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Chapter 10: Developing Logical and Related Consequences within the Social
Contract (and Why to Avoid the Use of Punishments)
From Transformative Classroom Management. By John Shindler. ©2008
Reproduction is unlawful without
permission
In this
Chapter
·
What is a Consequence?
·
What is a Punishment?
·
What is wrong with the Use of Punishments?
·
Creating Effective Consequences within the Social Contract
·
Examples of Effective Logical Consequences
An essential part of a well-functioning system of social
interactions and bonds—the “classroom social contract” (Chapter 9)—is the
development of a clear relationship in the students’ minds between their
actions and the consequences of those actions. Therefore it is necessary to
develop within the context of our classroom social contract a set of logical
and related consequences for student behavior that violates the contract. These
consequences act to create boundaries and clarity of expectations. Along with
providing meaningful cause and effect connections, agreed upon consequences for
violating ones agreement act as a practical, concrete manifestation of
accountability and what it means to be a responsible member of the class.
Without consequences a social contract is merely an abstract ideal,
participated in voluntarily, and practically ineffectual.
Often we use the terms consequences
and punishments interchangeably.
However, consequences and punishments are very different things. It may appear
that they are different variations of the same idea – doing something to or
toward students to give them a disincentive to misbehave--but as we examine
each more closely, we will see that they are very different and have
dramatically varying effects.
To illustrate the differences between consequences and
punishments, it may be useful to examine two cases related to what might happen
if a student misses a school bus. As you compare the two cases, which example
would you characterize as a consequence and which as a punishment?
Case #1
The student understands that the bus to school arrives at
his stop at
Case #2
Again the student understands that the bus was to stop at
Chapter Reflection 10-a: In a group discussion, or on your
own, identify all the ways in which these two situations vary from one another.
As you examine them more deeply, you will recognize many ways in which they do.
The questions below may be helpful in your analysis.
Reflect on the two cases:
- Which
one is more likely to change behavior in the long-term?
- Which
one teaches the more useful lesson for life?
- Which
one builds the student’s sense of responsibility and internal LOC?
- Who
is in control in each case? Is that important?
As you likely identified, the first case would best be characterized as
a consequence and the second case as a punishment. In the first case, a lesson
was learned; in the second, the result was merely discomfort. While both cases
may have had an effect on the student in the short-term, and the second case
even may have motivated the student to get to the stop on time the next day, as
we examine the two cases more closely, we see that only the first case was
logically related to the problem. The student was late (cause), and therefore
the bus was no longer available (effect), while it would have been if the
student had gotten to the stop on time. The lesson to be learned is clear --
get to the stop on time and the bus will be there. The ownership of the problem
rests with the student.
Chapter Refection 10-b: Recall a situation in which you
missed a bus, flight, deadline, or arrived at a store after it closed. Did you
learn a lesson? Did it change your behavior in the future?
In the second case, we find a lot of difficulty recognizing
the logical relationship between being yelled at and taking too long to get to
the bus stop. It may seem like a common response to such student behavior, but it
is not logical. In this second case, the lesson learned has little to do with a
need to change behavior, and has more to do with avoiding the discomfort that
may (or may not) come from the bus driver. And like many punishments, there was
no real consequence for being late. The bus was still there. The student
learned that they could be late to the stop, and the bus would still be waiting
for them. There was a lot of sound and fury, but it signified very little. In
this situation, the causality was external. It was dependent on the mood and
the whims of the bus driver, and so there can be little or no effect on the
development of the student’s internal locus of control and thus growth toward
more responsible future choices.
Chapter Reflection 10-c: At this point in the chapter, most
students begin to realize that what they received from their parents were
mostly punishments. Reflect on whether this is true for you.
What is a consequence?
In life generally, consequences are things that happens as a
result of our actions. We may choose to describe them with such labels as
“reaping what we have sown,” “karmic reactions,” “sleeping in the bed we have
made,” “emotional bank accounts,” etc. But in the natural world all causes have
effects. Nothing happens in a vacuum. All thoughts and actions have
consequences. And if we are perceptive, we begin to learn which actions and
thoughts (causes) bring us the kinds of circumstances (effects) that we desire,
and those that bring us unwanted outcomes.
In the classroom, students experience countless consequences
each day. Most are natural and occur without any teacher intervention. For
example, when a student is in a hurry or careless they make a spelling mistake,
or miscalculate a math problem. Or a student may be friendly to other students
and as a result be perceived as likable. An infinite number of events act as
consequences for each of us daily.
Most consequences related to most teachers are typically
positive. For example, when the student works at a task, the teacher may offer
a verbal recognition of effort, or may provide academic or emotional support.
And in most classrooms, when the student raises a hand the teacher recognizes
them for a response. In each of these cases, there is a fairly apparent
cause-and-effect relationship between the thoughts and actions of the student
and the consequences they experience. Moreover, when a student feels
successful, they associate that feeling of success to a great extent with the
person who helped them get there, and that is usually you, the teacher.
As we will discuss in more detail in the next Chapter, the
most powerful means to developing a responsible mindset in students is to help
make them aware of this cause-and-effect relationship between their thoughts
and actions and the consequent effects that occur as a result. A requirement
for helping students recognize this cause and effect is to create it within the
logic of the classroom social contract. The keys to this logic are: 1) the use
of cause-and-effect in your explanations for why things happen, both
academically and managerially; and 2) well-established, natural, related, and
logical consequences for both positive and negative behaviors. In other words,
students learn that when they make certain choices, a logical and related
consequence will follow.
Ideally, the best consequences (and inherently most logical
and related) are those that are naturally occurring. However, when these are
not sufficient given the situational demands, the teacher must create a manufactured
consequence that is as related as possible to the situational behavior. For
example, in the instance of the student who arrived late for the bus, the
consequence was natural. No one needed to implement it. And in that case, the
only person affected was the student. In the absence of clear and direct
natural consequences the teacher (with the help of the students if they wish)
must manufacture one. For example, the naturally occurring consequence of a
student getting up and sharpening a pencil several times a day is that others
are annoyed and learning is disrupted. Clearly in this case, the natural
consequence is insufficient to meet the needs of the class as a whole.
