One day I decided to have a discussion with my grade one students about how they could use their understanding of the four levels to help themselves become better readers. We talked about the “Whole School Read” session in which we participate each morning. I asked the youngsters to describe hypothetical behaviors of students operating at each of the levels during this daily reading time.

Using their own words,they were able to clearly describe conduct at each level:

At the lowest level A, students wouldn’t be practicing reading at all. They would be deliberately misbehaving. At the next higher level B, the students explained that people wouldn’t be doing much reading either. At this level, students would be annoying or distracting others, perhaps by poking them or by making jokes. They would probably flip through the pages of a book but wouldn’t put in the effort to actually read. We reviewed that at Levels A and B, a teacher must step in and use authority.

Then we discussed the higher and acceptable levels of development, Levels C and D. Students operating on Level C would be reading––but more or less only when an adult (the teacher or a parent,) was directly watching or working with them. Their motivation for reading is based on an external factor––they willingly cooperate and do what is necessary in order to satisfy, impress or avoid the disapproval of adults in the room. Yet there is still that one higher stage of development, the level of personal power and autonomy, Level D.

At Level D, the students described that a person would be using reading time each morning to truly practice. It wouldn’t be necessary to have an adult directly with them at all times; they would read and re-read sections of their book because they know that by doing so they will become better readers. Their motivation would be internal. They would be reading in an effort to become the best reader that they could be.

Promoting Learning with the DWS Hierarchy

Having run through examples of all the levels, I asked, “Which of these students from our discussion will learn to read well?” They understood that it seemed unlikely that students operating at Levels A and B could ever learn to read very well. Their choices and actions were leading them in the opposite direction.We discussed that although students operating at acceptable Level C would learn to read, it was unlikely they would become proficient readers simply because they were reading only when directly supervised.  With only a so-so effort at practicing, they would get only so-so results.

Then we discussed Level D, the level at which people take the initiative to motivate themselves to put forth effort. They feel good about themselves because they are aware that improvement is a direct result of conscious choices that they have made and so they experience a sense of personal power.

After these discussions, I simply asked the students to silently identify their own developmental level in the reading session that had just passed. After giving them a moment to reflect, I asked them to honestly evaluate their own level and whether or not they were heading in a positive direction. Nothing more was said aloud, by either myself or the students, and we soon moved on to another lesson.

The Results

That night, without any suggestion or prompting on my part, the poorest reader in the class went home and read his reader over and over again. Prior to this, the kindly parents of this child had been sincerely concerned about his lack of reading progress and fairly supportive of the school, but obviously they hadn’t understood the value or importance of the school’s request for nightly reading sessions with their struggling youngster.

That evening they watched as their little boy independently read and re-read his reader. Both the parents and the child could see a dramatic improvement in his reading skills. They experienced the powerful impact that internal desire, coupled with just one night of true effort, could have on someone’s ability to read at a grade one level. He came back to school the next day bursting with pride and determination to practice more and more so that he could move on to a new, more difficult book.

The DWS approach prompted this youngster to learn a powerful lesson that is bound to influence his behavior in the future. He could clearly see the connection between his own choices and the results from them. I could never have bribed him into such a learning experience by offering a sticker or prize for having read a certain number of pages.

Some related postings:

How can I use this approach to motivate students academically?

Improving the quality of homework

Using the Principle of Reflection to improve spelling

What can be done so students know that the intrinsic is always most important?

How can I use this approach to motivate students academically?

How can I make the levels meaningful in Math?

How can I motivate my students to take care in their schoolwork?

After first reading Marv’s DWS book more than ten years ago, I started to become conscious of the importance of deliberately planning for “choice” in my teaching.   Certainly, as I took on a job at a local Alternate High School six years ago––working one-on-one with sullen, illiterate and often, ashamed teenagers––providing choice was a major consideration in any lesson.  There, the first choice always offered was simply “Would you be interested in a reading lesson today?”  Darlene, my teaching partner, and I quickly (and painfully) learned that without at least some tiny initial buy-in from these students, we were going nowhere fast––and it wasn’t gonna to be pretty!

Now this year, back in Kindergarten full time, choice is still an important consideration.  Like others who use DWS, whenever possible I try to ensure my Kindergarten students have choices when we do projects, play games or have story time.  In discipline situations I try not to back any child into a corner and instead endeavour to make sure they feel they have some freedom of choice with regard to their own behaviour and its consequences.  Yet, the most powerful teaching experience I’ve ever had with “choice” wasn’t planned at all.  It developed gradually over a period of about 3 months and all quite unintentionally.  I’d like to tell you about it!

