DISCIPLINE APPROACHES

The Guided Discipline Approach

Partners in Learning: From Conflict to Collaboration in
Secondary Classrooms
Carol Miller Lieber (2002)
Educators for Social Responsibility
http://www.esrnational.org/home.htm

As your small school begins to think about how to broaden the notion of
“classroom management” to encompass a more open, collaborative, and
personalized environment, teachers may begin to question how their
individual classrooms can embody these ideals. How can a teacher’s
classroom discipline align with the newly forming culture of the school as a
whole, while tending to the needs of every student?

The Guided Discipline Approach, the second approach offered in this guide,
has been designed with the whole school in mind; with the teacher at the
inner circle, and the student at its center. The classroom is where we begin to
instill self-discipline, decision-making, mediation, goal-setting, and
reflection skills in our students. These skills carry over into the school
community and beyond.

The book, Partners in Learning, represents fifteen years of Carol Miller

Lieber’s work with Educators for Social Responsibility. But the Guided
Discipline Approach is new, and therefore, the amount of testimonial and
anecdotal evidence to its success is yet to be seen.

The Guided Discipline Approach is outlined here, with plenty of practical

tools to begin using it in the classroom today, and scenarios teachers have
encountered in the process. Educators for Social Responsibility has a wealth
of information on their website, as well, which is worth exploring, and
information on ordering Partners in Learning can be found there.

According to the NEA, classroom discipline remains the #1 problem

identified by teachers. In framing this discussion of classroom discipline, I
have to own up that I’m a big fan of the word discipline and its many
meanings. I like thinking about areas in my life where I feel self-disciplined,
where I can easily access tried and true qualities, habits, and skills that will
lead to a job well done and a personal sense of well-being. I love the idea of
engaging in daily disciplines that become comforting routines. I grew up in a
disciplined household—there were ways that we did things in our home—but
I didn’t get disciplined in the punitive sense very often. Rather, I was mostly
shown and taught how to do something and then I was expected to learn how
to do it for myself. The reward was in the doing and the internal satisfaction I
felt from doing it. Disciplined practice of the smallest tasks gave me a sense
of control, responsibility, and competence. As a student and a teacher I also
love the notion of learning and practicing a discipline—whether it’s history
or science, music or literary analysis. And even thought there are
undisciplined corners of my life that I don’t much like to visit, I also know

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that making room for my undisciplined self can help me think outside of the
box and have fun doing it.

Think about yourself for a minute. How would you describe yourself when
you feel disciplined and undisciplined? How were you disciplined at home
and at school? When you were growing up how did adults help you become
responsible and learn self-discipline? What kinds of support motivate you to
be disciplined in some areas of your life? When and how has practice helped
you become more disciplined? How do you feel when you have a sense of
self-control in your life? What happens when you don’t? Your personal
responses to these questions can help jump-start your thinking about
establishing and maintaining effective discipline in the classroom.

I propose that the goal of effective classroom management and discipline is

to help all students to become more self-disciplined—that is, to regulate and
manage their behavior in ways that promote social skillfulness, responsible
decision making, and academic success.

Three Approaches to Classroom Management and Discipline

There are three basic choices we can make when students get into behavioral
or academic difficulties. We can choose to respond with threats, verbal
assaults, and punishments. We can choose to ignore the problem and do
nothing. Or we can engage in the practice of guided discipline where we
become partners with students as we work out problems together.

The Guided Discipline Approach

As its heart, the word discipline has everything to do with instruction.
Among its Latin origins are the words, discipulus, which means “teacher or
disciple” and disciplina, which means “to teach.” Guided discipline is a
combination of guided instruction and support, interventions and meaningful
consequences that will help students learn and regularly practice more
skillful behaviors and responsible decision-making. In contrast to punishment
and doing nothing, meaningful consequences are done with and by a
student—the intention is to help students take responsibility for their
behavior or academic problems, understand the effects of their behavior on
themselves and others, and learn and practice behaviors that are more
skillful, responsible, and productive.

