Cheetah Chat

I’m one week behind schedule, here are my thoughts on these chapters!

Chapter 10: Consequences with Empathy
To review, this is the 3rd principle in the “4 key principles of L&L”
(1: Enhancement of Self-Concept, 2: Shared Control, 3: Consequences with Empathy, and 4: Shared Thinking).
The big idea in this chapter is that, “Consequences result in pain coming from the inside; punishment results in pain coming from the outside.” For me, this means having enough faith that a reasonable consequence will levy enough effective ‘pain from the inside’ that I don’t even have to add any ’spin’ to the consequence with sarcasm (as much as I hate sarcasm, it can leak out at times) or other moralizing or frustrated responses. It takes great calm and non-attachment to show empathy, have security in the effectiveness of a well thought out consequence. Using shared thinking to come up with reasonable consequences is key in this trust. I think that one of my biggest challenges over the past year was a lack of consistent and reliable consequences for misbehavior. Much of the time, I assumed the burden of choosing what the consequence should be was on me alone, and thinking that a little scolding can work well as a negative reinforcement, sometimes that alone became the consequence, which was ineffective, if I am to subscribe to the psychology of the L&L authors (which for the most part I do). The Pearl that closes this chapter is also a good one: “No behavior technique will have a lasting, positive result if it is not delivered with compassion, empathy, or understanding.”

Chapter 11: Shared Thinking
I do honestly wonder how much of the many days I have spent trying to do thinking that kids could do themselves. I have learned from experience that people in an emotional state often do need to be listened to before they can think clearly. Once they begin to be in a state receptive to real thinking, the right questions are a catalyst to their process, and require very little force or effort. I appreciate the reference to Bloom’s Taxonomy which is something I need to consciously incorporate more into my classroom, and realize how questions that require more brain power are much more likely to jump-start a session of really empowering thinking than questions whose answers are cut and dried, or worse, known by all present. Kids want to think, it is as the authors point out, a natural high. Given enough time and the right circumstances, they will come to creative decisions with little guidance. A fragment of the last pearl here stands out to me: “By giving students practice at thinking, teachers not only gain more control over the classroom, but also model the joy of relearning.

Chapter 12: Styles of Teaching
I found the oversimplified division of teaching styles into helicopters, drill sergeants, and consultants was a trifle annoying to me, because it seems like so much pop psychology and stereotyping, yet I can see certain truths in these artificially conceived archetypal extremes. I appreciated the anecdote about Ben that illustrated the author’s own learning process with relation to a student who was easily distracted and relatively unmotivated. This is an interesting chapter in that it tries to syntesize many of the book’s previous ideas and to show how they can be applied somewhat to help student achievement, even though the authors do emphatically state that this is not the purpose or goal of these techniques. They discuss student-specific standards-based multi-mode assessment techniques that give students the freedom to express their mastery and understanding of concepts in many different ways, and not just via a test or a homework assignment. These ideas fit nicely with the math training I just completed this week, that reinforced many old ideas about constructivist education and inquiry based learning. I am excited about the coming year, and eager to begin the process of improving my teaching and the students’ learning all over again.

Chapter Seven: Principles vs. Systems

Game playing with students the first 6 weeks of school I believe would benefit from the experiment #8 pre chapter 7: “There are two ways to enjoy the game. One is by playing it and one is by watching it.” Again, these chapters deal with making and giving good choices, choices that we as teachers should like also.

Systems-run school vs. Principles/values-run school

What is the difference between the two?  Number one, the difference lies in the language:  specific punishments vs. set of principles for discipline situations, number two, individualized discipline measures vs. one size fits all punishment, and adherence to values.  I would like our school to be more outspoken about our VALUES.  I would like us to use this type of terminology that is values-based.  I believe we are on the right track for next year with our discussion at the staff meeting re: evaluations a few weeks ago.  We need to post these VALUES in the same place in all of our classrooms so that each year students are reminded and can refer to them.

