Community Building:
A Positive Approach to Discipline in Schools

By Katherine A. Jankowski, Ph.D.

The full paper (in PDF)

The Sharing Ideas Series

About the Author

Discipline in Today's Schools

What Schools Should Do

What YOU Can Do

References

Appendix: Community Building at the Demonstration Elementary and Secondary Schools

Appendix: Community Building at the Demonstration Elementary and Secondary Schools

Community Building

At KDES and MSSD, teachers, staff, and students have begun the implementation of a "community building" philosophy that strives to create a caring and cooperative environment where everyone treats each other with respect and dignity (see also Merryl Hammond and Rob Collins's book, One World One Earth: Educating Children for Social Responsibility [1992] for further explanation of a cooperative classroom environment). Such a goal is challenging and will require hard work and commitment from everyone. As KDES and MSSD move toward full implementation of building community, this "mini-manual" has been developed to offer teachers and staff information and resources during the transition phase. Ongoing training for KDES and MSSD teachers and staff will provide more in-depth information about the strategies outlined in this manual.

Community Building Goals

As a community, KDES and MSSD students, teachers, staff, and parents will:

• respect ourselves and others,
• be responsible for our community, and
• work together to be the best we can be.

Expectations for Student Behavior

While the concept of building community encourages student empowerment, it does not mean that students have free reign and that adults should look the other way if students behave inappropriately. Adults are expected to model appropriate behavior and this includes stopping students when inappropriate behavior occurs. The approach that is conducive to a positive community of people, however, strives to encourage responsibility more than dependence. Discipline with Dignity by Richard L. Curwin and Allen N. Mendler (1988) offers the following models that illustrate the difference in these two approaches:

The following principles, which place an emphasis on discipline as a learning process in the classroom, are also offered by the authors of Discipline with Dignity:

• Dealing with student behavior is part of the job.
• Always treat students with dignity.
• Discipline works best when integrated with effective teaching practices.
• Acting out is sometimes an act of sanity.
  

In addition, Marvin Marshall (1998) in an article published in the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) bulletin offers six principles to practice:

• Positivity is a better teacher than negativity.
• Choice empowers.
• Self-evaluation is essential for improvement.
• Self-correction is the most successful approach to changing behavior.
• Social responsibility must be taken, rather than given; taking responsibility requires intrinsic motivation.
• Authority can be used without punishment.

Classroom Management Tools

The following strategies for classroom management are suggested tools for teachers and staff to adopt and/or modify as appropriate. It is recommended that teachers and staff keep this mini-manual and books on positive discipline as resources and use them as starting points, rather than attempt to follow the guidelines verbatim.

How KDES and MSSD Can Make a Difference

In Discipline with Dignity, by Richard L. Curwin and Allen N. Mendler (1988), it was noted that some of the findings from a study by Rutter and associates of schools in Great Britain indicated that schools can make a difference in students' lives even when family background, socioeconomic status, or other factors are issues. Some of these findings:

• High levels of corporal punishment and frequent disciplinary interventions led to worse student behavior.
• Schools and classrooms that were well-decorated with plants, posters, and pictures were associated with better student behavior.
• Better behavior was noted in schools where a high proportion of students had opportunities to hold some position of responsibility.
• Frequent homework and a check on staff members regarding assigning homework were associated with better student achievement and behavior.
• Using as little class time as possible to set up equipment and materials was associated with better student behavior.
• Starting class on time, pacing throughout the class, and not ending class early were associated with better student behavior.

Community Building Goals

The community building goals developed by the KDES and MSSD community should be posted in visible places.

Guided Choices

This strategy as suggested by Marvin Marshall (1998) is usually for use when a student continues to disrupt the classroom. At this point, discussion is not the best option. Authority is used, but without punishment. This approach includes asking the student to fill out the "My Improvement Plan" form that asks these questions:

1. What happened? What did you say and do?
2. What happened at the end?
3. What is your plan to solve the problem?

See sample below.

