1. Chapter 11: Discipline through Self- Restitution and Moral Intelligence Frank Schwartz EDUC 531 Professor Patricia Williams

2. Fundamental Hypothesis of Self-Restitution  Self-restitution, which involves regular reflection on personal behavior, helps students learn to profit from mistakes and become better able to conduct themselves in harmony with their needs and inner sense of morality.

3. Self-Restitution Theory  Developed by Diane Gossen. She pointed out 3 unchanged circumstances in schools: discipline is #1 for teachers, violence is increasing, and students need environment that satisfies needs and is free from fear and coercion  Since punishments/rewards do not work, her program is entitled Discipline through Self-Restitution, a “needs-satisfying” environment in which students who have behaved inappropriately are encouraged to reflect on their behavior, identify the need that prompted it, and create a new way of behaving that is indicative of the responsible person they want to be.  It focuses on helping students learn how to make things right within themselves, as well as whoever they offended with their behavior.

4.  The main characteristics of the restitution healing process are:  1. Not a payback, but a “pay-forward,” which provides an avenue towards being a better person  2. Mets needs of not only offended person, but also of the offended and is restorative and healing  3. Provides a means of dealing with root causes of the problem  4. Focuses on solutions and restores/strengthens relationships  5. Operates through invitation, not coercion  6.Teaches people to look inward, identify the need for the behavior, and visualize who they want to be  7. Creates solutions and restores offender to group 

5. The Restitution Triangle and How It Is Used  The Restitution triangle helps us understand how easily the process works  The first step begins at the base. It is to stabilize the student’s identity by removing fear and anger so learning can take it’s place.  The next is on the left side of the triangle. We help students understand that people do things for a reason and usually the best they know how, under the circumstances. We ask questions to help the student see that their behavior wasn’t the worst possible choice. Afterwards, we explain that most behavior occurs when a person believes their needs are not being met. The, we review and ask them what they are and give the student time to reflect.  The 3 rd (right) side is where we encourage the student to tap into more ideal pictures of behavior in order to stimulate the student to reflect their behavior and judge it against the kind of person they want to be.

6. The Least Coercive Road  Gossen believes her theory works best when teachers use the least coercive road.  When teachers have a difficult time in class, it’s usually because teachers are trying to make students do what they don’t want to do.  She says if you want students to be responsible for their behavior and understand that the teachers’ job is to provide a rich environment in which students learn because they want to, use self-restitution with the least coercion possible.  There are 4 steps for least coercion self-restitution.

7. 1. Open Up The Territory-Maximizing Freedom  By reducing the number of interventions to the students’ behavior, you “open up the territory” for students to have more freedom to explore options, make choices, and learn from the process, which leads to responsible behavior. It calls on teachers to identify and address only what they truly believe is important in classroom behavior.  She also has teachers to ask themselves “Does It Really Matter?” to restrict certain behaviors? (e.g., sitting with feet on floor, chewing gum, exchange seats, etc.). She suggests we place limits only on behavior that pertains to safety, class function, and other matters with strong convictions.  The second part is known as “Yes, if…” If a teacher finds him or herself frequently responding with “no,” to a students’ requests, she recommends we use a more positive response to elicit good behavior (EX. “Can I sharpen my pencil?” “Yes, if you wait till I’m finished my instructions.”

8. 2. Establish the Social Contract-Building a Sense of Belonging  A “social contract” is an agreement between the teacher and students concerning how you want to be when together. It is an attempt to gain students’ willingness to work with the teacher and establish and maintain a better class.  One common goal is to be an effective member of the group. To do this, we must determine how to meet our needs without interfering with others’ needs. Discussions on group values and class agreements increase interaction with students and teachers and makes students accept responsibility for classroom function.  Class members should spend time exploring and discussing their beliefs regarding the kind of person they want to be  After students reflect further, ask them if they can suggest ways of conducting themselves in a way that will support the values they have identified. This leads to agreements concerning good behavior, formalized as the class social contract.

9. 3.Establish Limits-Clarifying Personal Power  Students are helped to realize that duties accompany membership in social relationships. In order to attain good qualities (e.g., predictability, enjoyment, and power in our lives), class agreements must be made that indicate responsibilities and include bottom lines beyond which behavior is not acceptable. These, in turn, bring about a shift in balance of responsibility for classroom demeanor.  Teachers may find it helpful to identify the expected class roles, or jobs of teacher and student., with examples of what is expected and what is not expected of each. This helps students know who is responsible for what.  When a student interferes, a teacher may ask “What’s your job/rule?” It provides a step towards getting a solution and avoids debating.  Rules are used to impose external control. Their contract usually requires teachers apply sanctions for unruly behavior. Even in restitution, rules are to be used as a fall-back position. The bottom line refers to the point beyond which a student is not allowed to transgress without consequences. We can prevent this by using re-direction or role –related comments (What’s your job?)However, if this fails, the teacher must apply consequences specified by the rules.

