  Can you give me an example?

DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE:

Teaching procedures is teaching expectations.

Here is an example:

Rather than punishing students for walking down the hallway and talking without permission (against directions), students can be asked for suggestions.  The question can be put to them, “What can you do if you have the urge to talk?”

A student might volunteer, “Tell yourself not to talk.”  The teacher can respond that this is a good plan but will not produce success unless … >>>

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Using the Discipline without Stress Impulse Poster

First posted on the Teachers.net site. Permission was  granted from the author to re-post here:

6th and 7th graders are very impulsive creatures — they have been taught to be impulsive by adults. Don’t believe it? Just go to a teacher training session and observe how the teachers behave while the speakers are presenting!  As a society we have become more impulsive, less respectful and less willing to listen to others.  Just watch the adults, who come, presumably, to watch a student performance at school; they often talk right through it!

So, I guess my point is that until students are taught and learn self control, are disciplinary consequences really the answer? Is giving them Detention Hall going to … >>>

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Using Discipline without Stress in Preschool with Students Who Have Special Needs

Posted by Teri Gibson, a member of the Discipline without Stress mailring.

I have just begun using DWS this year with my 4 yr. old special needs preschool classes.  I absolutely love it.  No, my class is not perfect. No, DWS does not solve all behavior problems.  What it does is this: For the first time, I am able to “reward” my kids that are being good, while helping the kids that are not!   It makes me view everything as a teachable moment, rather than a child’s attempt to undermine.  I love the way it stresses the positive and actually encourages me to pay more attention to the children who are doing the right thing.  I still have much … >>>

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An example of developing procedures proactively to avoid discipline problems.

The more I use the Discipline without Stress approach, the more I appreciate that Step One of Dr. Marshall’s Teaching Model is key to the whole plan.

We’ve just started a series of swimming lessons at our local Community Center for all the primary students in our school. This year I decided to be more proactive than in previous years. Instead of just talking for a couple of minutes–just prior to getting on the bus on the first day–about what behavior is expected at the swimming pool, I decided to plan for a time to discuss it the day before.

As soon as I really started thinking to myself in an organized way about what procedures we would need … >>>

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The most effective procedures are those that are carefully planned and explicitly taught.

Recently, the following post was shared on the Kinderkorner mailring by Marybeth Quig-Hartman, who generously allowed me to reprint her ideas here. Note the amount of “teacher thinking” that Marybeth puts into developing her routines and the amount of class time she devotes to the teaching of procedures in the beginning of the school year.

Such diligence pays off! Not only does Marybeth ensure that every child in the class has the opportunity to be successful in learning how to work independently with the various art materials and tools available in the classroom, but by being proactive, she avoids many unnecessary problems for herself, as teacher.

Marybeth explains:

“I find that many “problems” with kids are actually the result >>>

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Is it possible to use both Discipline without Stress AND tallies?

QUESTION:

I have often been tempted to order the Discipline without Stress book. What has held me back is my school’s requirement that we use the same discipline plan throughout the department (in my case, 4th through 6th grades.)

The department has the same rules:  (1) Be respectful (2) Be obedient (3) Be honest (4) Be responsible.After the usual warning, if any rule is violated, a tally is given to the student. The number of tallies for the week determines the child’s behavior grade.  A behavior grade must be given each week.

Here is my question:  Is it feasible to use both this discipline plan and the DWS method or would it be too cumbersome/confusing? The one is mandatory >>>

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Tell me how procedures are used in a discipline situation.

QUESTION:
I don’t understand how the teaching of procedures can be used in a discipline situation.  Can you give me an example?

RESPONSE:

Having used Discipline without Stress for several years now, I understand the importance of teaching procedures at the start of the school year. Even so, I still find that I sometimes forget this important step in my teaching and then suffer the consequences. Luckily though, I also know how Dr. Marshall would suggest remedying such a situation. He would suggest backtracking–to teach the procedures that I should have taught in the first place! Here is an example of one such impromptu “lesson” which turned out to be extremely helpful for the remainder of the school year.

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Inattention during our Morning Meeting is causing discipline problems!

