The Ripcord Behavior Management System

How do students in your school find a safe place when they are emotionally overwhelmed?  Our school has a system called ripcord.

The ripcord system is based on parachutes.  When you jump out of a plane, you have to pull your ripcord to have a safe landing.

Similarly, ripcord is what you pull when you are overwhelmed emotionally.  Usually it is due to an overwhelming emotion such as anger or sadness, but it could be for any reason you do not feel emotionally safe in a classroom.

When a student feels like this, they always have the option to 'pull their ripcord.'  We talked to the students about situations this may happen - it could be because they are angry, upset, or just about to make a bad choice.  We also talk about timing: Just like a real ripcord on a parachute, a ripcord only works if you pull it at the right time: Pull it too late and it isn't an effective tool. We start to help the student connect their personal signals (tears pooling up, clenched fists, gritting teeth) as to when they need to pull their ripcord.

We explain where these emotions come from.  Students hear about the amygdala and how it 'flairs' when you feel threatened even when you really aren't in danger. If you perceive a threat, the amygdala goes into action.  This takes rational thinking away and leaves the student with just instinctive responses.  The goal of ripcord is for students to calm their mind down (relax their amygdala) to a point where they can talk to an adult about what is bothering them.

When students choose to pull their ripcord, they get a ripcord form from a designated space in the classroom.  Each classroom has a space for this since it is a school-wide management system.  Students then take some time to complete the form.  They may do it in the classroom, outside in the hall, or in an office.

The form consists of two main parts:

• I am feeling ... because ...
• My plan is to ... 

Students can write words, draw pictures, or use a combination to get their feelings and thoughts down.  For younger grades, we also include a feelings chart so they can circle faces.

After a student completes the form, they talk to an adult - it could be the school counselor, department head, their advisor, or other trusted person in the school.  This person then helps the student decide if they are ready to return to the classroom or if further discussion or action is needed.

This system gives all the members of our school a common way to take a break without fear of getting in trouble.  It also makes students accountable for returning to the problem (not avoiding it) and coming up with a solution.

THE CPR of Discipline... and Bob Ross

When I meet someone and they ask, "What do you do?" I usually say I'm a middle school teacher.  That usually draws some interesting looks.  When they ask what subjects and I say "math, science, and reading" that draws even more looks. 

• Wow. you must have the patience of a saint. 
• I could never do that.  Those kids are so rude!
• Really? Kids that age are so bratty/spoiled/undisciplined/etc.

I understand that most people don't choose to spend their time with a couple dozen early-teenage adolescents on a daily basis.  They don't see their passion to want to know why, their questioning nature, the beauty of their squirrel-like attention.  Each day each student can have one of five different personalities show up, and I love that.

Discipline seems to be the one thing on most people's minds when I mention my profession.   People also ask, "how do you control so many kids in such a small space?"  This quote guides many of my philosophies regarding discipline:

Students do not come to school looking to get in trouble. They don't wake up, get dressed, then think about, "hmmm, how will I get myself in trouble today? Maybe I'll just shout some curse words during math class. That sounds good!"

Students come to school and are asked to do things that are extremely uncomfortable and not intrinsic to them. Each day they are asked to sit through multiple subjects of content, most of which they have never seen or heard about before.  They are asked to learn facts, do homework, and take tests in subjects they may not enjoy... And they are asked to do it by someone who may think that their class is the MOST IMPORTANT CLASS EVER.

It is so important to remember perspective.  The student that just called out or yelled at you or grumbled under her voice or threw a pencil across a room did it for a reason.  It is important that teachers look at that situation as "this student is struggling now... how can I help?" and stay away from, "that student is misbehaving, how can I punish her into submission? MUHAHAHA!"

My discipline style is similar to the steps of CPR.  The first part of CPR is making sure "the scene safe."  With discipline I ask a similar question - are any students (including the one in question) in any immediate physical or emotional danger?  Can I handle this in the classroom or should we step outside?  Once that is taken care of, I can move to give the student individual care (CPR: are you ok?)

I like starting off conversations with, "Are you angry at something I did today?" or "Are you upset at me?"  This does a number of things right off the bat.  First, it establishes that I'm not upset at the student. I am looking to get information. Second, it helps me figure out why the student is having some difficulty. Many times discipline problems are a result of something that happened minutes, hours, or days earlier.  By asking this one question I also am able to (usually) calm the student down both physically and emotionally.  This calms down the amygdala and opens up some more rational thinking. With the neural pathways more open, I can ask more mindful questions instead of rhetorical ones with negative connotation (why did you do that?) and get more insightful answers from the student. 