Therefore the consequence must be artificial but related. One of the many
logical consequences in this case would be that a student might lose the
privilege of using the sharpener for a while. The “cause” of course is the
student’s choosing to misuse a privilege; the “effect” is that the privilege is
withheld for a time. The student may be given the opportunity to try again
later, and hopefully they will take a more responsible approach to the use of
the privilege in the future.
What is a punishment?
A punishment is an external intervention that is intended to
give discomfort for the purpose of payback or out of the belief that it will
change behavior. There are no natural and/or logical punishments. The locus of
control of a punishment is the punisher. In nature there are only
consequences, NO punishments. For instance, if we take a wrong turn on a
hiking trail, we may get lost, we may run into trouble, experience hunger or
feel frightened, but none of the pain we experience could be defined as a
punishment. It is always rooted in the laws of nature -- in cause and effect.
We made a bad choice -- we did not prepare properly or we underestimated the
task -- so consequently, we paid a price.
Punishments come in many forms. Some are very overt and
obvious, such as writing standards or lines, picking up trash, names on the
board, detentions, being sent to the office, angry outbursts, having to sit
alone, calls home, losing class points, etc. Some punishments are much more
subtle. These include lectures, guilt throwing, public shaming, overt
disappointment, being more critical of student work after they have misbehaved,
lowering of expectations, etc.
In a punishment condition, the pain and discomfort inflicted
on the “punished” is always calculated by an external agent, the “punisher.” With
consequences, the cost or benefit is determined by natural laws, whereas with
the punishment the price is determined artificially. Consequences teach
lessons, punishments teach avoidance of the punisher. Most consequences are
understood before decisions are made and actions take place. Punishments are
typically reactive.
Table 10.1
Consequences vs. Punishments; A Comparison
|
Consequences |
Punishments
|
|
Intend to teach lessons |
Intend to give discomfort |
|
Foster internal locus of control |
Foster external locus of control |
|
Are proactive |
Are reactive |
|
Are logical and related |
Are unrelated and personal |
|
Work in the long-term |
Work in the short-term |
|
Promote responsibility |
Can promote obedience (but more likely resentment) |
What is so Wrong
with Punishments?
On the surface punishments can appear to “work.” They
produce what appears to be a desirable outcome. But as we examine their effects
more closely, we will see that punishments either do not really improve
behavior in the long-term, and/or are not the portion of the intervention that
had the desirable effect.
Punishment may stop unwanted behavior in the short term. There is
therefore an illusion that it works, but the lesson learned is not related to
the problem behavior and so will not lead to learning or behavior change. For
example, if a teacher angrily tells the class to “BE QUIET!” the effect will
likely be that the class stops talking momentarily. But if we return to this
same class a week later, the teacher will still be required to yell when they
want quiet. The lesson that is being learned by the students from this
punishment intervention is to tolerate the teacher’s yelling and anger for a
while and then wait for the opportunity to go back to the behavior that meets
their previous needs. There is nothing learned that relates to an appropriate
use of voice, or a respectful orientation to others’ need for a peaceful
learning environment. So without the fundamental learning (which consequences
provide), the teacher’s external and emotional intervention appears to be the
only thing that works. But it only stops the problem for an instant, and worst
of all, as the students become comfortable with the negative impact of the
punishment they become increasingly immune, so more frequent and more severe
forms of punishment are required to obtain the same result. What is the saying
about digging yourself a hole? The first step is to stop digging.
Some readers may be saying, “But my class is improving, and I
do rely heavily on punishments.” Let’s examine typical practices in such a
situation and analyze what is making things better. It is a safe bet that mixed
in with the punishments are a lot of high expectations and the implicit message
that you believe in the students and will not accept poor behavior. In the end,
these positive messages of caring and validation are having the positive
effect. Moreover, the use of punishments is only holding the class back from
its potential. Try keeping the high expectations and exchange the use of
punishments for consequences. You may be surprised at how the students respond
with a level of behavioral maturity that you did not think that they had.
Moreover, you will find yourself experiencing an emotional ease and lightness
that gives you more positive energy throughout the day.
As we examine the effect of consequences more closely, we
see that they build responsibility in students. Children who are fed a steady
diet of punishment (especially guilt, shame, lectures) do not build
responsibility because (as was discussed in Chapter 8) the locus of control in
punishment is external and responsibility comes from an internal locus of
control. So what do punishments promote? For the most part, it is either
obedience or rebellion. You think, “Well, if it is obedience, then I am fine
with that.” Obedience may sound desirable on the surface, and in the role of
the teacher, it may seem to make life easier, but it can be a slippery slope
down a path that leads to emotionally immature and dependent students. It might
be useful to put yourself in the position of the student (a useful cure for
most “teacher power trips” by the way), and consider whether you would want to
be put in a position where you were expected to do only what you were told. You
can see the benefit of this arrangement for the self-centered teacher, but it
is difficult to see the benefits to the student. The primary skill one learns
from a teacher who loves to punish and demands obedience is how to play the
game of pretending to be repentant. This is not the kind of skill that
translates into high quality relationships over a lifetime. So if our job is to
teach and promote our students’ growth, why would we incorporate a practice
that fundamentally stunts personal growth?
Chapter Reflection 10-d: In groups or individually, respond to
the teacher that suggests that, “consequences are fine for the small things,
but for the big things, we need to use punishments.” Do you find this to be
sound logic? It may help to recall you answer to the earlier question related
to the events that changed your life the most, were they consequences or
punishments?
Why We Love to Give Punishments (and the Pain-Based Logic)
If we examine why one would have a compelling attraction to the use of
punishments (detailed in Chapter 19 in our discussion of the 4-Style appraoch),
it has more to do with one’s mental conditioning than any evidence of efficacy.
