I love the question suggestions in the DWS book, but like the author said, it’s a skill that takes practice. I usually need a lot of practice and that means I’ll need the questions nearby to refer to often. I just don’t understand how teachers remember everything!

RESPONSE:

The questions in Dr. Marshall’s book are meant to be examples only––they’re not meant to be memorized––so you don’t have to worry about that. However, I can understand what you mean about having a lot to remember!

At first, it does seem as if you have to remember everything, but as you practice, it gradually becomes second nature to follow the Teaching Model. That’s why I encourage people to think of learning to implement the DWS approach as a journey.

Each part of the Teaching Model requires first, understanding, and then practice on the part of the teacher.  Remember, since it’s impossible to control other people, you’re changing yourself––in order to better influence students in a positive direction.  Changing oneself can often be challenging!

Asking reflective questions is now easy for me but in the beginning it wasn’t. My teaching partner actually wrote two large charts displaying the questions in Dr. Marshall book (from pp. 19-21,) and put them up on the wall for us to refer to when we needed them. Of course, we teach grade one; the kids couldn’t read the questions in the beginning of the year so it worked well for us to have these prompts right up on the wall!  I do know of other teachers on the DWS mailring who simply xeroxed off the list of questions from the book and carried them with them as they were teaching.

It doesn’t hurt for there to be a pause (as you think of what to ask,) when you’re dealing with a child in a discipline situation. During that pause (while you are thinking,) the child is naturally already thinking about their behavior too!

Another thing my partner did was to challenge herself  to spend one entire day responding to almost anything a child said, with a question.  She found that this successfully helped her to develop the habit of asking instead of telling.  Whenever a child said anything, she would try to find a way to respond with a reflective question.

For example:

• If a child said (as they often do in Grade One,) “I found a staple on the carpet,” she would say, “What do you think would be the best thing to do with it?”  Of course they knew!
• If a child said, “Which math questions do I need to do?” she would respond with “Where could you find that information on the board?”
• If a child didn’t know what to do next (because they weren’t listening for directions,) she would ask, “Who, in the class might know what to do? How could looking at that person help you?”
• If a child left their coat on the floor, she would ask them, “Do you see anything in the coatroom that you need to do something about?”
• If a child said, “Can I be finished my work now?”  she would ask, “Would you say you’ve done a complete job on this assignment, or would you say that you need to do more to make it complete?”

This constant practice got her in the swing of making it a habit to ask questions more often. From there she found it became easier to ask questions in discipline situations too.

It’s really a case of learning to “bite our teacher tongues!” As teachers––so accustomed to teaching and telling––it’s hard to get in the habit of not blurting out whatever we think of saying. We often try to tell kids the answers to all their problems. But once you see how effective it is for kids to think of their own solutions, you’ll find it easier to ask questions that get them thinking for themselves!

A related posting:

Can you give me some examples of reflective questions?

Sometimes I have trouble choosing the right words.  I usually always ask a question though.  For example I might ask,  “Why are you talking during this lesson?“ or “Why are you choosing to play with your pencil instead of listening?”

DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE:

Never ask “Why?”  It is accusatory.

And besides people often do not know why they do things.  Even if they could, they may not want to tell you the real reason.

If you are just curious ask, “Why did do X rather than Y?”  You may still get, “I don’t know.”

The point:  Forget the use of “Why?”

A related posting:

Can you give me some examples of reflective questions?

In previous years when we’ve had a new addition to our class, we’ve sometimes experienced the following problem:  If the new youngster starts to feel anxious and begins to cling to Mom when it’s time for her to leave, we’ve been surprised to see that there have always been one or two other kids in the class who start crying and clinging to their moms too!  I guess it’s a sympathetic reaction;  they must pick up on the new child’s anxiety and it makes them feel nervous or scared too.  Whatever the reason, it’s been a rather negative experience for all––just at a time when one would hope to create a positive atmosphere of  welcome.

She started the meeting by explaining that a new boy would be joining our class.  She asked the kids to imagine what it might feel like to be in his shoes.  Had they ever experienced something similar––a time when they were new to a group?

