On Friday August 21st I listened to Russell Burt speak to the RPA (Rotorua Principal's Association) meeting about "Developing and Consolidating Values the Point England Way." This presentation was timely; we are asking the question at KMS...how can we turn around student behaviour? How can we collaborate as a staff to do this?
What do they do at Pt England?
First: The school selects all new innovations, after testing the 'fit'. (No teacher or group of teachers may branch off and attend random Professional Development.) The innovation is accepted only if:
- It will raise student achievement.
- It will motivate and engage students.
- It will develop the personal voice of students.
- It will build an authentic audience for the student work.
- It will improve behaviour.
At Kaitao: Are the different behaviour management needs of the different academies, met separately by separate PD/PL, fracturing the unity of the school vision? Or, by targeting the specific needs-example Boys in Education- do we build up the quality of the learning/behaviour in the academy, thereby addressing the school vision?
Second: At Pt England, behaviour is seen as a subject that must taught. To improve the behaviour of the students, they first recognise what is good behaviour. As a staff they identify the behaviour that they want to see (putting rubbish in the bin or example). When things are going right, what does it look like?
At Kaitao: It would be immensely useful if we made this a regular practice. What do we want to see? What do we want it to look like?
Third: A theme or value is taken for the year. This would grow out of reflections about the previous year. For example the value of honesty has been chosen for 2009. A memorable phrase or saying is then hashed out amongst the staff. "Keep it Real" is the catch-phrase for honesty in 2009. Further sayings are developed continuously throughout the year as needs arise in the school. For example, if the rubbish around the school was getting worse, then 'chuck it in the bin' became the catch-phrase.
At Kaitao: We teach values, we highlight one every week. Supposing we slow down and choose an overall value for the year, then make that our mantra. The other values will still be present and continue to be explored, but the year will have a focus. (Linda Woon spoke of the value of accountability at her BEST workshop. The need to concentrate on this value arose from a sports team at her school taking no responsibility for poor sportsmanship.)
Fourth: The saying/desired behaviour is then communicated to the school via assemblies, TV programmes and school news programmes daily, (DLOs, digital learning outcomes). Through sight, sound and motion, (SISOMO) multiple intelligences are appealed to. The creation of DLOs brings literacy (read, write, speak, listen) into the frame, through songs, dramatic performances, presentations, drama and korero.
One of the most successful ways to embed values thinking into the kids is to have them create jingles/short songs based on the message. These are the sort of tunes that stick to the brain and add a lightheartedness to the message. (If you drop it, pick it up is a message that we have...imagine the power of it if it is made into a short video with an original sound track!)
At Kaitao: Talented kids and teachers could easily provide original music as the sound track to student videos. Look at all of those wonderful boys playing guitar during lunch time.
Fifth: Importantly, the emphasis in the TV shows, daily news shows and all is on the value and communicating it rather then the quality of the filming or editing. Kids don't care...look at you-tube and what is popular there; it is the message that is important.
At Kaitao: Take a look at KTV...it is not perfect...it does not need to be perfect. This is a wonderful vehicle to teach values. Show it every day during interval and lunch!
Sixth: Kids feel empowered by these programmes. They communicate the values/messages to the school. The behaviour changes.
At Kaitao: Immediate first step is to identify the behaviour we most want to change. How students speak to staff is a big one...respect/consideration are the values. The create a saying...all the more powerful if it is in kid-speak. Then put the saying out there through DLOs using SISOMO!
Please comment.
Happiness!
The over riding view for me in relation to student behaviour is the lack of respect for the guidelines/rules call them what you like. These are behaviours that we all supposedly model as citizens and these are intrinsic in our values. The issue we appear to have that our values are not in sinc with many of the students values. Why? Are our values not the parents values? If they are not what are their values and how disparate are theirs to ours and who needs to change them or us??
ReplyDeleteTo carry a value all year may be a bit overdone as it could become quite boring after the newness of the value wears off....pace points start out really well but are hard for the children to sustain all year...not the teachers.
As to professional development....it does make sense to have a theme, but I thought most professional development for teachers was aimed at the teacher seeing his/her gaps in expertise and aiming to fill the gaps, or to see a strong developmental purpose...ie the digital strengths to be able to reflect this strength in many of our children and at least appear to be as digitally aware as they are...learning from each other.
This way we enhance and motivate our students to learn using the "new" ways...this premis applies to more than just digital age, and that most any subject where the teacher needs to strengthen their ability is still going to result in teachers learning to benefit through their learning and teaching practice.