Very often teachers (and students in teacher education classes) after examining
the consequence vs. punishment dichotomy become upset and feel the need to
defend the use of punishments. They often use the phrase “I have tried to use
consequences, but my students only understand punishments, and they are working
for me.” On the surface this sounds
reasonable. But as we examine the logic a bit closer we can see why these
classes are not developing more responsible and desirable behavior, and why the
teacher spends a lot of time emotionally miserable. At the heart of their
thinking is a “pain-based logic.” This form of reasoning implies something to
the effect that, “Because I was personally offended by the students’ actions,
to teach them a lesson, to motivate change, and to pay them back, I need to
give them some pain. It’s only fair.”
It’s possible to assume that somewhere in the past of the
teacher who clings to a “pain-based logic” and cannot give up defending the use
of punishments is an attachment to a past authority figure who used this logic
and a high quantity of punishments. As a result, the teacher continually
misinterprets the evidence. Like an addiction, while the effects of the use of
punishments are to the objective eye (and to their own inner conscience) not
very desirable – little improvement of behavior, an ever-increasing hostile
climate in the class, and a feeling on the part of the teacher that they are
more law enforcement than learning facilitator – the teacher continues to hold
to the belief that the punishments are necessary. The inner dialogue is, “If I
do not give pain for unwanted behavior, I will be viewed as weak and
powerless.” There is a fictional and faulty working assumption by the teacher
that suggests that people cannot be trusted and that they only respond to pain
and domination. Within this mental fiction is misinterpretation of one’s own
past. If one regularly receives the message that one cannot be trusted, one
comes to internalize the belief that one only responds to punishment. This
interpretation is likely giving one’s self a great deal less credit for being
responsible and trustworthy than one actually warranted, and giving the
influence of the punishments far too much credit for promoting positive
behavior. Moreover, and most importantly, it is in the current moment keeping
this teacher (or parent or coach, or leader) from trusting their students and
giving up the illusion that the use of punishments is doing anything positive.
Sometimes it is not what we do, but how we do it that distinguishes a punishment from a consequence.
In practice, what distinguishes a punishment from a
consequence can be in how it is perceived by the students. If the student
perceives an event as external (you were mad), reactive (you were fed up), or
intended to give pain (they needed to be taught a lesson for what they did), it
is punishment, and has all the negative impact of a punishment--even if the
intent is a clear and logical consequence. This might seem confusing. Keep in
mind, however, that management success is not about being able to defend one’s
self. It is about the results that one achieves. Ask yourself after each
consequence implementation intervention (discussed in detail in the next
chapter), “What did the student learn from that event?” and “Who and what was
it about?” If it was experienced as being about their choice and supported the
processing for how a better choice could have been made, it was most likely a
successful consequence. If was perceived as being about you the teacher, and
the student left the situation feeling like they “got in trouble” and were
therefore given some discomfort, it could best be characterized as a
punishment.
To illustrate the difference between a consequence situation
that could be similar to a punishment situation, it may be helpful to compare
two interventions with the same basic elements. For this example, those basic
elements are:
- A
review is being provided as a service to help the student be prepared for
an upcoming exam.
- Students
need to listen during the review, or ask questions.
- The review
will last as long as it needs to.
- The
expectation is that students are quiet during an exam.
Give these basic elements above, consider the following two cases:
Case #1
Teacher reviews with students. After about 40 minutes, the
teacher senses that the students are restless. She asks them, “I am seeing less
attention than I did earlier, does that mean you have had enough review and we
are ready to take the test?” Some students say yes, and others say no. So she
makes the deal, “If you are able to be attentive and use this opportunity well,
we will continue to review; if it looks like you are getting bored and
restless, that will tell me that it is time to give the test out.” After a few
minutes the students look restless. The teacher says, “Okay, let’s take
everything off our desks and get out a pen or pencil (gives additional
instructive and supportive comments related to the material). “We have done
well on this in class, so let’s show it here.” And “Remember, we need to be
respectful of one another, so please be quiet until everyone is done.”
Case #2
Teacher reviews with the students. After about 40 minutes,
the teacher hears talking. She tells them, “There is too much talking right
now.” After a couple of minutes talking continues, so she tells them, “If you
keep talking I am going to give you the test.” After a few minutes the teacher
again becomes frustrated with the amount of talking and says, “That’s it, you
are getting the test now!” As she passes out the test she angrily tells the
students that if they talk during the exam, they will “get a big fat 0!”
As you examine the two cases, they are essentially the same
in terms of the teachers’ actions. In both cases, the teachers made the
determination that as a result of the students’ behavior they seemed not to be
taking advantage of the review and therefore were ready to take the test. But
would you characterize them both as consequences? Or was the second a
punishment?
Chapter Reflection 10-e: In your group or on your own, reflect
on the differences in the two situations. While similar, there were significant
differences. What would you label each intervention?
Case One seems to meet the qualification for a consequence.
It was proactive, logical and related, and the students were in control of the
outcome. As a result, the students felt responsible for what happened.
Conversely, Case Two falls into the classification of a punishment condition.
It was reactive, the teacher was angry and therefore the students perceived the
case of the action as being related to the level of the teacher’s frustration.
As a result, the locus was shifted externally. Moreover, in the end the test
was used as a punishment. What does that do to the students’ association with
the purpose of tests and other assessments?
If the teacher in Case Two had not resorted to a “pain-based
logic,” a much better result would have been manufactured. In Case One,
tomorrow is going to be better as a result of the teacher’s intervention today.