Guided discipline is “present and future oriented”; it focuses on the student’s

need to regain control, self-correct, redirect focus, or get back on track.
Positive and negative consequences are viewed as natural outcomes of the
choices students make. Guided discipline involves a wide range of graduated
and differentiated consequences and interventions. The idea is to match
appropriate consequences to the frequency and severity of a problem
behavior and provide the kind of instruction and support that best matches
the needs of individual students. Rather than gutting heads as adversaries,
teachers’ instruction, coaching, and support help student develop greater
personal self-discipline and foster classroom habits and routines that create a
more disciplined learning environment.

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The concept of guided discipline is informed by beliefs that students are

capable of reflecting on their mistakes and setbacks and can set goals and
develop new strategies that will help them change their behavior. Students
who experience guided discipline and support are more likely to feel trusted,
cared for, and respected. These positive feelings are more likely to motivate
students to improve their behavior and their academic efforts.

Three Different Approaches to Classroom Management

Punishment Do Nothing Guided Discipline
Punishment is done to a Nothing is done to Guided discipline
student and interrupt or change involves meaningful
consequences are often current behavior. Do invitations,
arbitrary. Punishment is nothing is about interventions,
about rule-breaking and avoidance and consequences, and
payback without reluctance due to fear problem solving done
instruction or support. of confrontation, fear of with a student. It is
being disliked, about support and
uneasiness of using practice building and
authority, disinterest in maintaining
helping students change relationships.
behavior, or a concern
that effective
intervention will take
too much time or
energy.
Goal: Goal: Goal:
To verbally, To ignore misbehavior To help students take
emotionally, or and hope that students responsibility for their
physically threaten or will figure out behavior or academic
inflict sufficient hurt, behavioral norms and problems, understand
humiliation, discomfort, right themselves on the effects of their
or deprivation so their own behavior, and learn and
student will stop practice behaviors that
engaging in offending are more skillful,
behavior to avoid successful, and
punishment responsible
Orientation: Orientation: Orientation:
Past Present Present and Future
Immediate Focus: Immediate Focus: Immediate Focus:
Teacher’s need to Attend to the needs of help student self-
exercise power, control, the rest of the class and correct, regain control,
and authority over keep focused on the redirect, and get back
student task at hand on track
Effects on Student: Effects on Student: Effects on Student:
Likely to intensify Likely to encourage Likely to encourage
feeling of anger, detachment and feeling of being trusted,
resentment, hostility, passivity or an inflated cared for, and respected
alienation, and defiance sense of power to act with motivation to
with little motivation to out, test limits, and change
change challenge authority

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Discipline Scenario

You have two students in different classes who manifest polar opposites of
the same problem—putting down and ridiculing other kids whom they
perceive as uncool and not “with it.” Mario is a very bright boy who is much
too quick to call kids stupid, and sighs and smirks when students don’t “get
it” as fast or as well as he does. The other boy, Greg, directs his sarcasm and
ridicule toward anyone who acts “smart” or expresses any enthusiasm about
what they are doing in class. In both classes their disrespectful behaviors
have become chronic and they seem to suck the positive energy out of the air.
You are worried about the negative impact of their behavior on other
students and the learning environment, and you are also worried about the
negative attitude you are beginning to have toward them.

Punishment: With both boys, the teacher has warned them about their
attitudes, called their parents, and sent them to the office; but nothing seems
to be working. Now their hostility toward other kids has rubbed off, and the
teacher is increasingly hostile toward them. The teacher is aware that she is
increasingly impatient, sarcastic, angry, and threatening with them—she
finds herself tossing back zingers to these boys so they get a taste of what it
feels like to be personally attacked. This is becoming a grudge match of who
can deliver the most cutting verbal blow. The teacher has assigned several
detentions to both boys who already have more than three detentions. The
next step will be a suspension.

Do Nothing: The teacher has steeled herself to these students’ rudeness and
has moved students who were the targets of their comments to other seats.
The teacher doesn’t believe that he can do anything that will change their
ingrained insensitivity. Real life is learning to toughen up and live with
people you don’t like or who bother you.

