Lost at School (33 page)

Question:
It seems like CPS is similar in some ways to Developmental Discipline, as delineated by the Child Development Project (CDP). Yes?

Answer:
In their focus on development and skills and lack of emphasis on behavior and punitive interventions, there are certainly some major similarities between the two models. However, the CDP project uses attachment theory as a jumping-off point and CPS does not.

Question:
How about Restorative Justice?

Answer:
Lots of similarities there. Both CPS and the Restorative Justice model eschew traditional, punitive disciplinary procedures. Both are collaborative and place a strong emphasis on relationships and
community building. The restorative discipline model (see
Restorative Discipline for Schools: Teaching Responsibility; Creating Caring Climates,
by Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz and Judy Mellett) posits that “harmers” will choose more adaptive options when they come to understand, through dialogue and conversation with those harmed, the pain they have caused by their misbehavior. The CPS model believes that challenging kids will evidence more adaptive behavior when the lagging skills setting the stage for challenging behavior are taught and the problems precipitating challenging behavior are solved.

Question:
And Nonviolent Communication?

Answer:
Lots of similarities there, too. Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication (NVC) paradigm places a heavy emphasis on empathy, clarifying concerns and feelings, and ways in which people communicate with one another that interfere with empathy and compassion. While the precepts of NVC and CPS are congruent, CPS places a significantly stronger emphasis on identifying and teaching lagging cognitive skills.

Question:
Any others?

Answer:
Thomas Gordon’s
Teacher Effectiveness Training
model shares many important themes with CPS as well, again without the emphasis on lagging cognitive skills and unsolved problems.

Question:
Any similarities to the Love and Logic program?

Answer:
Only on the surface. The Love and Logic program does place an emphasis on empathizing with kids, but the empathy utilized in this program is primarily of the emergent and perfunctory variety, isn’t aimed at gathering information or understanding kids’ concerns, and is typically a prelude to Plan A. The problem-solving that takes place between kids and adults in this program isn’t aimed at reaching mutually satisfactory solutions. And the
Love and Logic
program relies heavily on adult-imposed consequences.

Question:
How does CPS differ from other crisis management programs?

Answer:
Many crisis management programs are just that—crisis
management
programs. While it’s good to know how to defuse and deescalate a crisis, and Emergency Plan B is useful along these lines, CPS places significantly greater emphasis on crisis
prevention.
No other learning disability is handled in crisis mode, and a crisis is clearly not the best time to address the lagging skills and unsolved problems underlying social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

The Story Continues …

Several weeks after his meeting with Joey and his teachers, Mr. Middleton sat at his desk poring over detention slips. Five more from Mr. Armstrong … four of them for Crystal. “The man’s trying to break his own record,” he said to himself, sighing. “We need to talk.” He decided to pay a visit to Mr. Armstrong at the end of the day.

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

Mr. Armstrong was packing up his belongings. “Well, I’m kind of in a rush. My son has a hockey game.”

“Ah, fun. I’ll walk with you. I saw that Crystal had four more detention slips.”

Mr. Armstrong looked up from stuffing a few final papers into his backpack. “Bill, I don’t tolerate disrespect. Someone should have nipped that stuff in the bud with her a long time ago. If my son ever acted the way she did, he’d remember what happened next for a long, long time.” Mr. Armstrong zipped up his backpack and started walking toward the hallway. “Why, is there a problem?”

Mr. Middleton walked with Mr. Armstrong into the hallway. “I’m starting to wonder whether all these detentions and suspensions are ever going to get the job done.”

Mr. Armstrong stopped walking. “Sometimes a kid has to hit rock bottom before she starts to get it. You don’t get through to kids like Crystal by going soft. Haven’t we learned that about her already?”

“I don’t know what we’ve learned about Crystal. I do know she’s been at rock bottom for a long time now. What is it that you’re trying to get through to her?”

“That there are certain ways you act, certain ways you treat people, especially people in authority. That there are other people in the world besides Crystal. How’s she going to live in the real world if she doesn’t learn those things?”

“I’m a little worried about how she’s going to live in the real world if all she gets from us is one suspension and detention after another.”

