Hey everyone, I volunteered to make an attempt to document what was said at the meeting today regarding discipline, etc. at iTec.Here is some of what was said:
There need to be two “structures” of discipline: one that deals with disruptive behavior on a day to day basis, and another that deals with repeated, more serious offenses.
Serious Offenses
Firstly, it is necessary to establish some sort of an idea of what these “more serious offenses” are.
Once this is done mentors will report these instances to an instructor, who in conjunction with the other instructors can take action.
The guideline for the actions that was proposed at the meeting was as follows:
1st offense - meeting with instructor(s) after/during the program to discuss the behavior
2nd offense - meeting with Mark or Jeff to discuss the behavior further
3rd offense - removal from the program
Daily Behavioral Issues
A rewards system was proposed for encouraging good behavior on a daily basis.
Students would be provided poker chips worth 5 “points” (Mark has these) at the beginning of each day.
If at the end of the day a student has behaved well and been productive, he or she may put that day’s chip into his or her designated box. (Mark also has an idea for these possibly?)
At the end of the program session whoever has the most point will win the iPod.(A side note: this works well because accumulating points requires regular attendance.)
If, on the other hand, the student does not behave, the opportunity to make his or her chip count will be jeopardized.
Once students have been placed into more solid groups, entire groups’ tokens may be rendered void because of the (repeated?) disruptions of one member.This may encourage group members to monitor each other’s behavior.
1 point chips may be “won back” on account of good behavior and productivity.
This system gives us the opportunity for us to say, for example, “Start working on your journal please, or your chip won’t count toward the iPod today,” which is more positive than “Start working or we’ll take away 5 points” or something along those lines.
Though this system may require some work on our part (making sure that each student gets a chip, puts it into their box only if they deserve to, etc.) it seems of utmost importance that the students see the connection between their good behavior today and a possible iPod tomorrow.Last semester, for example, this connection did not seem to exist for the students.
What do we think of this system?Is it too complicated?Is there are better way?If this plan seems feasible, there still is work to be done: creating a list of possible “serious offenses” that will result in meetings with instructors, ironing out the details of the daily rewards system, preparing the material necessary for that system, presenting it to the kids, etc.I for one don’t feel that it’s necessary to cram the explanation of the poker chip idea, if we do decide to go through with it, into the first day.As long as it’s introduced in the first week or so, I think we should be fine. Hopefully this is about everything that was thrown out at the meeting.If there is more/if I misunderstood anyone else’s ideas please correct! Ryan
I volunteered to make an attempt to document what was said at the meeting today regarding discipline, etc. at iTec. Here is some of what was said:
What do we think of this system? Is it too complicated? Is there are better way? If this plan seems feasible, there still is work to be done: creating a list of possible “serious offenses” that will result in meetings with instructors, ironing out the details of the daily rewards system, preparing the material necessary for that system, presenting it to the kids, etc. I for one don’t feel that it’s necessary to cram the explanation of the poker chip idea, if we do decide to go through with it, into the first day. As long as it’s introduced in the first week or so, I think we should be fine.
Hopefully this is about everything that was thrown out at the meeting. If there is more/if I misunderstood anyone else’s ideas please correct!
Ryan