Guided Discipline: The teacher has already had conferences with each boy,
but has decided that a classroom intervention alone won’t be sufficient to
address what feels pretty serious. He arranges for separate meeting with each
boy, a parent, the counselor, and himself. The teacher wants to proceed in
this way so that he can be a full participant in the conversations with the boys
and their parents. It turns out that each boy feels isolated and different from
the other students in class and take on the same roles of critic and judge at
home. Fore each of them, it appears that their verbal assaults on others are a
way of protecting themselves. In each conference the group develops a plan
that includes the following:

Mario has agreed to:

 Meet with the counselor several more times to talk
 Keep a learning log where he will write about positive contributions
that he notices that others make in class and write about the ways he
is encouraging and supporting other students to be successful in class
 Spend one period a week doing peer tutoring instead of attending
class

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The teacher has agreed to:

 Note the changes he has observed in Mario’s behavior toward others
 Check in with Mario once a week to assess the week and make a
phone call home to the parents

Greg has agreed to:

 Meet with the counselor several more times to talk
 Keep a learning log where he will write about ways that he sees
himself as smart in and out of class and write down what’s going on
when he feels frustrated in class
 Spend one period a week helping out in a special education PE class
instead of attending class

The teacher has agreed to:

 Note the changes he has observed in Greg’s behavior toward others
 Check in with Greg once a week to assess the week and make a
phone call home to the parents
 Develop an academic plan with Greg so that he can improve his
performance in class

My hope is that this brief snapshot makes a credible case that a guided
discipline approach holds out the best prospect for helping students change
their behavior. If there is a downside to guided discipline, it’s about the
amount of time needed for planning, implementation, and follow-up. For this
reason, you might not be able to always implement the ideal solution. But
guided discipline can still inform every decision. The upside, however, is
huge. You are likely to have fewer disruptions and problematic behaviors
and more motivated and self-disciplined learners. The section that follows
describes in detail five steps for implementing guided discipline in the
classroom.

Implementing Guided Discipline

Guided Discipline is a combination of guided instruction, reflection, support,

interventions, and meaningful consequences that will help students learn and
regularly practice more skillful behaviors and responsible decision-making.

The paint palate icons below indicate points that are described in
greater detail in the Tools to Begin Using the Five Steps to Guided
Discipline segment of this resource (page 207).

The Five Steps for Implementing Guided Discipline

1. Awareness—Know Yourself, Know Your Students, Know Your

School
 What is your teaching stance? Where does your authority
come from?
 What are your discipline goals, your “No’s,” your triggers
and reducers?
 What will help you deal effectively with adolescents’
disrespectful speech?

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 What kinds of teacher behaviors will set your kids off?

 What kinds of teacher support will help your kids become
more self-disciplined and engage in more skillful behaviors
more of the time?

2. Prevention
 Help students get ready to learn
 Establish positive group agreements, norms, goals, and
expectations
 Set clear boundaries and explain what makes a behavior a
boundary violation
 Teach and practice procedures and problem solving
protocols
 Build group cohesion and connectedness in the classroom
 Develop personal connections with each student
 Practice negotiated learning and group problem solving
 Model and teach life skills

3. Invitations
 Invite cooperation using verbal and written prompts
 Give students opportunities to self-correct
 Offer chances to make a choice
 Help students to redirect their focus
 Use two minute problem solving strategies
 Let students know what they can do when they’re upset and
angry
 When invitations don’t work, interrupt and de-escalate
conflicts and confrontations quickly and calmly

4. Interventions
 Clarify the differences between (1) boundary violations, (2)
procedural infractions, and (3) intra- and inter-personal
conflicts and problems
 Begin student conferences by listening first and defusing
students’ upset feelings before you problem solve
 Make sure that problem solving reports, behavior plans, and
academic contracts play a central role in follow-up
consequences
 Communicate with parents by phone, e-mail, notes, and
conferences
 Use class meetings to discuss problems and concerns that
affect the whole group
 Refer students to mediation, counseling services, and student
assistance programs

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5. Support and Maintenance

 Provide immediate feedback when students are trying out
new skills and behaviors
 Create classroom routines and rituals that involve every
student
 Make connections through 10 second “hits”
 Recognize and celebrate the group’s efforts and
accomplishments
 Recognize individual accomplishments in and out of the
classroom
 Provide differentiated support for students who are
struggling
 Create opportunities for students to link personal effort to
their successes in the classroom

Tools to Begin Using the Five Steps to Guided Discipline

1. Awareness

What are your own triggers? What are your reducers? How do you express
your anger?

