The Prevention Interview
What if we used the time usually spent punishing students to instead talk with them and makes plans in ways that help them succeed?
What if we used the time usually spent punishing students to instead talk with them and makes plans in ways that help them succeed?
I am old enough to have been there at the beginning of special education, and fortunately, I completely missed the euphemism of “special.” I knew schools were filled with students who were disengaged, abused, overwhelmed, scared, with quirky learning difficulties that would not go away simply by avoiding the required reading and writing and math curricula.
There is never one thing that defines a challenging student, never one cause, never one life event, never one disability. If it were one thing, the solutions would be simple. One of my own teachers confronted me with this important and demanding advice: “Keep the complexity as long as you can.”
Let’s agree that we are not pouring money into public education without wanting a return for our investment. We need our kids to grow up to pay taxes, enough taxes to pay the government back for their schooling, or what’s the point?
It’s been years since the publication of “100 Repetitions”—and the need to understand this crucial understanding of how kids learn has never been more necessary.
After years of helping schools hang in with challenging students, it was time to clarify when to stop hanging in.
Originally titled “Praising and Loving Students,’ this ASCD on-line article asks all of us to recognize and support every student as a member of the community for doing no more than crossing the threshold into the school and the classroom
Learning is an accomplishment of attention and effort that can take place in an auditorium filled with 2,000 people, or at a corner table in a library. It takes place with a teacher, or a coach, or with peers, or when you are alone. Learning is always a personal experience for the learner.
For many troubled students, adults have represented danger and uncertainty. Let’s change that.
I am old enough to have been there at the beginning of special education, and fortunately, I completely missed the euphemism of “special.”