The form is then handed to the student and the student is asked one of the following questions:

• Would you rather complete the form in your seat or in the back of the classroom?
• Would you rather complete the form by yourself or have someone help you?
• Would you rather complete the form in the classroom or in the office?

Classroom Jobs

The authors of Positive Discipline in the Classroom (Nelsen, Lott, & Glenn, 1997) suggest that assigning students jobs is a wonderful way to give the students a sense of pride and ownership and it reduces teacher workload! It is further suggested that every student be assigned a job, to ensure equity. A list of possible jobs is listed in the book. They even suggest that one of the jobs be that of a job monitor—someone to check on all the other jobs to make sure they get done.

Community Meetings

Community meetings are used primarily for problem-solving or decision-making purposes. The goal is to empower students while developing a variety of critical thinking, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. The Developmental Studies Center, in their book Ways We Want Our Class to Be (1996), offers the following benefits of community meetings:

• they help students establish and enjoy their own developing competence by encouraging them to set goals and reflect on progress in achieving these goals
• they enhance students' sense of belonging and responsibility to the community by providing them with opportunities to express opinions and contribute to group decisions
• they help students gain an understanding of the meaning and importance of fairness, kindness, and responsibility
• they help students gain greater understanding of themselves and others by providing a supportive environment in which they feel "safe" expressing themselves

Their suggestions for encouraging participation from group members during community meetings include:

• brainstorming
• small group discussions—breaking into smaller groups, then bringing ideas back to the large group
• partner chats—discussing ideas with a partner in the group
• partner idea list—a process during which partners brainstorm, listen to each other's ideas, and discuss them
• collected ideas—asking partners or groups to share one idea, then asking all others with similar ideas to raise hands, then asking another team or group for another idea and then asking all with similar ideas to raise hands, and so on until enough ideas are collected
• individual reflection and writing—students think of ideas and record them before sharing with larger groups
• consensus—a process where all agree on an idea that everyone can live with

See also troubleshooting tips on pages 42 and 43 in Ways We Want Our Class to Be (1996) which offer suggestions for problems that might arise in group meetings. Positive Discipline in the Classroom (1997) is an excellent resource for information about how to establish effective community meetings. The book provides step-by-step directions for facilitating successful community meetings.

Problem Solving

• define the problem
• brainstorm solutions (do not evaluate any of the ideas-accept them all)
• discuss solutions
• evaluate decision

Natural Consequences

This is a simple strategy, yet probably one of the most difficult to do. For this strategy, you allow the student to face the consequences that would occur naturally, without any intervention. An example given by the authors of Positive Discipline in the Classroom (1997) is of a teacher who was constantly being barraged with interruptions. She learned about the natural consequence idea and decided to try it. She went about tasks without responding to everything that came her way. The results were very positive, as students ended up helping each other instead of constantly asking the teacher everything. It is important to note that this strategy should not be applied to situations where the safety of the student could be jeopardized, e.g., allowing a young student to run across the street into oncoming traffic.

Logical Consequences

The Northeast Foundation for Children suggests the three R's of logical consequences should be that consequences are:

• respectful
• relevant
• realistic

The authors of Discipline with Dignity (1988) offer the following criteria:

Good consequences:

• are clear and specific
• have a range of alternatives
• are not punishments
• are natural and/or logical
• are related to the rule

Consequences also:

• preserve the student's dignity
• increase internal locus of control where appropriate
• increase student motivation

Also from Discipline with Dignity (1988), a comparison between consequences and punishment:

Generic Consequences

The authors of Discipline with Dignity (1988) have offered the following possible consequences that could be applied to most situations, in the following order:

1. reminder of rule—e.g., "Mary, we raise our hands before speaking. This is your reminder."
2. warning—this is not a threat, but a warning of something that could happen later, e.g., "Johnny, this is the second time today that you have gotten out of your seat to bother Mary. This is your warning."
3. develop an action plan for improvement—e.g., "Johnny, you are out of your seat bothering Mary. I want you to write for me how you plan to stop breaking this rule. List very clearly what you will do when you want to tell Mary something."
4. practicing behavior—often students break rules even if they know the rules because they may not have the skills to behave appropriately. Teacher guidance can be useful in helping students learn appropriate behaviors. Role playing and practicing various behaviors are useful strategies for this purpose.

