Bump 4 or Bust

It's amusing to read Helen's post just before posting my own entry tonight!
I will relate a real scenario very similar to her hypothetical "start strict and work back?" question.

It was early November, two months into the school year in 2009. My administrator came into the K/1 classroom where I was supporting a boy with autism and said, "I've got a bit of a situation. Can we talk?"
I learned that a grade 3 teacher had reached the end of his rope and said he would immediately go on stress leave if something didn't change in his classroom immediately! There were nine children with behaviour issues in his classroom and things had gotten so bad the police had to come in to resolve a serious incident involving several students, and their families, fighting over very serious threats and accusations.
I was moved in to replace the SSSA previously in the classroom (she was there ostensively to support a boy with high-functioning autism, who ironically was one of the least needy students!).
I spent the first two days in the classroom in observation mode. I was rather shocked by the unruly class but did nothing about the behaviours; instead I got to know the kids and their relational dynamics and established some rapport especially with students exhibiting the more 'extreme' behaviours (including violence and murderous threats!). (I won a lot of them over by playing very fun gym and outdoors activities with the class). My lack of assertive action made the teacher very nervous as administration had apparently led him to expect me to come in with guns blazing. I explained how important it was to really see the students and their relationships before acting, and to be known and at least somewhat trusted before I had any right to make any interventions. Thankfully this rapport did develop quite quickly in the first two days.
In those two days my hand cramped up as I wrote pages of observed aggressive behaviour, disrespect, fighting, and threatening. This pushed me to try something completely contrary to my much gentler typical supportive style.

On the third day I announced to the class that there would be two clear classroom expectations:
1) When the teacher is speaking, students are not speaking.
2) There will be no more hitting and kicking or threats of violence.

These two were written on a poster board that was always visible.
I then told the class that if they violated either of these expectations once, their name immediately goes on the board (in a square in the corner). And if they violate these expectations a second time, they will stay in with me at recess or after school and we'll have a conversation.

In essence then, putting their name on the board (warning) was the choice I gave them to either refrain from 1) and 2), or (less preferred) stay in during their free time.

In the first day I had over a dozen kids make it on the board, and a half-dozen stayed in at Recess. Their initial anger, indignation, and very rude back-talk did not have the effect on me that it had with their teacher (who quickly tried negotiating with them for a way to get their names off! I asked him respectfully not to interfere: the expectations were clear and the follow through must occur).
With an audience, each of these students argued and complained loudly. But when the recess bell went and the whole class cleared out I asked each detained student to silently read a book or put their head down on their desk spot.
One by one, I went around to each student and in a very gentle way expressed my regret and sadness that after spending only a couple days with them we found ourselves in this situation. "What happened?" I asked each one in turn.
Without the classroom audience these kids were far softer and more reflective. They each came around to agree that their inappropriate behaviour made it impossible to run a safe and fun classroom. I truthfully assured each student that I liked them (sometimes listing one or two qualities specifically I had noted to myself that liked, especially important with the students who were the hardest for me to like!). I expressed my hope that we could work together more effectively. This (re-)established therapeutic rapport between us and facilitated the acting-out student's 'tension reduction' (the final phase in the conflict cycle).

To make a long story short(er), within a single week this very strict and harsh approach had radically changed the classroom culture. Students rapidly discovered I really meant business and the extreme defiant rebelliousness of the first couple rocky "Bump 4 or Bust" enforcement days quickly melted away during the rapport-building conversations I could have one-on-one with acting out individuals.
It became second nature for the students to start to follow the two simple class guidelines.

Only AFTER this initial heightened "Bump 3/4" response from me, was I able to return to my far prefered gentler, flexible, humourous interactions with the students. A 'star wall' was next to go up, where I could write names of students who were exemplary.
I was able to talk with the class about how rules are really guidelines and there's room for flexibility. We also added two more classroom guidelines.
I remained in that classroom till the end of the year. The teacher and I became close friends, and I continue to care very deeply for the quite challenging students I got to know. I believe they care for me too, and they always greet me warmly in the hallway and on the playground.


Reflecting on this whole experience, I decided that there was a time for rigid discipline. I also realized I hate that time! It should manifest itself only rarely and for a short duration; it should be a last resort (I would hope to never need to get there in my own classroom, however it could be necessary if a certain unlucky constellation of students happen to start out the year at a high and dangerous pitch).
I decided that I *do* believe in punishment: However punishment must never be retributive but always therapeutic and pedagogical.
Punishment must never be about giving a student "what he deserves" but only adminstered as a corrective routed in genuine (not feigned!) care for the acting out student. This is to say punishment must never be "backwards looking" (at what the student has done and so what he "deserves" (this is a distortion of justice anyway!)), but always future looking, intended to equip the student with new tools and empower her to make better choices. Whenever possible it should be a natural consequence that is perhaps heightened and enforced by the caring teacher.
So I do believe in punishment, but only when it is semantically constrained to exclude any element of retribution whatsoever. Anyone who's been ill knows that medicine is bitter even though it heals us. Likewise punishment is unpleasant even though it can be good for us.


These are some thoughts;
-Mark Northey