The Webster Way: Eye Contact, Holding Back, & Other "Soft" Skills

Some educators are uncomfortable talking about -- much less teaching -- student behavior that may be related to home culture or poverty.

Not these folks in San Diego, who have found that making student behavior an explicit part of their lesson plans has made a real difference (School Turnaround Built on Teaching Students to be Students).

"Teachers chalk up the turnaround to a homegrown program that explicitly teaches students how to behave in class...Such skills are usually expected but not actively taught, White said."

Comments

[john thompson]

As I print this article to use is discussions that will hopefully lead our school toward that type of effort (in our state its called Great Expectations), I noticed that "The Mire" has 200 comments now. And they still follow the pattern of overwhelming support for restoring discipline. If we can't find humane methods of addressing the chaos of inner city neighborhood schools, society willfind less gentle methods.