Behavior Intervention Forms

There are basically three types of forms that could be used, depending on the purpose. One is used to monitor student behavior in order to develop behavioral interventions. Teachers and staff would be responsible for completing the form. This form is available from the psychologist's office.

The second form is an improvement plan. Since the goal is to encourage students to take responsibility for their behavior, the goal of this form is for students to do just that. When students continue to misbehave, even after other interventions, the student can be asked to fill out this form. This form can be used to develop a plan for self-improvement. A sample form is attached for your use.

The third form is an incident report form. This form should be reserved for the most serious violations of school rules. Use the list in the Student/Parent handbook as a guide.

Restitution

Restitution describes a process that allows the person who did damage to others and the community to "repair" the damage. An example is given in Restitution by Diane Gossen (1996). Two boys were caught throwing icy snowballs at passing cars. They then had to come up with a plan to make amends, even though they could not possibly "make it up" to the cars they had thrown at. Their reparation consisted of cleaning and putting salt on the walks of two elderly people they were close to. They had to make all of the arrangements themselves, including getting the salt and finding transportation to these places.

See Respecting Everyone's Ability to Solve Problems: Restorative Measures, published by the Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning, for further explanation of various approaches. This manual, as well as Restitution, has been distributed to each team.

Peace Corner

The peace corner, or a place that may be identified by a variety of names, represents a place that students can go to resolve conflicts by themselves, or with the assistance of an adult. Each classroom could identify a specific area as the peace corner for this purpose.

Conflict Resolution

Suggested steps from Barbara Porro in Talk It Out: Conflict Resolution in the Elementary Classroom (1996):

1. stop, cool off
2. talk and listen to each other
3. find out what you both need
4. brainstorm solutions
5. choose the idea you both like
6. make a plan...go for it

The book goes into detail about each of these steps and explains how to move from the adult facilitating the process to peers taking it up on their own. Even though the book is designed with the elementary student in mind, it can be applied to students of all ages. The book has been distributed to all KDES teams. See also Creating the Peaceable School: A Comprehensive Program for Teaching Conflict Resolution (Bodine, Crawford, & Schrumpf, 1994), an excellent workbook specifically for students.

Peer Mediation

The MSSD Student Life program has had a Peer Mediation (previously called Peer Advisor) program for several years. This program could be extended schoolwide at KDES and MSSD. Peers can sometimes more effectively work with other students than adults can. In addition, skills developed as a mediator carry over into all aspects of life. While training is usually needed to implement this program, it is useful to know the principles of mediation between students. The authors of Creating the Peaceable School: A Comprehensive Program for Teaching Conflict Resolution (1994) offer the following standards of conduct for the mediators:

• listen with empathy
• suspend judgment
• be respectful
• have a cooperative spirit

The authors recommend the following steps for mediation:

1. agree to mediate
2. gather all points of view
3. focus on interests
4. create win-win options
5. evaluate options
6. create an agreement

Time Out

There are positive and negative uses of time outs. See Time Out: Abuses and Effective Uses by Jane Nelsen and Stephen Glenn (1992) and Positive Time-Out by Jane Nelsen (1999) for further information.

Student Review Team

Meetings can be established at any time for the purpose of getting everyone concerned with a specific student's behavior to discuss intervention strategies and develop a plan for improvement.

Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)

IEPs can be used to develop intervention plans for students with special needs. A student with Tourette's Syndrome, for example, will need assistance in reducing disruptive behaviors.

Use Encouragement Effectively

From Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen (1996):

For many years there has been a great campaign for the virtues of praise in helping children gain a positive self-concept and improve their behavior. This is another time when we must "beware of what works." Praise may inspire some children to improve their behavior.

