When it comes to the concept of Do No Harm, I believe that students need to have a safe learning environment, so creating that type of classroom culture is essential. Teachers need to do this by establishing a culture in which students know the expectations and then supporting students when they violate the expectations. Students need to learn that they should not harm themselves, others or the environment. Using the “Do No Harm” mantra would be a great way to start the school year when explaining expectations. It is short and simple. Then, once students begin violating the expectations, teachers need to help students learn alternative ways to behave. Simply punishing a student for talking while the teacher is talking will not be effective. Instead, a teacher should tell the student they should stop talking because it’s important that they listen to the lesson to be successful.
I have three rules in my classroom: Be a Peacebuilder (our behavioral support plan at our school), Be safe and Be productive. As a class we discuss what each of these means and I have all the students sign the rules we explained as a promise that they will try to follow these rules. These three go perfectly with the Do No Harm concept. I know the theory states that rules do not support students, but if students know what they should do instead of what they shouldn’t do, I think it is more effective. As a school leader, I would develop school-wide rules that embody the Do No Harm concept. The three I use in my classroom would be a good start. I would then ask teachers to complete lessons on behavioral support throughout the school year to help students learn alternative ways to behave when they feel they need to violate an expectation. Having a behavior support curriculum would open up students to learning instead of relying on consequences to stop their behavior. Simply punishing a student for misbehaving will not always be effective. Instead, teachers need to support students and make sure the student knows how to behave the next time the situation presents itself. Therefore, having a curriculum that teaches students how to behave in certain situations will support students. There is a lot of pressure on teachers to improve student achievement and get through a lot of material in a school year. Having an expectation that teachers will set aside time to teach students about behavior will demonstrate the importance of this support. It should not be optional for students to learn how to behave. It should be a regular scheduled part of learning.
Right now we have a Peacebuilder behavior program at our school. Each class recites the Peacebuilder pledge every morning and we have Peacebuilder assemblies once a month in which students who exemplify good behavior get awards. It is then suggested that teachers go over the monthly character trait that students should be working on. Many teachers do not do this. I think it would be great to have lessons for teachers to complete each week to help support students. As a school leader I would take the time to either ask teachers to develop lessons (during professional development time) to share or find an outside curriculum that they can use. I would make sure that teachers were motivated and eager to use these lessons to support student behavior to ensure that it would be implemented. During these lessons, time can be taken to discuss things that happened that week (without confronting specific students) and how they can do better in the future. Integrating behavioral support lessons into the curriculum will support students who need extra practice on making better choices. This would hopefully reduce referrals and suspensions if students had a program that supported behavior.
Everything I am learning in this master’s program to take and use in my classroom is also important to use in my learning experience as a student in this program. In my interactions with my peers I need to remember that I am a student and I need to follow the Do No Harm concept. I will not harm myself, others or the learning environment. This means being respectful of other’s time and effort. It can be difficult in an online learning environment to behave the same as we do in real life, but I always remember to be respectful during class and listen to the professor.
To be honest, this pillar was difficult for me to fully endorse. There are a lot of things that I do for behavior management that do not line up with restorative practices. However, I am not the teacher that is punishing students for talking during class that is described in the book. I do not punish a student for being late to class or for not having a pencil. Instead, I tell the student they need to wake up a little earlier for school to be on time or to ask a partner to borrow a pencil. I started reading The Restorative Practices Handbook and some suggested ways to talk to students about their behavior is not something I agree with. I do not want to use my emotions when talking to a student about their behavior. I will ask the student to stop the behavior and explain what they should do instead to be ready to learn, but I will not tell them how it makes me sad that they aren’t listening. I think teachers should be stable, logical leaders that are consistent. This will allow students to trust them and feel safe. Emotions are volatile and using emotions when discussing behavior will make a child feel like they should behave to make me happy. I don’t want students to behave to make me happy, I want them to behave so they can learn and be successful. Therefore, I believe supporting student behavior by explaining how to do it better next time is a great concept, but some of the specific ways that are suggested to do this are going to be different for me. However, I will still work on creating a positive restorative learning environment in my classroom. My methods will just be slightly different.
