Teaching youth self-control in Hazelwood
Jana Elementary adopted a new discipline philosophy for the current school year, with the main goal of creating good community citizens.
To accomplish this, there are five rules, set as goals that the Jana community now follows:
? Safe Boundaries
? Speak with Respect
? Appropriate Social Behavior
? Use Self-control at all Times
? Positive Interaction with Others.
Using one of these five themes, the sixth graders wanted to do something to be remembered as the last sixth grade class at Jana. Starting next fall, current Jana fifth graders will go to one of two middle schools, just as all Hazelwood sixth grade students will be attending one of six middle schools next year.
After brainstorming with guidance counselor Cathy Grindler, they decided to work on proving they could use self-control, even in social settings. They accomplished a major feat; at least 58 school days without setting off the Yacker Tracker.
“This is truly remarkable,” Grindler said. “No group has ever achieved more than 11 consecutive days with no warning lights. Each student worked hard every single day to self-monitor their voice.”
The Yacker Tracker is a traffic light-like device in the cafeteria that monitors students’ sounds during lunch periods. When the light flashes green, it means the decibel level is low. As the volume rises, the light changes to yellow after passing a preset decibel threshold. If the students lower their voices, the light goes back to green. If the noise increases and is sustained for at least 90 seconds, the yellow light changes to red and a horn sounds. A red light means no student recess that day.
There have been no worries about forfeiting sixth grade recess since school started, because they have not triggered even one yellow light since the first day of school. To celebrate, on a recent school day, the students played group initiative-type games such as the Human Knot and Body Basketball that develop problem-solving skills.
“In the Human Knot and Body Basketball games, I learned that teamwork is the most important piece in success,” said student Brandon Campbell. “If you have somebody to lean on, you can do anything.”
Jana Instructional Specialist Michael Lindner echoed Grindler’s praise. “It is exciting to watch a group of sixth graders take the initiative to achieve this type of goal without knowing that a reward was waiting at the end. These students have grown tremendously and learned self-control.”
Besides these games, another positive feature of this program is a bulletin board featuring, “BUSTED…for perpetrating an act of positive citizenship.” Every month, two different groups of students “caught” following one of the five rules are honored with a photo and a “blotter” entry of their act.
The most recent addition to the board is Mason Tope. He is “guilty” of speaking with respect. A certificate signed by Jana Principal Martha Pfeiffer and one of the guidance counselors with a photo of the student is sent home. Jana “busts” its teachers also. A similar bulletin board hangs in the teachers’ lounge.
At least one Jana student thinks their example will trickle down to the rest of the grades. “I think modeling our self-control will impact our younger classmates,” said Darcy Graefser. “Since we’re the leaders, they try to copy us. Hopefully, they’ll work on improving their manners, too.”
After the celebratory games, the entire grade socialized and created their own nachos thanks to the generosity of some community neighbors – Shop ‘n Save at Flower Valley, the Chili’s restaurant at Cross Keys – and the Jana PTA.
“I’m so proud of our sixth graders,” said Pfeiffer. “They have set the standard for behavior for all of the students.”