Although the Kindergarten mandate in my province is to provide a play-based learning environment, just before Christmas I realized that a couple of students were ready for more formal reading instruction.  They already knew all their alphabet sounds, they could automatically and correctly write a letter symbol for each sound and their oral phonemic awareness skills were excellent.  One child, Mary, was especially eager; I decided to start with her.

Although I’ve taught nearly 300 grade one students to read in a regular grade one classroom setting, I’ve never before taught a Kindergarten student to read within a play-based environment.  The main reason I chose to move to full day K when Darlene retired last June was to be able to continue to develop the beginning reading program we created in our grade one classroom and used successfully with older struggling readers in the alternate school system in our district.

Although I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to approach reading instruction in Kindergarten when I started in September, this year is an experimental one for me.  I’m testing out ideas, lesson formats and activities in order to find out which might work best, and in which sequence.  Currently, many First Nations students in our province are not successfully learning to read well over the course of their schooling.  I want to do my best to provide good beginning reading instruction for all my 14 students, but I’m especially concerned that 11 of them are already statistically at-risk––even before they start!

Over the Christmas holiday, I considered how I might go about teaching, first Mary, and then eventually others, to learn to read.  Since I personally find individualized instruction more productive than small group work, I knew I wanted to keep each child’s learnings recorded in some individual way, for their own reference.  I debated how best to do this and finally decided to use a notebook. But I wanted this notebook to be different than the others we use in Kindergarten––I wanted it to be somewhat special.  After all, learning to read is very exciting!  The dollar store had a sturdy black notebook for sale so I bought a few and taped a name tag on for Mary.

In my school, eating times are supervised by teachers.  The procedure I’ve taught is that after eating and cleaning up lunch things, students are to get organized back at their table spot for “Book Look” time.  I spotted an opportunity to begin working with Mary on her own because it just happens that she typically eats her lunch more quickly than all the other children.  When I quietly suggested that we could use the remainder of eating time to start learning to read, she was all smiles.  I showed her the notebook and we began.  Each following day after her lunch, Mary and I would spend five minutes or so to practice the words and sentences in her “Key Book.”  Then we would add a new phonetic pattern that would allow her to tackle more words.  Because Mary is so keen on learning to read, it’s a delight to work with her.  We have a lot of fun together!

Lunchtime seating in my class is determined by small named placemats.  As students wash their hands, I put out plastic placemats at three tables.  Because I move the mats around––to different tables, with different companions––each day Mary sat with a new group of children.  As others at her table wondered aloud what the two of us were doing, I would explain and invite them to listen in to Mary’s reading lesson if they were interested.  Eventually, the two students who were near ready to read themselves, asked if they could have a reading lesson––just like Mary.  Happily, I was able to show them that I had already purchased Key Books for them too.  Since they were interested, I could certainly give them a little lesson.

Things progressed well and I went back to the dollar store several times to buy more black notebooks. Every couple of weeks, another child would ask if they too could have a reading lesson.  Generally students didn’t seem to ask to be taught to read until they had acquired a certain skill level with phonemic awareness and alphabet sounds.  This was perfect!  Our Book Look times just naturally started to increase in length.  More and more kids automatically started to go to the bin and retrieve their Key book when they finished their lunches. Without any suggestion from me, they would practice reading the familiar pages, while waiting for a turn with me to add the next concept to their books. Then one child had a new idea.  Each day after reading, he began getting a pencil to spell three letter words, write the names of classmates and copy favorite words from book titles into his own notebook.  Soon that idea caught on too and I developed a procedure; pages on which I taught reading concepts were just for the teacher, any other empty page could hold student writing.

Eventually though, a couple of students who did not have the necessary foundational skills to easily learn to read began to ask if they could also have lessons with a Key Book.  My heart fell as the first thought to cross my mind was “But you’re not ready yet.  This will be too hard for you!”  Luckily, biting my tongue (as a result of diligent practice with DWS Principle, Positivity) saved me!  Instead of blurting out my first (and very negative) thought, I forced a bright smile and said (without a lot of inner confidence,) “Sure!  Any student who wants to learn to read can do so!”   What else could I say?