Then she brought out our DWS Hierarchy chart.  ”How might various people, operating at different levels of the Hierarchy, handle this out-of-the-ordinary situation?” she inquired.  She guided the discussion with questions and together they arrived at the following descriptors for behavior at each of the four levels:

Level A

• being mean to the new child,  perhaps teasing etc.

Level B

• not looking very pleasantly at the child
• ignoring the child altogether
• imitating clingy behaviour which upsets everyone in the class

Level C

• being polite to the child in class (when adults are present,) but essentially ignoring the child on the playground

Level D

• going out of your way to say hello
• telling the new person your name
• smiling at the new person
• inviting the newcomer to join in at lunch and recess
• offering help when the new child seems confused about routines etc.
• understanding that the new child may feel sad to be left in a new classroom––but not imitating that behavior
• offering friendship to the newcomer

At the end of the meeting she asked the children to keep this discussion in mind and to think about which level they wanted to operate on the following day when the new boy arrived.

The results of this meeting were great!  Not only did we avoid a problem we had encountered several times before, but we noticed that kids were shyly taking the initiative to say hello and introduce themselves in the cloakroom––even before the new student had been officially introduced.  We’ve never seen that happen before!

You may remember that in the early pages of the DWS book, Dr. Marshall mentions Victor Frankl.  Dr. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, dramatically demonstrated through his own actions and attitudes while imprisoned in WWII concentration camps that people (whether they realize it or not,) always have the power to choose their own thoughts and perspectives on life––regardless of the situation in which they find themselves.

Teaching this concept of “choice-response thinking” to young people is at the core of the DWS approach.  Realizing that each of us always has a choice in how we behave and learn––regardless of the situation, the stimulus or the urge to act on an impulse––is one of the key understandings that students need in order to take full advantage of the DWS Hierarchy.  Level D derives its power from the fact that it is a voluntary level; it can never be forced.

In the TED clip linked above, Dr. Frankl lectures on another concept closely related to teaching and DWS-–-that of believing in the goodness and greatness of every student, despite the current level of behavior that he/she might be displaying.

I found Frankl’s thinking on this subject to be not only inspiring but very logical too.  It makes sense to believe in others!

The blackboard diagram he draws near the end of the clip, gave me a visual that I intend to bring to mind when I encounter challenging situations with my students.  You might find it useful in calming and directing your mind too.  We, as teachers, also have choices to make!

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.

I want to make an banner for my room.  Do you have a good quote that would encourage students to make good choices?

DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE:

Here’s one I used in my classes:

Responsibility finds a way.

Irresponsibility finds excuses.

Today was the first day of school and I had quite a hard time with my first graders. I’m trying not to give consequences but my students did not respond very well when I asked them to identify their levels.  I also had a hard time coming up with questions to ask them when they were misbehaving.

RESPONSE:

Here’s a thought or two:

• At this very early point in the year, when the children have only just been introduced to the Hierarchy, don’t even ask them what level they are on.  Instead, maintain a teaching mindset.  Keep your focus positive and constructive.  Re-teaching procedures will improve just about any situation in the early weeks and months of grade one.  The post, “Difficulties on the first day of school” gives more information on this topic.

• If you feel you need to practice the skill of asking reflective questions, here’s a way to do that:   Try to respond to any question or comment from a student by asking a question of your own.  This is like taking a crash course in reflective questioning!  You will move your skill level along very quickly by challenging yourself in this way.  Think of it as a game!  Darlene, my teaching partner, and I tried this once.  We challenged ourselves to get through an entire morning by responding to students with questions only.

Child says:  Teacher, here’s a staple on the floor.
Teacher responds: What would be the best thing to do with that?

Child says: I want to eat two things for snack (when the directions were to eat just one.)
Teacher responds:  How will you feel at lunch time when you don’t have much left to eat?

Child says:  My pencil broke!
Teacher responds: What’s our procedure for getting a new pencil?

Child says:  Can I have that extra jelly bean leftover from the graph we made?
Teacher responds: How would the other kids feel if one child had more jelly beans than everyone else?

