From EAGNews.com January 15, 2016 By Victor Skinner > > > > What say you? Agree or disagree and why? > > > >
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Teachers in Charlotte, North Carolina are taking a “no-nonsense” approach to address student behavior problems by eliminating words like “please” from the classroom lexicon.
“Your pencil is in your hand. Your voice is on zero. If you got the problem correct, you’re following along and checking off the answer. If you got the problem incorrect, you are erasing it and correcting it on your paper,” math teacher Jonnecia Alford told students at Druid Hills Academy as she employed the “No-Nonsense Nurturing” method in her sixth grade classroom.
“Vonetia’s looking at me. Denario put her pencil down – good indicator. Monica put hers down and she’s looking at me,” Alford said, according to National Public Radio.
The teaching technique is being used in nine Charlotte schools and numerous other low-income, mostly minority schools across the country. It’s promoted by a former school principal, Kristyn Klei Borrero, who launched the consulting company Center for Transformative Teacher Training to help schools deal with student behavior problems, according to the news site.
The “No Nonsense Nurturing” is part of a broader teaching approach called “MVP,” an acronym for movement, voice and participation, and is designed to leave students with no options but to follow their teacher’s commands, ABC 11 reports.
Using words like “please” implies there is an option to disobey, while short direct commands leave much less room for negotiation.
Borrero told NPR the concepts are nothing new, but are based on observations of effective teachers who expect a lot from their students and only praise outstanding work.
“It notices students who are doing the right thing. It creates this positive momentum, but also gives the students who might have missed the directions another way of hearing it without being nagging, and also seeing it in action,” she said.
But while some tout the benefits of the program, other education experts are less enthused by the approach.
“Maybe we are doing them a favor by teaching them the codes of power, but maybe we’re also participating in some kind of, I don’t know, colonization,” Vanderbilt University education professor Barb Stengel told NPR. “We’re simply teaching kids to look like me.”
“I don’t want these teachers – particularly if they’re going to stay in the profession – to think this is all there is to developing children toward autonomy and responsibility,” she said.
Regardless, testimonials posted to the Center for Transformative Teacher Training website contend the online “No-Nonsense Nurturer” course changed their classrooms for the better. The group, and others, also offer more intensive on-site teacher training.
“Teachers raved about the course but more importantly, it quickly produced a noticeable improvement in their classroom culture and management,” Denver Public Schools executive director of school support Mario Giardiello wrote.
Other testimonials from teachers and charter school operators on the New Teacher Center website – a different organization that offers similar “No-Nonsense Nurturer” training – proclaim that the techniques have “transformed the lives of thousands of kids by transforming the practices of their teachers.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.