Knowing what sets you off is a good thing. You have the advantage of
preparing yourself for what to say and do when your anger button is pushed,
and you can let students know where not to go. When you do get upset,
frustrated, or angry, wheat are the reducers? What will help you to stop,
defuse the emotional charge that you feel, and get re-centered so that you can
think clearly about what to do next? For example, you might experience a
situation where you feel so upset that your best response is to stop what you
are doing, take a few deep breaths, walk to the other side of the room, and
say, “I’m too angry to deal with this right now; we’ll make a time later to talk
about this when I can hear you and you can hear me.” When the class has
really blown it behaviorally or academically, how do you want to
communicate your negative feelings? Expressing you frustration, anger, and
disappointment is a tricky thing. Do it too often and it sounds like a broken
record to kids: “Blah, blah, blah . . . here she goes again.” Think about
picking your battles carefully. Expressing negative feelings has a different
impact if you do it once a month rather than several times a week. If you
rehearse what you want to say and know how you want to involve students in
addressing the issue, your message will have a greater impact on more
students.

What kind of time commitment are you willing to make to implement a

discipline plan that works effectively for you and all of your students?
This is probably the biggest question of all. Classroom discipline is an area
where the more time you put in, especially in the beginning of the year, the
more satisfied you’ll be with the results. “Front-loading” mini-sessions about
all things disciplinary in the first month of school will ensure that your
discipline goals, procedures, and protocols are crystal clear to everyone.

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One way to support your own intentional practice of implementing guided

discipline is to set aside three to four hours each week of out-of-class time
that are expressly devoted to discipline planning, implementation, and
follow-up. If this becomes a weekly routine, it’s not nearly so daunting to
make that parent phone call or meet with a group of students in out-of-class
time during planning periods or before or after school. Here’s what three and
a half hours a week (210 minutes) of out-of-class time can get you:

 50 minutes — Eight “problem calls” a week to parents—to inform

parents of behavior or academic problems; to discuss student
conferences, discipline plans, problem solving reports, academic
contracts; to discuss follow-up consequences; to update a student’s
progress; or make arrangements for a parent-student-teacher
conference.

 25 minutes — One lunch period to conference with students and

work with them on discipline plans, self-management strategies,
problem solving reports, and academic contracts

 60 minutes — One after or before school “Conference Hour” to work

with students on discipline plans, self-management strategies,
problem solving reports, and academic contracts

 30 minutes — Five “Sunshine Calls” a week to parents—the goal is

to talk to every parent at some point during the semester sharing
something their child has done well and something you appreciate
about their child

 15 minutes — 20 thirty second feedback and appreciation notes to

students

 30 minutes — Two one-on-one sessions with students who really

need an extra dose of connection, support, and encouragement

In addition, think about how you can integrate discipline practices and
protocols into your weekly class plan. During five days of 50-minute classes,
here’s what you could do:

 During your “Getting to Work” activity that students do upon

entering class, you can do two minute check-in’s with ten students,
two each day.

 Make sure every student gets a positive ten second comment twice a
week (when you meet and greet at the door, when students are
engaged in group work or independent work).

 Open or close the week with a 10-15 minute activity that focuses on
goal-setting, reflection, and behavioral and academic self-
assessment.

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 Do at least one gathering that ensures that everyone in the class gets
an opportunity to respond to a question of the week.

 Review discipline policies, procedures, and problem solving

protocols as needed.

 Infuse the teaching for practice of a least two Life Skills into your
regular curriculum.

 Facilitate a brief class meeting to discuss a concern that affects the

whole class, or negotiate a classroom decision.