QUESTION:
I am a student teacher in a 1st grade class. Love the kids but I have a really hard time getting them to listen during our morning meeting time! At least three are ADD but some are just immature.

The kids seem to enjoy the activities and greetings I present but their inattention creates discipline problems–and it’s driving me nuts! The classroom teacher has a green/yellow/red card discipline plan that I’ve threatened to use and I did send one jumpy kid back to his desk because he was disturbing us. Any other suggestions?

RESPONSE:
My first suggestion is to take care of classroom management–that’s PART I of the Discipline without Stress Teaching Model. Perhaps your students have never … >>>

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I am trying to use Discipline without Stress but my students will not listen to me!

QUESTION:
I have recently taken over a classroom, as a substitute for three weeks. The teacher of this classroom has been on leave for some time and the students have had many temporary teachers. I feel that I am using all the correct educational practices but the discipline problems in this class are extensive. I am trying to use Discipline without Stress, but no matter what I do, these students will not listen to me very much. What is the problem?

DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE:
The problem is the history of the class–you are one of their many teachers. They have had no stability, no structure and what’s more, they know that you are not their regular teacher. They know that … >>>

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School Assembly Procedures

In the first year of our journey toward using Discipline without Stress at my K-6 school, staff members decided to focus on improving common concerns within the school as a whole. Our first goal was to improve student behavior at school assemblies.

Following Part I of the Discipline without Stress Teaching Model, we began by establishing school-wide procedures for this weekly activity.  As Dr. Marshall suggests, we also decided to be proactive. Instead of trying to hurriedly set up the gym as the classes arrived for the assembly (which had been our practice,) students were invited over the P.A. system to volunteer to help with the organization of benches, chairs and piano before school began on Monday mornings.… >>>

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In just two weeks, I’m completely overwhelmed with discipline problems!

QUESTION: School has been in session for just two weeks. This is my first year of using the Discipline without Stress approach. Already I find myself completely overwhelmed with discipline and behavior issues. I’m actually feeling quite a bit of stress about discipline! What should I do? DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE: Revisit the four-part Discipline without Stress Teaching Model. Many so-called “discipline problems” can be avoided altogether by proactively teaching classroom procedures. Go back and pretend it’s the first day of school. Start teaching procedures for everything–don’t assume students know how to do anything. Process precedes product. Teaching procedures comes before attempting to teach anything else. Teach an attention management signal: Raise a hand, count, give me five, clap … >>>

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The Importance of an Attention Management Signal

Dr. Marshall encourages teachers at any level, to establish classroom procedures as the first step in using the Discipline without Stress Teaching Model

Regardless of the age of the students, an important procedure to teach on the first day of school, or a term, is one that allows the teacher to quiet the students and gain their attention in an effective manner.

Below is an eye-opening set of calculations found on the Internet that point to the importance of establishing and teaching an attention management signal in the beginning of each new school year or semester.

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A quiet signal is critical to keep from wasting time and to keep the momentum going during cooperative activities. Suppose that you need … >>>

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Any suggestions for getting started with this discipline approach in a school library?

QUESTION:
I’m the librarian in a K-8 school. I have been looking for a good discipline program and am really interested in DWS. Any tips or suggestions for successfully getting started in this type of teaching situation?

RESPONSE:
In any teaching situation, good classroom management lays the foundation for effective discipline. Leave nothing to chance. Carefully create procedures and then proactively teach your students how to behave at Level C in the library. Teach students procedures for every single thing they will need to do while in the library. (See Part I of the Discipline without Stress Teaching Model.)

For example, you might teach procedures for:

• entering and exiting the library
• signing out and returning books
• … >>>

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Using a positive challenge!

My teaching partner and I have always provided a home reading program for our grade one students. We give each one a ziplock bag in which to store their home reading books and every morning they make an exchange, taking two new books home.

Well, that’s the theory of it anyway! In reality, we have never had a high rate of consistent and continued participation in this program. Although in the first few weeks of any particular school year, most families manage to send the home reading bag back and forth on a regular basis, as time goes on, fewer and fewer students actually participate to full advantage. They don’t maintain the routine of returning the bag on a daily … >>>

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