The Launching Pad

Volume 2, No. 1                       Winter/Spring, 2008                       Exclusively online at www.EducationHall.com
 

The Lightning Club: A Proactive Approach to School-Wide Discipline and Management
Derek Cordell

            Merriam-Webster defines the term proactive as “acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes.” The abilities of doctors, scientists, teachers, and other such professionals to act and think in proactive terms have allowed society to make immeasurable strides for the sake of humanity.

Prior to 1963, being diagnosed with measles was an expected event in life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 500,000 cases and 500 deaths from measles were being reported annually. In 1963, the first measles vaccine was licensed in the United States. In the years that followed, the occurrence of measles was reduced by approximately 99% (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000). Doctors have attempted to conquer measles in a number of ways, but none was as effective as the proactive solution of administering the vaccine prior to the onset of any symptoms.

            The Lightning Club is a vaccine that attacks the issue of school-wide discipline and student management. It is a proactive discipline model that utilizes incentives (rather than needles) and increases community-wide collaboration in building student rapport. This proactive approach to discipline creates a school culture that empowers students, staff, and families to build relationships that last and extend beyond the school walls. It is easily put in place, for it works off a philosophy of positive intentions more than it requires any elaborate programming.

How did this club get its unique name? Well, lightning is a staggering force of nature that is unpredictable and isn’t always what it seems. For instance, lightning appears to always be accompanied by a rainstorm, strike the tallest object, and stretch downward from the clouds toward the ground. When, in reality lightning frequently occurs with no rain in sight, strikes the best conductor rather than the tallest object, and the visible portion of lightning originates on the ground and reaches upward toward the clouds. The supposedly incorrigible students that become card-carrying members of the Lightning Club are just that: unpredictable and aren’t what they seem. Beneath the hard shell of disobedience, bad language, violence, or _____ (you fill in the blank, depending on the students in question), they are children who possess big hearts and open minds with bright futures.

Can my school have a Lightning Club? Most assuredly: any school with children in it can create a Lightning Club. The Lightning Club proactive discipline model is based on four simple steps: Identify, Plan, Contact, and Follow-through.

Identify

            In order to repair a leaky faucet, a plumber or adventuresome home-owner must first locate the cracked solder, old pipe, or loose valve. Likewise, the first step in administering this life-enhancing vaccine is to identify students who make poor choices, could use an extra dose of motivation, or are generally “heading down the wrong path.” We begin by identifying the issue at hand. A teacher, parent, counselor, administrator, cafeteria worker, custodian, or anyone else that may come in contact with students on a daily basis may contribute to the identification of a potential Lightning Club member.

            The key to an effective identification process is collaboration. The Lightning Club team, consisting of the building principal, assistant principal, and counselor must discuss, evaluate, and sift through the long list of talkers, sleepers, and fidgeters and narrow the focus to high-need students that require an advanced level of discipline assistance (often known as behavior management). Once the list has been edited, the student, teacher, parent, principal, counselor, and anyone else who may have a significant impact in this process must sign a Lightning Club Contract.

The contract should have a formal appearance, so that all parties receive it with the requisite seriousness, and should include a list of “I can” or “I will” statements that discuss important issues from the child’s perspective, such as “my” education and “my” ability to make proper choices. It must also adamantly point out that it is necessary for assistance to ensure “my” success in this program and in life. An example of such a statement might be:

I understand that I have had difficulties in the past making positive choices in my life that make it hard to be successful. I am now choosing to work very hard to make good decisions and behave appropriately at school.

A generic reward system for all Lightning Club members, as well as a personalized reward system for each individual member, listed on the contract will also increase student interest and can be tailored in the next step of the program.

Plan

            As a classroom teacher, one would not expect that all students function at the same levels and learn in the same ways. Students travel through many stages behaviorally just as they do academically. These children, then, must have their own individual Lightning Club Plan (LCP). This behavior modification plan is a modified, shortened, and far less formal version of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) most commonly used in Special Education.

