Life Born October 15, 1957 Earned a BA at Brown University and a Masters at University of Chicago Used to be a teacher, now is a full-timer writer and lecturer Has written 12 books in his career Best known books are Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes and Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community

Learning Communities “Place(s) in which students feel cared about and are encouraged to care about each other. They experience a sense of being valued and respected; the children matter to one another and to the teacher. They have come to think in the plural: they feel connected to each other, they are part of an “us.” And, as a result of all of this, they feel safe in their classes, not only physically but emotionally.”

How to Develop Community Show Respect to Students: Students behave more respectfully when important adults in their lives behave respectfully towards them. They are more likely to care about others if they know they are cared about. Help Students Connect: Connections are established through activities that involve interdependence. Use activities where students try to see situations from another persons’ point of view (Perspective Taking). Use Classroom Meetings: Hold class meetings at the beginning of the year to discusses matters such as what makes school not fun. Provide Classwide and Schoolwide Activities: Develop opportunities for the whole class or the whole school to collaborate on. Ex: Class mural, a play, community service, etc. Reflect on Academic Instruction: During class meetings find out how the students want to approach the next lesson, ask what they liked and disliked, and ask for any suggestions. Let the students learn from one another and work together.

Traditional Instruction Falls disastrously short of our expectations That kind of instruction is aimed at students to demonstrate specific objectives (Tests) Students remain relatively passive Students are successful by how well they do on a test or if they reach a certain objective Students thinks correct answers and good grades are the goal of learning Subject and activities rarely intrege the student Failure is experienced if correct answer isn’t reached The student isn’t asked to think but to just do. Learning is just to get stuff done

Students At Their Best Students learn most avidly and have their best ideas when they get to choose which questions they want to explore Let the students have some choice and control over what they learn Students need to think and discuss, not worry about tests and grades Have them find solutions, make decisions and connections, and gain their own understanding Let students explore Student need to be taken seriously