But then, pretty quickly, I remembered that years ago I went to individualized instruction for a reason!  My less ready students did not yet have the ability to actually blend letters into words to read but I could have them practice more basic skills that would move them to that point.  I could use their Key Books to review alphabet sounds.  They didn’t need to know that others in the class were working on more advanced skills.  To date, 12 of my 14 students have Key Books and two students have not yet asked for them.  Not surprisingly these are the two students that I have recommended to my principal as candidates for another year in Kindergarten.

Here’s what I experienced first hand this year:  When learning to read is a choice, motivation is high.  When motivation is high, every lesson is welcomed.  When lessons are welcomed, learning fuels further motivation.  This experience may have developed accidentally for me this year, but next year I will deliberately plan to make learning to read a “choice!”

QUESTION:

I teach small groups in a reading pull-out program. I have students for 30-45 minutes every day. Do you think I could implement the Discipline without Stress approach effectively in my small group setting?

RESPONSE:

It is certainly possible to use the DWS approach in a small-group teaching situation. DWS is an effective tool to motivate students to take control of both their own behavior and their learning.

In your position, working with small groups and focusing on reading remediation, you might be using DWS mainly as a tool to help students recognize the value of putting increased effort into their own learning –the suggestions that follow pertain to this type of thinking. Certainly though, if the need arises, you could also use it to deal with discipline issues.

Begin by teaching the Hierarchy. Adapt the descriptors for each level specifically to your academic situation. Whatever behaviors you think are important to promote (or discourage) can be included. Because your students have some learning challenges, adding some descriptors about perseverance and effort would be particularly valuable.  Here are some possible ideas for each level:

Level D - Motivation is INTERNAL

· shows initiative – practices without reminders

· doesn’t give up – keeps trying – rereads when necessary

· takes responsibility for taking books home to practice

· takes satisfaction in small improvements

· thinks while reading

· tries to relate what is read to other experiences or other books

· reads everywhere – signs, pamphlets, cereal boxes!

· reads books for pleasure and to improve skills

· shares good books with friends

Level C – Motivation is EXTERNAL

· complies with requests from adults to read

· reads as much as is required but little more

· stops reading if adult isn’t supervising

· reads to please others and receive praise

· waits to be reminded to take books home

Level B – unacceptable

· switches books every few minutes

· spends most of reading time focused on things other than reading

· grabs any old book to read, even if it is too hard or too easy

· bothers others at reading time

Level A – unacceptable

· spends little, if any time, actually engaged in reading

· gives in to discouragement very quickly

· prevents others from reading by causing disruptions

Be sure to discuss the direct results of operating at each of the levels. Help students understand the connection between the actions they choose and the outcomes that logically follow. In order to encourage students to becoming SELF-motivated, remind them that people always have a choice in how they think, act and respond.

At the beginning of each new session, set the stage for a successful lesson by quickly reviewing Levels C and D. By occasionally adding new descriptors to Level D, students will be given an ever-increasing number of higher level traits to which they can aspire. Children want to act on the highest level, even if they don’t always manage it. With the DWS Hierarchy, we can show them how!

One of the principles of DWS is to help the children reflect on their own behaviour.  At the end of each session, set up a very brief reflection time (30 seconds).  Ask them to evaluate their own performance during the session.  Don’t ask them to tell you their level – simply give them time for inner reflection, as this best promotes an honest self-evaluation.

Ask your students to set a goal (in their heads) for the rest of the day. Can they think of one small thing that they could do, that would move them forward in their reading as they go back to their other lessons?

I teach a 10th grade remedial math class.  My problem is this:  Very few of the students are doing their home and class assignments.  I am trying to get them to realize how it’s affecting their grade, however I noticed that whenever I give them a progress report they seem to feel that I am giving them their grade.  I want them to realize that they are earning their grade.  This week I plan to teach them how to calculate their current grade based on a list of assignments and their own marks so far.  I  will ask them to write comments about their progress––what they learned and didn’t learn.  I’ll also ask them to make a plan for the next two weeks. What do I need to be prepared for?

DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE:

Use the 3 x 5 inch technique explained here. As you planned, have each student complete the task of calculating their assignment marks to arrive at an overall grade.  Have them write their grade on the card.

The problem will be if someone puts down an academic grade of B, for example, when they actually earned an academic grade of D.  Have them review their calculations again while you watch and then ask them to justify the grade they have written on the card.  Remember that during these short individual sessions, you ask the questions. The student should justify his/her response, rather than you.

DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE:
A class meeting is a good start for the students.

But the problem is also an instructional one––there are some things that the teacher should not do and can do.

First, some things not to do:

DO NOT COLLECT anything within the first five minutes––this includes homework, lunch money, permission slips, etc.

DO NOT HAND ANYTHING OUT within the first five minutes.

DO NOT TAKE ATTENDANCE within the first five minutes.

DO NOT START A LESSON WITH THESE WORDS, “Take out your books.”

Today’s students live with remote controls in their heads. These controls have three switches: participate, apathy, and disrupt. Any of the above “dont’s” are more likely to prompt the second or third options.

Instead strategically plan for instruction:

Find one thing in your planned lesson that energizes or excites you. Then ask yourself what you can do to catch the students’ interest. The more unique the better! For example, assume you are teaching science and the lesson has to do with weather. Bring an egg and a bucket to class. Stand on a chair with an egg in your hand. Drop the egg. Ask the class why the egg fell. Obviously, the more outlandish or foolish your action, the more attention you will get and the less the students will want to miss your opening.

In this example, students will answer, “gravity.” Ask why didn’t the egg did not fall sideways. Legitimatize all answers, i.e., accept them all; don’t make fun of any.

If a student answers that the egg is heavy, then ask why a feather falls, and then the key question, “Why don’t clouds fall?”

The purpose of exercises like these is to create “killer questions”––those that prompt curiosity––not to pass a test or for some other external reason but one that students want to know for themselves.

I used to start my social studies classes showing a cartoon using an overhead projector. In English classes, have students do a “show and tell” the first few minutes. Then have students write on what they have seen or can learn from it.

Creating teaching ideas is what makes preparing for teaching so much fun.

The point:  Start every lesson with something that creates curiosity. Then watch how your students get to your class on time.

More is in the book under, “Sponge Activities.” In addition, “REDUCING TARDIES” has its own section with additional suggestions, starting on page 207.

——
P.S. Clouds do fall.  It’s called precipitation.

QUESTION:

I don’t want to use stickers to motivate my primary students to print more neatly.  Any suggestions to encourage them to take more care with their school work?

RESPONSE:

Here are some things that my teaching partner and I do in order to help build neat work habits over time:

1.  We talk a lot about neatness.  I’m a great believer in the idea that whatever you put your focus upon will increase!

2.  We talk proactively.  In other words, before a  lesson begins we discuss what a great job would look like.  This helps the kids who really have no idea of what a good job looks like and it helps the other kids who might not care too much about neatness otherwise.  It sets everyone up for success.

3.  Sometimes we have the students build criteria for “a good job.”  Sometimes we write it on a chart paper or make it into individual checklists that students can refer to.  We bring it out prior to each new session of writing.

4.  Along the same lines, we sometimes orally build DWS Hierarchies with the kids to pinpoint characteristics of operation on each of the levels with respect to certain activities.  See this link for some examples:  The spelling and reading hierarchies are ones we often talk about with our grade ones.  We find that kids become very motivated by these hierarchies if we refer to them often.

5.  We talk a lot about the satisfying feelings that are associated with working on Level D–In other words we talk about how it feels when you look at a piece of work and know that you have put forward your best effort in completing it.

6.  We encourage the kids to compare their current “best job” with a similar piece of work from earlier in the year.  For example, each child in our class has a math binder in which they complete calendar activities every day.  On the first day of October, I had the students look at their September calendar and pointed out to them, that after a month of number-writing practice in Grade One, they probably would be able to make their October calendar look even neater than the September page.  We talked about how this was an opportunity  to improve their work. We talked about how it would feel to do an even better job than the month before.  Every day for the first week or so of the month, we would look back to the September page and compare the number writing to the October page so everyone could feel proud of their accomplishment.  We do the same thing in their journal, in their printing book and in their drawing book.  Frequent opportunities to reflect on individual progress encourages students to want to make continual improvements.

7.  We give specific and individual feedback as the kids are working.  That “g” is exactly the right shape.  Now, you’ve got it! Continue making “g’s” like that!”

8.  When we do printing lessons, we always make a point of letting the students know that printing correctly and neatly isn’t just something to be concerned about during printing time only — it’s something that should carry over to their every assignment.

