Ruth Bonner-Thompson, Ed.D. Tools for Schools: Making It Work North Summit December 7, 2011

 Achieving quality and excellence through student engagement and personalized learning.  How can schools be organized so students are engaged and learning? (school-wide /classroom)  What activities and interactions engage students in learning?  This session identifies strategies used to model personal responsibility for learning, based on:  Capturing Kids’ Hearts – EXCEL Model  LSU PBIS:  Tools for Teaching – Dr. Fred Jones – Classroom Management  Bottom Line : How do we get students to do what we want them to do?

 Schools and school districts are required to develop a plan and implement a data-driven process for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports.  2003 – Juvenile Justice Reform Act (1225)  Good behavior and discipline are essential prerequisites for academic learning…and the development of student character.  Bad behavior and lack of discipline in schools are impairing the quality of teaching, learning, and character development.  In some cases, bad behavior and lack of discipline are creating real and potential threats to school and public safety.

 Legislation passed in 2010:  Districts provide ongoing classroom management training related to positive behavior support, conflict resolution, and reinforcement of positive behaviors.  Schools use data-driven decisions to refine process; based on data such as referrals and observations.  Different for each school, based on students’ needs.  What is your school/district doing to address student engagement, PBIS, and Act 136?  How does your school collect and review data?  Who is responsible? PBIS Team?  Administrative support critical.  80% buy-in of faculty and staff.

 Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports is a systems approach to enhance the capacity of schools to  educate all students, especially students with challenging social behaviors;  by establishing effective and efficient systems that  support staff efforts and student success, and  use existing data to guide decision making.  Ongoing; dynamic; refine the process ; look at your students.  How do your students respond to the rules & consequences?  Why doesn’t “the system” work for all students?  Discipline starts in the classroom.  When teachers use the “backup plan,” they often relinquish authority/respect.

Attendance Special Education DisciplineLiteracy School Climate Positive Behavior Supports Response to Intervention Student Engagement programs! separate No

 “Green students:” All students are exposed to basic management techniques (student handbook; classroom rules). Approximately 80% respond well to techniques. (0-1 referral)  “Yellow students:” Approximately 15% will need additional targeted, small group interventions. (2-5 referrals)  “Red students:” Approximately 5% will need intensive, individualized management (>6 referrals).

Start in the classroom! Classroom Management Yellow and Red need more “teaching” and support.

1. State behavioral expectations.  Broad, Positively stated, School-Wide expectations.  FPHS: Be Responsible; Show Respect; Respond Appropriately. 2. Specify student behaviors (rules).  Very specific—Develop a matrix by setting.  Hallway, cafeteria, bathroom, bus ramp/students parking lot, recess 3. Model, teach, and practice appropriate student behaviors.  Homeroom, regular classroom, special assemblies; Take them to the site! 4. Reinforce appropriate behaviors.  Jean Day (no referrals), SONIC cards (perfect attendence), drawings for prizes. 5. Define behaviors and develop an array of consequences & interventions.  What does willful disobedience look like? (Write definitions.)  Major and minor infractions. 6. Evaluate in order to make data-based decisions.  Surveys to find out what students think; what teachers think.  JPAMS

Great teachers teach their students to build bridges, facilitate their crossings, and then happily collapse those bridges and encourage them to build bridges of their own. Chicken Soup for the Soul

RAHClassroomHallway/ Commons CafeteriaBathrooms Respect Be on time; attend regularly; follow class rules Keep location neat, keep to the right, use appropriate lang., monitor noise level, allow others to pass Put trash in cans, push in your chair, be courteous to all staff and students Keep area clean, put trash in cans, be mindful of others’ personal space, flush toilet Achievement Do your best on all assignments and assessments, take notes, ask questions Keep track of your belongings, monitor time to get to class Check space before you leave, keep track of personal belongings Be a good example to other students, leave the room better than you found it Honor Do your own work; tell the truth Be considerate of yours and others’ personal space Keep your own place in line, maintain personal boundaries Report any graffiti or vandalism

 Command/Control vs. Relational  Social Contracts:  Teachers collaborate with students to create a classroom discipline management plan.  An agreement on behavior and consequences.  Personal (and group member) responsibility for learning and behavior.  How do you want me to treat you? How do you want to treat each other? How do you think I want to be treated? How will we handle violations of the contract?  Get feedback from students: How am I doing? How are students doing with the social contracts?  Consistency is everything!

