TIP: Click on subject to list as thread! ANSI
echo: educator
to: ALL
from: LEONA PAYNE
date: 1996-07-29 13:31:00
subject: Teaching Responsible Thinking 2/3

3.  Chris arrives in PRC.  The student has several choices.  At this
    point, the student *cannot* return to class until s/he makes a plan
    satisfactory to the classroom teacher.  (This part is quite
    important & where this program diverges most from our old system of
    In-School- Suspension, which returned the student to class at the
    end of a block of time without addressing ANY of the reasons which
    caused the student to act out & get there.)
    The teacher in PRC is there as a social skills advisor to help
    with the plan.  So the first choice Chris can make is to work on a
    plan.  Because no one can MAKE anyone do anything, the second choice
    is to sleep.  Because the student gets bored or wishes not to fall
    behind the class, reading or school work can be done--the certified
    teacher in the room or the aide can help with assignments. (I didn't
    initially approve of the sleeping thing, but I got over it because
    the kids don't keep it up for long.)
    There are some other steps taken by the PRC monitor (sort of like
    medical triage) to determine if the student needs counseling or
    more agressive behavior intervention, but all students go straight
    to this room unless the misbehavior was a Serious Act of
    Misconduct (& needs the attention of a police officer or
    administrator.)  All records of behavior are kept in this room under
    the supervision of the teacher & the aide.  Teachers may review
    students' files during their prep, lunch or outside school hours.
    (At my school, this has helped immensely--we had 3 ass't principals
    who in the past, would each keep separate records locked in their
    office & unavailable to staff, creating a knowledge loop kids have
    used to manipulate the system.)
4.  Chris finishes the plan (the average time for a student to do this
    is 2-3 days, I'm told.)  Chris takes as long as s/he wishes, but
    makes the choice of failing the class if s/he doesn't keep up &
    chooses not to negotiate.  (This teaches the kids that there will be
    a point in their lives when they might not get along with someone &
    how to work it out, such as in the case of a boss at a job.)
5.  Chris must now negotiate the plan with the teacher in order to
    return to class.  This can only be done at a time when it will not
    interrupt instruction or the teacher's other duties. The teachers
    give the PRC room teacher a list of appropriate times when they may
    be contacted & the negotiation (taking usually fewer than 5
    minutes) can also be done between classes.  (The idea of negotiation
    really bothered me at first, but after I went through it on my
    guinea pigs the year before we implemented the program, I liked the
    opportunity it gave me to build a better relationship with the
    student.)
6.  If the teacher accepts the plan during negotiation, Chris returns
    to class at the next meeting.  If the teacher rejects the plan
    (reasons might be "This is the same plan you gave me the last time
    you were throwing things."  "I don't see how your plan addresses
    your behavior or how any change is shown."  "I don't see how you are
    going to be able to accomplish this, would you explain?"  If the
    explanation isn't reasonable, the student returns to PRC & the PRC
    teacher works with him/her to come up with a better/different/more
    feasable plan.
7.  If Chris decides to disrupt in the PRC room, the teacher or aide
    goes through the Respon. Thinking Proc. with the student.  If the
    student stops, great.  If the student decides, "I don't want to be
    here anymore."  Well, this is where it gets interesting & sticky for
    some admin types to accept.  Instead of putting up with the kid all
    day, the admin is contacted & the student is driven home.  If
    there's no one home, the student is driven to where the responsible
    adult is, be it work, wherever. (This has never had to be done twice
    to the same kid, I understand, at the program's pilot school.)  The
    student comes back when the student decides to come back, but the
    student must submit a plan & go through the PRC room & negotiate
    with the staff member in charge of where the student had the initial
    problem before returning to class.  Our admin hasn't always stuck to
    their part of the bargain in driving students home from school, but
    they have been great about requiring the student to bring a parent
    with them when they wish to return.

... Did you expect mere proof to sway my opinion?
--- Via Silver Xpress V4.3P SW12194
---------------
* Origin: The Union Jack BBS, Phoenix, AZ, USA. (602) 274-9921 (1:114/260)

SOURCE: echomail via exec-pc

Email questions or comments to sysop@ipingthereforeiam.com
All parts of this website painstakingly hand-crafted in the U.S.A.!
IPTIA BBS/MUD/Terminal/Game Server List, © 2025 IPTIA Consulting™.