9.  One year, with a particularly messy class, my teaching partner, Darlene, had a special set of pencils that she brought out whenever the class was to do a writing assignment.  The pencils were only used for writing assignments — never for math etc.  The fact that she had these special pencils out sent a silent signal to the class that neat work was especially important at that time.

10.  We encourage the kids to analyze their own work and make their own judgments about what looks good and what they might like to improve upon in the future.  At the start of the next lesson, we remind them that they had already thought of some way in which they wanted to improve their work and ask them to take a minute to reflect on how they will improve today.  If they are doing a row of “s” letters, we ask them to circle the one that they feel is their best.

11.  If the child is particularly pleased with a piece of work, we quietly ask them if they would like us to xerox the page so that they can show it to family members at home.

12.  We try to create opportunities to use their work in meaningful ways so that there is a real reason to be neat and tidy.  For instance, we often do pieces of writing that will go into a memory scrapbook, on a bulletin board or will be used to accompany a piece of artwork in a display.  For example, last year for 6 weeks, all our writing projects were linked to the making of a “Dinosaur Museum” to which we invited all the people in our school and our families.   The kids made various types of “fossils”and wrote about how they were formed in nature.  They made informational dioramas about various individual dinosaurs, and wrote explanations of how the teeth of dinosaurs were related to their diet.  Because the kids were so motivated to create a Dinosaur Museum for real visitors, it was easy to get them to write as neatly and as well as they could — they had a real reason to do so.

Hope that some of these ideas will be of use to you!

For those who don’t know me, I have three teaching positions, all of which are shared with the same partner. Darlene and I share a grade 1 classroom, each working one end of the week, and on our other days we share two literacy positions, working with individual students at an alternate high school and a regular middle school. It’s hectic but we love it!  At our high school and middle school jobs, we work with a great range of students, some struggling with courses like English 10, but most with much lower skill levels. At both the middle and high school, a number of our students are currently reading (independently and accurately, that is) at a mid-grade 1 level.

Usually when we start with a new student, we initially have them work at conquering the alphabet. Recognizing/saying/writing the sounds of the letters is of course necessary for both accurate decoding and spelling. We always begin each 15 minute daily session with a quick “say/write the alphabet sounds” until the student is able to record all the sounds, automatically, as we dictate. Whenever we take on a new student, we also offer them a chance to learn to print each letter shape correctly at the same time. (DWS Principle of Choice!) Many are interested in improving their penmanship by doing that.

Early this week, one little grade 7 boy mentioned to Darlene that he was trying to remember to print every letter properly–not only when he was working with us, but all day long–whenever he had to write something in one of his classes. As a DWS teacher (always on the lookout for any flicker of internal motivation that can be fanned into a stronger flame!) Darlene explained how significant it was that he was CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSING to do this for himself. Naturally, she happily passed this information along to me so I could continue to build on it.

When I met with Mark on Thursday, I started our standard “say and write the sounds,” by telling him that Darlene had mentioned to me that he was starting to take charge of his own learning by choosing to improve his printing all day long. I said, “Wow! That’s the highest level of human behavior there is–to take charge of your own learning like that.” He nodded and on we went with all the various parts of his literacy lesson.

As it happened, we finished up everything I’d planned for that day a minute before his 15 minute time slot was up. Rather than fill in with some other impromptu literacy activity, I decided I had just enough time to explain in more detail what I had meant earlier in his session, when I referred to “the highest level of behavior.” I started to draw a quick DWS Hierarchy on our little white board, D, C, B, A and explained while writing, that human behavior could be described in four levels.

Beside A, I quickly scribbled, “Anarchy” and gave him the briefest of descriptions. Then as I was about to write another quick word next to B, he said, “that’s Bullying and Bothering.” Well–you could have picked me up off the floor, I was so stunned! This is the first time I’ve ever encountered a student (who didn’t attend my own elementary school,) who was already familiar with the DWS Hierarchy! Then I remembered that there was one teacher in this middle school who had told me a month or so ago that she had ordered Marv’s posters and was planning to teach her grade seven classes about the Hierarchy. Of course that explained it; Mark was one of her students.

So, on we went quickly to review the higher levels, with him, explaining to me, what each was about, and we also talked about how these levels connected to his decision to print carefully all the time. By then it really was time for him to go, so I stood up to usher him out to his next class but he remained seated. He asked, “Have you ever taught anyone at this level?” I sat back down and explained that yes, I had sometimes worked with those on Level A before. (In my mind, I thought of a student, who came to our high school with a knife a week ago, and two of our grade 1 students who (unbelievably!) bit two older students on their arms, one after the other, on the playground!)

