Behavior Policy: Courage Affecting Change

Up and Down by Mi Pah

I couldn't have been more impressed with our class this morning. Before school, a student showed up early to bring concerns to me on behalf of his/her classmates. The student reported that the group felt compelled to complain to Mrs. Lewis during Social Studies the day before.  Mrs. Lewis then capitalized on their sense of outrage creating a lesson about how to affect change over perceived injustice. Unfortunately, the discussion deteriorated from civilized and was ended prematurely.

Last week, I began a crack-down on the amount of misused time I had been whitening over the span of the last few weeks. The short of it: I would instruct students to transition between subjects; put away materials from the previous period, take out the next set of materials, etc. After an appropriate amount of time, I was finding that many students, instead of being on task, were using the transition to chat with classmates. I'd find that when I was ready to begin the next lesson, there were many students not prepared. This usually resulted in one of two scenarios; I would have to wait while a group got their act together, or I'd have to reteach pieces of the lesson to a select few that were missed due to their extended transition. This, in turn, would effect the entire group in two ways; either everybody who was ready would have to wait for the students who weren't ready, or once the whole class lesson was over instead of getting to the students who needed a bit of clarification here and there, I was spending small group time essentially repeating myself.

That is simply not fair to the students who followed the directions.

So, I broke out the misconduct slips as I've done in years prior.

What I didn't anticipate was the fear this instilled throughout the classroom. It was time for a community forum.

We gathered in a circle and I informed students that their discontent had come to my attention. I explained that I was under the impression that they understood the behaviors that I was seeking to change and that they also understood the purpose of the misconduct slips. I then informed them that from the message I received that morning, I was clearly wrong on both accounts. I dusted off the fabled highlighter of expression for use in times of severe malcontent, a tool that yields the beholder the unencumbered freedom of speech without fear of retribution (this was clearly symbolic and in reality, the only item within reach to pass around).

Let me pause here to say I am extremely proud at both the students candor, their ability to clearly articulate their concerns, and the appropriateness with which they handled the situation. The following are the "minutes" of our class forum, alternating between student concern and teacher response

 Student Concerns and Teacher Response:

• Students were unsure of what behaviors would garner them a misconduct slip
• A checklist will be created and posted with the specific routine behaviors that if not followed will result in a misconduct slip. The phrase, "My expectations are that..." will signify routines that if not followed, will result in a misconduct slip. 
• Students felt the misconduct slips were an overreaction 
• Students viewed leaving a notebook out on their table as not a big enough deal to warrant a discipline slip. Within the format of the class forum, where students seemed project that they had a voice, they seemed to be much more receptive to the following explanation: While leaving a notebook out or being a minute behind during a transition, or forgetting to pass in completed homework; in isolation, is relatively minor. However, those wasted minutes here and there could add up to hours of wasted instructional time over the course of the year. The time that I had to spend chasing homework down detracts from more important responsibilities, and the classroom was frequently being left in states of disaster where I'd have to spend 20-40 minutes just cleaning up at the end of the day. 
• Students felt that the consequences were not inline with infractions
• While many students suggested other classroom behavior policies (green, yellow, red cards; initials, circle, check) resulting in loss of recess. I'm an adamant defender of recess time. Regardless of infractions, students in our school work extremely hard all day. Their right to run around, get some fresh air, and socialize with peers must be defended. 
• My views on the misconduct slips: while they must be signed by a parent the first two are intended to be warnings. The consequence should only be a conversation about organization skills or other areas to improve upon. 
• Students should not face at-home consequences, above an honest conversation, for the first two misconduct slips. At-home consequences result in unaligned consequences, undermining the intent of the slips. The slips are meant to engage students in conversation about skills they must continue to improve upon to build the independent skills necessary for middle school success. If students face at-home consequences for warning slips, I told them to inform me immediately for a parent email follow up. If I can't resolve the issue with a parent, I will use a different behavior response system which will unfortunately disclude parents from the conversation. Again, the intent of the slips is to increase the amount of discussion surrounding improvement in following directions and organizational skills. Increased discussion results in increased student awareness. 
• Many students built reasonable, logical, and persuasive arguments convincing me to rethink the consequences attached to slips. Instead of using the school misconduct slips, "classroom misconduct slips." 3 classroom misconduct slips, reserved for the minor and routine infractions will result in a one page reflection/plan of action. Reflections can be completed  either at recess or for homework that night. 
• Due to the use of misconduct slips in previous years, students still view them as being reserved for more severe behavioral issues. 
• Serious behavioral issues result in immediate reflections accompanied by a school misconduct slip. At one time or another, everybody will make an egregious mistake. It's a part of the human experience. Students deserve the time to immediately think about the consequences of those actions and a follow up conversation should be had.  
• Students felt that the misconduct slips came out of nowhere
• I explained to the students that many people believe in beginning the year off strict and then loosening up as the class shows proficiency with expectation. I encourage students to voice their opinions, both in agreement and in disagreement, to encourage or challenge. Beginning strict can achieve compliance with routines at the expense of dissuading students from productive dissidence.  For example, today we discussed a template for open response, Introduction- Evidence/Explanation x3- conclusion, one student veered away from the template in an attempt to achieve a more substantive response. If students begin the year perceiving there is no room for variance, they may develop a habit of complying with instructions instead of the habit of finding alternative solutions. While alternative solutions don't always work out, the results of one success far outweigh any detriment caused by a few failures. Regardless of the tendency of needing some routine reform come November, I'm adamant about establishing this culture in the first few months of school. 

