As a first grade teacher, I totally agree with DWS being the best way to go.  However, I have some concerns about the developmental readiness of young children to operate on the level of Democracy on the Hierarchy.  I seem to recall from my Ed. Psych. class that this level of behavior was ‘normally’ expected around the teenage years––if at all.

RESPONSE:

I’ve heard this concern raised before and although I haven’t taken psychology courses for many years now, I’m happy to give an opinion based purely on personal experience in the classroom. I teach Grade One too!

Firstly, I feel it’s important to review the definition of what it means to be operating on Level D.  I want to be sure we’re working from the same understanding.

A person operating on Level D is someone who does the right thing (or kind thing, or generous thing, or caring thing, or expected thing or responsible thing  etc. etc. etc.,) simply because he sees it as the right thing to do.  The main point is that a person on Level D is operating from internal motivation.  A person operating on Level D does the “right thing” regardless of the presence of an authority figure.   On Level D, people don’t look to someone else to suggest that they do the right thing, they aren’t concerned about impressing or pleasing another person, and they aren’t worried about avoiding the disapproval of another person.

Secondly, I want to make it clear that the Hierarchy is a self-assessment tool for judging individual actions.  Therefore, when I want to assign a level to something I have done in my own life, I’m evaluating one event at a time.  I’m not thinking about a whole day, or an entire morning, or one hour, or even five minutes of my life.  I’m just thinking about each action taken separately, on its own merit.  Each time people make a choice or a decision, or take an action, they are choosing from one particular level of operation.

So, from this frame of reference, I now think about my class.  Do they ever operate on Level D?  Are they even capable of doing that?  My observations over the years tell me that absolutely they are able to operate on Level D, even though they are only six years old.  Notice this isn’t the same as asking, “Did I ever meet a child who operated on Level D every minute of their life?”   The answer to that question would be “No.”  It would be like asking, “Did I ever meet an adult who operated on Level D every minute of their life?”   So far I haven’t met one who even came close!

My experience tells me that Grade One kids act on Level D many, many times a day.  Even my most difficult student operates on Level D at some points throughout each day.

When I think back over today, I can quickly give you lots of examples of kids in my class operating from internal motivation:

I saw Christopher, one of my special needs kids, give a hug to another boy who was crying.  The boy had hurt himself by falling.  Christopher saw someone who needed a reassuring hug and he simply gave it.  He didn’t look to see if I noticed.  He didn’t wait for a suggestion before he gave a hug.  He just knew a hug would help and so he kindly gave it.  That’s Level D.

I saw Derek, who has the job of handing out the “math stickers” this week (at calendar time,) bring the container of math stickers to his desk when we came back inside after recess.  He knew that the math stickers would be needed soon and he wanted to be ready and responsible.  I didn’t suggest it or remind him.  He simply took it upon himself to be ready.  That’s taking responsibility––Level D.

After recess, I noticed that Richie came right back in, sat down at his desk and started correcting some math errors from previous lessons in his math notebook.  Everyone else in the class was chatting and waiting for me to get the math lesson underway.  Richie, on the other hand, chose to get started on something that he knew he would be expected to do later in the day.  He was motivated to get those corrections out of the way.  When he saw a spare moment he chose to get started.  He didn’t wait for me to remind him or suggest that he use his time wisely.  Doing the expected thing simply because you know that it is expected of you is operating at Level D.

I had Lena ask me if she could take a classroom reader home tonight so that she could do some extra reading practice.  She’s pleased with herself these days because she has discovered that if she reads and rereads many books over and over, she has great control over how quickly she can make progress through the reading levels.   She’s internally motivated to put in extra effort in order to become a better reader––that’s Level D.

At snack time, Brent had some gummy bears.  Out of the goodness of his heart he offered some to his desk partner ––Level D.   He wasn’t responding to a request from his friend. No adult had suggested he share; it was his idea.  He simply and happily offered some treats to a friend.

We’re studying bees at the moment and the kids are fascinated by them.  Today at lunch time, five kids decided to capture bees so that they could observe them more closely!   They wanted to see if the stinger really remains hidden until the bee is ready to sting!  (Yikes!)  Although it wasn’t a very safe idea, they were showing initiative in their own learning.  Taking initiative is Level D.

I’m sure if you think about the children in your own class, you can remember dozens of similar situations in which children were operating on a very high level––they were internally motivated to do the right (or kind, or generous or responsible etc.) thing.  Although these examples may not fit the moral developmental milestones discussed in a typical psychology course, they do represent Level D on the DWS Hierarchy.  Hope this helps to clarify your thinking on the subject!

RESPONSE:
As you mentioned, The Raise Responsibility System is the third part of the Teaching Model in this discipline approach. The first two parts of the Model which are critical to the success of the program are Classroom Management and the using the Three Principles of Positivity, Choice and Reflection.

The Raise Responsibility System has three phases:

1. Teaching the Hierarchy,
2. Checking for Understanding, and;
3. Guided Choices.

Phase 1 – TEACHING THE HIERARCHY
Dr. Marshall encourages teachers to be proactive rather than reactive. He points out that typically, teachers wait until a student misbehaves and then they react to the situation. Dr. Marshall suggests that instead, it is more effective for a teacher to be proactive. He recommends that at the beginning of a year or term, teachers should begin by teaching their students about discipline.

The “teaching tool” of this discipline approach is The Hierarchy of Social Development. The first phase of The Raise Responsibility System involves teaching the students about the four levels of personal/social behaviour, with the express purpose of giving them the information they need to be able to assess their own level of behavior in any particular situation.

THE HIERARCHY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
(A tool for teaching young people about discipline.)

Level D: Democracy (Motivation is internal.)

Develops self-discipline.
Shows kindness to others.
Develops self-reliance.
Does good because it is the right thing to do.

Level C: Cooperation/Conformity (Motivation is external.)

Listens
Cooperates.
Does what is expected.

Level B: Bossing/Bullying (Needs to be bossed to behave.)

Bosses others.
Bothers others.
Bullies others.
Breaks classroom standards.

Level A: Anarchy

Noisy.
Out of control.
Unsafe.

Phase 2 -CHECKING FOR UNDERSTANDING
In the second phase of this discipline system, the teacher asks the student to identify the level of his/her behavior according to the Hierarchy. The teacher’s job is to guide this process with questions that prompt the young person to think carefully about what he/she is doing, and to ensure that the student is accurate in their assessment.

The questions that Marshall suggests can be used to help students reflect on both inappropriate and appropriate behaviour. It can help them to decide that it would be in their own best interests to move to operation at a higher level of the Hierarchy or it can help them realize that they are already operating at a high level and so be encouraged to continue what they are doing.

Phase 3 – GUIDED CHOICES
The third phase of The Raise Responsibility System is used for dealing with inappropriate behavior only. This phase is implemented only if a student chooses to continue misbehaving after he/she has already acknowledged an unacceptable level of operation. With the large majority of students, this step is never needed or used. Most young people decide to raise the level of their behavior once they acknowledge to themselves that they have been operating on a low/unacceptable level.

IF misbehaviour does continue, after a student has acknowledged Level B/ A behavior, then Guided Choices come into play. Ideally, the teacher helps the student develop a procedure for dealing with similar situations in the future. Choices are elicited from the young person and agreed to by the adult. Occasionally, the teacher will provide the choices. If consequences are deemed necessary, once again they are elicited from the student, rather than imposed by the teacher.