Here are the 5 things I am willing to do this semester that will make my school a more positive restorative place:
I have three rules in my classroom: Be a Peacebuilder (our behavioral support plan at our school), Be safe and Be productive. As a class we discuss what each of these means and I have all the students sign the rules we explained as a promise that they will try to follow these rules. These three go perfectly with the Do No Harm concept. I know the theory states that rules do not support students, but if students know what they should do instead of what they shouldn’t do, I think it is more effective. As a school leader, I would develop school-wide rules that embody the Do No Harm concept. The three I use in my classroom would be a good start. I would then ask teachers to complete lessons on behavioral support throughout the school year to help students learn alternative ways to behave when they feel they need to violate an expectation. Having a behavior support curriculum would open up students to learning instead of relying on consequences to stop their behavior. Simply punishing a student for misbehaving will not always be effective. Instead, teachers need to support students and make sure the student knows how to behave the next time the situation presents itself. Therefore, having a curriculum that teaches students how to behave in certain situations will support students. There is a lot of pressure on teachers to improve student achievement and get through a lot of material in a school year. Having an expectation that teachers will set aside time to teach students about behavior will demonstrate the importance of this support. It should not be optional for students to learn how to behave. It should be a regular scheduled part of learning.
Right now we have a Peacebuilder behavior program at our school. Each class recites the Peacebuilder pledge every morning and we have Peacebuilder assemblies once a month in which students who exemplify good behavior get awards. It is then suggested that teachers go over the monthly character trait that students should be working on. Many teachers do not do this. I think it would be great to have lessons for teachers to complete each week to help support students. As a school leader I would take the time to either ask teachers to develop lessons (during professional development time) to share or find an outside curriculum that they can use. I would make sure that teachers were motivated and eager to use these lessons to support student behavior to ensure that it would be implemented. During these lessons, time can be taken to discuss things that happened that week (without confronting specific students) and how they can do better in the future. Integrating behavioral support lessons into the curriculum will support students who need extra practice on making better choices. This would hopefully reduce referrals and suspensions if students had a program that supported behavior.
Everything I am learning in this master’s program to take and use in my classroom is also important to use in my learning experience as a student in this program. In my interactions with my peers I need to remember that I am a student and I need to follow the Do No Harm concept. I will not harm myself, others or the learning environment. This means being respectful of other’s time and effort. It can be difficult in an online learning environment to behave the same as we do in real life, but I always remember to be respectful during class and listen to the professor.
To be honest, this pillar was difficult for me to fully endorse. There are a lot of things that I do for behavior management that do not line up with restorative practices. However, I am not the teacher that is punishing students for talking during class that is described in the book. I do not punish a student for being late to class or for not having a pencil. Instead, I tell the student they need to wake up a little earlier for school to be on time or to ask a partner to borrow a pencil. I started reading The Restorative Practices Handbook and some suggested ways to talk to students about their behavior is not something I agree with. I do not want to use my emotions when talking to a student about their behavior. I will ask the student to stop the behavior and explain what they should do instead to be ready to learn, but I will not tell them how it makes me sad that they aren’t listening. I think teachers should be stable, logical leaders that are consistent. This will allow students to trust them and feel safe. Emotions are volatile and using emotions when discussing behavior will make a child feel like they should behave to make me happy. I don’t want students to behave to make me happy, I want them to behave so they can learn and be successful. Therefore, I believe supporting student behavior by explaining how to do it better next time is a great concept, but some of the specific ways that are suggested to do this are going to be different for me. However, I will still work on creating a positive restorative learning environment in my classroom. My methods will just be slightly different.
Here are the 5 things I am willing to do this semester that will make my school a more positive restorative place:
- I will ensure that when students misbehave, I will explain what they should be doing instead so the students know future ways to behave.
- I will focus on positive aspects of students’ behavior to set the tone for our classroom culture.
- I will discuss with my students the concept of “Do No Harm” and how it applies to our classroom.
- I will ensure that I am opening students up to learning instead of shutting them down by not giving them consequences that take them out of the classroom.
- I will seek out some behavioral support lessons to integrate into my teaching to help support students’ behavior and share them with my colleagues.