            The Lightning Club Plan is based on a quote from renowned college basketball coach Stephen A. Brennan that simply states, “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” An effective LCP will be created with the help of the student and include a list of expectations, short term and long term goals, as well as a list of sequential rewards that will be earned for attaining each goal. An example follows:

Statement of issue: Rex has excellent behavior in the classroom but struggles at recess.

Plan of action/Expectations: In order to achieve success on the playground, Rex will play nicely with other students outside, tell an adult when other students are bothering him, and use a respectful tone of voice when talking to others. Rex will monitor his own polite and respectful comments.

Rewards: For each recess in which Rex meets these expectations, and for each ten respectful comments he makes to others, he will earn an additional five minutes of free-choice time in the library after school (which can be stockpiled with permission of the principal and librarian). For each GREEN week, Rex will follow the Lightning Club rewards plan.

It is paramount that the students earn their rewards for attaining goals only and not for expected behavior. Rewards for appropriate behavior that is expected from all students will draw a line in the sand between Lightning Club members and nonmembers. A stray comment such as “Why does he get a free ice cream just for standing quietly in line? I’m quiet in line too!” will follow any reward offered for expected behavior.

Expectations listed on the Lightning Club Plan should be specific to the identified discipline deficiencies, should make sense to the student, should be logical, and must be easily modified. As a member grows in the program, the expectations should evolve as well.

If implemented properly, there is no need to identify punishments, list threats, or offer a promise of penalties on the Lightning Club Plan. If developed with a positive tone containing attainable goals and suitable rewards, natural consequences will occur. Following complete buy-in by the member, it will be punishment enough for the student to realize the goals have not been attained and the rewards will not be reaped.

Rex, the physically and mentally mature 2^nd grader introduced earlier, was having issues with politeness and overall communication with other students of the same age during recess. He became a member of the Lightning Club with two months remaining in the school year. He was put on the fast track and we created a plan immediately. On his LCP, he kept track of his polite comments and actions as well as his rude comments and behaviors. He neatly folded his LCP in his shoe and protected it like gold. In a matter of three weeks, Rex’s teacher and mom were wondering what I had done with their student and son. His improvements were drastic and noticed by everyone who had contact with him. He is now in his second year as a member of the Club and is continuing the success he enjoyed at the end of last year.

            A critical bi-product of the LCP is the opportunity to increase student rapport by building a solid relationship comprised of mutual respect and honesty. It is imperative that the plan be created with this in mind. Sit next to the child instead of in front of her, talk with him rather than at him, watch some WWF wrestling the night before or brush up on the latest X-box games so you have a better chance of making a solid connection. The ability of the Lightning Club Director to connect with the student will be the crutch that both will use to lean on when times get tough…and believe me, the road is not always a smooth one.

Contact

            Now that the forearm has been swabbed and prepped and the veins are clearly visible, it is time to inject the vaccine – time to start building consistent, authentic relationships with the members of the Lightning Club. It is important to remember that contacts are not one individual’s job and cannot be alternated like morning recess duty or hall patrol. All members of the Lightning Club Team are responsible for having daily interactions with the students. Contacts are broken down into two categories: formal and everything else.

            Formal contacts are those that are preplanned, have an identified purpose, and are driven by a specified goal. A meeting to discuss modifying long term goals or to chat about last week’s citation would fall in the category of formal contacts. These are the meetings in which the bills are paid and business in handled.

