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Conscious Discipline Book Study
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DIR Return to: Chapter 2
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#Post#: 25--------------------------------------------------
Brain States
DIR By: thequeenteacher
Date: November 17, 2015, 1:20 pm
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Hey all,
After reading chapter 2 and thinking about/reflecting on the
different brain states, I once again came to the conclusion that
our job as adults working with students who are missing skills
is quite complex. (I am sure that this revelation is not new to
you.) I began thinking more about classroom teachers at Julian
and what a difficult task it must be to try to identify the
brain state, the trigger, and the resolution in several students
at the same time. That is my question to you:
How do you, as one, single classroom teacher use the Conscious
Discipline method when you may have several different behaviors,
brain states, triggers, and needs occurring in your classroom
all at once? Have you been successful? Share some of your
successes and struggles, please.
#Post#: 27--------------------------------------------------
Re: Brain States
DIR By: Brittney
Date: November 17, 2015, 6:30 pm
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This is the million dollar question. The ability to address
brain states is a constant struggle. I benefit from having
another adult in the room a lot of the time, but even then it
proves to be difficult. And what about the times the second
adult isnt there? As the year has progressed I know the students
better and the majority of the students are familiar with the
structure of the class which is helpful. I definitely think
setting up a class culture at the beginning allows for the
teacher to have opportunities to address conflicts. But setting
up the culture is hard when extreme behavior dominates. It is
almost the case of "What comes first? The chicken or the egg?"
The chapter talks about not just putting out fires, but
preventing them. But as we work on preventing who is putting
out the fires?!?
with that struggle said, A couple things have helped me address
multiple behaviors in my class.
1. Remaining in an executive state myself pg. 56 Like I said
before, this is my key to my sanity, and I am sure my students
sanity as well. I hate when I feel frustrated and react out of
that frustration. I cant imagine the students enjoy it either.
2. Staying consistent. I can think of multiple students in my
class that I have to speak to. What has helped is having
specific things that I say to them to address their behaviors.
This helps me feel in control of myself because I know what I am
going to do. But it also helps my students feel safe. They too
know what they are going to get when they talk to me. It keeps
them from entering a survival state. At the beginning of the
year, students would not come to me when I asked them to come.
They would refuse, or run, or yell "no, dont call the office."
Now they get up and come talk to me. It hasnt totally changed
the negative behavior I have to address but it has changed their
response to redirection, which I think is 50% (just a random
number) of our struggle. It allows me to address a behavior
quickly instead of using time to get them out of a survival
state which I may have put them into. Does that make sense? pg.
33 says "CD helps us keep a sense of connection during upset,
strengthening relationships instead of damaging them with
constant power struggles."
Some of the script I use:
Is that safe? My job is to keep everyone safe. Your job is to
help me? Are you doing your job?
I make the rules in the class. It is your job do follow them.
When you do (get up an sit where ever you want) you are making
the rules. The procedure in my class is to sit in your assigned
seat unless you have permission to sit somewhere else . Next
time you need to ask before you move.
You just screamed the answer. That is not helpful because
doesnt allow everyone to think about the question. It would be
helpful if you waited and raised your hand to let me know you
are ready to share.
I really loved reading the following:
"If we feel frustrated, we tend to see the child as mean or
rude, instead of lacking a skill."
"Executive state allows us to see from different perspectives."
Brain state doesnt make you a therapist, just a good problem
solver - summarized :)
#Post#: 28--------------------------------------------------
Re: Brain States
DIR By: Katie
Date: November 23, 2015, 12:39 pm
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Yes, this is the struggle I am having. When I address one issue
happening, 3 more have popped up in that same time I am helping
someone else. It has felt very overwhelming as I try to navigate
what to do with this. I have noticed that that is a trigger for
me. I get more and more flustered as issues pop up while I am
trying to help someone else. When I notice it is getting rowdy
or too many problems are happening at the same time, I stop and
ask everyone to breathe with me. This gets some of their
attention. Then I start clapping, snapping, patting out a rhythm
and I keep repeating it until everyone has stopped and is with
me. It doesn't work every time but it does most of the time.
Brittney your scripts are the things I try to say (doesn't
happen all the time unfortunately). Even when things feel out of
control, I look for the helpful behaviors. I have started
narrating behavior, but now I add on this:
Bryan is sitting with his hands like this. His mouth is quiet.
He is ready to hear the story. That's helpful.
Aubrey has her eyes on the book. She is ready to hear the story.
That's helpful.
Just pointing out the helpful things helps me stay a little more
positive and causes the other kids to want to be seen as helpful
too.
Another success I've noticed is that at the beginning of the
year, the kids had no skills. They didn't know how to address
each other or ask for what they want. Now most of them are able
to do it. The question is, how do you get them to use those
skills instead of reverting back to what they want to do? For
example:
Jeremiah took the cars from Marshawn. Marshawn is mad and hits
Jeremiah. When they come running to me screaming, I ask Jeremiah
what he can do and he immediately says "I can give an I
Message." Marshawn says the same. They both can communicate
exactly what they want the other one to do and can come up with
a solution.
Ok great! But why don't they use them on their own? I need help
with getting them to use the skills they have learned
independently.
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