Lost at School question

Markus,

Very interesting comparison. One clarification that Ross makes when you get further in....the part of the ALSUP that lists potential lagging skills to identify doesn't really help kids develop lagging skills. Identifying the unsolved problems and then engaging in Plan B conversations is where they develop the skills over time.

The purpose of listing and checking the skills that are lagging is only to help the adult have a better understanding of the kid and view the problems creating the behavior through a different lens. This can help in having more patience with behavior that appears defiant and it can also be helpful to the adult in considering whether or not solutions that are ultimately proposed are likely to be realistic and if they are likely to actually solve the problem.

It took me a long time to grasp the idea and then come to believe through observation that the kids really develop these thinking skills through the problem solving process.

We can't really hope to get results by saying to a kid, "you have a hard time varying from the original routine, let's work on that" it's not specific enough. However, we can say, "I have noticed that you I seem to get a phone call from your principal on the days you have a substitute teacher" and expect to that leading to understanding better why this happens and ultimately having a plan when the teacher is absent and the kid develops of skills in planning ahead for potential,difficult situations in the process.

That first chapter ... yikes. I could feel the ratcheting up of anxiety and frustration on the part of everyone. How easy it is to be caught in that spiral. My heart raced faster just reading it. Everybody was trapped.

My own preconceptions about how someone should react, ie how "I" would react, became very clear.

It's a total transformation in thinking when we think of the behavior as the result of lagging skills parallel to math or reading. It becomes about helping kids develop problem solving and thinking skills instead of giving them incentive (punishment) to be motivate them. If we accept the premise that they are already motivated as Ross suggests......then everything changes.

I've been teaching for twenty-six years and have two grown boys. I agree most of the time that kids do well if they can. As a reading interventionist, I feel fortunate to work with small groups of students at their level, because it helps them succeed in reading. I also really like the list of lagging skills on pages 14 - 15. I think the list is a very good place to start discussing difficult situations and moves the conversation forward much better than thinking kids are "manipulative, attention-seeking, coercive, unmotivated [and] limit testing." At this point in my reading, I do still believe that children can have skills and choose not to use them. I really hope my experience this year and the book convince me otherwise.

I am intrigued with Greene's perspective of children wanting to do well and when they are struggling they lagging skills to succeed. I wanted him to go a little deeper in the way we understand lagging skills.
1) Sometimes when we lack a skill, there are others skills we have on the other end of a spectrum. For example, my son has difficulty transitioning, but he has an incredible ability to focus on one thing for a very long time. Getting lost in an activity encourages creativity and problem solving. I think it is important to help students to have self-awareness of both strengths and deficits.
2) It seems like this book addresses students with behavior issues, but this approach seems to fit people in general. Students do not necessarily have behavioral issues when there is a lagging. It may just be more noticeable when they do.

It was really interesting to learn about the KID'S perspective. Since my kids have been at Barton, I've learned a lot about how teachers and adults can best respond to kids to prevent challenging situations, but I never really understood why all kids don't respond to more traditional methods. So reading about Joey's point of view was an ah-ha! moment for me.

I view most human interactions through the prism of Non-Violent Communication (also an excellent, eye-opening read!), which holds that all misbehavior is driven by unmet needs. Identify the needs, help the child meet them, and the misbehaviors tend to disappear. The ideas in Lost At School align very well with this: "lagging skills" and "unsolved problems" have a similar ring to "unmet needs". I find this very appealing. In all my experience as a child, parent, pet-owner, worker, and social being, I have rarely if ever seen punishment "work" as intended.

What really excites me about Lost At School is how it provides specific tools for identifying and helping with the unmet/unsolved/lagging things in the context of kids. It has really given me a fresh perspective on some of the ways my kids behave—even if they aren't "challenging" kids so far.

Another question comes to mind and intrigues me: if the ALSUP works to help kids learn skills where they are lagging, could it also help "normal" kids as they are developing those same skills "on schedule?" I'll wait to see whether later chapters answer that.