Once again, reading this chapter, I reflect on the standard of “fair.”  I desire to strive to treat all students fairly; however, I am constantly frustrated with myself by the fact that I treat two students who have “disobeyed” the values differently.  I suppose this paradigm of the principles process calls that okay.  I am empowered to treat two students with a different discipline strategy even if they have done the same thing wrong.

Do you think it is appropriate for certain age groups to say the following:  (p.107) “You can do anything you want in this class, provided it doesn’t cause a problem for anyone else…”  How general are your rules?  Obviously we all know not to have the word NO in our rules but rather to state our rules in the positive; yet in my experience I have found that the more specific I am about the rules of the classroom, the less trouble I have with the students breaking them or questioning them or the consequences.  One year I had the 4 BEs as my rules:  Be nice, Be neat, Be on time and Be focused.  I think these rules were too nebulous.

Remember the following from this chapter:  ‘a student’s sense of self-worth needs to be enhanced, even in–especially in–a “discipline” situation.’  “Control is a shared commodity” (109).  “Consequences need to be served up with compassion, empathy, or understanding, rather than anger.”  KEEP A TEACHER JOURNAL AND RECORD BEHAVIORS.  TAKE TIME TO DOLE OUT CONSEQUENCES.  LISTEN.

Some brief nuggets from chapter 8:  Help students feel capable.  Tell them you like them and they will probably like you then.  I used the “just because I like you, do you think I should let you get away with that?” for two years with a student and it worked really well.  NOTICE” a few uniquenesses about each student from the very beginning.  Say “you can be proud of that” to them.  Try not to always have to make teaching fun.  Don’t exhaust yourselves in order to “install” an education.

Chapter nine:  Ask yourself daily, “Do I want to control kids or do I want to obtain their cooperation?”

Gaining control by giving some away.  Allow for some lessons where students are the leaders.  Allow for some of the more difficult students in our classrooms to take charge of an activity.

Key points about choices:

1.  legitimacy

2.  equally acceptable to both parties

3.  be happy with both choices/alternatives that are given

Thinking words often start with “feel free to…as soon as…or as long as…or whenever you have…”  I often use “your ticket to leaving early for recess is to ….”

Keep track of the choices on page 154.  We ought to make a copy for the staff.

Hope you guys are well!  I’m off to hike in the mountains!

Chapter 4: Consequences with Empathy

I agree with the three rules:
1.Use enforceable limits
2.Provide choices within limits
3.Apply consequences with empathy

Empathy- “Feeling of concern and understanding for another’s situation or feelings”. Making the home visits allowed me to practice empathy more freely. I don’t want to contribute to a child’s sorrow and transform that into anger towards me or his/her peers. I really like the statement on page 39 “A mistake can be a great teacher, provided the child is allowed to experience the consequences of the mistake. However, it is the empathy expressed by the adult that drives the pain of the consequence into his or her heart and turns experiences into long-term memory and wisdom.” I agree student’s need to own their problems to do something about it and without natural consequences, their will be no realization.

Chapter 4: Finding Time for Love and Logic Discipline
I have learned that if I don’t address an issue using the love and logic approach, the problem grows and grows. In fact, some of the behavioral problems we had this year ended up lasting all year. I can’t imagine what else we could have done. That is until I learned about enforceable limits through enforceable statements. I spent too much time trying to solve problems immediately and allowing the problem to control me. I would even take them home and bring them back the next day. Having student’s own their problems and thinking of solutions will make it more real to them.

Chapter 5
Norm 1: Do kids have rights? My student’s have rights! They have rights until they make the repeatedly wrong choices and slowly but surely get them taken away. For example, a student has the right to go to the bathroom. This student then is escorted by Irma or Sra. Camacho and I receive a complaint that he/she is making a mess, playing with water or even better on the swings at Franklin. Naturally, I talk to the student and I ask them why? Then I explain the natural consequence and tell them they may not got to the bathroom alone. I would say this is like loosing their right and trust. I make it very clear that I trust them to make the best choices and when they don’t they let themselves down and me.