“Why? How else are you going to teach her that stuff? Her grandma’s not going to do it.”

“You know, this Bridgman fellow, he’s got some pretty interesting ideas.”

Mr. Armstrong scowled. “Oh, I’ve heard about Dr. Bridgman’s ideas. The man’s probably never been in a classroom. Crystal doesn’t need cajoling, she needs someone who doesn’t back down.” Mr. Armstrong stopped and glanced at his watch. “Look, I need to get to hockey. Anyway, Crystal already told me she’s dropping out as soon as she can … just like her brother. Best I can tell, she’s started dropping out already. She’s only been here three days in the last two weeks. So none of this will matter eventually anyway.”

A few days later, Ms. Lowell, Mrs. Woods, and Mrs. Franco met before school as planned.

“We appreciate your coming in,” said Mrs. Woods. “We know how hard it is for you to get off work.”

“Well, my supervisor tries to be understanding when it comes to Joey,” said Ms. Lowell. “But she’s given me a lot of time off over the years … I think even she is starting to wonder if things will ever get better with Joey.”

“Well, let’s get down to business then,” said Mrs. Woods. “You have quite a son.”

This compliment took Ms. Lowell by surprise. “Oh, geez, I don’t get to hear that very often. Joey’s really taken a liking to you. He says he’d rather talk to you than me!”

Mrs. Woods smiled. “I don’t know if that’s the desired outcome. But we do have some very productive conversations. He seems to have pretty good ideas for how to solve problems, once we figure out what the problems are.”

Ms. Lowell looked at Mrs. Franco. “And he really appreciated how you handled the whole thing with the substitute and the locker.”

“I could see how hard he was trying to hold it together,” said Mrs. Franco. “But it did get a little rocky there.”

“‘Rocky’ and Joey seem to go together,” said Ms. Lowell.

“Well, that’s why we wanted to meet with you,” said Mrs. Woods. “I know you and Dr. Bridgman spent some time when you first met with him talking about skills Joey might be lacking. We thought it might be good for us to understand more about what things are like at home. You know, if he gets upset at home over the same things he gets upset about here.”

“Oh, he gets upset at home all right,” said Ms. Lowell. “His brother bugging him, things not going his way, the word ‘no’ … it doesn’t take much.”

“We don’t really see those things setting him off here,” said Mrs. Woods. “Of course, his brother’s not in his class. But it’s being confused on assignments and being embarrassed in front of the other kids—and thinking he has messed up—that seem to be coming into play most often here.”

“Well, his brother gets some credit for making him feel bad about himself,” Ms. Lowell admitted. “The name calling can get pretty intense. On the other hand, his brother’s had to live with Joey’s temper, and getting more of my attention, all these years. So there’s probably some resentment.”

“It sounds like you all have had quite a time of it,” said Mrs. Woods.

“I won’t lie to you, it hasn’t been fun,” said Ms. Lowell. “But you two don’t need to hear about all that.”

“The more we know, the better,” said Mrs. Franco. “A lot of parents don’t seem too eager to show their faces around here.”

“I used to be one of them,” said Ms. Lowell. “To be perfectly honest, it’s hard to walk into a place where you feel like people are blaming you for your kid’s problems. But I haven’t been feeling that way lately.”

“Would you like to hear about some of the things we’re working on with Joey right now?” asked Mrs. Woods.

“Well, I know about the plan you two came up with,” said Ms. Lowell. “But I don’t know how you came up with it.”

Mrs. Woods explained about the three Plans and the three steps of Plan B, concluding with, “Plan B helps you talk
with
kids instead of talking
at
them.”

“That’s what I do with Joey,” said Ms. Lowell. “I talk at him. I think he stopped listening to me a long time ago.” Ms. Lowell paused. “So who’s going to help me do Plan B at home?”

“Maybe Dr. Bridgman,” suggested Mrs. Woods. “But I’m happy to keep you informed on what we’re doing here.”

“I haven’t done Plan B yet myself,” said Mrs. Franco. “But I’m starting to think maybe there are a few kids in my class who need me to learn how, too.”

