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
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* Origin: The Union Jack BBS, Phoenix, AZ, USA. (602) 274-9921 (1:114/260)
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