The problem is that they become pleasers and approval "junkies." These children (and later these adults) develop self-concepts that are totally dependent on the opinions of others. Other children resent and rebel against praise, either because they don't want to live up to the expectations of others or because they fear they can't compete with those who seem to get praise so easily.

Even though praise may seem to "work," we must consider the long-range effects. The alternative that considers long-range effects is encouragement. The long-range effect of encouragement is self-confidence. The long-range effect of praise is dependence on others.

The successful use of encouragement requires adult attitudes of respect, interest in the child's point of view, and a desire to influence skills that will lead the child to self-confident independence.

Suggested questions to determine whether statements made to students are praise or encouragement:

• Am I being respectful or patronizing?
• Am I seeing the student's point of view or only mine?
• Would I make this comment to a friend?

See also Alfie Kohn's book, Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community (1996), for a comprehensive analysis of this topic.

Avoid Power Struggles

One of the most troublesome situations teachers and staff can get into with students is to become embroiled in a power struggle when a student is asked to do something and he or she refuses. The risk is that the adult can come out of it looking foolish and out of control and no one wins. Some suggestions are offered by the authors of Discipline with Dignity (1988) to assist teachers and staff with avoiding getting into power struggles with students:

• Be aware of how power struggles can be entrapping. It is more important to strive for a long-term victory, such as a positive classroom environment, rather than a short term "win."
• Take care of yourself emotionally. It is important not to carry over feelings of resentment and anger toward the student after the incident is over. Feeling that way could tempt adults into getting into a power struggle at the next opportunity just to show students who is boss. This is not constructive.
• Ignore students' initiating power struggles. Back off and ignore the attempt, e.g.:
  Teacher (walks slowly over to Ralph): "Ralph, the rule in this classroom is that people are not for hitting. The consequence is for you to stay after school and practice other ways of showing your anger."
  Ralph: "It wasn't my fault and you can't make me come after school."
  Teacher (maintains eye contact with Ralph for a few seconds, then returns to the front of the room): "Now, class, who can tell me who was the only president to resign from office?"
  Teacher (at the end of class, near the door, in private and with a calm, firm manner): "Ralph, I expect to see you after school."
  

If the teacher had felt the need to assert her authority by challenging Ralph in front of the class, a likely result would be for Ralph to have to prove to the students and teacher that he would not show up. By taking the above approach, however, the teacher left room for Ralph to comply.

• Acknowledge the student's feelings. If the student persists in trying to entrap the adult in a power struggle, using the above example, adults could respond by acknowledging the student's feelings, e.g.:
  Ralph: "I said I'm not coming back after school."
  Teacher (returns to close proximity to Ralph): "Ralph, I can see that you are upset and angry, and that you feel the hitting wasn't your fault. I understand how you might feel. However, this is not the time to discuss it, so let's get back to our lesson and we can discuss our problem later."
• Do not try to embarrass students into submission.

How to Deal with Violent Students

The following strategies for dealing with violent students are adapted from tips offered by Dr. Eleanor Guetzloe of the University of South Florida at St. Petersburg at a conference hosted by the Institute for Adolescents with Behavioral Disorders in Minnesota.

Warning signs:

• turning red
• clenching fists
• profanity
• crying
• sudden silence
• glaring
• narrowing of eyes
• any other extreme change in behavior

Intervention:

• stay calm, cool, and composed
• be as nonintrusive as possible
• send for help
• get rid of the audience
• wait for help if possible
• always tell the student to stop
• tell the student why the behavior must stop
• point out advantages of staying under control
• communicate expectations verbally and nonverbally
• ignore verbal abuse
• don't argue
• use physical intervention as an absolutely last resort

Tips for verbal intervention:

The following suggestions are adapted from suggestions by the Diagnostic Center of Southern California (Guetzloe).

Serious Violations of School Rules

There are some major infractions that require a different level of intervention than covered above. These include, but are not limited to, the infractions listed in the Student/Parent handbook. Students violating these school rules will be referred to the Enhancing Student Success Program (ESSP), suspended, called to a Student Review meeting, or placed on 60 days notice. See the following ESSP section for an explanation of the program.