The relationship in Case One stays intact and the students take a step forward
in learning to be responsible class members. In Case Two, the relationship is
damaged. The teacher has withdrawn a great deal from the emotional bank account
that had been accrued. In Case One the lesson learned was that if we (the
class) want to have the privilege of having a review, we need to use the
opportunity maturely. In Case Two the primary lesson learned was most likely to
do a better job of interpreting what does and does not make the teacher mad. In
Case One the expectation was strengthened. In Case Two, because the cause and
effect was not well established, the expectation will remain vague. And
finally, how about the energy level of the teachers? Which teacher used more
energy?
Chapter Reflection 10-f: The cases above seem to imply that
interactions that are driven by a pain-based logic (anger, punishments, guilt,
revenge, shaming, embarrassment, etc.) are more exhausting for the teacher. Is
this true in your experience? Reflect on the last interaction that you would
characterize as being driven by a pain-based logic. What was the emotional cost
to the pain-giver?
Chapter Reflection 10-g: Reflect on the following situation:
A teacher decides to let students work together on an
assignment. In this case, after a couple of warnings the teacher reached a
point of intolerance and implements a punishment, angrily stating, “That’s it!
I am fed up! You are making too much noise. Everyone is going to have to do (a
worksheet) on your own.”
What in the teacher’s reaction would you call a
punishment? How could they have accomplished a more effective result with a
consequence?
Rewards, the Other
Side of the Punishment/Reward Coin
In his book Punished by Rewards, Alfie Kohn (1999)
makes the argument that rewards (e.g., prizes, preferred activity time,
stickers, personal praise, awards, and to an extent even grades) are really
just the other side of a punishment/reward coin. As we examine the nature of
rewards in relation to our concept of consequences, this characterization is
well supported. As with punishments, rewards are external, artificial, and do a
poor job of teaching lessons related to the learning event. What we learn from
rewards is to do what it takes to continue to get the reward. The focus is
shifted from the value of the process or even the accomplishment, to an
external and artificial object. The source of the reward is not one’s own
efforts, but someone else – the “rewarder.” So whereas consequences promote an
internal locus of control and a success psychology, rewards inevitably promote
an external locus of control and a failure psychology.
Likewise, beware of the less visible but often more
insidious version of this reward and punishment paradigm in practice – the use
of love and withdrawal of love in the form of praise and disappointment. Many
teachers will say that they don’t like rewards and punishments, but their
interactions with students are defined by “are you doing what I want? – then I
like you, and if you are not, I don’t.” Recall our discussion of praise in
Chapter 6 - it is an external, coercive and manipulative reward given under the
guise of positive reinforcement. And its sibling, disappointment, is an
external, coercive and manipulative punishment disguised as corrective
feedback. Neither is effective in helping students grow or learn, but each is
very effective at keeping them in fear of failure, dependent upon praise to
perform, and externalizing their cause and effect.
Table 10-2. Comparison of Positive Consequences versus
Rewards
|
|
Positive
Consequences |
Rewards |
|
Examples |
Increased Opportunities Achievement Recognition of Effort Opportunities to contribute Learning |
Personal Praise Tokens and grades Preferred Activity Time Party at the end of the week Stickers and Stars |
|
Locus of Control |
Internal to Student |
External from Teacher |
|
Teaches |
Responsibility and a clear cause and effect between one’s
effort and the outcome. |
To do what it takes to get the reward, and to shift attention
away from the value of the task to the value of the reward. |
|
Motivation |
Satisfaction of Needs |
To get the reward |
You Just Don’t
Know My School
It
is true that many of our students respond to punishment and a pain-based logic because
it is familiar to them. We can hear it in their voices, as we try to explain
that their actions reflect that they have made a choice to violate the social
contract --“Teacher, why are you getting
me in trouble?” We state the situation as a consequence; they hear it as a
punishment. It is likely that these students have never been supported in a
cause-and-effect pattern of thinking about their choices and actions. They are
often acculturated into a “crime and punishment” orientation toward those in authority.
In many cases, this student is exhibiting a deeply conditioned “negative
identity” pattern. Students with a negative identity are actually habituated to
and desire punishment and pain. While this may seem odd, it is critical to
recognize if we are to help this student grow in a more functional and healthy
direction. Chapter 16 describes in detail how to help a student change a
negative identity pattern.
Sometimes
we will be given a class that is mostly full of such students. Often in these
cases, the group of students will have friends and even family who have very
real experience with gangs, crime, and violence. So to them punishment is what
authorities use in their “real word.” When we respond to their misbehavior or
observe others responding with abusive language and/or pain-based penalties,
they often react with repentance and improved behavior in the short-term. And
when we dangle rewards in front of them, we see a seemingly unmotivated student
come to life and make a substantial effort toward the task. So the temptation
is to accept that this is “what works” for these students. In many cases, these
students can be found in schools in which the discipline culture is defined by
a 4-Style mentality. When we ask the experienced faculty for advice, we often
are told to become domineering, lower our expectations, and threaten the
students with poor grades, calls home, and/or to give awards to the top
students to motivate the rest. The logic is that since the students come to us
with a well-formed failure psychology (discussed in Chapter 8) that frequently
includes a negative identity, we need to give them what they are used to. It is
tempting to give in and mete out pain and punishment and take on the 4-Style
approach.
While it may even seem as though we are getting results in
the short-term, there are several reasons not to revert to a 4-Style approach
with this group of students. Here are four of them:
- The
behavior in the class will not get better, and will worsen in the long
run.
- We
are perpetuating a failure psychology in the students. We are bringing
them one year closer to taking that failure orientation out into the world
and on to the next grade.
- Like
any 4-Style teacher, we will struggle with a hostile, unmotivated and
irresponsible class as long as we keep up this form of practice.
- We
have lost out on a chance to make a difference in the lives of these
students. We had a transformative opportunity and we missed it.
Chapter Reflection 10-h: Reflect on the approach
Ellen Gruwell took to such a group of students as depicted in the movie Freedom
Writers. When presented with a group of students that was accustomed to a
crime and punishment mentality, what did she do? What was the result?
