"It's not a haircut; it's an attitude!"

BartmasBlurb#32

“It is not a Hair Cut; it’s an Attitude!”

Very much of what we expect in discipline is an attitude. To change discipline, self-discipline, we must effectively affect attitude. How? Many of our students are being raised in very negative situations. They are belittled and demeaned to the extent that they lack self-worth. For many of these students punitive discipline will not work. Just watch their demeanor, body language and their style choices. I have worn my hair in a flat top for over twenty years, but back in school my hair sometimes was to my shoulders. My hair cut was and is a direct reflection of my attitude. We cannot effectively teach these students discipline without giving them anchors to hold onto. What are these anchors?

Pursue Excellence:

This motto cannot mean you want perfection or a child to be a perfectionist. We want our student to constantly strive to become better in all arenas of life. This is all in having a positive attitude about hard work, and the returns on our investment of effort. To pursue means to chase after, to stalk, to attack, and to follow. We must teach our young minds HOW to pursue.

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." Herb Brooks USA Hockey

Our society is diminishing the importance of giving your best. We are slowly allowing mediocrity to be the norm. Many in the business world are at a loss because so many of our students come to them without a strong work ethic. They are late to work, and many miss workdays just because they don’t want to work. We as educators need to take the lead in developing students that want to perform at their best in all areas of their life. For years we have been told that our students need repetition in routine to teach expectations. After the first nine weeks many of us allow complacency to seep into our classrooms and hallway. If a student does not do something well, do we just take off points, allow it to pass, or do we explain how it does not meet expectations and have them redo it correctly? Do we give positive feedback? Discipline includes giving the positive as well as the redirection. What activities do we use to teach excellence? Science, math, inventions, sports, music, and the arts are filled with great examples of the concept of being disciplined, dealing with frustration, and pursuing on towards a goal. We have our own life examples of adversity and how we overcame it. Our days are filled with the opportunity to encourage students to strive for something better. Several generations ago our predecessors wished for a better life for their progeny. They did not expect it to be easy! They taught their children and grandchildren that they have to work harder to accomplish that dream. Our country's founding premise is an example of pursuing excellence. Did our founding fathers do everything perfectly? No! They continued to work at creating a better country. 

In teaching driver's education for many years it is amazing how hard the driving students work to be a safe driver. When they think about the enormous responsibility that is being entrusted to them, they listen and want to perform tasks perfectly. We need this same type of attitude towards our regular educational curriculum. Find the carrot, place it out in front of them, coach them on how to get that carrot, let them get a nibble...then move it out a little further!

 Some detractors of discipline would argue that you squelch creativity, and freedom in teaching discipline. This is far from the truth! With self-discipline comes true individual freedom. Students have to be taught when they are given a task and the latitude to use their creativity that is when they should be giving their best effort. It is a true reflection of an individual how well they complete a task. Your name on a paper or a project is you. How we allow students to speak in class and the school is part of pursuing excellence. Do we expect correct grammar, or do we allow slang and jargon to permeate our halls? When students are in classes and the hallways, do we allow frowning, slouching, negative attitudes or do we ask and find the root, and help them find that there is a solution or just someone that cares? Do we accept sloppily done homework, or ask that it be formatted correctly?  Think of ALL the, “little things,” we do in a school day; are they really that little?  We as adults must model this for our students. When students are watching us do they see us constantly re-evaluating, re-assessing and adjusting our own work to be better?

Pursue Excellence should be how we start our day, work during our day, and finish our day. Taking short cuts is not pursuing excellence. Being complacent is not pursuing excellence. Accepting mediocrity is not pursuing excellence. How can we as educators help our students pursue excellence?