2. Prevention

Teach problem solving protocols

Help students to recognize that they always have choices and have control
over their behavior. Review the kinds of invitations and interventions that
you will use in the classroom, reminding students that the goal will always be
to provide information students can use to make a responsible choice for how
to self-correct and redirect their behavior. Take time to teach everyone A, B,
C, D, E problem solving. This five step process is used throughout the guide
for individual, interpersonal, and group problem solving.

ASSESS the situation and ASK, What’s the problem?

BRAINSTORM at least two solutions

CONSIDER the pro’s and con’s of each choice

DECIDE on the best choice

EVALUATE your decision after it has been implemented

3. Invitations

Use two minute problem solving strategies

 For students who are stuck, ask them to take two minutes to think
through the ABCD problem solving process. Check back with them
in two minutes so they can tell you their decision.

ASSESS the situation and ASK, What’s the problem?

BRAINSTORM at least two solutions

CONSIDER the pro’s and con’s of each choice

Make your best DECISION

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 When two students are involved in a conflict, you can ask them both
to take two minutes to write down 1) what’s not working and why; 2)
what I need to work it out; and 3) two solutions I’m willing to try.
Check back with both of them in two minutes to share solutions and
ask them to choose one that will work for both of them.

 When it is appropriate, focus on Win-Win solutions rather than

consequences. Ask the student to name the problem and suggest a
solution to resolve it.

 When students are reluctant to participate in a particular activity or

work on a specific assignment, ask them to take a minute and write
down an alternative way to complete a task or meet the goal or
expectation. If we insist that there is only one way to do the task or
that students must do it our way, we risk provoking further
resistance.

 When you notice a student who is having trouble getting started, take
a minute to say, “I’ve noticed you’re having a hard time getting
started. Stop for a minute, and write down in your own words what
you think the task is. Then name one thing that’s getting in the way
of doing it and one thing you can do to feel like you’ve accomplished
something today.”

 When you hear a complaint or concern, just say, “And?” to give the
student the space to be more specific and make a responsible
suggestion.

When invitations don’t work, interrupt and de-escalate conflicts and

confrontational behavior quickly and calmly

Keep these questions in mind before you intervene with a student:

 What are my long-term goals for the student—academically and

behaviorally?

 What do I say and do now to maintain the relationship?

 What do I say and do now in public? What do I say and do later in

private?

 How do I create the physical and emotional space for the student to
save face?

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Just a reminder to teachers that you have (or must develop) your own
communication style with your students, and the “talking points” below are
meant to provide ideas about what the Guided Discipline Approach sounds
like in action. As you read them, think about similar situations you have
encountered and write down what your responses would be. Are they similar
or different? What do your students respond to? Would you alter certain
interactions?

Try one of these strategies to de-escalate potential power struggles, knowing

that no strategy will work for every student. What you say to a boy with
whom you have a solid relationship will differ from your strategy with the
girl in the corner who’s angry all the time and waiting for any excuse to stir
thing up.

 “Drop the rope” in power struggles or try not picking up “the rope”
at all. Remind yourself that the goal right not is to de-escalate the
situation by lowering the decibel level, defusing the emotional
intensity, and diminishing the drama. You might say, “I’m not going
to argue about this now.” Or, “I’m through discussing this for now.”
Or, “I heard what you said and I need to think about it.”

 Call their bluff. “Which is it going to be? Work with me after school
or solve it yourself here in the classroom?”

 Notice the problem and postpone dealing with it until you have the
space and time for a private conversation.

 For students who are argumentative or hostile to what other students

say, you might try, “You have the right to your opinion [belief,
feelings]. Can you try and summarize both points of view?” Or, “Can
you restate that as a question?”

 When students who are visibly upset or angry about something said
in a discussion, say, “You had a really strong reaction to that
comment. Let’s hear what others feel about this.”

 Accept the feelings even as you stop the unacceptable behavior. “I

know you’re upset about this and that you know the consequence.”
Or, “I know you’re angry and you know the drill. Right?” Or, “I can
see how angry you are and I don’t want you to have to leave class.
Here’s the deal. Do you think you can ______________________ or
_____________________ for the rest of the period?” Or, “I know
you think this is unfair, and I want to talk with you about it later.
Right now, I need you to _____________________. Can you do
that?”