On the other hand, informal contacts are those that are not planned, do not have a specific purpose or goal, and may last from two seconds to 10 minutes depending on the circumstance. In my experiences, a carefully balanced formula of 20 informal contacts to each formal contact is the correct recipe for success with most students. In order to create a bond with an individual student it is crucial to share “face time.” This is time when you see each other’s face and spend time talking, laughing, crying, giving high-fives, sharing “inside jokes,” or having lunch. There are a thousand opportunities in a day to make subtle, yet vital connections with children. It is important to make contributions to what Steven Covey termed the “Emotional Bank Accounts” (Covey, 1989) of these students as often as possible. This will allow the Team members to make withdrawals when necessary. If the deposits have been nil or slim and the balance reads 0.00 you will find yourself begging for change in crucial situations (Remember, Covey defined an emotional bank account as “a metaphor that describes the amount of trust that’s been built up in a relationship” (1989, p. 188). A personal example follows:

I knew I had built a solid relationship with Chris at 11:00 p.m. on the eve of Thanksgiving. I answered the phone and before I uttered anything more than hello he had entered full crisis mode about his babysitting situation. He was left in charge of his baby sister and had no idea what to do. Over the next few minutes he calmed down and we were able to talk through his situation. Upon returning to school Monday morning we addressed the issue of looking up my phone number and calling me at 11:00 at night…but honestly, I was glad he did.
 

Follow-through

            We are living in a new educational landscape – because of laws and tests and heightened public awareness, this is truly the Era of Accountability. The Lightning Club, really, is no different. Accountability is the catalyst that allows this vaccine to work. All the identifying, planning, and contacts will be for naught if there is no follow-through during the course of the program. The three primary players that must be contacted and questioned in order to provide input and feedback are the teacher, a parent or guardian, and the student.

            The Lightning Club Director may contact teachers via email, direct personal conversations, a weekly note in their mailbox that is returned with comments, or most likely all three. Communication with the teacher allows everyone to remain on the same page (by hearing the student’s story from another point of view) and prevents contradiction in the overall behavior management plan.

            As educators we often feel that we are on an island by ourselves with no help in any direction. This is sad but often reality. On the other hand, parents who are repeatedly contacted, consistently questioned and prodded for information, and relentlessly sought after will eventually contribute to this program. Without the help of the parents it is virtually impossible to hold a student accountable after the dismissal bell in the afternoon. Having a “Lightning Club Agent” in the home, regardless of actual contribution, adds a component of accountability that is otherwise impossible to attain.

            As far as following through with the actual Lightning Club member, I will make it as simple as possible: The absolute most important person to follow-through with is the student. Follow through weekly, daily, hourly, or as often and as many times as humanly possible without following her around like a hungry puppy. Without this piece, the program will not only fail but will cause the member to regress in behavior, as you are just another person that let her down.

The most important part of making contact is to take advantage of ALL the opportunities presented to us each day. Here are a few simple ways I handle the many contacts. First, I have all the members’ schedules readily available on my Lightning Club clipboard. This allows me to find them at any moment during the day. If I’m on my way to the music room and know that Shawn and Isabella are in room 9 on the way…I’ll stop in and share some face-time. Second, I use a chart where I keep tally marks of the contacts that I make each day. Regardless of the individual attention intended, there are those students who will still fall through the cracks for one reason or another. This chart gives me a visual reminder of the students I have seen today and those I need to see tomorrow. The third way I make contact with students is through weekly formal meetings in my office. We look at their goals, review the report from last week, and discuss what we can improve this week.
 

Conclusion

The Lightning Club may not cure cancer, eliminate world hunger, or repair the hole in the ozone (though we also haven’t fully explored the correlation between these situations). It is, however, an effective means of proactively battling discipline issues at an educational institution. The simple four-step process – identify, plan, contact, and follow-through – enables a school community to identify students, provides a framework for overall and lasting behavior management, and motivates students as well as staff to focus on the 5% of students who can, for better or worse, dramatically alter the overall atmosphere of a school.

The measles vaccine has prevented untimely deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the last 50 years. The Lightning Club vaccine will allow our children to proceed through life with the benefit of a solid education, a strong moral foundation, and limitless possibilities for the next 50 years.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000). Available: http://www.cdc.gov.

Covey, S.R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Derek Cordell is the dean of students at Swope Middle School in Washoe County, Nevada.
You can reach him at (775) 342-9683 or via e-mail at DerekCordell@EducationHall.com.

Bring Derek Cordell to your school or district: Click http://www.EducationHall.com/contact.htm for more information.