Norm 2: The future as an extension of the past
I’m reading the text, applying it to my teaching and reflecting. In Chapter 5
I’m always trying new things and not scared at all anymore to justify what I’m doing and take a risk. In the past I was afraid of change and I thought that what I had learned in grad school or during my time with Mr. Monley could be transferred to second grade. I was wrong…. I had a lot of learning and growing to do and I’m still eager to learn. What I learned served as a foundation but in reality every year is a new beginning and with the new wave of students old techniques can be a thing of the past and I need to be willing to try new things.

Norm 3: It’s not my fault
This is something that I try to handle with empathy but most of the time I find it hard to excuse inappropriate behaviors when they know my expectations. I give my students several opportunities to change the behavior and give warnings. What I did this year is give three warnings and the name on the board. Students had all day to change but instead would get a check mark and a call home. I know Michael and I want our students to have self control, take responsibility for their actions and make better choices. Last year we used the color system and this year a point system. What works for you?

Norm 4: Achievement determines Worth
When I look in my class and think about the space, how I handle situations, and even the PE activities that we practiced this year, I can honestly say that although we did everything possible to prevent our student’s from feeling like winner or losers, certain activities can contribute to their competitiveness and tension with one another. For example, or 100 books. It is great but we have plates showing how many books student’s read and some have over a hundred while some have 10. This is something to think about because if I was a student with only 10 stickers on my plate it would affect my self-worth. At the same time I feel as if Michael and I try to ensure that we are meeting our students needs at their level and we try our best to provide a classroom that is welcoming of all.

Norm5:I see, I believe I deserve
Deserving vs. Earned~
I hope this doesn’t come across wrong in any way. I’m not comparing my students to puppies but his made me think of Ace’s Puppy trainer telling me,” Puppies like to work hard to impress you, make him work for a treat” It was so easy for me to give him treats all the time just because I wanted to be a nice mommy and I couldn’t resist his cute face. After she told me “He will feel proud and recognized for his work” I stopped giving him treats unless he practiced his tricks or I was reinforcing a positive behavior that I caught. I noticed his tail wag more often and he put more effort and concentration to our learning sessions. He learned to separate play time from learning time.
When I think about my student’s and the behavioral issues I had in class, I can say that I tried to make a distinction between play/social time vs. learning time. This was a challenge this year! Looking back to my childhood development courses I think about children at any age wanting time and attention. Positive reinforcement and understanding their developmental stages will help praise them for their behavior.

It is important to take in mind to all factors that affect discipline but at the same time I find it more important to strengthen autonomy and self- concept. The family dynamics may never get better, the media will always have negative influences, and our students may get stuck with teachers that don’t care their needs and only care about the grades. I keep this in mind and take every challenge as a learning experience.

I really like what is stated on p.69 “Today’s educators need to teach more than just academic skills for our students to be successful. We must rely on development of inner wisdom and deal with children at an interpersonal level.”

Part One of a multipart Discussion.
For a general overview of the club, read the previous post.

After reading the first three chapters of “Teaching with Love and Logic” (TLL), I think I am very nearly in full accord with the author’s point of view. While the first chapter begins with what seems to be a little bit of self-promotion, its message is fairly simple and basic. It’s a foundation that I feel most of us are already operating from. It’s something I learned to do in early childhood education:

Always offer choices, rather than making demands. I predict a fair amount of the material in this book may fall into this category: things I know but could still improve my implementation of. I have seen and expect a good amount of new material as well, hopefully the key ideas that will bridge my teaching from what I know to what I practice everyday. The basic truth (of offering choices) works with parenting and teaching, though I forget to use it as much as I could. Particularly interesting is the banking-model where every choice offered is compared to a “deposit” into the control bank, and a choice made by the teacher is likened to a “withdrawl.”

