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Describe one or two discipline policies in place in your classroom or at your school that adhere to the model discussed in this lesson. Have they been effective?
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One discipline policy I used when I taught 5th grade was a sticky note warning system. If a student was talking during a lesson or independent work, playing with something in their desk, etc., my aide or myself would quietly put a sticky note on their desk as we were walking around observing. This was a warning that the behavior they were doing was not appropriate and needed to stop. Obviously this only worked for certain behaviors, but it typically was effective. It didn’t bring attention to the behavior from other students and was a gentle way of addressing the issue. If the behavior continued, I would pull the student out and talk to them, or occasionally I would write notes to them on their sticky note, depending on the issue and the student.
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Our school has a curriculum called Friendsy that teaches biblical character traits K-8. Each grade is learning the same lesson at their age level so “discipline” or correction can be given that applies to students K-8.
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I’m not sure the model in the lesson is clear, but there have been policies to escalate behavior to parent-teacher conferences and I’ve found that those have been successful in communicating to students that we are all on a team for their success. This helps them feel like adults are working for them rather than against them and they often return to the classroom rejuvenated.
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Students who wish to participate in extra-curricular sports must maintain acceptable grades; however, if grades fall the students are given ample warnings /opportunities to improve before being removed from the sporting team.
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I want to discuss a “new” practice that I was taught about in my schooling. Restorative practices is something that is being used in schools, developed in prisons for working out issues between inmates. I found it very interesting while learning about this to see how perfectly it aligned with Scripture. The process for working through problems with one another, the approach, the discussions, the solutions, and the restoration of relationships rather than focusing on the single occurrence. The participants are walked through how to work things out (biblically, whether the common society sees that or not) with the intent of teaching how to restore the relationship between them and how to keep it that way. They are able to advocate without sounding accusational that the individuals will be able to sustain and develop a stronger relationship. I do not see this used to its potential in the school where I am student teaching.