10. 4.Self-Restituion-Making things right and Healing Oneself  Self-Restitution takes 2 things into account: making amends to the victim and helping offenders heal themselves. It says to students, “What are you going to do to fix what’s wrong, and how are you going to become more like the person you want to be?” It rests on the following principles:  Respect everyone’s view of the world  Create conditions of safety and space for reflection to evaluate info. and moral meaning  Minimize rewards and punishments  Develop internal moral sense and focus on harmony and not conformity  Uphold bottom lines on behavior so students feel safe in the classroom  Because restitution seeks to identify the basic need behind the problem, you must make students understand that we all have needs for love, power, freedom, fun, and survival. Our behavior, acceptable or unacceptable, is associated with those needs.

11.  When students offend, ask them to identify the need behind the behavior and other students’ behavior that may have interfered. It will reduce combativeness and collapse the conflict that might otherwise have existed.  Teachers are of greatest help when they serve as managers of restitution. They ask misbehaving students to work with them to invent solutions to their problems. They don’t punish, coerce, or remove these students from the group.  Contrarily, they help them remain in the group with strengthened capability.

12. Part 2: Michele Borba and Building Moral Intelligence

13. Fundamental Hypothesis of Moral Intelligence  Moral intelligence, comprised of 7 essential virtues that can be taught and developed, controls students’ abilities to deal effectively with ethical and moral challenges they encounter in school and elsewhere.

14. Moral Intelligence and the Foundations of Character  Moral intelligence can be understood as :  1. the ability to distinguish right from wrong  2.the establishment and maintenance of strong ethical convictions  3. the willingness to act on those convictions in an honorable way.  Borba depicts moral intelligence as consisting of universal virtues of “goodness,” seven of which enable a student to act properly and resist pressures that can damage their character.  As stated, she lists 7 essential virtues, the first three of which she calls the moral core.

15. 1. Empathy  Empathy is the capacity to relate to the feelings of others.  A number of societal conditions hinder the development of empathy in the young, like absent or emotionally unavailable parents, overabundance of suffering in the media, abuse of children by peers, etc.  Borba urges teachers to:  1. Develop an empathic relationship with students by listening to them and helping with their emotions  2. create a caring and prosocial environment  3. use stories and situations to enhance sensitivity  4. provide meaningful and hands-on activities to develop empathy  5. use discipline techniques that show empathy for students’ feelings

16. 2. Conscience  Conscience refers to the ability to know right from wrong.  Borba believes that due to youth violence, peer cruelty, cheating, promiscuity,and substance abuse, there is a crisis of conscience in the world  A number of things to reverse this are:  1. set clear expectations based on core moral beliefs  2. create a context for moral growth, featuring teacher modeling  3. teach, cultivate, and reinforce virtues to strength conscience  4. help students understand how conscience develops and how reparations can set things wrong to right  5. use meaningful moral dilemmas presented in context to promote moral reasoning.

17. 3. Self-Control  Borba suggests self-control is lacking today due to over-worked/stressed parents, child abuse/trauma, glorification of out-of-control behavior in entertainment, and over-reliance on chemical mollifications.  A number of ways to promote self-control are:  1. adults giving priority to self-control  2. encouraging students to do the “right thing” when confronting temptation  3. showing students to think before acting and control urges  4. providing stressful situations and encourage students to think, stop, and act right.

18. 4. Respect  Lack of respect is rampant in society, manifested by decline in civility, use of vulgarity, disrespect for authority, and low respect for children.  Borba’s suggestions for dealing with disrespect include:  1. Discuss, model, and teach the differences between respect and disrespect.  2. Work to increase student respect for authority and squelch rudeness by teaching new, respectful behaviors  3. Emphasize and expect good manners and courtesy. (example, saying “please” and “thank you”)  4. Involve peers in creating a respectful learning environment and reinforcing respectful behaviors.

19. 5. Kindness  Lack of good modeling by adults, lack of encouragement to behave kindly, and influence of unkind peers, and general desensitization has led to a crisis of unkindness.  To counter this, Borba suggests for teachers to:  1. Teach meaning and value of kindness and what behaviors are classified as “kind.”  2. Establish zero tolerance for mean and cruel behavior, especially bullying.  3. Encourage kindness at school by pointing out it’s positive effects  4. Provide activities for children to experience and practice being kind and receiving kindness.