Students need warnings before receiving consequences. I’ve questioned that commonly accepted practice at times, yet fall back into it, most likely from my own experience of growing up. If the rules are clearly posted, reviewed, and understood, a warning is essentially just a pardon, which seems to be frequently interpreted as a lack of consequence and consistency altogether. This is something I’ll be trying for sure: no warnings. The author also argues (common to popular adages) that:

Consequences do NOT need to be immediate. Again, as long as there is a verbal assurance of future follow-through, it makes sense to leave a student in limbo, and the illustration in the story makes it clear how that time can give the student more thinking and problem-solving time. I also liked the salesman quote,

You cannot make someone angry and sell them something at the same time. Which hopefully obvious is still not always the way I work. I pride myself on being strict and firm, yet the tone of scolding I sometimes use when I respond to repeated disruptions can often upset a student, and while that may be the old-school approach (teach cognizance of errors through disapproval), it doesn’t give the students the emotional freedom to think clearly and to re-evaluate their own actions. I’m really interested in trying the relationship-building experiment on page 21:

The One-Sentence Intervention Rather than praising students for things they do, in order to build relationship with the students, Funk & Fay suggest that we simply make short, one-sentence observations about them that are not academically related, being careful not to say “I like” or other opinion-laden comments. It’s a neat idea that the simple systematic observatiion of students’ varied individualities. Yet another myth they attack, that I’ve been suspect of before, is that:

It is not necessary for students to like their teachers, only that they respect them. It would seem the authors are laying the foundation of ‘love’ with this debunked myth. The inverse is that: Human beings will perform for the people they love. Mmmm. So it is important. Yes, I agree. The third chapter presents the banking model of control (withdrawls and deposits that I discussed above), as well as the implementation of consequences with empathy. Remaining calm- even tempered - not angry or reprimanding. This is a fundamental. Plenty of room for growth on my part. I really think that the way we teach naturally to a large degree modelled on how our parents raised us, assuming that it was a basically positive model. Showing restrained sternness or anger has always seemed to me an appropriate method of discipline, although risky. Once you give yourself permission to show disappointment and frustration, you open the door to letting your personal emotions rule. Consequences with empathy. Expressing sadness at the student’s predicament, without judgement. This intuitively feels like a great undertaking. I will try it.

Here is a rough proposed timeline for our informal bookclub around the book:

Teaching with Love and Logic: Taking Control of the Classroom
Please join us if you are reading the book (preferable) or if you just want to participate in the dialogue.

We are going to alternate starting entries, I’ll do the first one, and then whoever volunteers to go next will pilot chapters 4/5/6.  So far Patterson, Rodriguez, and possibly Basoco are joining us.  Hopefully the comments will just be a free discussion of the chapters for the week. If you’re a CCCS teacher and want to author an entry just email me and I’ll send you login information.

Part 1: How does Love and Logic Work?
1. The Purpose of Love and Logic: 8 pages
2. Confronting the Myths About Discipline: 14 pages
3. The Three Rules of Love and Logic: 18 pages
40 Pages Total Discussion by 6/30

4. Finding Time for Love and Logic Discipline: 12 pages
5. Discipline and Control: 16 pages
6. Perception and Behavior: 28 pages
56 Pages Total Discussion by 7/7

7. Principles vs. Systems: 16 pages
Part Two: The Four Key Principles of L & L
8. Principle 1: The Enhancement of Self-Concept 20 pages
9. Principle 2: Shared Control 22 pages
58 Pages Total Discussion by 7/14

10. Principle 3: Consequences with Empathy 16 pages
11. Principle 4: Shared Thinking 22 pages
Part Three: Realities and Myths
12. Styles of Teaching 32 pages
70 Pages Total Discussion by 7/21

13. Legal Considerations 22 pages
14. Implementing School Discipline: 32 pages
15. Walled Lake Central High 28 pages
82 Pages Total Discussion by 7/28

Part Four: Classroom Solutions Through Love and Logic Interventions 55 pages
55 Pages Total Discussion by 8/4

Dear Fellow Workers,

Here is a Tech resources update:

1. New Wiki
2. File Sharing
3. Filter Wall
4. Rooms 34-38 Network
5. Gallery & Weblogs

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1. New Wiki
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I put up an experimental wiki for our school today.

Here’s the definition of ‘wiki’ from answers.com:

Wiki-wiki is the Hawaiian word for quick.
Wiki Wiki Web sites are sites designed for users to be able to make additions or edit any page of the site.