The fact is that students who are used to 4-Style management
will adjust to a 1- or 2-Style management approach eventually. Furthermore, as
they internalize the emerging success psychology the more effective environment
is fostering, they will recognize that the 4-Style environment was unhealthy.
This was depicted beautifully in the films Freedom Writers and To Sir
with Love. I have seen it firsthand in countless classes myself. Yet many
of the students who come from these situations do not know how to operate in a
1- or 2-Style approach class structure. We need to teach them how. It will take
time, but it is worth it. First, it is worth it for the reasons listed above.
Second, it is worth it because we will get results and transform lives.
To begin we need to understand the nature of the patterns in
which our students are operating. For example, there may be a negative identity
pattern. There may be a helpless pattern, or external locus of control, or
other manifestations of a failure psychology. Maintaining a working knowledge
of how to promote a success psychology will be an invaluable tool in any
classroom with any students. The remainder of this chapter and the next will
describe practical strategies for creating cause-and-effect thinking, more
responsible behavior and the development of functional social bonds, and offer
a more effective path toward a system that really works rather than resorting
to the use of punishments and bribes.
Creating Effective
Consequences within the Social Contract
Developing
logical and related consequences is crucial to successfully achieving a social
contract that feels democratic and is built on promoting responsibility.
Without logical and related consequences students can experience teacher
interventions as very external and arbitrary. If students view consequences as
arbitrary or subjective, the contract will have little meaning and will likely
feel imposed and artificial. For the social contract to be effective students
must feel as though being faithful to their agreements to the contract is
making the class better and helping them become more responsible while
achieving their goals of inclusion and achievement.
In the next chapter, we will discuss the importance of how consequences are implemented. The
quality and effectiveness of the contract and how successfully it evolves is
contingent on the care and deliberateness of the implementation, but in
conjunction with that, the success of the contract will depend on the quality
of the consequences we build into it. The most successful consequences will be
those that are logical and related, built-in proactively, represent a strong
cause and effect relationship to both problems and solutions, and contribute to
long term growth and behavior change.
Logical and
Related
It
would be nice if all problems had naturally logical and related consequences
built-in to them like our example of the student arriving late to the bus. But
the reality is that it can often be a challenge to find a logical and related
consequence for some things. It is difficult, but taking the time and effort to
come up with quality consequences (alone or with the help of the students) is
well worth it. Reverting to punishments will undermine the success of your
contract, and developing consequences that are unrelated to the problem
behavior do not teach lessons and are essentially quasi-punishments. A
consequence is by definition related to the problem. If it is not related, it
is not a true consequence (no matter how many other teachers call them
consequences).
A well-intentioned and fairly common practice in many schools is to have
a standardized set of consequences for incidents of misbehavior. This is a step
in the right direction in many ways. It encourages the individual teacher
(especially those with a 4-Style tendency) to take a less punitive approach and
it builds in proactivity and clarity of the policy. Below (Chart 10.1) is an
example of a typical school-wide policy chart displayed on classroom walls in
many schools.
Chart 10.1 Common uniform school-wide policy chart depicting levels of consequences for each misbehavior
|
Misbehavior |
Consequence |
|
1st offense |
Warning |
|
2nd offense |
Time at recess or after school |
|
3rd offense |
Detention and/or contacting parents |
As you can see from the chart, the same consequences are
applied for all types of problem behavior. The primary problem with this
approach is that it eliminates the opportunity to have logical and related
consequences. As we have discussed, that means there is little if any
cause-and-effect connection between the consequence and the behavior that
warranted the consequence, and as a result no meaningful lesson is learned from
this set of standardized consequences. Moreover, it is a real stretch to
characterize what are referred to as consequences in these school codes as true consequences. By definition,
undefined time-outs and detentions are at best merely quasi-punishments.
In Chart 10.1 warnings are listed as the first level
consequence. Recall our discussion of warnings from Chapter 6. They have their
use. When understanding and/or memory are the issue, a warning can be a useful
tool to help improve behavior and/or cognizance of the social contract. They
are characterized as favors from the teacher to help support students toward
the development of functional behavior free of the need for reminders. But they
are not consequences.
A more effective approach to developing consequences for our
social contract is to begin with our most pressing problems. For each problem
behavior, select a corresponding consequence that is as logically related to it
as possible. Bringing in students (as discussed in Chapter 9) may be a great
way to get them to buy into the fairness and legitimacy of each consequence,
and to take part in conceiving what would be “related” consequences. Expect
this to be the most powerful and memorable “concept attainment” exercise that
the students participate in all year.
For example, if we discover that we have a problem with
homework being turned in late, we might ask our students what we can do to
promote more work being turned in on time. Make sure that you instruct them to
think in terms of logical and related consequences. Be patient, as this is
likely very new thinking for them. In professional life, the consequence for
being late with work can be that we miss a deadline, causing others to be let
down or to have our efforts become less valuable. Therefore, a logical guiding
principle could be that work needs to be in on time to get full credit. As a
result, a consequence for late work could be that it would only receive partial
credit. Or we could take a more hard line stand and say that only work that is
turned in on time will be accepted. Either of these options makes sense, as do
others. Both are grounded in cause-and-effect, as well as a real-world
precedent. In practice, establishing the logic and relatedness of the
consequences we ultimately choose will make all the difference in how well they
are accepted by the students, help to improve the behavior, and strengthen the
social contract. The time used in the development of creating class
consequences is time well spent.
Be Proactive:
Build Consequences into the Contract from the Start
Effective
consequences are proactively built into the contract before they are
implemented. In the example of the student’s arriving late to the bus, the
consequence would not have been educational if the bus has left at a different
time each day, or the student did not know when the bus was supposed to leave.
Making students very clear about the consequences before the fact has
many benefits. First, it will make contract violations less common since
students know what is expected. Second, it makes it possible to implement the
consequence by simply recognizing that a choice was made to violate the
contract, as opposed to the student’s perspective of the teacher “getting them
in trouble.” Third, the focus of the student after the contract violation is
much more likely to be on how they can find more effective behavior rather than
on what the teacher said or did, or feeling that they were unfairly penalized.
