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A school community must have a safe, orderly
environment that protects learning opportunities for
all students. No student has the right to
interfere with the learning of other students or the
teacher's ability to teach. Students need a
set of “boundaries” from which to operate. Rose
Union's approach to discipline is based on several
approaches. Lawrence Kohlberg's Six Levels of Moral
Development helps us understand the stages of moral
development that
children go through. These stages include:
Level I - "I don't want to
get into trouble"
Individuals make moral decisions on the basis of
what is best for themselves, without regard for the
needs or feelings of others. They disobey when they
can do so without getting caught.
Level II – “I want a reward.”
Individuals begin to recognize that others also have
needs. They continue to define right/wrong
primarily in terms of consequences to themselves.
Level III – “I want to
please somebody.” This is seen when people make
moral decisions on the basis of what actions will
please others, especially authority figures.
Level IV – “I follow the
rules.” This level is seen as the “law and order”
stage. They perceive rules to be inflexible and
believe that it is their “duty” to obey them.
Level V – “I am considerate
of other people.” This level is seen when a person
achieves a state of empathy.
Level VI – “I have a
personal code of behavior and follow it.” This
level is the most difficult to attain and just as
difficult to teach.
We clearly hope that we can
play a role in helping children move towards Level V
and beyond that to Level VI in terms of responsible
living. The way we approach discipline is focused
on holding students accountable for their own
actions, applying meaningful consequences that have
an impact on future behavior and teaching children
new strategies for managing their own behavior.
Some people have called the areas of discipline and
character development a school’s “hidden curriculum”
because any time there are a group of people
together, their interactions, and how they treat one
another is teaching some form of morality. The
“sociomoral atmosphere” is the entire network of
interpersonal relations in a school. These pervade
every aspect of a child’s experience in school. We
take this very seriously and see each misbehavior as
an opportunity to teach a child within a respectful
environment in such a way that fosters children’s
intellectual, social, moral, emotional and
personality development.
Each morning we have a
school wide opening, “Rendezvous”, where students
recite a character pledge:
“Respect,
Responsibility and citizenship, too
They bring out
the best in me and you.
Trustworthiness
and being fair
Help to show
others that we really care.
We all know
what’s right,
We all know
what’s good.
We will do the
things we know we should.”
Students are expected to
“live the character pledge” and the vocabulary gives
us a school wide “common language” to define
expectations and is the basis for giving
consequences for inappropriate behaviors.
The goals of giving
students appropriate boundaries within their school
environment include:
1.
Maintain an orderly school operation.
2.
Maintain optimal learning opportunities
for all students.
3.
Help students develop skills and behaviors
necessary for healthy living.
4.
Help students learn how their decisions affect
the
quality of their lives and the lives of
others.
5. Help students develop responsibility and
character.
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