Many years ago I had the privilege of working with Bill Matthews as part of a large school's cluster initiative. We explored the very new to us thinking that the words 'Don't and No' could be replaced with 'we'. By transforming the old age school rules of 'Don't run around corners' to 'We walk around corners' children could be reminded in a positive way to control their behaviour.
The reasoning behind this is really quite simple, for many (children and adults) the word don't or no simply becomes 'blah' followed by an action. Don't run becomes run, no putdowns becomes putdowns. It would seem that for many children we were actually reinforcing to them the very behaviour we were trying to stop. We walk sensibly and we speak quietly had the power to transform the school playground and classroom for many children.
The reasoning behind this is really quite simple, for many (children and adults) the word don't or no simply becomes 'blah' followed by an action. Don't run becomes run, no putdowns becomes putdowns. It would seem that for many children we were actually reinforcing to them the very behaviour we were trying to stop. We walk sensibly and we speak quietly had the power to transform the school playground and classroom for many children.
As a school we embraced this idea and for me it made the world of difference to my teaching and manner with students. Suddenly the negative was positive, classroom behaviour and the dreaded duty became a conversation and a reminder rather than a negative and grumpy teacher moment. It is hard to explain just how much our school changed and it wasn't noticeable until you went into a more traditional school environment with NO and DONT - it had become so ingrained in my way of being that as a parent I spoke to my children with "at home we ...."
It seemed to me that by now every school and every community was using this type of 'talk' with their students, so you can imagine my surprise when I started my principalship at a school that had never heard of anything more bizarre - for the students this really was a struggle, especially in a school that had not really had any formal rules in the past. I am not a big fan of RULES but there needs to be some clear boundaries and expectations so that all students understand what is expected of them.
In 2011 we trialled this 'we' idea - hard slog really but in 2012 we went back at it again - "AT WSS we..." we incorporated the idea with key competencies and our values - it felt more familiar this time and while it was still largely a teacher push it did begin to feel like there was a shift in what children expected to hear. There were days when I am sure I sounded like a broken record!!
You can imagine my delight on the first day of 2013 when I walked into a classroom where the teacher had prompted the discussion about what it meant to be a learner and the children were naturally talking... 'At WSS we show determination'. When prompted further about what that might look like within the school it was followed by conversation about working until things are finished, trying again even when it's hard, being brave about trying new things.... WOW 2 year and it feels like the culture of 'we' is embedded and that our students are ready to take ownership of the things we do at our school!
In 2011 we trialled this 'we' idea - hard slog really but in 2012 we went back at it again - "AT WSS we..." we incorporated the idea with key competencies and our values - it felt more familiar this time and while it was still largely a teacher push it did begin to feel like there was a shift in what children expected to hear. There were days when I am sure I sounded like a broken record!!
You can imagine my delight on the first day of 2013 when I walked into a classroom where the teacher had prompted the discussion about what it meant to be a learner and the children were naturally talking... 'At WSS we show determination'. When prompted further about what that might look like within the school it was followed by conversation about working until things are finished, trying again even when it's hard, being brave about trying new things.... WOW 2 year and it feels like the culture of 'we' is embedded and that our students are ready to take ownership of the things we do at our school!
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