Win-Win Discipline

1. Win-Win Discipline Lauren Sandler EDUC 531 Dr. Williams April 7, 2010

2. The Fundamental Hypothesis of Win-Win Discipline • Quality classroom discipline, in which students manage themselves in a responsible manner, is achieved when the teacher and students work together cooperatively to find a common ground in handling behavior problems in the classroom environment

3. What is meant by Win-Win Discipline? • This method allows students and teacher to work together to find acceptable solutions to behavior issues • During this process the concerns of the teacher and students are addressed and resolved in a satisfactory manner for all • The teacher and students benefit or “win” thus making this method of Win-Win Discipline work for all

4. The Theorists behind Win-Win Discipline • Spencer Kagan • Clinical psychologist, educational consultant who specializes in the research and development of discipline strategies and life skills training. Co-author of Win-Win Discipline • Patricia Kyle • School counselor, school psychologist and university professor who researches and writes about discipline in the classroom. Co-author of Win-Win Discipline • Sally Scott • School administrator and teacher trainer. Is the lead trainer in the Win-Win Discipline method since its inception. Co-author of Win-Win Discipline

5. The Goal of the Process • Win-win discipline believes that disruptive behavior is a beginning point for helping students become more responsible & self-directing • Teachers are advised to provide a positive learning environment, engaging instruction & an interesting curriculum • A “we” approach is needed to be created in which the teacher and students and work together on the same side towards the same end goal

6. The goal of Win-Win Discipline, according to Scott, Kagan and Kyle is that over time students will become empowered to make choices in behavior that are beneficial to them as well as being compatible with the interests of the class • Simultaneously, students will develop life skills that will serve them advantageously throughout the rest of their lives • Disruptive students are not seen as “bad kids”, but as individuals who are ineffectively attempting to meet their personal needs

7. Win-Win Discipline Premises • Kagan, Scott and Kyle stated the following as the Win-Win Discipline premises: • The ultimate goal is to teach autonomous responsibility, not cease disruptions • Most disruptions can be categorized into 4 types: • Positions are neither right or wrong, but are a fact of universal human condition

8. Disruptions usually come up from one of seven student positions that are thought of as currently existing motives, emotions or states of mind • Teachers shouldn’t accept disruptive behaviors, but always accept and validate student positions • In meeting the needs of the students that are associated with given positions, students will sometimes engage in disruptive behaviors • If teachers proactively respond to the four behaviors and seven positions they can prevent most disruptive behaviors that could possibly occur

9. Win-Win Discipline Key Elements • The Three Pillars • Same side • students, teacher and parents work together on the same side for the enhancement of the educational experience for all • Collaborative solutions • Teacher and students collaborate in the identification of problems and proposal of solutions • Learned responsibility • Results from continually emphasizing autonomous proactive life skills and self-management

10. Preventative measures • Teachers can do these in advance to reduce disruptive behaviors to make it easier for the needs of the students to be met in the classroom • ABCD Disruptors • Four categories of disruptive behaviors teachers contend with • Student positions • Composites of perceptions, emotions and attitudes that exist in individual students at any given moment • Class rules • Agreements worked out in a cooperative manner between the teacher and students. Kagan, Scott and Kyle suggest they be kept simple, limited in number and write them on a poster for all to see. All students must understand the rules by being carefully taught by the teacher and practice them until they become natural to follow

11. Moment-of-distraction structures • Strategies that teacher apply at the moment of student misbehavior • Picture it Right: “If we were at our very best right now, how would we look?” (154) • Make a Better Choice: “I want you to think of a better choice right now.” (154) • To You…To Me: (To you, this lesson may be boring; to me, it is important, because….” (154) • Follow-up structures • The requirement of time and repeated experiences in responsibility development • 4 types of follow-up • Establishing new or reestablishing existing preventative procedures • Creating moment-of-disruption procedures • Implementing a follow-up structure (i.e. same side chat or responsible thinking exploration) • Offering life skill training (i.e. self control or personal relations) • Life skills • Anger management and self motivation

12. How does Win-Win Discipline Work • Before the beginning of class • Preventing Disruptive Behavior • Make the curriculum challenging and interesting • Have cooperative activities that allow the students the chance to work together in a meaningful way • Have a interesting, stimulating teacher who adapts the curriculum to the needs and interests of their students • Learn How to Identify Student Positions • Anticipate Disruptive Behavior Types • Commit to the Application of the Three Pillars of Win-Win Discipline at All Times • Each of the three pillars utilizes certain discipline structures for teachers to use when students make unacceptable choices in behavior • Designed for use at three different points: moment of disruption; follow-up; and working toward long-term solutions

13. ABCD Disruptive Behavior Types • Aggression • Taking hostile actions against others • Physical aggression: biting, kicking, pulling, pinching, hitting and slapping • Verbal aggression: swearing, verbal put-downs, name-calling, ridiculing • Passive aggression: stubbornly refusing to adhere to reasonable requests • Breaking Rules • May break rules for a variety of reasons • Bored, desirous of attention, wanting to control, angry, energy-filled, trying to avoid failure, not having the ability to follow a rule, or not understanding what is expected of them • Examples include: making strange noises, gum chewing, passing notes, not turning in work, talking without permission or being out of their chairs