Ms. Lowell looked at her watch. “I don’t want to push my boss too far. Plus, I guess the kids are coming in soon. I don’t think Joey would be too enthusiastic about having his classmates seeing me sitting here.”

Mrs. Woods nodded. “I think you’re right. But if your boss would agree, would it be possible for us to do this every month or so? I’m thinking it would be good for us to have some face time every once in a while, you know, in addition to email.”

“Don’t you worry about my boss,” said Ms. Lowell. “I’ll be here.”

A few days later, as she sat at her desk thinking about Joey and some of the other challenging kids in her class, Mrs. Woods had a bit of an epiphany. Like many other teachers in the school, she used a ticket system for rewarding good behavior and punishing inappropriate behavior in her classroom. At the beginning of every week, each student in her class started with ten tickets. Tickets were taken away for inappropriate behavior and at the end of each week, students exchanged their tickets for small rewards. But as she thought about this system and the kids who lost tickets most often, she realized that while the system was “working” for the kids who reliably behaved themselves, it wasn’t working at all for the kids who had trouble behaving themselves.

She walked over to Mrs. Franco’s classroom. “Have you ever noticed that the ticket system doesn’t work?”

Mrs. Franco looked up from revising a lesson plan. “How do you mean?”

“I mean that the kids who don’t have any trouble behaving themselves don’t ever lose any tickets and always get rewards. But the kids who do have trouble behaving themselves always lose a lot of tickets, and don’t get very many rewards, but they still have trouble behaving themselves.”

“Never really thought about it,” said Mrs. Franco. “But I guess you’re right.”

“So if I’m right, why are we still doing it?”

“Oh, I bet there’s a bunch of stuff we do around here that nobody really gave much thought to.”

Mrs. Woods pressed the issue. “Is it written anywhere that we have to do a ticket system in our classrooms?”

“Good question. But do you really care?”

“Well, I’m not looking to break any rules. But I don’t like to waste my time doing things that aren’t working.”

Mrs. Franco began taking the conversation more seriously. “I’m with you. But I wonder if the kids who are behaving themselves would stop behaving themselves if we took away the ticket system.”

“I know what Dr. Bridgman would say,” said Mrs. Woods. “He’d say the kids who are behaving themselves aren’t behaving themselves because of the tickets; they’re behaving themselves because they can.”

“But it’s not like the ticket system is harming the well-behaved kids.”

Mrs. Woods pondered this statement briefly. “I’m not so sure about that. Why would we want to take kids who are already motivated to behave themselves and convince them that the only reason they should behave themselves is for some goody that we give them?”

“Hmm. Of course, if we take away the tickets, we still have the problem of what to do with the kids who aren’t behaving themselves.”

“Yes, exactly the problem we have right now, with or without the tickets. Anyway, I have some ideas about them.”

“Really? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to Plan B ’em. Every one of ’em. I’m going to figure out what’s getting in the way of them behaving themselves and then I’m going to help them fix it. One kid and one problem at a time.”

“You’ve got it bad.”

“Got what bad?”

“You’ve got Plan B bad.”

“Yeah, I’ve got it bad, all right,” said Mrs. Woods. “And I can’t wait to start helping these kids solve the problems that have been getting in their way for years. No one’s ever done anything about it except continue doing something that isn’t working. Isn’t that incredible?”

Mrs. Franco was again thinking about the kids in her class who desperately needed Plan B. “Yes, it is.” She hesitated. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Of course.”

“I’ve been thinking about trying Plan B with some of the kids in my class. Can you, uh, practice Plan B with me a little?”

Mrs. Woods smiled. “The blind leading the blind? Happy to.”

“And if you’re going to dump your ticket system, I’m going to dump mine,” said Mrs. Franco. “Can’t let you get into trouble all by yourself.”

The following week, Mrs. Franco walked over to Mrs. Woods’ classroom for her initial Plan B coaching session. “You ready for me?” she asked Mrs. Woods.

“Maybe you should be asking if you’re ready for
me,
” Mrs. Woods laughed.

“You’re the only person in this building who knows anything about Plan B besides Dr. Bridgman, and he’s too busy, so you’re all I’ve got,” said Mrs. Franco.