Kids Learning More Than Just Reading, Writing And Math At John Muir Elementary

Students at are getting taught more these days than just reading, writing and arithmetic. Disruptive and difficult classroom and home behaviors are now being addressed by teachers and parents with techniques taught by popular psychologist Dr. Robert Mackenzie, who has led two workshops on setting limits.

John Muir principal Lauran Hawker said she worked with Mackenzie when she was in the Fairfield school district, and was impressed by the success there. So when she was appointed principal at John Muir last year, she brought him in to give the teaching staff some training in his methods, which involve setting limits and boundaries for students.

“Our goal was to get the academics and the behaviors aligned,” Hawker said. After training the staff in Mackenzie’s techniques, “the whole school literally turned,” she said. “The number of referrals to my office decreased by 75 percent. The “he said/she said” should be handled by staff, not by me. The focus of the whole thing is teachers taking responsibility” for teaching kids appropriate behaviors.

“The essence of the Setting Limits Program is captured in the term, "balanced approach," according to Mackenzie Web site. “Some approaches to child discipline are firm, but not respectful to children. Other approaches are respectful, but not firm. Still others flip-flop back-and-forth between the two extremes. None of the extremes provide the clarity, firmness, or respect children need to learn our rules, respect adult authority, or make positive choices about their behavior. All of these approaches lead to testing and power struggles.”

Jeanne Jones, a teacher at John Muir, said she finds the approach to be very successful.

“We’ll use a technique called a ‘simple adjustment,’ where a student has a repeated behavior that is either disrupting learning for the whole group or for them only. We use a ‘Recess Academy.’ This is a short time during recess that the student practices a skill to help them be successful.  The teacher stays with the student and monitors that the student can practice and master the skill (not a time out but a small instructional period or practice period). After several practice sessions at Recess Academy the student masters the skill.”

Jones said she liked the approach because it doesn’t punish the student, and “when once it’s over, you’re done. The student’s name doesn’t stay on the board. I may have to do this a few times, but it works.”

Another technique, Jones said, is the Preferred Activity Time, where the entire class can earn points toward a fun learning activity by being respectful, staying on task, and other appropriate class behaviors.

“It really helps that the whole staff uses these practices,” she said.

Hawker said she is planning to have Mackenzie back for another district wide parent workshop some time this year.