Enhancing Student Success Program

The Enhancing Student Success Program (ESSP) is designed to provide students with another chance to succeed in the regular school setting, as an alternative to suspensions. As an educational and intervention program, the ESSP philosophy centers around the belief that students are capable of changing for the better, especially when they are in a challenging environment. Accordingly, students in ESSP will be in a structured environment conducive to learning new skills and becoming positive, responsible people.

Therapeutic Intervention

There are students at KDES and MSSD who are not able to fully access an appropriate education because of significant emotional and behavioral intervention needs. Therapeutic intervention is required to provide these students with access to the general curriculum. A six-week pilot project, Natural Environment Stabilization and Treatment (NEST), was run on the preschool team and team 1/2 at the end of the 1997-98 school year. At this time, KDES and MSSD are exploring various collaborative possibilities with outside organizations to determine how these students' needs can best be met.

Resources

The following books most closely espouse the philosophy of community building at KDES and MSSD. Training that is offered to teachers and staff will incorporate these resources, with the bulk of the training on the positive discipline approach endorsed by Jane Nelsen. If you have time to only read one book, read Positive Discipline in the Classroom. It is easy to read and very informative.

Developmental Studies Center. (1996). Ways we want our class to be. Oakland, CA: Author.

Elias, M. J., Zins, J. E., Weissberg, R. P., Frey, K. S., Greenberg, M. T., Haynes, N. M., Kessler, R., Schwab-Stone, M. E., & Shriver, T. P. (1997). Promoting social and emotional learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Gossen, D. (1996). Restitution: Restructuring school discipline. Chapel Hill, NC: New View Publications.

Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Nelsen, J., Lott, L., & Glenn, H. S. (1997). Positive discipline in the classroom. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing.

Porro, B. (1996). Talk it out: Conflict resolution in the elementary classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tobin, L. (1991). What to do with a child like this? Duluth, MN: Whole Persons Associates.

References

Bodine, R. J., Crawford, D. K., & Schrumpf, F. (1994). Creating the peaceable school: A comprehensive program for teaching conflict resolution. Champaign, IL: Research Press.

Curwin, R. L., & Mendler, A. N. (1988). Discipline with dignity. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Developmental Studies Center. (1996). Ways we want our class to be. Oakland, CA: Developmental Studies Center.

Gossen, D. (1996). Restitution: Restructuring school discipline. Chapel Hill, NC: New View Publications.

Guetzloe, E. "Everybody's talking about it...Violence in children and youth. What you can do about it." Presented at a conference hosted by the Institute for Adolescents with Behavioral Disorders, Arden Hills, MN.

Hammond, M., & Collins, R. (1992) One world one earth: Educating children for social responsibility. Philadelphia: New Society Publishing.

Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Kohn, A.(1996). Beyond discipline: From compliance to community. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Marshall, M. (1998, March). "Fostering social responsibility and handling disruptive classroom behavior." NASSP Bulletin.

Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning. Respecting everyone's ability to resolve problems: Restorative measures [Booklet]. St. Paul, MN: Author.

Nelsen, J. (1999). Positive time-out. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing.

Nelsen, J. (1996). Positive discipline. New York: Ballantine Books.

Nelsen, J., & Glenn, S. (1992). Time out: Abuses and effective uses. Orem, UT: Empowering People Books, Tapes and Videos.

Nelsen, J., Lott, L., & Glenn, H. S. (1997). Positive discipline in the classroom. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing.

Northeast Foundation for Children. Rules and Logical Consequences [Manual]. Greenfield, MA: Author.

Porro, B. (1996). Talk it out: Conflict resolution in the elementary classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

My Improvement Plan

1. What happened? What did you say and do?

2. What happened at the end?

3. What is your plan to solve the problem?

Student: _____________________________ Date:_______________________

Teacher/Staff: ____________________________________________________

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