Better than carrots or sticks

Managing classrooms is a challenge. Some schools are identified as needing support when they suspend too many kids or too many in a subgroup. I spent the last year working in one such program where they were trying to implement Positive Behavior and intervention supports (PBIS). They were not fully engaged and did not seem to be making much progress. When I read Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey's book,

I thought about many of the challenges of the school. I appreciated that they were trying to implement an evidence based program of management, but they were still struggling. This book talked about some nuisances that would, potentially lead to greater success.

Both Restorative Practices and PBIS share the idea that kids engage in behavior because it is what they know. They need to learn alternative patterns of behavior to help them become more successful. Restorative Practices is focused on making things right. I have previously thought of it as a post-behavior intervention, and this book showed me how it can be applied prior to escalation of behavior.  I had also reasoned that putting a victim and a perpetrator together in a room might be cruel. I have seen kids who have been brutalized and cannot imagine making them face their abuser. If the victim is willing and prepared, I can see how this approach could facilitate healing. Unfortunately, such meetings require lots of pre-conference work with the parties, a willingness to participate, and highly skilled facilitators. The average teacher is not prepared to do this role.

I appreciated the idea that students need to develop empathy through guidance and learn skills. The authors identified four questions that students could reflect on to develop these skills:

1. Did you ask for help today when you needed it? 
2. Did you offer help to another when you recognized that he or she needed it?
3. Did you accept help when it was offered to you?
4. If you declined help, did you do so politely?              p. 44

Soft skills are often seen as critical and often lacking in young people today. Helping skills are one such group of skills that students need to work.

They highlight the importance of class meetings. These are not merely activities after a problem, they are proactive, community-building actions that help to circumvent problems. They are opportunities to share ideas, thoughts, joys and sorrows. They are opportunities to remind students about upcoming events and appropriate. They are opportunities to review before a test or debrief study skills afterwards. When they are used throughout the year for these varied purposes, students are not adverse to participating and do not see the class meeting as "someone(s) did something wrong."

Throughout the text there are images of students holding signs like, "I wouldn't make it anywhere else," (p. 16) and "I own my mistakes" (p. 97). These are inspiring comments that showcase trust and personal responsibility. They also have many sentence starters for discussions which would be useful for difficult conversations. Overall a book I know I will read again. Learning about how to correct the course before it is woefully off target is an admirable activity that I know I would improve from.