High Schools and Positive Discipline in the Classroom

Question:

Was just wondering if your program has components for high schools as well as elementary and middle schools. Dave

Answer:

Hi Dave, Absolutely! Positive Discipline in the Classroom is for Elementary through High School. Although many high school teachers fear "losing" time to "non-academics," and are reluctant to try class meetings, many high school teachers who have started using Positive Discipline and class meetings would never go back to "the old way." The research shows that a "sense of connection" and the perception that people care about him or her reduces a teen's risk for drug use, smoking, violence and increases their academic performance. (If you are interested in this you can check out the article by Resnick et al (1997) Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the national longitudinal study on adolescent health. Journal of the American Medical Association. 278(10), 823 - 832).

Class meetings teach social and academic skills. Teens learn to problem solve (which is useful in academics), how to brain storm, how to listen to each other, how to empathize and see things from others' perspectives. They also learn to speak clearly and voice their opinions respectfully. When teens have these skills, doing the other "work of learning" is much easier. There is also a lot going on in the lives of teen's that distract from academics. Giving them the tools to deal with their world in constructive ways also gives them space to learn and succeed in school.

Different schools solve the problem of how to integrate class meetings in different ways. Some schools develop a once or twice a week "home" period and class meetings are held then. Other schools have different teachers doing class meetings on different days e.g. science on Monday, English on Tuesday etc. We do not yet have any "demonstration" high schools, but we are working on it.

Jody McVittie, M.D.,
Certified Positive Discipline Associate