If you were a teacher, what would you do if a second grader won’t quiet down during story time? What if a third grader wants to go home sick, but she’s not actually sick? What if one of your students hits one of his classmates? How would you handle that?
Zak Rosen is spending the year at the Boggs School in Detroit. In this piece for State of Opportunity, he explores how the school uses discipline in constructive and meaningful ways.
Julia Putnam is the principal.
“A responsive classroom is just being responsive to the developmental needs of children. One of those developmental requirements is that punishment should not be punitive or permissive and that there needs to be a logical consequence,” Putnam explains.
So, instead of suspending a first grader for punching one of their classmates, the logical consequence approach says: Let’s find a way for the student to learn from their mistake while preserving his or dignity.
You hurt somebody’s feelings by saying something mean, you fix it with an apology.
Listen to the whole story here.
