By Tamara
A couple of posts ago the issue of students and their families being ready for and knowing how to “do” school was raised. Working in a title school it is easy to see daily example of this lack of preparedness for school. Especially in the area of discipline. Like many title schools the discipline issue in my building has been an ongoing source of frustration for quite some time.
Our new principal has been working to tackle it with mixed results. She spoke to this in a staff meeting recently and her observations triggered an “aha moment” for me. She talked about how we as the adults expect these children to recognize the cause and effect relationship their behaviors and actions can trigger. Yet, my principal pointed out, few of our “repeat offenders” have any concept of cause and effect as it relates to their actions. At home it doesn’t matter what they do or don’t do, their needs (be they physical or emotional) continue to go unmet. It doesn’t matter if they behave/don’t behave, someone is going to continue to hit or hurt them. So when they get to school, she pointed out, our asking them to see their behavior and its consequences in the light of cause and effect has no meaning. So her approach whenever possible has been to use her time with that child to discuss recognizing cause and effect as a skill to manage their behavior and then send them back to class in order to practice that skill. My principal acknowledged that sending students back to class is often not what the teacher wants or needs. But she made a strong case by pointing out that these children need a place and opportunity to practice behavior management skills that they will not get at home. Like it or not, reality dictates we are that place.
After listening to my principal explain her approach to discipline in light of her observations led me to the conclusion that we are derelict in our duty to children if we do not point out cause and effect relationships in their behaviors and allow them to practice the skill of recognizing it, just as we would be derelict if we did not teach them the skills necessary for reading or computation. Is it time consuming? Yes. Is it hard? Yes. But until we can help them learn to manage themselves, neither they or the other children in class are going to learn academic skills or how to “do” life.
Tavis-I really like your driving test analogy and in my heart I agree with you that the goal of school should fundamentally be about aquiring academic skill.
Yet when we as a society commit to educating EVERYONE, the harsh truth is we can’t get to the academic piece until students can function in a communal social setting. We are doing no favors trying to impart academic skills to people who are unable to engage their frontal lobes because they live in a repeating fight/flight response loop. I don’t like taking time away from academic skill building to deal with such profound social/emotional unreadiness for school.
At some point in our teaching careers it dawns on us that we don’t get to choose who walks through our door. Just like these kids didn’t get choose the circumstances they were born into. If we are to do right by them academically, we have to do right by them in building social/emotional skills as well.
School is a great place to learn cause and effect. It’s important for teachers to be as consistent and calm as possible, especially with kids who haven’t fully understood that their actions produce predictably results.
Now preparedness for school…how important is it (or to what degree should it be required) depends on your goal for school. For me, school is foremost a place of academics where a person learns academic skills. In this sense, if a student is not prepared for the rigors of trigonometry, then they should not take the class.
If the goal of school is to socialize, the goal is being met and WA excels. However, if it is socialization, there is no state test needed.
Back to my view of school. Preparedness for the current step is crucial so subsequent steps are feasible. I know of no driver’s test (for a state issued license) that cares about a person’s socio-economic status, FARL %, 504, IEP ….
You are either prepared for the driver’s test, or not.
Discipline is an opportunity to practice behavior. Period.