14. Confrontations • Power struggles among students or between the teacher and student in order to get one’s way or strongly argue their point • Examples include: complaining, refusal to comply, giving reasons why something should be done differently or are not good, and arguing • Students may pout or make disparaging remarks about the teacher or task when they do not get their own way • Disengagement • Reasons for disengagement • Might have something more interesting they are thinking of • Feel like they cannot perform the task • Find the task too boring or difficult • Passive disengagement • Not listening, not finishing work, acting helpless, working off task, or saying “I can’t” (157) • Active disengagement • Excessive help requests, put-downs, and comments like “I’ve got better things to do” or “It would be better if….” (157)

15. Student Positions: Intervention Strategies • The art of Win-Win Discipline is to identify the position the misbehavior comes from • The teacher must communicate acceptance of the position, but must also refuse to accept the disruptive behavior it engenders • Remember that student positions are not considered negative, but reflect the needs or conditions of the student when they act out • Effective teachers attempt to gain the perspective of the students in order to understand and deal with what could be prompting their behavior and realize that each disruption is a chance to help students learn how to behave more responsibly • Attention-Seeking Students • May interrupt, work slower, goof off, show off, or ask for extra help • How to deal with attention-seeking students • Moment of disruption: • Include hand signals, appreciation, affirmation, physical proximity, I-messages, or personal attention

16. Follow-up: • Meeting with the student and talking about their need for attention with them and how it could be met in a positive manner • Long-term solutions: • focusing on the interests of the student, building self-validation and self-concept skills • Avoiding Failure • No one likes to fail or feel like they are inept and will rationalize their inadequacies in order to avoid feeling embarrassment. • How to deal with avoiding failure disruptions • Moment of disruption: • Teachers can encourage their students to try • Reorganize and present the information in smaller pieces • Assign partners • Follow-up and Long-term strategies: • Ask students how responsible people deal with fear of failure • Teachers may also include peer support • Show how mistakes could lead to excellent learning • Team Pair Solo in which students practice activities as a team first, then in pairs and then alone

17. Being Angry • How to deal with anger disruptions • In Win-Win Discipline there are many strategies teachers can utilize in dealing with angry disruptions • Provide a cool down and thinking time, tabling the matter, asking the students to determine what responsible ways of handling anger there are • Long-term interventions: conflict resolution conferences, practice self-control skills, or class meetings • Control Seeking Students • How to deal with control seeking disruptions • Moment of disruption: • Scott, Kyle and Kagan suggest that teachers acknowledge the power • Use Language of Choice: a method in which the teacher provides the students with a choice • Provide options for when and how works is to be completed • Follow-up: • Schedule a class meeting or later conference to talk about the situation • Gather student input concerning what causes students to struggle against their teacher and find a way as to how that struggle can be avoided • Long term strategies: • Involving students in the decision-making process • Work with them in establishing class agreements concerning challenging the teacher

18. Overly Energetic Students • How to deal with overly energetic student disruptions • Moment of disruption: • Provide breaks during the lessons • Allow time for progressive relaxation • Channel energy in a productive manner • Remove distracting elements • Follow-up: • Teach calming strategies • Provide activities for students to work off their energy in a positive way • Long-term solutions: • Manage energy levels during classroom instruction • Connect the interests of students to the lesson • Bored Students • How to deal with disruptions coming from bored students • Moment of disruption: • Teachers can restructure the task needed for learning • Involve students more actively • Infuse time energizers

19. Follow-up: • Talk privately with the students and give them helping roles like a recorder, coach or gatekeeper • Long-term solutions: • Teachers can give their students a rich, relevant, and developmentally appropriate curriculum in which the students will be actively involved in the learning process and one that emphasizes cooperative learning and attention to multiple intelligences • Uninformed Students • How to deal with disruptions coming from uninformed students • Moment of disruption: • Gently ask the students if they know what they should do • If they do not then the teacher can reteach them at the time • If they need just some support then have the student work with a partner • Follow-up: • More careful attention when giving directions, modeling, and practicing the responsible behavior • Long-term solutions: • Encouragement • Focus on the strengths of the student

20. More on Responding in Moment of Disruption • In summary, at the moment of disruption, the teacher should • End the disruption quickly & refocus students back to the task at hand • Acknowledge the student position, if necessary • Communicate that the disruptive behavior is not acceptable • Work with the student to find a solution that is mutually satisfactory to all

21. However, for students who exhibit persistently disruptive behavior, the teacher may have to utilize more prescriptive measures, such as consequences like an apology, loss of activity or restitution • A personal improvement plan is created to build the offending student’s consequences into • 1. Warning:The student receives a warning from the teacher • 2.Reflection time: The student is given the opportunity to think about their disruptive behavior and how to improve it • 3. Personal Improvement Plan: The disruptive student creates a personal improvement plan to develop responsible ways of meeting their needs • 4. Phone call to Parent or Guardian • 5. Visit to the Principal’s Office

