Recovery with Accountability is the process by which how educators help students recover after they step out of bounds or do not meet expectations. The key is for the teacher to monitor student progress and provide support when needed. My philosophical emphasis on mutual respect and social justice aligns nicely with Linda Albert’s recovery approach in Cooperative Discipline (1996).
Albert asserts that educators and students should work cooperatively to create a safe, orderly and inviting community; a sense of connectedness and belonging; and opportunities to turn mistakes into learning experiences.
The following strategies are examples of how I would allow students to recover:
1. For students who are seeking attention (all borrowed from Cooperative Discipline (1996)):
2. For students who fear failure
3. Strategies for defusing confrontations
4. Turning the mistake into a learning experience
I wholeheartedly agree with Linda Alpert’s “4 R's of Consequences”:
1. Consequence is directly RELATED to the misbehavior
2. Consequence is REASONABLE and proportionate to the misbehavior
3. Consequence is invoked RESPECTFULLY in a friendly but firm manner
4. Consequences are RELIABLE, consistent and predictable
These 4Rs are consistent with my philosophical approach to teaching, which is based on mutual respect and social justice, not compliance and punishments.
Albert asserts that educators and students should work cooperatively to create a safe, orderly and inviting community; a sense of connectedness and belonging; and opportunities to turn mistakes into learning experiences.
The following strategies are examples of how I would allow students to recover:
1. For students who are seeking attention (all borrowed from Cooperative Discipline (1996)):
- Giving them the “eye”
- Standing close by
- Sending a secret signal to the individual student
- Doing the unexpected (such as turning out the lights, lowering my voice)
- Distracting the student (such as by asking a direct question or favor)
2. For students who fear failure
- Use concrete leaning materials that students can see, feel, and manipulate to support success (Cooperative Discipline (1996)
- Encourage students’ progress and improvements
3. Strategies for defusing confrontations
- Model appropriate expressions of feelings
- Focus on the behavior, not the student
- Educators must keep their emotions in check and not show frustration or anger. Educators who employ relaxed body language, a quiet voice, and humor (not directed at the student) can prevent the situation from escalating. (Cooperative Discipline (1996)
- Allow for a cool-down period (table the matter, schedule a conference, change the subject, etc.)
- No public discipline; discuss the matter with student later in private
4. Turning the mistake into a learning experience
- Restitution: require the student to “make it right” (apology, return/ repair/replace, perform service)
- Reflection: require the student to discuss, role-play or journal what he could have done better
I wholeheartedly agree with Linda Alpert’s “4 R's of Consequences”:
1. Consequence is directly RELATED to the misbehavior
2. Consequence is REASONABLE and proportionate to the misbehavior
3. Consequence is invoked RESPECTFULLY in a friendly but firm manner
4. Consequences are RELIABLE, consistent and predictable
These 4Rs are consistent with my philosophical approach to teaching, which is based on mutual respect and social justice, not compliance and punishments.