A Middle
School Letter
By
William A. Funkhouser
Winship Middle School
2500 Cypress Avenue
Eureka, CA 95503
Dr. Marvin Marshall
PO Box 2227
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
Dr. Marshall:
Last year I was in
the last months of my 13th year
of teaching middle school math
when
I saw you at the California
League of Middle Schools
Conference in San Jose, CA. I
was my county's Teacher of the
Year and yet I was
contemplating finding a
different occupation.
My frustration with teaching
stemmed directly from the
discipline system being used at
my school. We were using a
traditional carrot and stick
approach in which punishment
consisted largely of detentions,
suspensions and harsh words. The
rewards included prizes, raffle
tickets, and reward days
throughout the year in which the
same group of students were
always in attendance. The usual
reaction teachers had to a
student who was not responding
to these techniques was to try
to think of harsher punishments
or bigger prizes. These
techniques were causing me
frustration because I was not
only creating antagonistic
relationships with students but
the energy I was expending
didn't seem to be helping
students. While my classroom
appeared to be "well run" and
"highly on task," I was
assigning about one detention
each day as part of my
discipline plan.
When I returned from your
presentation in San Jose, I was
confident I could continue as a
teacher. I stopped assigning
detentions altogether and taught
my students the behavior
hierarchy. As I implemented the
system, some misbehaviors I had
been experiencing stopped the
instant students reflected on
their actions. Some good
students rose to even higher
levels of
maturity when they were aware of
what the highest levels of
behavior would look like.
Students told me they felt more relaxed and less in conflict with me as
their teacher after I adjusted my own thinking about my role as their mentor. I
am now less stressed in the classroom and feel I am helping students make
permanent changes in the choices they make rather than temporary behavior
modifications.
There are now a significant
number of teachers at my school
who use the Raise Responsibility
System
and we will be implementing the
system school wide. We will all
be making some mistakes and
learning as we go but I don't
think we will return to the carrot and stick approach
which
almost drove me from the
profession that I love.
Sincerely,
William A. Funkhouser
2003-2004 Humboldt County
Teacher of the Year
Johns Hopkins Educational Fellow
+ + + + + + + + + + + + +
September 26, 2004
Marv,
This year is a surprise for me. I thought I had
my revelation last spring when I discovered the system.
This year I have implemented the system from the beginning and the painful
revelation this year is just how wrong I have been over the last 13 years. It is
almost painful to reflect on who I used to be. I was so caught up in getting
students to obey that I lost sight of the humanity of this profession. I was
overpowering them rather than being flexible, understanding, and compassionate.
Here is an example: I have a student who doesn't do his homework and who
struggles in class. Last year He would have had several detentions from me and a
failing grade. I would have forced him to come in to do his homework and we
would have been in a power struggle. This year I purchased several
school supplies for him and have always had a kind word for him. I
recently found out he is actually homeless and that he and his dad are living in
a cheap motel. Recently he has started spending his break time in my class, by
his own choosing, doing his math homework. He also drew me some pictures on
binder paper that he wanted me to have. It breaks my heart to think of all
the opportunities I have missed for this type of relationship with students.
Bill
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