Using the Chancellor’s Discipline Code in Grades 4-12
Charlene Davis
Have you received your blue copy of the DOE’s Citywide Standards of Discipline and Intervention Measures? Did you think, “Great, more useless reading material?” I
invite you to open the booklet up to pages 10-11, the Student Responsibilities section; you may be surprised at what you’ll find.
As I scanned the booklet, looking for classroom management manna, I paused with giddy glee when I came to these pages! What excellent material for:
Getting students involved in analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating their expected roles in their schools (yep, good ole’Blooms)!
Meeting several of the Principles of Learning, such as Academic Rigor, Socializing Intelligence, Accountable Talk, and Self-Management of Learning.
Infusing elements of Cambourne’s Conditions of Learning: Responsibility, Employment, Approximation, and Response.
Fulfilling the ELA Standards: E2a (produces an informative report), and E3b (participates in group meetings).
The plan would unfold in this way (adjust it as you see fit):
Goal
Using meta-cognitive strategies (text-self and text-world), students will evaluate the importance and necessity of each student responsibility.
Activity One:
“Jigsaw” the 24 student responsibilities among your students: for example, six groups each having four responsibilities to work with. Assign a scribe to each group to jot
down the conclusions. Each member is required to participate (I can see students being eager to voice their beliefs!). Refer to a rubric for this type of task—adjust it, where needed.
Also, utilize Accountable Talk protocol.
Each cluster of statements is written or typed onto cards, one card per statement. The following are the Accountable Talk questions: Is the statement fair? Is it necessary? Is
it “do-able” or realistic?Is there a negative impact on either the student, the school, or the community if it’s not followed? Would parents/the community
be in support of it? Be able to support and provide a rationale for all responses.
Groups formulate a creative presentation summarizing their findings (book, film, posters, song, poem, etc.).
Activity Two:
Class distills or condenses their findings and creates/adjusts their own class rules. They may also seek to evaluate the school’s Discipline Code.
Activity Three:
Students scan the responsibilities and pull power words from them--examples: attend, achieve, prepare, etc. Discussion follows.
Activity Four:
Students pull words pertaining to career or life skills, examples: attendance, punctuality, preparedness, etc. Discussion follows.
Try these activities in your classroom; I'd love to hear about your results.
As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me.
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