Being proactive promotes internal locus of control. When we know what to
expect, we have power; when the climate of the class is accidental, our need
for power is unmet.
It is a good idea to put consequences in writing. Post them. Review them
and give general reminders when you sense that a little prevention could be
valuable. But the most valuable teaching tool will be your actions. Recall
Chapter 5 and the social learning model; students will learn from what you do.
In addition, the use of verbal clarifications can be
invaluable (recall Chapter 6). For example, we might use the mantra, “In this
class, we actively listen to the other members of our group, and ask clarifying
questions when we don’t understand.” Or the clarifying statement, “If we do a
good job of taking care of the equipment, we will continue to get the privilege
of using it; if we don’t we will need to go back to using the old equipment
until we can show that we are more responsible.” But again, the words can only
support the actions. When we follow through, the expectation and understanding
of the consequence is strengthened; if we do not it is weakened.
Promote Buy-in and
Ownership of Consequences
As was discussed in Chapter 9, if students own and clearly understand
the expectations and consequences in their social contract, they are much more
likely to carry them out and respect them. Again, there is no better way to do
this than to have the students involved in the process of developing the
consequences. This is especially true for grades K-8. For high school grades,
periodic class meetings during which a problem is discussed and students are
enlisted to brainstorm logical and related solutions and consequences for the
problem can be a good way to promote buy-in. It cannot be emphasized enough.
Over time, the contract and the consequences built into it will only be as
powerful as the students’ sense of ownership of them. When they fully accept
the purpose of the contract as being related to them and their welfare rather
than being just the “teacher’s set of rules,” the results can be remarkable.
Chapter Reflection 10-i: Compare two classes that you
have observed at some point.--one in which there was a great deal of ownership
and buy in of the rules and/or social contract, and one in which the rules were
imposed upon the students. Was there a difference in behavior? How about
motivation?
Keep Your Eyes on
the Long-term benefits
The
test of a good consequence is what it does in the long term. If it does not
teach the students to be more responsible and self-disciplined, it needs to be re-examined.
It is simplistic to assume that a consequence that deters an immediate behavior
is a good consequence. As we discussed earlier in the chapter, this illusion of
effectiveness keeps us in the trap of using familiar but flawed consequences
and/or punishments. A useful clue to the long-term effectiveness of a
consequence is the reaction that one receives from a student when it is
implemented. If the reaction implies, “I knew not to do that,” it has a good
chance to be effective. It the reaction is one of repentance, look for the
behavior to be revisited; it is therefore not perceived as a consequence but as
a punishment.
It
may be useful here to recall Chapter 5, Dynamic #6: Make tomorrow better as a result of what you do today. Ask yourself,
“What is being learned each time this consequence is implemented?” If the
consequence is logic and related and built-in proactively, it is likely that
the student is learning a useful lesson related to the problem behavior.
However, we can only consider success if the behavior changes rather quickly
and for the right reasons, and makes “tomorrow” more healthy and functional.
Since every class is different and every student in the class is different,
finding the right consequences may take a bit of active research on the part of
the teacher. It may also require some collective soul searching on the part of
the class.
Ascending/Increasing Level of Impact of Consequences for Each Problem Behavior
All contract violations do not have the same degree of damage
to the class’s health and function. Moreover, a particular student action does
not necessarily imply that the student has a problem. Most contract violations
will be a result of forgetfulness or immaturity. Some will indicate a need to
examine why the behavior occurred or continues to occur. Some require that the
student loses an opportunity so that they may experience a clear consequence
for their inability to be a responsible member of the group. It therefore makes
sense to have within our social contract an increasingly more powerful series
of consequences for particular problem behavior. If the problem behavior is
minor and it is infrequent, a small consequence may be all that is necessary.
If it is prevalent or is a persistent problem for a particular student, more
significant consequences may be necessary. Let’s take the example of a student
who cannot resist talking to the next door student when they should be
attending to those contributing in a class discussion. It is not a major
problem if it does not happen often, but if it happens regularly, or the
particular student cannot help it, it becomes quite significant. Here is one
possible series of ascending consequences:
First offense (the student turns to a neighbor to talk while
the teacher is talking): Consequence - teacher stops talking (when they are
interrupted) and waits for 100% attention or says something to the effect, “I
need everyone’s attention, so I will start over with the directions.” This
consequence is simple but effective. It does not take a lot of time or energy,
but it is active and gets the message across.
Second offense (the teacher notices that the student is
talking to their neighbor when they are supposed to be attentive to another
student who is contributing):
Next level consequence – student comes up with a strategy to
make sure they are able to pay attention when it is required.
Third offense (student does it again):
Consequence – student is moved to another seat.
Fourth offense (student has the same problem in the new location):
Consequence – conference with the teacher after school
resulting in a written contract.
Given that this series of consequences implies escalating
degrees of power, the student is given logical and appropriate opportunities to
solve their problem. It is unlikely that many students would require all
four levels of consequences, but it is comforting for both the teacher and the
students in the class to know that they are in place. Much of the stress
experienced by teachers and the frustration experienced by students comes from
worrying about what particular students may do on a given day. Having clearly
established consequences in place eases much of that stress. The ownership for
making good behavioral choices rests with the students. The teacher simply
needs to be a fair and consistent manager of the social contract.
Chapter Reflection 10-j: Are you asking yourself, “At what
point do we include in the series of consequences something that will give the
student some pain to “teach them a lesson?” Watch out for the tendency to get
more negative rather than more powerful.
An important distinction should be made here between the
increasingly powerful (consequences) and the increasingly painful
(punishments). In the pain-based logic, if one blow to the head does not do the
trick, then maybe two will. The problem with this logic is that no lesson will
be learned from the blow (e.g., standards, shaming, lecture, picking up trash,
etc.) as it is not related to the misbehavior. Therefore, since the small amount
of pain did not change the behavior pattern, a greater amount will work only to
make the student more hostile and defiant.