20. 6. Tolerance  Today’s tolerance crisis is due to lack of moral monitoring, accessibility of hate-filled websites, racially charged entertainment aimed at youth, and stereotypes on TV and in films.  To counter this, Borba suggests:  1. model and teach about tolerance  2. discourage intolerant comments and practices  3. instill an appreciation for diversity

21. Fairness  Fairness is worsened by a breakdown of role models and over emphasis on competition, so that winning at any cost is the most important.  This decline can be countered by teachers discussing fairness, unfailingly demonstrate fairness, avoid making comparisons among the students, help students show respect for competitors, and limit emphasis on winning.

22. Reasons for Building Moral Intelligence  1. Good Behavior-The virtues listed form students’ character and principles that guide their behavior  2. Ability to think and act appropriately-Moral intelligence teaches the specific moral habits that help students think and conduct themselves ethically.  3. Protection against “toxic” influences in society- Moral IQ serves as a compass to develop and stand-by deep-seated convictions and resist influences contrary to good character  4. Crucial Life Skills- Moral IQ incorporates skills students need for resolving conflicts  5. Good citizens- The 7 virtues provide the bedrock of good citizenship and responsible living.

23.  6. Resistance to temptation- Moral intelligence enables resistance to the appeal of insidious vices  7. Prevention of violence and cruelty- The core values of Moral Intelligence protect against violence and cruelty  8. Good Behavior – Moral IQ incorporates the virtues that enable students to be decent, caring, and respectful  9. Shaping moral destinies- Moral growth promotes the ethical foundation of behavior in all aspects of life.

24. Fostering Moral Intelligence  Moral intelligence grows as improvements are made in students’ character traits, and schools hold the key to that improvement.  Borba’s book Building Moral Intelligence contains well over a thousand classroom strategies to help students develop or deal with peer pressure, bullying, anger, self-control, conscience, etc.  She explains there is a 5 step (yes, more steps!!!) approach to teaching moral values for teachers to incorporate in the curriculum

25. Accentuate a Character Trait or Value  The first step to improve a character trait is to draw it strongly to students’ attention over time, (like each month).  For example, once the trait is introduced, banners and posters can be hung around the school to emphasis the importance of that trait  Ex. “Responsibility: I’m doing what is right for myself and others.”

26. Tell the Meaning and Value of the Trait  The second step is to convey to students exactly what the trait means and why it is important and relevant to their lives.  Borba lists ways of explaining this by relating to students’ realm of experience. For example, by pointing out the trait in a story that is told or to find current news articles of people demonstrating it.  Also, whenever the teacher personally notices a student displaying the trait, the teacher should inform the student of it. It helps students if they can hear why you feel the trait is important.

27. Teach What The Trait Looks and Sounds Like  Showing the behavior of the trait is always more effective than just talking about it.  Borba cautions us against making the assumption that students understand the actions and words of character traits since they may not have been personally exposed to them.  The teach must look for ways to provide examples explicitly and implicitly.  Examples include video clips, historical models, science, and even current school events or interactions inc the classroom

28. Provide Opportunities to Practice the Moral Habits of the Trait  Students should be provided frequent opportunities to practice the behaviors that comprise the character trait, usually around 21 days  Borba makes 3 suggestions for reviewing student efforts and progress:  1. Make/obtain videotapes to allow students to watch and analyze demonstrations of the trait  2. Have students keep logs to reflect on the trait as it is being emphasized and write one action that demonstrated it.  3. Assign homework to ask students to practice the skill at home with family.

29. Provide Effective Feedback  Be sure to reinforce students as they improve.  Be sure to draw attention to the behavior and correct them and ask them to redo the behavior repeatedly if possible.

30. Fostering ProSocial Behavior  Students can benefit still from pro-social behavior.  Borba provides a list of 85 manners kids should lern. Here are a few examples.  1. Essential polite words- thank you, I’m sorry, etc.  2. Meeting and Greeting others-Shake hands, saying hello, etc.  3. Conversation manners-Listening without interrupting, Pleasant tone of voice, etc.  4. Sports manners- Encouragement, Playing by the Rules, etc.  5. Anywhere and anytime-Don’t swear, don’t gossip, etc.  Other suggestions include hospitality, table manners, visiting manners, and manners towards older people.

31. The r elation of Moral Intelligence to Classroom Discipline  Borba wants teachers to know that successful discipline depends strongly on creating a moral learning community in the classroom. The teacher connects with students, shows care for them, and models essential character traits.  Borba gives us a four (you got it, more steps!!!) step approach to discipline:  1. Respond- Stay calm and listen.  2. Review-Explore why the behavior was wrong.  3. Reflect-Quickly go over the effects of the behavior and any impact it may have on the victim.  4. Make Right-Help students atone for wrongs they have done, by encouraging offending students to make reparation of some sort, more than just an apology and promise to never do it again.