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“Some things are - just because they are”
Reading this book may be much like a first session of new training. The concepts presented may match many of your current beliefs or may not. The recommendation is to note the beliefs you agree with and the ones you do not. You will most likely find that you have some conflicting beliefs . For example, you believe students need hope, but you also believe in giving zeroes. You believe students should learn from their mistakes, but do not believe in makeup or extra-credit. You believe that some students need extra help, but believe discipline should be administered equally. You believe students should learn to problem-solve and make good decisions, but you also believe students must obey.
If you are going to be successful in empowering students , quitting disciplining, and only using teaching, you need to believe in it. If your beliefs are not a match or you have too many conflicting beliefs , perhaps you simply need to try it with an open mind. We write this because we have had many teachers tell us years later that they had doubts about it at first. Only after the experience of positive results did they change their beliefs and attitude.
We believe in these methods because we have seen them work with special education, gifted, regular, primary, intermediate, middle, high school, and many other descriptors of students. The task is for you to write and reflect on your beliefs, even if some conflict with the beliefs presented in this book.
Our list would look something like this:
We believe -
Develop your list of beliefs about learning, students, and discipline. Be sure to consider the many beliefs presented in this book and whether you agree or disagree. Review your list and note any that conflict with each other. See if you can reconcile any of these conflicts . After your first year with stopping discipline and just teaching, go back and look at the list of beliefs you wrote. See if any have changed or any conflicting beliefs have been reconciled.
If you find yourself having beliefs that are mostly consistent with the beliefs presented in this book, keep your list where you will see it from time to time. Read it over, and use it to motivate and help guide you in your efforts to help your students.
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