Likewise, there is often a misconception that consequences
are easier than punishments. Even some teachers who are opposed to punishments
for ethical reasons hold this belief. However, it is simply untrue. If one
examines the most difficult and painful lessons they have learned in life, they
will discover that nearly all of them came in the form of consequences. Close
scrapes with nature, losing loved ones, missing the cut, painful relationships,
lost jobs, missed opportunities are all examples of life’s consequences. Few of
the punishments that have been imposed on us have had the same power to impact
or teach. The power of consequences is
that they are meaningful. They involve a real price to pay. Punishments may
feel bad, but in the end they merely need to be tolerated. Their only price is
discomfort.
Beware of
Punishments that are Sold as Logical Consequences
Since
the use of the term “consequences” is attached to all manner of teacher-imposed
penalization in schools today, it is common to see punishments and
punishment-based systems sold as assertive discipline consequences. Some
examples are negative calls home, being sent to the office, picking up trash,
running laps. One of the most prevalent examples of this brand of punishment is
the idea of writing names of students on the board, or its sibling, having
students move their cards from the green level to the yellow level to the red
level. This practice is essentially a systematic shame-based punishment sold as
a system of rational consequences. Not only is it a punishment or “pain-based”
system at its core, but like all punishment systems, it does not work. Check in
on a class that uses such a system, and you will see the same names on the
board or the same cards changed from green to yellow, all year. Like other
pain-based systems, its main function is to make the teacher feel better, but
it will not do much to change behavior for the better and does a great deal of
harm on other levels. Because of the widespread use of this procedure, Chapter
19 is devoted entirely to an examination of it, its fundamental problems and a
more effective and positive alternative.
Chapter Reflection 10-k: Observe a class that uses a colored
card behavioral system at the beginning of the year and then months later. Do
you see the same students with their cards on a lower color level? What does it
tell you?
Avoid Giving
Activity as a Negative Consequence
Most of us can think of countless examples throughout our
schooling where we were given an activity as a punishment. We had to run laps,
write lines or standards, memorize capital cities, clean up the room, pick up trash
around the school, do push-ups, help the teacher at recess or any number of
activities that were supposed to “teach us a lesson.” And even today they can
seem somewhat related to our misbehavior. But as we examine this practice more
closely, we can see that in the long run the use of activity as a penalty will
take us a step backward in our efforts.
First, it is difficult to classify activities as something
other than punishments. They are based in the principle that if one has a lousy
enough time doing the activity, they will be deterred from making the same
choice again. Recognize the pain-logic? As we examine why we are attracted to
these types of penalties and even perceive that they have a desired effect,
it’s because they appear to deter certain behaviors in the short term and they
produce the desired level of repentance in the students, post-penalty. But are
they really logical and related? What is the relationship between talking in
class and having to write 50 times “I will not talk in class?” Or what is the
relationship between being tardy, and having to run laps?
Second, the actual lesson that these punishments teach is to avoid the
activity. The message that we are sending is, “Since you did something that we
want you to stop doing, we are going to penalize you with a behavior we would
like to see you do more of.” This acts to create a disincentive to engage in a
desired behavior. In the long-term, since no related lesson is learned there
will be no desired behavior change, except possibly some avoidance of getting
caught. Yet we can be assured that the student will develop a negative
association (and therefore a disincentive to perform) with the behavior. If one
is given standards as a punishment, one learns that the act of writing is a punishment
to avoid. So much for all the time we spend telling our students that they
should love to write. Likewise, if we tell them they must run as a punishment
we are saying that the only reason that they should ever consider running in
their lives is if someone forces them to. If we punish the student by having
them help, clean-up, beautify the school, and so on, then we are saying in
effect, never do anything helpful or altruistic unless you are forced to.
Chapter Reflection 10-l: Recall a situation in which you were
forced to do work (run laps, help clean, write, etc) as a penalty for
misbehavior. How did it affect your association with that activity at the time?
Has that negative association carried on to the present?
A helpful guiding principle might be to use activity as a
positive consequence and inactivity as a negative consequence. If the student
has a great day, ask them to stay after school and help you clean up. Observe
the effect this has on the student. Most likely he or she will consider it an
honor. If a student makes an exceptional effort in an area, give them an extra
task that stretches and challenges them. When work is seen as a reward, it
reinforces the student’s intrinsic sources of motivation. When work is seen as
a punishment, students learn only to do what is externally rewarded.
Clarify this principle by creating a clear cause-and-effect
relationship in your class. It may help to use such clarifying statements as,
“When you work hard and invest, I will give you more challenging work; when you
show that you are not ready for the challenging work, I will give you work
better suited to a less motivated and responsible group.” “When you show that
you can be responsible (recall the social frames discussed in Chapter 4), I
will give you more freedom and responsibility; when you show that you are not
responsible, you will not be given the same opportunities, until you show you
are ready.” Watch the student rise to the occasion. In this
responsibility-based classroom failing to earn the opportunity to take part is
a powerful and related consequence, and if failure does take place, the
presence of the clear cause-and-effect logic within the expectation provides an
opportunity for reflection. Over time, the result will be the development of
more intrinsically motivated students. This idea will be explored further in
Chapter 17.
Developing social bonds can set the table for communal
bonds, but it will not create them. Developing clear expectations, logical and related
consequences, and a functioning social contract will ultimately lead to
ever-increasing levels of emotional safety, a sense of fairness, and behavior
changes for the better, but they cannot by themselves create in a student a
cause beyond themselves or community. Nevertheless, it is a wise and likely
necessary starting point for most groups. The social contract can transform a
class from a self-centered and dysfunctional group of individuals into a
self-responsible and functional collective. However, if we want to foster the
transformation of the group into one that is bonded, acts as a team/tribe, and
puts the needs of one another first, we must make an intentional effort to
promote a success psychology (outlined in Chapter 8) and to foster community
(discussed in Chapter 17).