Then I stood up again–by then we were really cutting into the next student’s time slot–but being a rather easy-going guy, Mark was in no hurry to leave! For the second time, I sat back down, to hear what he wanted to tell me.

He said, “I once knew two kids on Level B. Remember I told you about the teacher who taught me in a little group in grade 5 and then was my tutor in the summer? She was the teacher who taught me about vowels and consonants.”

(When I first met Mark a few weeks ago, I was impressed because he was the only student I had encountered at the high school level who had a pretty accurate understanding of what vowels and consonants are.)

He continued, “These two kids were on Level B with that teacher. They wouldn’t do any work at all and they said they didn’t want to learn anything, and they said mean things to her. But…I just sat back and thought to myself: I don’t want to be like that. I won’t be like them. I’ll try to learn something here–and I did.”

And as he stood up to go, now a few minutes late, I asked, “And what level were you on then?”

“D,” he said, as he went out the door.

To me, this is a bit of “scientific” evidence that even a brief introduction to the Hierarchy can have an impact on a child. Mark’s teacher has only been talking about the levels for a month at the very most–I’ll have to check in with her–and already she’s had an impact on this child. He’s aware that he’s making decisions to be internally motivated and he’s making use of the Hierarchy to make sense of things he’s experienced in his life.

It was exciting for me to witness how one DWS teacher’s efforts are paying off for this child! It was what some people refer to as a “Marshall Moment!”

QUESTION:

I am a high school Social Studies teacher. As a teacher of a content area, I don’t penalize my students for spelling errors on their assignments as an English teacher would, but at the same time, I don’t want to give them the impression that spelling isn’t important. I’m not having much success. Once the students know that no marks will be taken off for errors, they seem to get even sloppier with their spelling! Do you have any suggestions for how I might use this DwStress to motivate students in this academic situation?

RESPONSE:

One reason that I enjoy using the Discipline without Stress approach in my own teaching is that I find that the Hierarchy makes it easy for me to motivate students to WANT to operate on the higher levels–not only in terms of their behavior, but also academically.

Whenever I introduce an assignment, project or activity, I not only explain the basic expectations (in other words, the Level C expectations/standards), but I also routinely leave the class with an understanding that there is always an option to CHOOSE to operate on a higher level–if they would like to feel more satisfied with themselves. By being proactive and spending the time to concretely give them a vision of what Level D–the level of internal motivation–might look like in a specific situation, I find that the majority of students become more interested in striving for that highly satisfying level.

(By the way, since genuine internal motivation can never be mandated, the teacher bears no responsibility for students who choose to remain at the more ordinary Level C. Remember Level C describes acceptable behavior. Anything lower is unacceptable–but anything higher is voluntary.)

Here’s a rough outline of how the conversation might go in the situation you described:

Social Studies is a content subject, so while spelling is not as much of a priority as it would be in English, and I won’t be basing your mark on spelling, spelling IS important to the overall presentation of your work. Spelling will be important to you in life, for example at times when you are applying for a job or writing a letter to City Hall, or going to college or university.

Even though spelling doesn’t indicate any certain level of intelligence, sloppy spelling certainly doesn’t look very good on paper. Here’s an example of a paper poorly spelled, from a very bright (but anonymous) student from years ago. How does the spelling affect your impression of this paper and of this person and their abilities? Now… here’s that same paper, with correct spelling. And a third version, correctly spelled and typed. What do you think?

Of course, the amount of care you put into your work is a personal choice, however, I find that many students decide by the time they come to high school, that they really want their work to start looking more mature. They decide for themselves that they want to do their best work in order to feel proud of themselves. If you want your work to look like that of a much older or more capable student, one thing you can do is to take care with spelling.

If spelling doesn’t come naturally to you, what can you do to help yourself? Right, you can use the spellchecker on the computer, you can use a dictionary, you can look back at your textbook to find the correct spelling of a term or a historical figure, or you can ask someone for help–all good ideas!

I’m just throwing this out as an option for those who want to hand in their best effort.

In my own teaching, I find that more often than not, this type of a discussion leads to a high level of motivation in almost every student. Who wouldn’t rather think of themselves as MORE mature and MORE capable, if there’s a choice? It’s a satisfying feeling to know that you are CHOOSING to operate on a level that’s above the ordinary. Students of any age find this an attractive thought.