 When a student is geared up to argue with you, state both

viewpoints. “Here’s how I see it and here’s how you see it. Do I have
that about right? For the moment we’re going to have to agree to
disagree. Can you do that?”

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 For students who count on a “push back” response, acknowledge

their power, “You’re right. I can’t make you do this,” and move on.

 Refuse to take responsibility for the student’s actions by pointing out

the choice that they are making and the consequences of that choice.

 Offer an exit statement. “I’m not going to get in a power struggle

with you over this now.” Or, “I’ve said what I needed to say. You’re
the one who’s in charge of what happens next.”

 Say, “I want to keep your personal business personal. Let’s step

outside a minute and hear each other out.”

4. Interventions

Make one-on-one conferencing a daily practice

Teacher-student conferencing (from the one minute check-in to longer

conferences to address serious issues) serves many purposes. It’s the ideal
structure for listening when students are upset, for identifying academic and
behavioral problems, for problem solving with a student, and for discussing
students’ completed report forms after they have committed violations and
infractions.

A useful guideline for one-on-one conferences is to listen first, defuse

student’s upset feelings, and find out more information before you problem
solve. Here are some suggestions for getting the most out of student
conferences:

Begin conferences by inviting students to speak first. You might use any of
these openers:

 “So what’s up?” “What’s going on?” “What was that about
yesterday?” “A lot’s been going on. Tell me what you’re feeling
right now.” “You really sounded upset earlier. Is that right?” “So tell
me what I should know about what happened.”

 Then stop and wait for a response before you say anything else. The
goal is to defuse the emotional charge and let the student know that
you’re willing to listen.

A couple reminders about listening. . .

 Listening to a student doesn’t mean you agree with what the student
is saying.

 Listening confers respect and indicates you desire to understand the

student.

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 Listen first and listen attentively—before you assume, judge, correct,

or problem solve.

 Don’t get defensive and take the student’s upset feeling

personally—you’re the one using your skills to defuse and
understand.
 Defuse the student’s upset feelings by acknowledging and reflecting
the student’s feeling and emotional state and restating what the
student has said so he or she knows you understood.

 Encourage the person to talk by saying, “Tell me more,” “What

happened?,” “How do you feel about that?,” “What do you need
right now?,” “Is there anything else bothering you?”

When students bring a problem to you:

 Tell them that you appreciate their willingness to talk about it.

 Say little and let the student talk it through.

 Ask the student if he or she wants to problem solve. Sometimes just

listening to a student’s story is enough. If a student does want to
problem solve, you might ask, “Where would you like to go from
here?” Or, “What would a good solution look like?” Or, “What
might be one step you can take toward resolving this today?”

Try to identify sources of misbehavior and explore other ways to meet that
need. For example, was the misbehavior a way to gain attention, exercise
power, protect one’s identity and dignity, seek revenge, or convey
inadequacy?

When young people use absolutes or they over-generalize, help them to

clarify their thinking and speak more precisely to their own situation. You
can respond by saying, “Always? That never happens? Everyone does that?
Are you sure that you’re the only person who . . . ?”

With students who are really having a hard time, choose to work on one
behavior at a time. Try to eliminate or limit any negative feedback. Ask the
student what you as a teacher can do to help. Create a daily check-in with the
student. Give encouraging feedback when you see the student engaging in
the desired behavior.
When conferences get bogged down—when you’re stuck or a student is
stuck try these responses:

 It sounds like you’re not ready to talk about this, so I will have to
decide.

 I’m unwilling to try that because _______________. Do you have

another idea?

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 That’s a good idea. What consequence do you think would be fair if

you don’t do this?

 I want to hear what you have to say and I want you to hear what I
have to say. Can we try that?

 I’m not interested in fault finding or blaming. I’m interested in

solutions.

