from LeEdna via Ed Ford (950904)
To William Powers regarding your reference to my statements in Durango
regarding teachers falling back on old methods of dealing with students.
I must not have been very clear. I thought I said: When we noticed
teachers telling and sending students instead of asking and offering
choices, we held a staff meeting and I stated what I had been observing and
how I perceived the situation. I then asked how they perceived the school
and if they were interested in continuing the program. The staff openly
acknowledged that as the school calmed many had fallen back into old habits.
They reaffirmed their commitment to the program. We DID A PROGRAM ASSESSMENT
WITH THE STAFF, identified weaknesses and did provide ongoing training. The
program was re-energized before staff had moved very far from the process.
Obviously, I was not clear in stating these things had already taken place.
Sorry.
To Bill Powers - Moving on.....
This year, teachers have recommited to the program and we will again go
through the process of establishing standards via consensus with students
and staff. However, George and I have introduced Life Skills to the staff
as a means of doing this. Life Skills and Guidelines for living taken from
Susan Kavalik's book, Integrated Thematic Instruction The Model.
Teachers interested will again work with us in classroom meetings with
students to develop a school which reflects students wants and goals. We
will begin with discussions of creating out own community. What do students
think community is, what would their ideal community look like, feel like,
sould like? Beginning with their class and expanding outward to the school
community and local community. Then move to what qualities their ideal
community member would possess. Again describe what this would look like,
feel like, sound like. Create a web of student descriptions. Then have
them begin to group similar attributes and descriptors; ask if a word might
label these characteristics and begin to identify guidelines and life skills
(I believe a definition I was recently given for responsibility is PCT
compatable, it is defined from behind the eyes of the individual; utilizing
their reference signal as I believe all of these must be if we expect
students to internalize them.
Responsibility: Head - to know what is right. Heart - to have empathy for
others. Hands - to move into action.
Active Listening: listening with intention involves more than just hearing.
It is the greatest gift we can give another. Think for a moment, who listen
to you, really listens? who "hears" you - what you are saying and feeling,
who you are?
The Chinese symbol for "to listen" means listening with you eyes, ears, and
heart - and undivided attention - a perfect description of active listening.
It is useful in the classroom because it identifies for children what the
skills of listening are.
No put-downs. A put-down is a way of saying, "I am better than you, richer
than you, smarter than you, have more options than you." The goal is to
elevate the speaker to a psotion of being noticed, controlling the behavior
of those around them, undermining the relationship between people,
sidetracking the real issues, promoting him/herself by creating a laugh at
someone else's expense. Teachers and students need to learn how to handle
put-downs and how to prevent them from controlling their lives. Violence is
the ultimate put-down.
Trustworthiness: To act in a manner that makes on worthy of confidence. The
day in, day out sense of fairness, no surprises, no tantrums, no misplaced
anger, unflagging joy of learning - a person you could rely on.
Truthfulness: Telling the truth is about personal responsibility and mental
accountability. It is an important motivator behind rigorous intellectual
pursuit - to "get it straight," to fully understand. And, in terms of
relationships in the classroom, it is a fundamental cornerstone.
Lifeskills:
Responsibility: Head - to know what is right. Heart - to have empathy for
others. Hands - to move into action.
Integrity: To conduct oneself according to a sense of what's right and
wrong.
Flexibility: The ability to alter plans when necessary.
Perseverance: To continue in spite of difficulties.
Organization: To plan, arrange, and implement in an orderly way; to keep
things in an orderly, readily-usable way.
Sense of Humor: To laugh and be playful without hurting others.
Effort: to try your hardest
Common Sense: To use good judgement
Problem-Solving: To seek solutions in difficult situations and everyday
problems.
Patience: To wait calmly for someone or something.
Friendship: To make and keep a friend through mutual trust and caring.
Curiosity: A desire to learn or know about one's mind.
Cooperation: To work together toward a common goal or purpose.
Caring: To feel concern for others.
Courage: Spirit, to act according to one's beliefs.
Susan Kovalik also states:
"The lifelong guidelines are literally the social outcomes we set
for our students and for our fellow educators. There must be consistent
parameters and expectations for how to perform and what to expect from
others. For the adults in a school, this is an opportunity to "walk or
talk," to model the behaviors we expect students to master. The skills are
critical components of the model and the foundation ALL youngsters need to
master and apply as they master the academic work that lies before them."
The Responsible Thinking Student Discussions (Class Meeting is an ideal
format for the teacher to not only continue to model, but to discuss the
need for and to acknowledge the use of these guidelines and skills by
others. An additional benefit for students in a learning community that
consistently follows these guidelines is their consistency with brain
research that demonstrates students remain "upshifted" for learning. (ITI -
The Model).
Setting standards, if these Life Skills are internalized, becomes much less
"rule" oriented and much more "outcome" based. Best, Le.