22. Long-Term Goals for Student Positions • Kagan, Scott and Kyle suggest the following long-term goals to be associated with the various student positions

23. Follow-Up Structures to Reach Long-Term Goals • Same-Side Chat • Through teacher-student discussion they will learn more about one another and realize they are working on the same side towards better conditions for everyone • Responsible Thinking • Activities used to direct students toward reflection on 3 considerations • (1) Their needs and the needs of others • (2) How they treat other people • (3) How they conduct themselves • Such a responsible thinking activity for following up on disruptive behaviors could include the following for students to answer • (1) What if everyone acted that way? • (2) How would I like to be treated? • (3) What would be a win-win situation?

24. Reestablish Expectations • Discuss and reteach, (if necessary), expectations concerning procedures, routines and rules in the classroom • Strengthens acceptance, knowledge, application, understanding and adherence to classroom expectations • Identify Replacement Behavior • Teachers guide their students to accept, generate and practice responsible behaviors they can use to replace disruptive classroom behaviors • Establish Contracts • Contract agreements between individual students and the teacher will clarify and formalize agreements made between both parties • Contracts could increase the likelihood that the student will remember, identify with and honor the written agreement

25. Establish Consequences • Used as a last resort when all other follow-up methods have failed • They are conditions agreed upon by the teacher and students to invoke when students misbehave • Consequences must be aligned with the Three Pillars of Win-Win Discipline • Same-side orientation • Established through student-teacher collaboration • Instructive and aimed at helping students learn how to conduct themselves with greater personal responsibility • May call for responsible thinking, an apology or restitution • An genuine apology has 3 parts • (1) Statement of remorse or regret • (2) Statement of appropriate future behavior • (3) Request for acceptance of the apology • Restitution by the student • Taking care of emotional or physical damage done

26. Promoting Life Skills • The progressive development of “life skills” are a major goal of Win-Win Discipline • Examples include: empathy, good judgment, self-control, anger management, perseverance and impulse control • Teachers need to work on these skills throughout the curriculum and when responding to students at moment of disruption, follow-up and long-term solutions • Scott, Kyle and Kagan believe that by fostering life skills, teachers can avoid ineffective methods that end a disruption, but leave students more than likely to disrupt in the future

27. Parent & Community Alliances & Schoolwide Programs • Win-Win Discipline provides various suggestions for parent-teacher communication and interaction • During the first week of school teachers should make contact with the parents of their students • Letters sent home • Class websites • Class newsletters • Email • Phone calls • Parent’s nights and open houses create person-to-person communication opportunities

28. Conferences between the teacher and parents • Show parents that they are valued as allies and could encourage parents to serve as tutors or mentors to their child • Schoolwide programs encourage entire school involvement • Assemblies • Incentive programs • Broader community involvement • Field trips • Guest speakers • Apprenticeships • Adopting and working with senior citizens or in day care

29. Initiating Win-Win Discipline • Kagan, Scott and Kyle suggest how Win-Win Discipline can be introduced by teachers to their students • Start by setting the tone for a win-win climate in the classroom • Tell students that the class is to be built on the Three Pillars of Win-Win Discipline • Same side • Collaborative solutions • Learned responsibility

30. Create class agreements by constructing a chart • Use the headings “Disruptive Behavior” and “Responsible Behavior” and the subheadings “Say” and “Do” • As a class, discuss what disruptive things people would say and do to garner attention and then discuss what responsible things people say and do for attention • Ask students how they feel about the lists • Make sure students know that their opinions and cooperation are valued and that they will always be involved in the decision-making process • During the first few weeks of class be sure to use activities that will strengthen the concept of the Three Pillars • Reassures students that discipline will not be done to them, but happens with them

31. With collaboration with the students teachers might decide on preferred classroom procedures; talk about discipline structures and the reasons behind them; create follow-ups and consequences; and garner student input on a few curriculum decisions • Can be accomplished during a series of class meetings • Teachers can show their students how they would help them in turning disruptive behaviors into good learning solutions • Reflection, follow-up and long-term solutions come into play • Also remember to start establishing alliances with parents during these first few weeks

32. Summary • Discipline is not something you do to students. It’s something you help students acquire • Use the Three Pillars of Win-Win Discipline • Win-Win Discipline identifies the ABCD’s of Disruptive Behavior that spring from one or more of the 7 student positions • Meet the needs of the students through acceptable behavior by maintaining their dignity while encouraging them to identify acceptable behavior under the circumstances • The ultimate goal for Win-Win Discipline is for students to learn how to manage themselves, meet their needs via responsible choices and the development of life skills that will help them in the future • Teachers must seek parent and community alliances and develop schoolwide programs for combating disruptive behavior