Contracts: An effective tool when used with care and compassion.

In my work supporting students with disabilities I have made ample use of informal contracts. It has been part of developing therapeutic rapport with my students, to establish clear and reasonable expectations and follow through with accountability. I have found this approach lays a healthy bedrock of trust between myself and the students I support. The process of mutually working out reasonable behaviour expectations builds rapport and provides great opportunity for self-knowledge and self-assessment. Moreover, when those expectations are violated there is a rich opportunity to demonstrate deep care for the student. Far from reactively coming down hard, or rigidly applying the letter of the law, this is an opportunity to gently explore together the reasons why the student violated his behaviour contract.
The informal contract is a helpful tool that I will continue using regularly as a teacher.

I have never used a contract with an entire class (though I have established clear rules and held students accountable). I was intrigued by Helen’s helpful suggestion a few classes back to develop this contract together with the students. This empowers students to take responsibility for their behaviours and to own the class culture themselves. I will take this approach when I have my own class to care for. We will understand our contract as guidelines and I hope to develop a way to recognize the exemplary complement to any prohibited negative behaviours. (Perhaps using Patrick’s idea and giving students with personalities inclined to rule keeping, the duty of recognizing at day’s end students who stand out for following the class contract well.)
I am open to meeting more severe, ongoing, dangerous behaviours with a formal contract that would result in detentions, at home suspensions, or other punishments. However I have given it some thought since our last blog topic, and at this stage I think I would choose to ‘punish myself’ every time a student is punished for violating a formal contract. This is not as gory as it sounds. :) If a student is suspended, as part of the contract I would agree to spend the evening without any entertainments or some such thing. This would be part of the formal contractual arrangement established between the student(s) and myself.
The purpose is NOT to guilt trip the violating student. It is simply one way to demonstrate my own deep care and commitment to work out a solution cooperatively in relationship with my students. It is a concrete demonstration of compassion (“com-” means “together”, “passion” means “to suffer”). If I expect communal care and compassion from my students, I have to be prepared to make co-suffering sacrifices as their teacher. Teachers teach who they are.

-Mark Northey