When it comes to the concept of Do No Harm, I believe that it should be the overarching theme for school and classroom discipline policies.
As a school leader, I would work with teachers and staff to develop classroom and discipline policies based on restorative practices, with the intentions that these discipline policies will help create a culture of belonging and safety, allowing their minds to open up to learning. If we can demonstrate to our students that we respect them, as a whole person and not only as student, and that we are here to work “with” them. I believe this will begin a major shift in the mindset of our students, staff and teachers.
In regards to program practices and initiatives, I would plan initiatives around the “do no harm” pillar, to increase the reception of all those involved. Successful program practices and initiatives usually involve a number of people. Therefore, in the planning process, I would ensure that the process would prevent negative affects, such as anger or fear and create positive affects such as interest and enjoyment. This would be done by including them in the process from beginning to end and allowing multiple opportunities to provide feedback and voice their thoughts and opinions. Adults, like students, have the need to feel safe and have a sense of belonging. In addition, I would explicitly model the do no harm pillar, by choosing my words carefully, responding respectfully, presenting myself professionally, and maintaining the school environment.
Recently, I’ve read several articles surrounds professional development practices in education. Many are stating that providing teachers voice and choice as to what they feel they need and have an interest in learning, is what is proving to be the most beneficial. In the past year, I have played a large role in organizing and facilitating professional development in my district. Based on the feedback and conversations from teachers that attend the professional development, they are not fully satisfied. One of the comments that was clearly mentioned many times, was the fact that it isn’t what they need at this time. At the end of last year and the beginning of this year. We changed the format of our district professional development days so that teachers had a choice. There was a significant difference in the feedback. There was a lot of compliments and words of gratitude for the change. As I school leader, I would assess ours students’ needs and listen to teacher feedback and solicit suggestions, in order to meet both the teachers’ and students’ needs and interests.
As Fisher, Frey and Pumpian state in their book, How To Create a Culture of Achievement, “Most schools systems operate on a behaviorist system of rewards and punishments (46). I believe this to be true of my district. I do not see of this pillar is integrated into our discipline policies. I just reviewed the district’s discipline policy, in the process of coaching one of our new teachers. Considering the restorative practices and the do no harm pillar, our discipline policy is punitive not restorative. It outlines the categories for various behaviors and lists the consequences for each occurrence. I don’t remember seeing any type of intervention or attempt to teach appropriate behaviors or have the student reflect upon their behavior. This makes a connection to the way I hear many teachers talk about students who misbehave. Many still believe that punishing students is the only way to get students to rethink and correct their behavior. This is far from the truth.
This does not sit well with me. When I was in the classroom, both of the principals allowed the teachers a lot of freedom and flexibility in our classrooms. This is why I usually was the teacher who wrote the least amount of referrals. There was two reasons. I knew the majority of my students didn’t have positive role models in their lives and that they have experienced many hardships. I also didn’t believe in the school’s discipline policy. Therefore, they were behaving the only way they knew how to behave and understood that their misbehavior wasn’t a reflection of their dislike or disrespect towards me. I don’t believe the current culture in my district recognizes these facts.
I am willing to commit to do the following five things to make my school a more positive restorative place:
As a school leader, I would work with teachers and staff to develop classroom and discipline policies based on restorative practices, with the intentions that these discipline policies will help create a culture of belonging and safety, allowing their minds to open up to learning. If we can demonstrate to our students that we respect them, as a whole person and not only as student, and that we are here to work “with” them. I believe this will begin a major shift in the mindset of our students, staff and teachers.
In regards to program practices and initiatives, I would plan initiatives around the “do no harm” pillar, to increase the reception of all those involved. Successful program practices and initiatives usually involve a number of people. Therefore, in the planning process, I would ensure that the process would prevent negative affects, such as anger or fear and create positive affects such as interest and enjoyment. This would be done by including them in the process from beginning to end and allowing multiple opportunities to provide feedback and voice their thoughts and opinions. Adults, like students, have the need to feel safe and have a sense of belonging. In addition, I would explicitly model the do no harm pillar, by choosing my words carefully, responding respectfully, presenting myself professionally, and maintaining the school environment.
Recently, I’ve read several articles surrounds professional development practices in education. Many are stating that providing teachers voice and choice as to what they feel they need and have an interest in learning, is what is proving to be the most beneficial. In the past year, I have played a large role in organizing and facilitating professional development in my district. Based on the feedback and conversations from teachers that attend the professional development, they are not fully satisfied. One of the comments that was clearly mentioned many times, was the fact that it isn’t what they need at this time. At the end of last year and the beginning of this year. We changed the format of our district professional development days so that teachers had a choice. There was a significant difference in the feedback. There was a lot of compliments and words of gratitude for the change. As I school leader, I would assess ours students’ needs and listen to teacher feedback and solicit suggestions, in order to meet both the teachers’ and students’ needs and interests.
As Fisher, Frey and Pumpian state in their book, How To Create a Culture of Achievement, “Most schools systems operate on a behaviorist system of rewards and punishments (46). I believe this to be true of my district. I do not see of this pillar is integrated into our discipline policies. I just reviewed the district’s discipline policy, in the process of coaching one of our new teachers. Considering the restorative practices and the do no harm pillar, our discipline policy is punitive not restorative. It outlines the categories for various behaviors and lists the consequences for each occurrence. I don’t remember seeing any type of intervention or attempt to teach appropriate behaviors or have the student reflect upon their behavior. This makes a connection to the way I hear many teachers talk about students who misbehave. Many still believe that punishing students is the only way to get students to rethink and correct their behavior. This is far from the truth.
This does not sit well with me. When I was in the classroom, both of the principals allowed the teachers a lot of freedom and flexibility in our classrooms. This is why I usually was the teacher who wrote the least amount of referrals. There was two reasons. I knew the majority of my students didn’t have positive role models in their lives and that they have experienced many hardships. I also didn’t believe in the school’s discipline policy. Therefore, they were behaving the only way they knew how to behave and understood that their misbehavior wasn’t a reflection of their dislike or disrespect towards me. I don’t believe the current culture in my district recognizes these facts.
I am willing to commit to do the following five things to make my school a more positive restorative place:
- Choose my words more carefully
- Recognize effort
- Provide multiple opportunities
- Be flexible
- Actively listen to my colleagues and students