Book Review: Lost At School

I have two big memories from my childhood.  Both involve school.  Both involve corporal punishment. 

The first was in sixth grade when I managed to defend myself from a bully.  I got four swats with a wooden paddle for that.  The second was when I startled a teacher while she was eating her lunch.  She choked on her bite of sandwich.  I got four swats for that as well, with a wooden paddle.  Hadn't these people heard of styrofoam?

There's only so much a person can learn from a wooden paddle.  That is it's the best way to move a canoe through the water.  Other than that, it makes for good firewood.

Last year our principal gave us the book, "Lost At School" by Dr. Ross W. Green.  The premise of the book is that students will do well in school if they can.  If students are not doing well it's because they lack the cognitive skills needed to do well. 

Notice that the premise of the books isn't students will do well if they want to do well.  The author makes a good argument that nobody wants to do poorly.  The problem is that some students have no idea how to do well in many situations. 

When I was starting-out in teaching Assertive Discipline was all the rage.  The key was to catch students being "good'.  This view holds there are no acceptable reasons for misbehavior.  If a kid breaks a rule, that's his/her choice  . 

A couple of years later "Cooperative Discipline took over.  This approach says that kids misbehave beacause they want something they aren't getting. 

Dr. Greene's approach is called Collaborative Problem Solving.  It focuses on questions like, "Why is the kid acting this way?," "How come what works for other kids isn't working for this one?," and "What can I do instead?"

According to Dr. Green,"We know a lot more about kids with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges than ever before."  "We now know that challenging behavior...is set in motion by lagging cognitive skills."

The book focuses on three plans or three ways adults try to solve problems with kids: Plan A is when the adult just tries to solve the problem without any input from the child.  Plan C is when the adult just drops the problem altogether.  However, Plan B is when the adult and child work together to understand the problem and develop a plan in unison in order to solve it.  It involves setting priorities for the most challenging behaviors/problems you wish to address.

I don't want to give too much of the book away.  It's well worth reading and since this is the beginning of the new school year, it's great timing!