The Hierarchy from Discipline without Stress, is a powerful teaching tool. It provides teachers with a way to inspire their students!

I work with very low math students. 
Part of my plan for next year is to convince them that
 things can be different. I want to convince them that they can find
 success and not be so frustrated! The worst behavior cases seem
 to be the kids that have given up.
 But then I worry! Maybe I shouldn’t try to convince them that
 they can succeed. What if I’m just setting them up for disappointment? What if they don’t realize that they will have
 to TRY in order for that to happen? I doubt myself constantly.
 Any suggestions?

RESPONSE:

I think you’re absolutely on the right track!

Convincing your students that putting in 
effort is a worthwhile thing to do is very important. I believe it’s a key part of our job. Certainly, consistent effort is 
the only way a less capable student is going to find success.

But at the same time, I don’t think you should promise anyone “specific” successes. 
For example, I don’t think it would be wise (at least not in the first week of school, before you know your students well,) to promise a someone with learning 
difficulties that they could successfully pass a difficult course–simply as a result of expending 
effort. At that early point, you wouldn’t know 
if that was even possible. Every year there are 
many students who DON’T pass math or other difficult subjects, DESPITE 
many hours of hard work, diligent concentration and even the assistance of a 
personal tutor—they simply don’t have the innate cognitive ability.

For part of the week, I work at an 
alternate high school with the lowest students in our school district. Almost all of these 
students have come to this school because they are no longer welcome at any other 
high school in our area – usually for reasons of serious misbehavior (which often 
ultimately stem from low academic skills, dysfunctional home lives, mental illness, 
addictions etc.)

My teaching partner and I find that it’s best to be completely honest in the sense of letting them know that we actually don’t know how far they can go 
in their learning but that if they are willing to give us a chance, and if they’re willing 
to attend regularly, we CAN promise them they will see results. They will see 
PROGRESS. Then, once we’ve promised them progress, we do everything we can to make sure 
that they do see bits of progress (and therefore, success) EVERY DAY. We tailor our teaching to their needs so that they can succeed in baby 
steps if necessary.

For a very discouraged student, promising them that they will SUCCEED (in a specific 
way) is probably too much for them to initially believe. By promising too much, you 
might likely “scare” them. With these sorts of kids that likely means MORE 
behavior problems; it’s actually a defense mechanism for them. Once students have found some success through your careful guiding of instruction, you’ll find it gets 
easier and easier to convince them TO TRY. That’s when they become willing to 
believe you that bigger successes are possible–because you have proven to them 
that success is within reach. At that point, you may be able to promise more specific 
successes because you will have a better grasp of what is realistically possible for 
them.

At that point, my partner and I also do everything we can to ELICIT goals from the 
students and encourage them to make small learning decisions for themselves. 
Dr. Marshall calls this EMPOWERING students through choice. Dr. Gordon Neufeld 
describes it as helping young people “PUT THEIR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL.” 
If you can help students to make goals for THEMSELVES (just small ones at first,) then 
almost automatically they become willing to put forth the necessary effort to improve 
(and hopefully, succeed.)

After all, if a person doesn’t get their hands on the steering wheel, how are they ever going to 
drive on their own and get where they want to go? A student who is “driving” on their 
own is going to go further, faster, than those who have to wait for the TEACHER to 
drive them! This helps foster the desire to operate with INTERNAL motivation, which 
is a very powerful driving force indeed!

Just as a small example, in our high school literacy job, most of our students have an 
individualized stack of vocabulary cards to help them increase the number of words 
they know. At the end of reading a selection, instead of US picking out the words we think they should practice again, we ask THEM to determine which words THEY would 
like to add to their practice decks, based on which they think will be of value to them 
in the future. Over time we find that this sort of continual focus on turning over small 
decisions to them, prompts an inner desire to take charge of their own learning and 
then they start to VOLUNTARILY voice small goals now and then – a significant sign of 
progress in and of itself!

If I were teaching math as you do, I would ask THEM which type of 
questions THEY thought they needed to practice more and then I would follow 
through with that on subsequent days or would be sure to assign those types of questions for 
homework. I would ask THEM to determine HOW MANY questions they thought they 
needed or how difficult the questions should be. Anything you can do to turn over small decisions to your low students will pay big dividends in the long run, as they start to 
see that they can be in charge of their own learning.