Coming from a perspective of a coach looking to improve a student, not a cop looking to write a ticket (detention slip), allows students to express their feelings and lets me offer solutions to help the student be more successful in similar situations in the future.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Have NOTHING on This Protocol!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  My family got to host Thanksgiving this year - the first time in quite some time - and while it was great to stay at home and skip the nine~ish hour drive to North Carolina, I did miss seeing my parents, sister, and all of my other crazy family members!  Still, we got to see some great friends, have plenty of food in the house, and I'm super charged to get back to my classroom!

This week's authentic student engagement activity is called back to back, face to face.  It involves students getting into and working in groups of two, so I figured I'd start this blog with some ways I create groups in my class.

Disclaimer: I feel one of the worst phrases uttered in a classroom is

(this may or may not have been me as a student)

In my experience this leads to management issues from groups of people you'd never want together, students feeling excluded, arguments of who asked whom first, and other emotional distresses.  To prevent this, There are a few tools I use to make partnerships a little more random.  If I'm looking to make groups quickly, I use a website called Instant Classroom.  This site allows you to have the computer generate groups, seating charts, or even pick on a student randomly.   I currently have one set up for each of my classes, and when I need groups or want to put students in the hot seat, I just project the site onto the white board and let the computer be the target of the students' ire.

Of course with any group or partner work, students have to have the classroom expectation of emotional safety.  I spend much of the beginning of the year setting up the protocols for getting into groups in both physically and emotionally safe ways.  We talk about how important it is to be a good partner and specifically how to be a good partner.  We talk about how partnerships are important and the purposes of partnerships.

Sometimes, of course, I want to avoid the randomness.  Other techniques I have used involve calling students up by birth month, the last digit of their phone number, handing students playing cards, or using clock buddies.   I've also done the popsicle stick draw, making groups as I go, editing as necessary :)

Hopefully your students are happier than these two are...

Back to Back, Face to Face

Quick summary: This activity has students discuss open ended questions.

Materials needed: None

Procedure:

1. Put students in partner groups
2. Have students stand back to back.  Be mindful of personal space.
3. Explain you will ask a question and to stay silent while you are thinking of your response.  Ask or post a question to the students.  Open ended questions work best.  These questions open up the student's curiousity about a topic.  It is also important that these questions use words that encourage thought and not competition - the goal is for students to learn from each other!

• What is the most important piece of technology in existence today?
• It is three years from today.  How is the main character's life different?
• Are teachers heroes? 

4. Have students think about the answer - give wait time as is appropriate for your class or grade.
5. Tell students that they will turn 'face to face'.  Again, remind students of personal space and to be mindful.  Give a prompt so they know who will go first randomly.  Some ways I have decided who goes first:

• Who has more siblings
• Who lives further from the school
• Who's birthday is the smallest number (the 4th is lower than the 9th)
• Who's favorite color has the most letters 
• How many Ohio State football games you've attended - most wins!

6. After the prompt is given, say 'face to face'.  Students should figure out who is first.  The first student talks for 45 seconds (again depending on the topic, age of students, and maturity.)  While this happens, the listener:

• Must look at his/her partner
• May only smile and/or nod
• May NOT speak at all until the signal is given to switch roles.  This could mean that both people are standing silently at the same time.  

7. Give the signal to switch roles.  Repeat step six.

Depending on the student's abilities, I process in multiple ways.  In any case I start by having the words "I agree", "I disagree", "I'd like to add on",  "I partially agree", and similar I-phrases on the board.  Sometimes I give the students a third round where they can talk back and forth to process.  Sometimes I have them summarize their own ideas for the class.  Sometimes I have them introduce their partner, their answer to part 5,  and have them summarize their partner's words.  In any case, I refer them back to the phrases on the board to help them formulate their response.  

Kids won't take risks if they don't feel safe

Besides getting students to think about answers, another reason I use this protocol is to help build classroom culture.  Notice what I did in step five.  I could have said "whoever is taller" or "number yourself one and two", but by adding that prompt I got students to make a small, personal connection. Emotional safety is huge in my classroom, and helping students build those relationships leads to that emotional safety.  Again, in step six I want students working on those soft skills - listening while others are talking, and being polite, even if you disagree.  I will stop the procedure if students are being obnoxious with eye contact or while nodding.  We review what listening looks and sounds like.  These soft skills are crucial for relationship building in the classroom.  As a teacher, I can't get to the higher levels of thinking and learning if students aren't willing to share their ideas, and if they think their idea will get mocked, ridiculed, or ignored by others, then they won't take the risk.  

To finish this protocol (and any partner work they do), I always have them thank each other for being a great partner.  They shake hands (or fist bump, or do one of many goofy hand shakes we've developed), and I have them say things like, "It was a pleasure to see you again", "I'll have my people call your people", or "Let's do lunch!"

Or maybe Thanksgiving dinner...