I can honestly say that this was one of the best classroom conversations I've ever had as a teacher. I hope that students took away the feeling that if done so appropriately, reasonably, and thoughtfully; their expressions of injustice can affect a real and lasting change. 

The funniest thing about the entire situation... The student that brought the issue to my attention did not share the sentiment of his/her classmate. That student openly expressed an unpopular opinion infront of an entire class who were quick to offer up their opposition to his/her opinion. And yet, the student did not relent. When that student was persecuted for, "Never receiving a slip," The student honestly responded that he/she didn't feel like it was that hard to follow the directions, showing tremendous character as that student did not buckle under peer scrutiny.

Reflecting back on this situation, I learned a tremendous lesson. I believed, and I mean I really thought, I made the misconduct slip rationale, intent, and procedure crystal clear. I also believed that the community we have been establishing since September would have resulted in more open questioning before this problem simmered to the boil. 

I was utterly and completely wrong. And being wrong about a matter of students expressing discontent is the most severe naiveté  I've ever experienced as the leader of a classroom.  Frankly, I don't think there's anyway possible I could have higher educational expectations for my students. I don't give assignments, I suggest them. I openly expect students to take my ideas and execute them in manner that will change my original expectations.  For students to perform at that level, they must work in an environment that is free from auxiliary anxiety or fear. 

It goes to show, it makes no difference whether or not I believe I've communicated my expectations clearly. The only matter of consequence is whether my students receive the message clearly. And, those two processes are by no means synchronous. In fact, my perception of the communication is of no consequence, the reception of my message is the only piece that matters. 

Because my actions, because of my lack of adequate communication, because of the results of this miscommunication; an atmosphere where students didn't feel safe to express their honest feedback was created. And in an environment where I set my expectations beyond that of which I can visualize, there is absolutely no room for problems like this one to fester. 

And yes, I do believe that students left today feeling better about the situation but only because I asked several time times through out the day. I wrote expectations on the board, I asked if everyone understood, and as a result I observed students going above and beyond to meet these clear expectations. That's the environment I want established so that students can do their best work. And even though the problem has been identified, even though steps have been taken to correct the problem, I don't believe that the damage that's been done in the last week is rectified. I believe our class has some healing to do. 

And yes, there was an initial feeling of annoyance, hurt, and anger when I was first alerted to the situation. It's never easy to hear, "The class doesn't like coming to school." and, "They're all terrified of getting slips." But I knew this student had the best intentions for the classroom.  The student was direct and honest, immediately enabling me to see his/her sincere intent and genuine care to making our classroom a better place. I can't think of much that's more difficult that initiating a difficult conversation. A conversation that you know will probably result in hurt feelings.  I'm extremely thankful to that student and their parent for one of the most courageous acts I've ever seen. 

I shudder to think of the detriment that could have been done if more time had passed with that sentiment lingering in the air.