RESPONSE:

When there is a discipline issue, my first course of action is to return to the DWS Teaching Model.  Guided by the first step, I review my procedures:

  • Have I taught/practiced this particular procedure enough times for this child to be successful?
  • Can I offer this child a chance to find his own procedure or should I work with the youngster, developing a procedure together?
  • Have I taught about impulse management?  Have I explained, at this child’s level of understanding, what it means to be a victim of impulses?

A grade four teacher in our school once had a student that blurted out continually––weeks after everyone else in the class had learned not to do so. One lunch hour she worked with him, teaching him to use a poker chip to keep his impulses in check.

She gave him a poker chip to put on the left hand corner of his desk.  Together they practiced: She pretended to teach and when he wanted to say something, his procedure was to first take the poker chip in hand and then raise it so she could see. When she saw he had followed the procedure, she would acknowledge him by asking him to speak. By practicing together in a fun way many times (because after all, it is kind of funny to do this when no one else is around, and the teacher is pretending to teach and the child is pretending to want to say something), he learned to curb his impulse to call out during regular classes.

Steven Covey refers to “the gap between the stimulus and the response.” He suggests that any person is capable of consciously using this small gap of time to choose to do something other than simply react in a habitual way. Covey asserts that the goal for anyone who wants to be less reactive is to make this gap bigger over time.  If a person practices doing a concrete action in the gap, it “buys a bit of time,” thus creating a slightly bigger space between the stimulus and the response.  It acts as an automatic reminder that a new habit is being formed.

If a “blurter” gets into the habit of employing a deliberate and concrete physical procedure––such as having to pick something up before he speaks––he has automatically created a bigger gap.  This larger gap affords him more time to consciously choose a desirable response.  Gradually, with opportunities to practice, a positive habit can replace a negative one; self-control can replace impulsiveness.

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Posted In: Impulse Control, Procedures in the Classroom
posted On: March 14, 2010: 11:38 am: By Kerry Weisner
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