Sometimes we find that students make unrealistic goals for themselves. For 
example, our lowest student, 19 years old, asked me for a ride home on the last day 
of school because it was a very hot day and he didn’t want to walk, pushing a stroller, 
(Yes, he has a 2 year old son!) the five 
miles that he usually walks to get home.

As I dropped him off, I asked if he planned to return to school next year and he said, 
“Yes! And I know what I want to do. I want to read the Driver’s Manual and take my 
driving test. I’m going to sit down with the principal and you and all my teachers and 
tell them that this is what I want to learn at school.”

My heart sank. This wonderful, very personable and caring young fellow has extreme 
symptoms of FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.) Despite having attended school in a resource room setting, with a 
student/teacher ratio of less than 10 to 1, for all his elementary school years, he 
couldn’t read ANYTHING at all when we met him two years ago. His parole officer 
told us that prior to working in our program, he couldn’t even find his own name on a 
page of writing.

It has taken us 160 sessions of 30 minutes each, over two years, to get him to part-
way through a grade one level and we consider this a huge success, especially because his 
progress is speeding up as time goes on. However, our highest hope for him is that 
over the next couple of years (as he goes through Adult Ed.,) that we’ll be able to get 
him to a grade three or four reading level—he simply doesn’t have what it takes to read 
the driver’s manual–probably ever.

My first thought was that I needed to tone down his expectations for what he could 
achieve, so as to protect him from disappointment, but thank goodness, I suddenly 
remembered some advice that I heard long ago from a school counselor. 
This man had said that as adults, it is not our job to squash the dreams of children. 
REGARDLESS of how unrealistic we feel a child’s dream is, it is our JOB to support 
them and cheer them on. And then, if necessary, it is our job to be there to support and comfort and love 
them, should they face disappointment or failure. Our job is to encourage, assist and support them through disappointment, not to help them avoid the experience altogether.

With that in mind, I said, “Doug, 
that is an exciting and challenging dream you have! Darlene and I will do all we can 
to help you work towards it!”

And with that sort of mindset, on the way home I thought of how we can start to support him as he works toward meeting his goal. We can begin with the easiest section–on traffic signs, 
reading the short labels that describe them. And at the same time that we can 
continue to teach him at his developmental level, from his grade one books, “Bread for the Ducklings” and 
“Tasha Rides a Bike!”

Good luck! I think your students are very lucky to have you as a teacher!

RESPONSE:
What you have experienced highlights one of the basic premises of DWS that sets it apart from other discipline approaches. When consequences are imposed by the teacher, they are often viewed as punishment by the students. Although, in the DwStress approach, consequences may sometimes be necessary, the students won’t perceive them in the same way because they have come naturally from the situation or are elicited from the students, rather than being imposed by the teacher.

If an assignment or lesson is to be finished before break, and provided that doing so is a reasonable request in that all students would have adequate time for completion, it would be wise to be proactive. Discuss this expectation at the beginning the lesson.

When the bell rings, the teacher can simply ASK the students if they are finished their tasks. Those who are finished are dismissed. Those who aren’t, simply need to complete their work.

With some students, further reflective questions might be necessary so that the student has the opportunity to take responsibility for their lack of focus during class time.

If a student complains…”Why can’t I go out? It’s not fair,” the teacher might calmly ask:

• “What was said at the beginning of the lesson about when this assignment needed to be finished?

• What did you choose to do with your class time?

• During the lesson time, what was the difference between what you did and what the others did, who are outside?

• What could you do right now to help yourself?

With those who might be surprised or make a complaint, the teacher can use a contingency : “As soon as you finish, you’re welcome to go out.”

Of course, body language, tone of voice, and facial expressions on the part of the teacher send many subtle messages. These sorts of questions can be asked as a “coach” (someone who wants to see the child succeed) or as someone delighting in revenge. Naturally, to be most effective when asking questions such as these, the teacher has to keep cool and remain “neutral.”

In my experience with my own students, over the course of time they become very task-oriented during lesson times. Eventually they don’t even grumble at all about completing little assignments at break. They realize that if they choose to make unwise use of time, they will need to complete their work at other times. They don’t even bother to ask if they may go out—they simply know they have a responsibility to complete their assignment before they leave the room. When the students are dismissed and most start leaving for break, you can often see one or two pupils still at their desk, now actively focused on their work!

See this post for related information on this topic.