Need input from teachers...

[khenn]

Hi all -- I hope you don't mind my posting on this board. I homeschool but am part of a large co op. We have approximately 50 families with close to 100 students.

The issue of maintaining order in the classroom as well as in the halls has become more and more apparent. We want to teach the children to respect each other, the building we are in, and those in authority over them -- mostly it's all us moms. The kids know us, are friends with us, and thus...don't necessarily see us as authority figures at times.

One mother has suggested an aggressive incentive plan where the classes work as teams to keep a certain number of points. They would lose points for not putting their backpacks where they are supposed to, for being too rowdy in class, for leaving the room in an out of control manner, and so on.

This seems possibly labor intensive on the part of the teachers to track.

My point in posting is actually not to have this system analyzed but to get ideas on how to maintain order, what types of discipline or incentives we could incorporate, etc. I feel the kids are part of the co op, the rules are in place, they need to follow them...period. I don't like rewarding what is expected but that's my parenting style too. I'm more one to discipline incorrect behaviour than reward substandard behaviour. Going over and beyond deserves to be noticed but not just following rules.

Thanks for any tidbits of advice you all might have!
Kellie

[ItsAllGood]

I agree with you, you should not need to reward expected behavior, such as putting your backpack away. Has your coop just started, if so, they you have a good opportunity to "train" the students on what the rules are and stress that the rule is the rule and we are expected to follow them for everyones safety. Make that your focus, have them restate the rules if necessary and retrain as needed.

[khenn]

Well...that's part of the problem. Our co op is not new. We have been around for about 5 years but started out really small and grew quite quickly so we are experiencing growing pains and working to figure out how best to manage things.

We do have an assembly at the beginning of the year where we go over the rules, we have the parents and kids sign a list of rules, and the teachers are supposed to state the rules again at the beginning of each class.

However...we're all friends so it's hard to be tough and yet we need to be. Just not sure what the punishment should be for breaking the rules and how to go about implementing that.

[Aquitane]

I think that when school starts a big part of the day should just be going over procedures. That's what I do in my class. Explain and model how they should be walking in the hall/putting away materials, etc. Have the kids practice. Do it OVER and OVER. Really at our school common procedures are a big part of the first couple of weeks. It's easier with the older kids because they know, they just have to be reminded.

If your littles learn procedures this year, it will be much easier with them next year. Since the older kids have been going to the school longer, it might be a little more difficult for them adjust.

All that being said, having everyone be friends is very difficult. It almost seems that you need to have a sit down with all of the "staff." Maybe discuss how even though it may be awkward to "discipline" another mom's kid, it will be worthwhile in the end. It seems like maybe you guys are afraid of hurting each other's feelings. But I think you might need to start being stricter since your number of students have increased so dramatically.

It sounds like all of you have done wonderfully so far, so I would think this would be just a little hurdle to get over to make you day a bit easier. Good luck!

[ollyoxenfree]

I read your post in the homeschooling forum. There you identified a couple of issues in particular - uncontrolled behaviour at dismissal time, and refusing to help out when asked.

I think there are different aspects of the problem. One is attitudinal and the other is behavioural. The first is "lack of respect" and the other is "failure to follow the rules".

I actually think the second is easier to deal with than the first, but it requires the moms to change first. If a process isn't working out, then examine how to make the process better. You may have to reinforce it or support it with procedures that are easier to control. If dismissal time is chaotic, then change how you dismiss the class. Let only 2 or 3 children leave at a time, rather than the entire group. Perhaps you dismiss only the children who demonstrate that they are ready to leave (they've tidied up, they are sitting quietly etc.). Perhaps you use a game to decide who can leave or use it as part of storytelling (The Pied Piper or Hansel and Gretel heading off into the forest - pick pairs of children to go off). You can try a few different things and find what works.

You may have to change the process entirely. Is there a problem with where backpacks are supposed to be put away? Maybe the hooks are too high for small children etc. You might have to figure out a different solution.

If there's no physical problem, then you may have to institute some negative consequences (not exactly punishments). Perhaps activities don't start until all backpacks are put away. Perhaps you have an adult collect the strays and place them somewhere inconvenient to the child. That way, packs are no longer easily accessible when the children want them, and the child has to ask permission to collect them or wait for an adult to return it. Backpacks that litter hallways and aisles are a safety hazard if you need to exit in an emergency, so this can be a real problem, not just a difference in tolerance for untidiness.

You can approach the problems of refusing to help out an adult or pick up when asked by changing processes too. You can declare a specific clean up time, to help the kids who have a problem transitioning from one activity to another (the kid who refuses to pick up may be someone who has trouble moving from one task to another). You can appoint daily helpers or room monitors and rotate the chores through the class every week or month. The problem with this latter approach is that it tends to devolve into an "that's not my job attitude" if you aren't careful. Working on an attitude of general helpfulness and kindness is probably more effective in the long run.

Attitude is a lot harder to change though. To instil an attitude of respect and kindness, there has to be a lot of role-modeling and positive reinforcement. Schools use a lot of different programs to reinforce these kinds of values. To be honest, most of them irk me (You spent an entire assembly talking about empathy? And giving out gold stars to kids who demonstrated empathy last month? Really?), but I understand why the schools use them. Your parent group may want to consider this kind of formal approach to values education to highlight positive attitudes with the children.

Good luck.