Like many of my Kindergarten students, I’m concerned about Damian because he doesn’t have an adequate vocabulary or many expressive oral language skills. His articulation when speaking is also extremely poor; he’s missing a very large number of top teeth (as a result of years of excessive sugar in his diet.) I’ve noticed that when [...]
How can I remember all those questions?
QUESTION: 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 [...]
QUESTION: 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 [...]
First day of school – having trouble asking questions!
QUESTION: 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 [...]
Dealing with an uncooperative student
In our second year of working with DWS, my teaching partner and I had a student with special needs. Chronologically he was old enough to be in grade three but emotionally and cognitively grade one was a much better placement for him. At that time I wrote about one experience with this boy that taught [...]
What if a student won’t acknowledge Level B?
QUESTION: I once had a grade 8 student who said, “It doesn’t matter what level I say I’m on, you’re always going to find a way to tell me that I’m on an unacceptable level.” I’m wondering what a teacher might say in response to something like that? A response from Tammy Shared on the [...]
Can you give me some examples of reflective questions?
QUESTION: Language is my biggest stumbling block. I know what I want to say but on the spur of the moment I often find it hard to put into words. As I develop new habits with this discipline approach, I sometimes feel a bit tongue-tied. Can you give me some examples of questions that don’t [...]
I would like to have my students give themselves a daily discipline mark.
QUESTION: I really like the idea of sending home a daily behavior report to parents. Now that I am using DISCIPLINE without STRESS, I am thinking that I would like to have my students give themselves a discipline mark at the end of each day. They could mark themselves as having operated on Level A, [...]
Using the Principle of Reflection to improve spelling
Through our use of the DISCIPLINE without STRESS approach, my teaching partner and I have come to understand that positive changes in behavior are more likely to occur when we prompt students to think about how they choose to operate in their lives. More and more often, we now practice the DISICPLINE without STRESS Principle [...]
I’m required to assign a behavior grade.
QUESTION: I am required to give each of my students a grade for behavior–either a 1, 2 or 3. This doesn’t seem to mesh well with DWS, since this approach has a focus of internalizing responsibility. I would prefer that my students give themselves a behavior grade. How can I use this situation as a [...]