You can access the page at http://www.chavezcheetahs.com/wiki/
It could serve as a place for us to post non-confidential, publically shared information about anything, such as:
–curriculum
–student work
–links to anything

And if you want to add something, you’ll need to login (upper right hand corner)
Email me for login/password info!

To create a new page, once you’ve logged in you simply search for the name of the page you want (picking a unique name for the page is relatively important), and if it doesn’t exist already, you click “create this page” from the “page not found” search results page.

Hyperlinks follow a really simple syntax: you just put brackets around it, put the url first, and the name you want displayed 2nd like this:

[http://chavezcheetahs.com/ CCCS Homepage]

That would render as ‘CCCS Homepage‘

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2. File Sharing
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Also, I set up a section of our webspace for filesharing. http://chavezcheetahs.com/share/

This is private and requires a username and password (again, email me if you forget).

You can drop ANY kind of file into these directories from your personal computers after setting up WebDav access (I can help you do this very quickly). Once it’s set up, you can drop documents there from your computer and access them over the web from any computer. This is a good way for us to share resources as well. You could even link to something inside of these directories, but it’s protected, so no one can access them.

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3. Filter Wall
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The IT department has been experimenting with new web filtering software because the old system was no longer available to us. Nate spoke to me about accessing United Streaming, and I’ve had trouble as well. I know this is an important site for many of us, and it’s content we’re paying for. I’m told they’re trying to unblock it as soon as possible.

If there are any other URLs that you see are blocked, and you feel that it is appropriate content that our students or staff should have access to from the school, please send me and email, and I will keep relaying them to the IT department, (you can of course send him emails yourself, there’s an email address that comes up everytime a site is blocked), but I thought it would be more coherent if I helped relay issues as a point person. It’s your call.

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4. Rooms 34-38 Network
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The greater network is now live in the new “raceways” that have been installed into each of the rooms 34, 35, 36, 37 & 38, and I will be moving our computers over to the new system this week as time allows. This will allow us to cancel our private subscription to Cox Cable (the little blue router in Leanne’s room will no longer be to blame if the internet goes down in that wing). Please don’t shift any cables over onto the new network before I unplug the old one, as we could cause major network-wide problems by plugging both in simultaneously. Unfortunatley, I suspect that this wing will immediately see slower speeds on the network, as the school’s network isn’t as fast as Cox was, but come July, I am old that the whole district is bumping up our bandwidth from Cox, and this should give us a lot more speed for web-browsing in the coming year.

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5. Gallery & Weblogs
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The gallery has migrated over to the new domain and is up and running smoothly. The first time you load some of the pages, it may take a little time, but the more
people that visit it the smoother it will go, this is because sometimes it needs to generate thumbnails the first time each page is visited. Past years photos have been archived by 6th grade graduating class, and the rest are on the front page. Please keep last names of students off the gallery and weblogs for student privacy, I think this is best. If anyone else wants me to reset up their class weblog, please let me know. Now that the wiki is up, you can actually create a lot of class-specific content there, but a weblog is still the best for bulletins, news, and updates. Kathi has her site up and is working on adding more content, that’s at http://chavezcheetahs.com/art

Darrin Neuer has gotten almost all of the main site up at http://chavezcheetahs.com/, including staff and classroom information pages, you should explore it if you haven’t lately.

Let me know if you have any issues or questions!

Alma, on the cutting edge of technology, has quickly patched together a google calendar for our school! If you have Mozilla Sunbird, Thunderbird, Firefox, or iCal, just right-click on the ical icon on the left, copy the link location, and subscribe to it with your the program you use.

If you have a Gmail Account, you can now subscribe to this feed by just clicking the Google Calendar button below, and then you can and overlay with your own calendar!

Ask me if you have questions or need a hand getting it set up!

Welcome to our new site at our new host!
http://chavezcheetahs.com/
Bienvenidos de regreso a nuestro nuevo sitio en un lugar nuevo!
http://chavezcheetahs.com/