Recently I surfed into a parenting blog. It featured the following quote that spoke of an ancient form of what I would call “discipline positivity!” In the Babemba tribe of South Africa, when a person acts irresponsibly or unjustly, he is placed in the center of the village, alone and unfettered. All work ceases, and [...]
October 2011
Monthly Archive
If discouragement is the problem, then encouragement must be the answer
Teaching Primary students to walk in a line
Recently, I saw a posting on the ProTeacher group, in which a teacher shared a great process for helping young children learn to stay in line while walking. Firstly the students were taught four procedures for how to walk appropriately in the school: Stand directly behind the person in front of you. Face your body [...]
How can I explain the difference between Level C and D?
QUESTION: What is the best way to explain the difference between internal and external motivation––in other words, the difference between DWS Levels C and D? I am having trouble with this. RESPONSE: Initially I use very concrete examples connected directly to the classroom. I describe Level C as the level where students do the right [...]
I was talking with a friend yesterday who told me the following story. Recently she had been chatting with a man who coaches soccer teams of 8 and 9 year olds. He mentioned that this year he’d had a lot of difficulty in getting his players to work together as a team. My friend, an experienced [...]