For students who continue to express disinterest, dislike, or boredom with the
course, it is hard to help them move out of the land of “not learning” without
naming what is making this a bad experience for them. You might say, “It
sound like you’re really stuck and can’t find a way to make this class okay
for you. So let’s start where you are. Cover a page with everything you
dislike about class. Then we’ll talk and if we can work together to find a way
out of this.” This strategy can produce three positive results. First, you’re
catching a student off guard because you’re not asking her to pretend that
everything’s fine when it isn’t. You’re validating that a student’s negative
feelings are real. Second, you’re telling the student that, “Just because you
don’t like class, doesn’t mean I can’t like you.” You’re communicating that
it’s worth you time to listen and try and understand what’s going on. Third,
this kind of quick exercise usually provides a lot of information that can be
useful in plumbing underlying resistance, and it gives the two of you a place
to begin working on a plan.

5. Support and Maintenance

An annoying reality of adolescence is that good behavior and a

positive peer culture don’t sustain themselves without a big dose of
what Linda Albert refers to as the five A’s: ACCEPTANCE,
ATTENTION, APPRECIATION, AFFIRMATION, and
AFFECTION. If you were to set aside 15 minutes a week in each
class to support and maintain the positive behaviors of individual
students and the group, what would you choose to do?

Provide immediate feedback when students are trying out new skills and
behaviors.
 Give encouraging feedback that describes what students have
accomplished and names the personal quality that they used to do it.

 Emphasize a specific skill you will observe and students will practice
each week. Provide feedback on how the group and individual
students are using the skill regularly and successfully.

 When someone has had a bad day, write a note with words of
encouragement and a reminder that they can start fresh the next day.

 Be particularly mindful of situations where students have recovered

and bounced back from personal setbacks. Encourage students to tell
you what they have learned from these experiences.

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 Notice when students do something “out of character” that reveals a

different image of themselves.

 Write notes that show that you have noticed the effort students have
make to keep their academic contract commitments or sustain a
significant change in their classroom behavior.

 Create classroom routines and rituals that involve EVERY

STUDENT.

 Recognize and celebrate the group’s efforts and accomplishments.

 Recognize individual accomplishments in and out of the classroom.

Provide differentiated support for students who are struggling.

 Create a set of quotes about people who have overcome great

challenges and personal difficulties. Give a quote to a student when
you want to acknowledge that they are having a rough time of it and
share that other people have overcome difficult circumstances and
found meaning and success in their lives.

 Invite a student who needs a little boost of encouragement and

support to eat lunch with you.

 For students who have a particularly difficult time dealing with

managing anger, controlling their impulses, or handling interpersonal
conflict, invite them to write themselves a “congratulations” note
when they felt they handled a tough situation effectively.

 Read “Thank You Mr. Falker,” by Patricia Polacco.

 Hook up a struggling student with a former student who can share

what she or he did to turn things around in class.

 Set up 30 second daily check-in’s with students who need to be on a

short leash. These are the kids who need to know you are not going
to stop noticing how they are doing.

Create opportunities for students to link personal effort to their successes in

the classroom.

 Encourage students to keep a checklist of skills they are learning and

mastering.

 Ask students to review the list of self-awareness and self-

management skills and identify skills they have improved during the
past quarter and skills they want to work on during the next quarter.

 Invite students to tell you one thing they have accomplished this
week that they didn’t think they could have done a month ago.

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Blue Form: Inappropriate/Disrespectful Remarks

Name of Student ________________________________________

1. What did I say that was 2. How was this inappropriate or disrespectful?
inappropriate or disrespectful? Identify the impact on students, staff, classroom,
or the school environment.

3. Which fits? 4. Next time I feel this way, I could

try:
 It would have been better not to say
this at all because . . . A.

B.

 I could have said it this way:

C.

Staff Person’s Name __________________________________________

Date ______________

Follow up:

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Problem Solving Conference Form

Getting the Story Out

What did you do that got you here?

What happened?

How are you feeling about what happened?

Taking Responsibility

How did your behavior affect others or the learning environment?

When you got in trouble, what were you supposed to be doing?

How did your behavior get in the way of your own learning?

Problem Solving

What could you have done instead that would have been a better choice?

What can you do the nest time you’re in this situation?

What steps can you take to prevent this from happening again?

Getting Support and Keeping on Track

What can the teacher do to support your change in behavior?

What else can you do for yourself to help keep on track?

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