Child says: Can we go home soon?  Is school over yet?
Teacher responds: Sounds like you have plans for after school.  What are you going to do when you go home?

• When we first tried using DWS in our classroom, Darlene and I often carried a page of questions with us in the classroom.  We even wrote the questions from Dr. Marshall’s book on charts and put them high up on the wall––that way we could refer to them whenever we needed to.  Since our grade one students couldn’t read them in September, they didn’t pay any attention to them.  These charts helped us a lot until the skill of reflective questioning became more automatic for us.

A related post:

Can you give me some examples of reflective questions?

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This past Monday morning when it was time to go to the gym for our regular Monday morning assembly, Cody had a photograph that a parent must  have given him outside; likely it was a snapshot of a birthday party that he had attended recently.  Being focused on the urgency I felt about getting to the assembly on time, I didn’t notice how much this photo seemed to have captured Cody’s attention.  As a result I got myself into a power struggle with him over putting it away.  I’m embarrassed to say it just got worse and worse!  Eventually it came to a point where I (stupidly) said that he couldn’t take the photo to the gym and from there, the situation really went downhill!

In hindsight, it would have been much smarter to spend just one moment longer to look at the photo with him, admire it, share his pleasure and then make the suggestion that it would be a wise move to put such a precious photo safely into a backpack.  But as they say, hindsight is 20/20!

Angry that I had told him to put the photo away, Cody refused to come to the gym.  To drive the point home, with great determination he ripped up his precious photo in my face.  Thanks to DWS, I was able to send the other kids off to the gym unescorted, explaining: Cody really needs me to talk to him right now. Do you think you can make it to the gym on Level D, all by yourselves?”

I asked Cody, “Who did you hurt by ripping up your photo?”  At first he said, “You made me do it!  It’s your fault!”  I ignored this and asked again:  “Who have you hurt by ripping up your nice picture?”    Well,  we went around in circles for a bit, but a moment later when I elaborated (“Who have you really hurt here?  Who’s the person who really cares about this picture?  Me or you?”) I saw a click happen in his brain.

He suddenly realized that indeed, he was the one who had been hurt by his actions––his picture was destroyed.  He became sullenly silent and started to walk with me to the gym.  When we got there he saw an opportunity to be uncooperative and said, “I’m not going in.  I’m going to stay right out here in the hall.”

Rather than get into another power struggle I said, “I can’t make you come in but I can’t leave you out here by yourself either.  I want to go in because I know the Grade 6′s are singing today and I want to see them.  I’ll just ask Mrs. Smith (an aide) to come and stand with you.”  Well, I’d piqued his curiosity with talk of the singing; he decided he would come in.

But before we got down the four stairs into the gym, he said to me,  “I’m not going to sit with the class.  I’m going to sit by you.”  So we stopped right there at the front of the gym and I said,  “I can’t make you sit with the rest of the kids, but you should know that if you sit beside me, away from the other kids in Grade One, all the people in the gym are going to be looking at you.  They’re going to wonder why you’re sitting with your teacher instead of with your class.  Is that what you want?”

Undaunted and still feeling contrary he said, “Well, I am going to sit with the class but I’m going to curl up in a ball on the floor,” to which it was easy to reply.

“I can’t make you sit up like all the other kids but if you curl up in a ball then everyone is really going to be looking at you and wondering what you’re doing––because that’s quite an unusual thing to do.”  He didn’t say anything more and just went to sit down––upright and in his proper place.

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Here’s what I learned that day:

1. It’s important to take time to give genuine personal attention to a child who needs it in the moment, and;

2. There’s great value in responding calmly to a child who is angry––by pointing out choices and asking reflective questions.

Here is my latest success:
Last Friday, three third graders left their homeroom in route to my class (science) and on the way, chose to yell and scream and play an impromptu game of tag. (At my school, we don’t walk the kids from class to class, and all the classroom doors lead outside, so they were coming across the playground.) Upon hearing the commotion, their homeroom teacher flew out of her room and wound up in front of mine, fuming at the gall of these kids.

