Responsibility & Inner Discipline

Dave MisirJasmine TurkaHoanglan Vu

Key Ideas

Barbara Coloroso believes that a major goal of education is to: “teach students to conduct themselves in an acceptable manner.”

Benefits of Teaching Students How to Self-Control

• Enables students to take positive charge of their lives.

• Students are given responsibilities for making decisions.

• Students are held accountable and responsible for making decisions.

• Students are given ownership of their problems and solutions .

How to Teach Self-Control

• Show students what they have done wrong.• Give students ownership of the problems

involved.• Suggest strategies for solving the problems.• Make sure students’ dignity remains intact.

Restitution

• Restitution is the act of having the student do what is appropriate and necessary to repair the damage

Resolution• Resolution is when the student identified

what caused the misbehaviour from occurring in the first place.

• Once the source is identified, the student must correct it to ensure it from not reoccurring.

Reconciliation

• Reconciliation is when the student reaches out to people who were affected by the misbehaviour.

• The student is asked to make decisions regarding future behaviour and to learn from the results of those decisions.

Example

Sara wanted to play with Kelly and a few other girls during recess. Sara asked Kelly if she could play with her and Kelly said no because they did not need anymore people for the game. Sara got upset because she felt left out and pushed Kelly.

1) How would you apply the restitution, resolution and reconciliation method to the case study?2) Do you see this method being used in

the classroom/schools?3) Discuss in small groups 4) Share as a whole group

Critical Friend

The Ideal Situation:• Barbra Coloroso’s practices on teaching self control

appear to be best suited for younger children entering the education system:– Young children who are still learning the right and wrongs

of society– Children who are unaware of reason why their behaviours

or actions were wrong– Children unaware of what to do to make things right.

Critical Friend

An Idealistic Approach: • When trying applying her ideology to

significantly older kids her practices are “easier said than done” when trying to create positive behavioural changes. In essence, Barbra’ s practices are idealistic, designed for the model student who has a firm moral foundation and is able to exercise reason and rational in their behaviour.

Critical Friend

The Rambunctious Youth:• When you approach students at the junior and

senior high levels you are dealing with kids who:– know the difference between right and wrong.– have control of their behaviours and decisions they make. – have some understanding of the potential consequences

of their actions.– Knowing to some degree possible steps that could be

taking to help fix the problem.

Critical Friend

Critical Questions :• How do you apply this methodology to the

many at risk kids we deal with on a daily basis, such as:– Student who does not care?– Students who enjoy conflict and the associated

attention?– Students who use conflict to show their power?

Ex: “the Alpha Male”

Critical Friend

• Barbara's Principles are based on the assumption that if a child is given responsibility and a little guidance over a problem, they will do what is morally correct.

• However, we are living in a society where we can no longer make that assumption.