 Engage— building relationships; handshake and positive greeting daily, affirm (specific); model social and personal skills; give them your full attention  X-plore— getting in touch  Identify the customers needs; find a talking point; front- loading  “Good things;” listening skills; conveying empathy; probing; asking open-ended questions  Communicate— dynamic dialogue/two-way process  Communicate caring, relevance, and course content.  Translate into real world benefits; team-building.  Empower— developing skills; practicing in a safe environment.  Launch— momentum and direction; practicing new skills in the cold, cruel world. “Return with honor.”

 Teachers (all adults) will demonstrate social behaviors that build relationships with others:  Greeting each student at the door every day with handshake; firm, yet comfortable ; initiate the handshake ;  Listening and understanding;  Dress/grooming: professionally dressed, with good hygiene ;  Energy: positive and energetic, confident ;  Any personality type can “learn” these behaviors.  Behaviors can be “taught” to students!

 Model for students!  55% of what we communicate is through body language;  Level of relaxation: be confident, but not stressed or hurried ;  Eye contact: Look in the eye and pay attention to the person’s needs.  38% of what we communicate is through tone of voice ;  Only 7% of a message if communicated by words.  Interviewing for a job—real world example.

 Teachers demonstrate SOLER listening skills.  Listening with More than Our Ears  · S = Square up to the person you are listening to  · O = Open posture  · L = Lean in  · E = Eye contact  · R = Relax and Respond  What “body language” lets someone know you are not listening or do not find what they are saying important?

 Reframing is taking a negative comment or situation and changing your perspective so you can move on.  Who decides what your hand does? Can someone make you angry?  What happens when you push people? (They push back.)  Leaders are responsible for 3 things:  Their thoughts.  Their attitudes.  Their actions.

Be careful of your thoughts—They become your attitudes. Be careful of your attitudes—They become your actions.

 ENGAGE: Begin each class with “Good Things” (2 – 3 minutes)  Call on one student to share something good that happened since the last meeting.  Welcomes, starts on positive note, establishes a climate of caring: You are important to me.  X-PLORE : Explore your clients needs:  “Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!”  Front-loading: Find a common ground and be prepared to say something good about every student.  COMMUNICATE  Ask open-ended questions.  Allow students to talk and to think: Plan for it!  “Process” journals; group work, everything.

 EMPOWER: Create security by starting each day with structure.  When class is consistently successful with you facilitating the process, you begin to empower students to facilitate the process themselves. (Ownership)  Grow your group: Icebreakers; “Get to Know Each Other” speeches; social contract; “Good Things; Share journal entries; Small groups.  LAUNCH: End on a powerful note!  Remember who you are. Remember what you stand for. Lead by example.  Send them from you thinking about who they are and who you want them to grow to be.

 What are you doing?  What are you supposed to be doing?  Are you doing it?  So what are you going to do about it?  So what’s going to happen if I have to come to you again about this? (Specific consequence is known in advance.)

 Who are you talking to (teacher or peer)?  How are you supposed to talk to me (or to your teammate)?  Were you doing it?  So how are you going to talk to me/her now?  So what’s going to happen if you talk to me/her this way again? (Specific consequence is known in advance.)

When you do for people what they can and should do for themselves, you stifle their confidence. Bethany Rosebrock A leader is someone who sets aside a personal agenda and embraces a greater agenda of serving others. Flip Flippen AKA: It’s not about me.

Franklin Parish High School Phone: (318) Ruth Bonner-Thompson