A couple of weeks ago, I posted that I had ordered a new book on classroom discipline.  The book, Discipline Without Stress, Punishment or Rewards, was ordered off of Marvin Marshall’s fancy website.  I was a little doubtful, as I tend not to trust slick presentations and the ‘sell’.  I have been more than pleasantly surprised at the results.

Once I received the book, I had to actually read it.  I am a kindle reader, primarily, and have been loath to carry around the heavy book (it isn’t that heavy, I am just spoiled).  I cracked it open, and found it organized for the very ADD reader that I am.  It doesn’t have to be read in order; each chapter is self-contained.  It held an easy to understand system that works with what I already have going, minus the stress and the punishment.  There was some teaching that would have to take place, but I felt I was up to it, and really, what did I have to lose?

The system breaks behavior down into four levels – Anarchy (A), Bullying (B), Cooperation (C) and Democracy (D).   You teach the students what each means, what the consequences are of each behavior (not individually, but socially –what it is like when everyone is acting like there are no rules, in Anarchy).  And then you talk about them. 

My students all agreed that they prefer to be in a classroom where people are behaving at levels C and D, which is good, because that is the goal.  And then the system is to basically ask students to decide where they are behaving and do what they need to do to get to levels C and D.   There is more to this – and I think in some cases, you need to spend more time working on developing a respectful atmosphere and community, but in our case, it seemed to fit right in with what we already were doing.   We took to it like a duck to water.  We started this system last Friday, and the tension left the room almost immediately. 

There is still talking, there is still off task behavior.  I still have to wait for students to settle down, but there is much less of it all.  And there is no negative consequence; no punishment.  You would think without the capability of giving a punishment, the students would not follow the expectations, but they do – and more so than before.  They want to exhibit behavior consistent with C and D.  They want to be working together well.  They want to be respectful of each other.  They are also kids, and need to be taught these things. 

On Thursday, it rained at recess, so we needed to have ‘rainy day’ recess, which means we stay in the classroom.  The students had been at PE with the PE teacher (‘Coach’ is what they call him) and they had been playing basketball in the multi-purpose room.  When they came in the class for recess, the only instruction I gave them was to eat snack on the tiled part of the room, and not the carpet.  Several students took it upon themselves to start a game.  They took a basketball and sat in a circle and started calling out a name and then rolling the ball to that person.  That person had to say a different name before the ball got to them.  Other students wanted to join this spontaneous game, I would hear them say “scoot back, scoot back, so everyone can join”.  They made a circle so large that everyone who wanted to participate would be able to fit.   They played happily – with no conflict – until the bell rang to signal the end of recess, at which time they got up, put the ball away, and sat in their seats ready for the lesson to begin.  In my 13 years of teaching, I have NEVER seen a group of students invent, start, play and end a game so cooperatively and with no conflict.  I was so pleased, I was practically giddy the rest of the day.

The biggest difference is the stress level.  We all feel it.  By Friday, we were all tired and a bit grumpy – the rain had kept us in at recess, and it was cold and wet outside.  It had been a long week, and the weather was getting us all down a bit.  None of us really wanted to be doing our work, but things have to get done.  The day, on the whole, was better than my good days before we started this system.  Sure, there was a lot of talking and it was harder to get people to stay on task.   We held a community circle to talk about how this week was different.  Everyone agreed our classroom was a happier place to be.  We all decided that the new system was making a positive difference, even when we are tired. 

On Friday afternoon, we played Dreidel (Happy Chaunkkah).  The students all played with partners, and there was not a single conflict or off task student.  There wasn’t a fight or unresolved disagreement.  It was amazing.