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Great Article: How Compassion and Support Will Lower Suspension Rates

The full article:
New Approach to Discipline that Really Works


This article is about so much more than discipline.  It is about a revolution from punishment to compassion.  We need to be aware of t the trauma that exists in the majority of our students' lives.

From the article--these things made me nod vigorously:
-"Their future is more important than their past."
-"Many education experts say that kids wouldn’t have problems if their parents would just get involved. But the parents of most of the students at Lincoln HIgh are themselves are struggling with the effects of their own childhood trauma, and many are passing the trauma on to their children."
-"One of the keys has been a staff that embraces two basic concepts: toxic stress prevents kids from learning, and moving from a punitive approach to a supportive, educational approach changes behavior."


This chunk of the article may be one of the most important.  But, as an educator, especially one who was once a student with a high toxic stress score, the whole story is impactful:
"There are just two simple rules, says Turner.
Rule No. 1: Take nothing a raging kid says personally. Really. Act like a duck: let the words roll off your back like drops of water.
Rule No. 2: Don’t mirror the kid’s behavior. Take a deep breath. Wait for the storm to pass, and then ask something along the lines of: “Are you okay? Did something happen to you that’s bothering you? Do you want to talk about it?”
It’s not that a kid gets off the hook for bad behavior. “There have to be consequences,” explains Turner. Replace punishment, which doesn’t work, with a system to give kids tools so that they can learn how to recognize their reaction to stress and to control it. “We need to teach the kids how to do something differently if we want to see a different response.” "

Take 15 minutes out of yor day to examine what is working.  Think about it: our whole country needs a little more love and support.  If this can continue working for our students, then it will help our health care crisis, our crime rates and eventually put an end to the violent cycle.
(I did NOT write ths article. CLick the link above for source)

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