Chapter Reflection 10-m: Recall in your experience a time when
you were part of a class or group that lacked structure. Did it limit your
ability to feel a deeper sense of pride and group identity? In other words, did
you recognize the need to feel that the social bonds were functional before you
could feel a sense of community?
Table 10.3 represents a list of common problems that occur
in a class, followed by a list of what not to do but are examples of common
punishments that teachers use, alongside a list of possible related
consequences for the same problem. As you may notice there is rarely a case
when we are able to manufacture a consequence as logical and related as the
bus’s being gone when the student arrived late to the bus stop, but we can
attempt to get close. Finally, transformative ideas are offered for each
problem--that is, strategies that one can put into practice that make the need
for such behavior less necessary.
Table 10.3 Examples of Consequences, Punishments and Transformative ideas for Problem Behaviors:
|
Problem |
Punishment (What not to do) |
Related Consequence |
Transformative Idea |
|
Problem lining up |
-Disappointment. |
-Practice lining up. |
Be positive, but as discussed in Ch. 12, help the students
learn to be successful and then take joy in their success. |
|
Turning in assignment late |
-Public embarrassment. -Asking for an excuse. |
-Loss of points. |
Project-driven work and meaningful assignments will reduce
the tendency for students to neglect assignments. See Ch. 13 for more ideas. |
|
Frequent talking out of turn |
-Writing lines. -Negative recognitions. |
-Loss
of opportunity to talk.
-Problem-solve solutions to fix problem. -Loss of opportunity to take part in activity. |
The level of side-talk is usually related to 1) how
engaging the work is and 2) whether or not the teacher has created a culture
of listening ( |
|
Group can not refrain from conflict that leads to poor
performance |
-Hovering
over the group. -Splitting
them up. -Shaming
them. |
(See
Chapter 14: Cooperative Learning)
1st intervention – clarify task, confirm
understanding. 2nd intervention – clarify need to resolve
conflict – confirm commitment to conflict-free effort. 3rd intervention – loss of opportunity to take
part in activity, potentially needing to reflect on solutions for future
efforts, and/or need to complete work on own time. |
Clear directions, assessing the quality of group
participation (see Appendix X), and inductive lesson designs will ensure more
students are engaged more of the time. |
|
Tapping pencils on desks |
-Public negative recognition -spending time after class. |
-Have students put everything down and have their hands
free while listening |
Meet students’ basic need for power. Create engaging
lessons. Develop a culture of listening. |
Cheating
|
-Public Humiliation. |
No credit for work. |
Teachers who project the expectation that to cheat is to
lose out, and that they have faith that no one will cheat will usually have
little cheating. |
|
Cell phone |
-Public Humiliation. -Angry power struggle. |
Confiscate phone for a time. |
It is best to set an expectation early in the year that
there is no reason to have a cell phone out. Zero tolerance early will save a
lot of pain later. |
|
Going to Bathroom |
-Publicly questioning why the student needs to go. -Questioning the students intentions. |
Some set amount of bathroom visits per quarter. |
Student uses them as they see fit, and when they are gone
the student is out of privileges to go. Help the students take make wise use
of the privilege. |
Conclusion
It
is hoped that this chapter has helped you clarify the distinction between
punishments and consequences, and has demonstrated why the use of consequences
produces more desirable and effective outcomes. A thoughtful and intentional
approach to the development of the consequences within the social contract will
help in your efforts to promote more responsible behavior and a positive
classroom climate. The next chapter will provide a step-by-step system for
implementing one’s consequences and social contract.
Journal Reflections
1.
In
your experiences have teachers more often used punishments of consequences?
What do you see as the effect of each on you personally?
2.
Do
you recognize the pain-based logic inside yourself and others? Reflect on how in
your own experience pain is traded back and forth between parents and children,
teachers and students, and those with whom you are in relationships. (If this
idea resonates with you, I recommend that you read Eckhart Tolle’s Practicing the Power of Now.)
Group Class Activities:
- In
groups of four, brainstorm two common student behavioral problems that you
have seen recently or feel are pertinent (it is more effective if they are
not severe problems such as fighting or disrespect--those are addressed in
another chapter). Pass them to the group next to you. Once you have had
your neighbor’s two problems, develop consequences for them. Be sure that
they are true consequences, not simply quasi-punishments. Refer to Table
10.1 (Consequences vs. Punishments) to assess your answers.
- Discuss
the difference between logical and related (but manufactured) consequences
and naturally occurring consequences. What criteria would use to decide
which it best, in any given situation?
- In
groups, fill in the following chart with teacher practices. When you are
done, compare your answers with the rest of the class.
|
|
Negative |
Positive |
Healthy and
Effective
|
Natural and logical consequences for poor choices. 1. 2. 3. |
Natural Positive Consequences for good choices. 1. 2. 3. |
|
Unhealthy and Ineffective |
Punishments. 1. 2. 3 |
Extrinsic Rewards. 1. 2. 3. |
Chapter Activities
1. In groups, discuss the differences between the two conditions in the student
missing the bus example in the beginning of the chapter. What are the
differences between a punishment condition and a consequence condition?
2. In groups take part in the following exercise.
Start by having each group develop a list of two or three common social
contract violations (don’t make them too severe--we will save those for a later
chapter). When you are done, pass them to another group. This group will need
to come up with logical and related consequences for each problem. This is more
difficult than it sounds. It will be helpful to use the table comparing
consequences and punishments in the chapter. Share your ideas with the whole,
and discuss why you felt each was a consequence rather than a punishment.
References:
Kohn. A. (1999) Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold
Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes. Houghton
Mifflin
Tolle, E. (2001)
Practicing the Power of Now. Namaste Publishing