Since she got there first, I let her handle it. She said, nearly yelling, “Which one of you children decided to act like a preschooler and run and yell while you were coming over here?!?  I’ll stand here and wait until whoever it was comes forward!” And of course, no one moved a muscle because they could see how angry she was.

She went on and on about acting like wild animals, what the other teachers would think if they saw them, etc. It was clearly ineffective because after 3 minutes of this, still no one confessed.  There was a lot of staring and mean looks coming from her, and silence by all of us!  I knew the right way to approach this situation, but being that she has been teaching 30 years longer than me, I let her go.  She finally left it that the kids should all think about this incident over the weekend, and they would start Monday morning by writing apology letters to the other teachers who they may have disturbed.

Once the kids were in my room, I took a different approach.  I asked what level running and screaming was on. They clearly knew it was Level A. Then I reiterated that a Level A choice was never acceptable.  But I put this spin on it: I said that even though some of them had made a Level A choice already, now they had an opportunity to change it to a C level choice by cooperating and taking responsibility.  I explained that no one could make them do this, but if they chose to, this situation could turn into an acceptable one, with their decision to cooperate.

We talked about responsibility and how once a poor choice is made, we shouldn’t have to wallow in it forever; we can make a choice to fix it and move on. Because the levels are so concrete and understandable, the kids weren’t dwelling on the Level A behavior any more, they were working on turning it into a C.  Shortly thereafter, three kids came up to me and said they wanted to make a good choice and take responsibility.

The conversation followed from there:  “How do we walk between classes? Why wouldn’t we want to yell and run?” etc. I didn’t feel extra punishment was necessary because I wasn’t sure they ever understood these things in the first place; it was like a light-bulb moment when we talked about someone getting hurt without a teacher around to help them. Finally, I elicited consequences if this behavior should happen again and we moved on!

I should mention that I’m new to DWS and just finished reading the book in September.  If someone with only a month of experience can have these kinds of interactions, it must be good!  Read the book! Implement now, perfect later! It has made me feel so much happier throughout the day. No more “me-against-them” feelings. Good luck!

This year though, our introduction of the Hierarchy came about completely without prior planning. That was a surprise even for us! In the past we’ve planned a formal lesson to explain the levels and sometimes had the kids draw pictures. We’ve also read Tanis’ book over the space of several days and so concluded with a review of the four levels in pleasant storybook format.

This year however, Darlene saw an “everyday opportunity” to discuss the levels and how they related to something that had actually happened in the classroom.  She just went for it – much like we would do during all the rest of the year.  And it turned out well!  When I returned to teaching in our shared position just a few days later, the kids were easily talking about the levels. I simply carried on from there, discussing the Hierarchy in various situations throughout the day.  Tomorrow, at the start of our fifth week in school, Tanis’ book will arrive in our “classroom mailbox” and we’ll read the story over the space of two or three days.

We’re enjoying a very nice class this year but the kids are not without their individual quirks of course!  Several are quite stubborn and a few more seem to have fairly serious emotional/anxiety issues.  One morning, just over a week ago, the day started off on a very bad note.  Four kids arrived at school in various states of upset and all were crying loudly in the line-up outside the classroom.  The boisterous crying continued right into the cloakroom!  Darlene, my teaching partner, had quite a difficult time helping any of the four, simply because all were upset about something that had happened at home and over which she had no control, or even any real information to help her figure it all out.  One was mad at Grandma for some reason and the others were mad/sad/angry at Mom and Dad, each for their own reasons too, of course!  It wasn’t within Darlene’s power to help any of them with their actual “problems,” simply because they weren’t school related.

Although we have 17 other kids in our class, her attention had to go that morning, entirely to the four who were out of control as they entered the room. Eventually, about 15-20 minutes later, she did manage to get each one settled down; into their indoor shoes, out of their sweaters, a drink at the water fountain and into their desks.  And then the day went on, more or less as usual!  That’s a primary classroom for you–never a dull moment!

