Creating a Container for Learning

April 30, 2012

Laurie FrankGOAL Consulting

Agenda• Introduction

- Protocols, Introductory Activities• Transformative Approaches

- Internal vs. External- Container Concept- Invitational Education

• Dealing with Behavior & Conflicts- PII: Prevention, Intervention, Invention

• Closing

Part 1Introduction

ProtocolsIntroductory Activities

Youth TodayFramework

Protocols or Ground Rules

• Assume Good Intentions

• Ouch/Oops

• Make the experience work

• Right to Pass

• Others?

“The world is passing through troubled times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves.”

“Never has youth been exposed to such dangers of both perversion and arrest as in our own land and day.”

G.S. Hall, Psychologist (1844-1924)

Peter the Hermit, French monk in the First Crusade (1050-1115)

“Today’s young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They have no self-control.”

“Youth love luxury. They have bad manners. They are tyrants. They contradict their parents, talk too much nonsense, guzzle their food, and tyrannize their teachers.”

Socrates, Greek philosopher (470-399 BC)

Hieroglyphic translated from Egyptian tomb (circa 4000 BC)

Part 2Transformative Approaches

Internal vs. ExternalReasons for Behavior

Container ConceptInvitational Education

Reacting

Acting without thinking

Responding

Thinking before we act

NPR Story: Working with the teenage brain: a parent’s perspective

See also: Frontline (2002) Inside the Teenage Brain: A Work in Progress (2002). http://www.pbs.org/frontline/video/share.html?s=frol02nfa8q392

Growth Circles

ComfortZone

Panic Zone

Growth Zone

1. Ways to use the item in beneficial or helpful ways

2. Ways to use the item in harmful or hurtful ways

Brainstorming

“People and environments are never neutral, they are either summoning or shunning the development of human potential.”

Purkey & Novak, Inviting School Success

The Container Concept

Not all Containers are Alike

We Have Choices…We have Influence…

What are the qualities of your container at school?

INVITATIONAL EDUCATION

INTENTIONALLY UNINTENTIONALLY

INVITING INTENTIONALLY INVITING

UNINTENTIONALLY INVITING

DISINVITING INTENTIONALLY DISINVITING

UNINTENTIONALLY DISINVITING

www.invitationaleducation.net

Part 3PII: Prevention, Intervention, Invention

PII

• Prevention is anything we do to prevent conflict in our programs or to prepare for it before it happens.

• Intervention is responding when conflicts do happen.

• Invention is creating something new and constructive out of the situation.

PREVENTION

INTERVENTION

INVENTION

PBIS Continuum and PII Approach

PREVENTIONLaying groundwork such as:

• Establishing procedures, routines, and norms for common activities;

(Community agreements)

• Creating a feeling of community and caring;(Sequence)

• Building relationships and a sense of trust;(Being

Trustworthy)

PREVENTION

• Strength basedUsing learning moments to teach/practice skills rather than fix a problem

• Engaging Curriculum• Safe Environment• Protocols/Agreements

Ground rules (external), community agreements (internal)

• Teaching of skills Lifeskills, emotional literacy, social emotional skills, conflict resolution

INTERVENTIONDealing with the conflict in ways that:

• Solve problems;• Help students to be more independent in their

conflict resolution;

(Response to bullying and harassment, Proactive response to conflict)

INTERVENTIONDealing with the conflict in ways that:

• Help students learn from their experiences;• Improve relationships among students as well

as between students and staff.

SEE: Conflict Resolution in the High School By Miller Lieber

REACTION

Defusing Anger

• Listen attentively while the other person vents his or her anger.

• Don’t get defensive: stay calm• Keep your focus on the other person• Encourage him or her to keep talking.• Restate and reflect the other person’s feelings:

“I can see that you’re upset because…”“I can tell you’re angry about…”“ You feel … because…”“ You sound…”

• “I hear you saying that…”

PROACTIVE INTERVENTION

• Staying Calm: Resist emotional flooding (using the prefrontal cortex)

• Defusing Anger• De-escalating Conflict• Resolving Conflict

Rather than short-circuiting it

INVENTIONUsing conflict productively to:

• Help students learn;• Mobilize support and structure for individual students• Identify problems, weaknesses and areas of concern

in the classroom;• Identify skills individual students need to develop in

conflict resolution.

SEE: The Resilience Revolution: Discovering Strengths in Challenging Kids by Brendtro & Larson

Key Invention questions

Is the conflict:• A sign that something is wrong with the program;• A sign students need more skills;• A sign that the program is not well-planned;• A sign that we need to look outside of the program

to address the conflict?

Key Invention questions

• Are there new procedures we need to establish in the program?

• Do we need to revise our procedures or schedules?

• Is our program meeting students’ needs?• Are we planning in a way that prevents

conflict?

Part 4Closing

Cairns

• People• Talents/Gifts• Ideas• Insights• Inspiration• Life Experience• Family• Beliefs & Ideals• Values• Theories & Models

What Guides You? What shows you the way?

How did I add to my cairn?

“I am because we are. We are because I am.”

African Proverb

Laurie FrankGOAL Consulting1337 Jenifer StreetMadison, Wisconsin 53703USA

+1-608-251-2234LSFrank@mac.comwww.goalconsulting.org

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