A couple of hours later, just before lunch playtime, she got out the DWS Hierarchy chart.  She asked the class to remember back to the early morning and what had happened when the teacher was in the cloakroom helping various kids with some problems.  She asked each one to think about what they had chosen to do while the teacher was very busy.  She explained that she had noticed that all those who didn’t have a serious problem themselves, had simply done all their cloakroom chores independently and then gone to their own seats and found something to do, leaving the teacher to deal with those who really needed help.

She said that she had noticed that some students had taken out their chalkboards or doodle books from their desks and begun to draw.  Some had taken books from the carpet area and had spent their time looking at them, while others took out bags of pattern blocks and had built beautiful patterns on their desks.  She explained that what she had seen could be described as Level D on a certain special magnetic chart that we always have hanging on our front chalkboard.  She brought the chart over to hang front and center on the board in front of the children.

She told them that Level D is the level where you can look after yourself – you don’t even need a teacher to be right there to make sure that you’re doing the right thing that you should be doing. She then explained the difference between Level C and D; that Level C was lower on the chart because that was the level where you needed an adult around to make sure that you were doing the right thing.  She again described the events of the morning, but focused on all the positive aspects of the (rather horrendous!) start to the day; the fact that many people had chosen to do the right thing – the grown up and mature thing – despite the fact that the teacher really wasn’t even available to help them or supervise them right at that moment.

Then she asked them to imagine in their own minds, times when they might have been on Level D in other situations – situations in which they had done something without being asked by an adult, something that was very grown-up.  One girl, new to our school, (who is basically an only child in a family with several adult siblings and nieces and nephews older than herself!) put up her hand to say that she thought that she might have been on Level D the very night before.  At that point, a wonderful and outgoing little boy in our room, spontaneously took over the teacher’s role!  He turned around to her and in very teacher-like way asked,

“What did you do?”

She answered, “I did the dishes and then I went into my bedroom and made my bed.”

In an effort to confirm that this was truly Level D motivation–and not something lower–Jeremy questioned her, “Did you do this ALL BY YOURSELF or did someone ASK you to do it?”

Emily answered, “I did it all by myself.”

To which Jeremy, seriously replied, “Well, then that was Level D.”

With a smile, Darlene went on to briefly explain the lower two levels herself!

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(Darlene is an amazing person!  She can turn almost anything into a positive event!)

Two DWS points:

1.  Find the positive in a situation – even if it’s hard to see right at the moment.  After a cool-down period of time has elapsed, focus your teaching energy into describing that (what you’d like to see more of!)  In this situation, the kids who were stubbornly at a lower level early in the morning, did receive the help and discussion they needed at that moment to get them operating at Level C, but later in the day they received no attention for their lower-level behavior. It wasn’t discussed at all, even though everyone had witnessed it and knew it was at the root of the whole situation developing as it did.

Instead the kids at the higher level received attention later in the day (without being named,) by virtue of the fact that Darlene used their behavior as an example of Level D.  In addition, the four stubborn kids were subtly given information about what it looks like to be well behaved and mature.  Without discussing their immature behavior in front of the class, they were given a comparison model in their mind about what it means to act maturely in grade one.  With the new understandings about Level D that were given to the class as a whole, they too will start to aspire more often to be on THAT level, rather than on the immature level that they know disrupted the class in the first place that morning.  Kids WANT to think of themselves as more, rather than less, mature.  As teachers we can benefit from that natural desire!

2.  Procedures are very important.  The 17 kids already had a very good understanding of what choices they have in free choice times and they all chose to fill their unexpected “free time” with an appropriate choice.  When their teacher was busy with the (stubborn and immature) criers in the cloakroom, they simply read the situation as free time for themselves and already knew what they could do with that sort of pleasant time.

“What to do when you find yourself with a bit of free time” is something we review quite a bit in the first weeks of school.  We certainly can’t take all the credit ourselves either!  Most of these kids came from a Kindergarten teacher who is the best “procedures teacher” I have ever seen, so these particular students are very used to following procedures at Level C.  We are benefitting greatly from her diligence last year, which is a wonderful thing about having colleagues who try very hard to be on the same page with each other!