MAKE MY DAY

Dick Buscher

Indian Bend School

Paradise Valley School District

Phoenix, Arizona

The "Make My Day" program is a discipline program with only one, simple rule:  "No one has the right to interfere with the learning or rights of another."  That's it; no long list hanging from the classroom walls about the "don'ts" of the school environment.  It's simple: No one has the right to interfere with my learning, nor my right to safety, dignity and respect; likewise, I have no right to interfere with the rights of other students to learn or the teacher's right to teach.  If I do not interfere with others rights, I "Make My Day"; if I do interfere with the learning or rights of others, I follow a series of "steps" that are designed not to be punitive, but to help me change that inappropriate behavior through recognition of the problem, identification of a different appropriate behavior and an understanding as to why the correction needs to take place.

Let me respond to some of the criticism I have heard about "Make My Day:"

1.       MAKE MY DAY causes children to tattle on each other.  Let me assure you that on the very first day I taught in Mattoon, Illinois, in 1969, I had students telling me what other students had done to him/her.  Make My Day did not invent student tattling, but what it has done, for the first time in my educational career, is provide a safe, constructive format whereby students can talk to other students about their grievances.  Conflict is a daily part of all of our lives, Make My Day allows this conflict to be worked out in a constructive way instead of fighting, note writing, "I'll get you . . . ", etc.

2.       Students make up lies about other students to get back during the giving of points. Well, it is possible for one student to lie about another student, but that possibility exists in any and all discipline program that has ever been used.  Make My Day requires the teacher to be a very active listener and if he/she believes that a student is making up these lies, that student loses "trust" and the right to disagree during point time.  Other discipline systems have no guarantee against made up lies nor any mechanism by which the teacher deals with these alleged lies.

3.       Make My Day allows kids to extort other kids.  Well, once again I will tell you that some kids have been trying to extort other kids from the first day that I entered a classroom.  Under other discipline programs, the teacher/principal is asked to be juror and judge, to believe one student's story over another, and to hand out some type of judgment. Once again, Make My Day provides a safe format where a student can address this problem with the other student and allow the teacher/principal to become aware of the conflict and help in the establishment of a solution.

4.       Children feel great pressure to "make their day."  If this pressure is being imposed on children, it comes from sources outside the school, not the Make My Day Program.  Never, never, never are children told that they must be perfect to make their day.  In fact, they are taught that making mistakes is a normal process of growth and learning from our mistakes is the key.  Children learn that message from day # 1 of their training and it is reinforced daily by their teachers and myself.  Students can make mistakes and still make their day; they do not have to be perfect.

5.       Make My Day embarrasses kids when they go to "steps" and sit or stand at a chair along the perimeter of the room.  This again is not what the child is taught about steps.  A step is a "place" that a child is asked to go, by the teacher, when that child's behavior is interrupting the learning or teaching of others. The child is asked to reflect as to why he/she was asked to go to step #1, how he/she can act differently in the future and then quickly (usually 2-5 minutes) return to his/her seat.  Please note that while the student is on "step 1", he/she is still hearing the instructional lesson being taught.  The "problem" is done and over with, not to be known by anyone who later happens to enter the room.  If the child goes to Step 1 and continues to disrupt, he/she can move through Step 2, 3 and finally to Step 4.  Step 4 requires the student to come to the office, call his/her parents, and ask them to come to school for a conference.  If Mom or Dad can't come to school at that time, the child remains out of his/her classroom until that conference occurs; he/she has lost the privilege of being in that classroom until his/her behavior is corrected.

Now, under another commonly used discipline program, if a student does something that is judged wrong by the teacher, his/her name is written on the chalkboard for all to see.  That child can be perfect for the rest of the school day but his/her name never comes off the board until school is over.  Could this not cause embarrassment and does it not teach the child that he/she must be perfect or his/her name is put on public display with no hope of forgiveness?  If they continue to misbehave, they are given check marks beside their name until they reach a certain number of checks, then kicked out of the classroom.  No child can hear the instructional lesson while they are excluded from the classroom.  Often, a conference with parents is also required, and often the students must just sits in the office area, waiting for the principal to have time to hear and judge on his/her behavior problem.

Step 1 of Make My Day allows the child to readjust his/her behavior and rejoin his classmates within three minutes, with no public display that he/she ever had a problem.  It's simply done and over with.

Now, let me address some of the advantages that the Make My Day Program offers to the children and teachers of Indian Bend that no other discipline program ever allowed.

1.       All students can succeed each day to make their day, be congratulated and leave school feeling good that they made their day.  This program shows a child that his/her job is to do the best he/she can, work to the utmost of his/her ability, don't interfere with others learning and if he/she does that, he/she has made his/her day.  No other discipline program I've ever been associated with will allow 700+ students to be recognized for good work and good behavior every day. Make My Day makes this possible every school day for 700+ Indian Bend students.

2.       Under most discipline programs, children who misbehave get the attention of the teacher; Under Make My Day, the students who do are on task working and do not interfere with others, are the ones who get the praise and attention of the teacher. 

3.       Make My Day teaches students that they are responsible for their learning behavior from the time they leave school until they return the next morning.  This includes their interaction with other students as they walk to and from school and most importantly, they are responsible for remembering, doing and returning with their homework.  Wow, a discipline program that helps with school related issues (homework) away from the school site.  That fact is of great benefit to my teachers.

4.       Make My Day requires that the class stops approximately every 45 minutes to identify whether all members of that class have earned their designated points for that period.
This process now takes only a few minutes.  But, what it requires of students is to check with themselves approximately six times daily as to whether they are doing what they are supposed to do.

5.       Make My Day is positively motivated not negatively motivated.  It constantly puts students in positions to succeed not fail, to be uninterrupted by others and to know that they must be the best that they can be.  Students who make straight A's can make their day, and so can students who make straight D's or even F's IF each has worked to the best of their ability and not interfered with the learning of others.  Make My Day is positive for all students who try to be the best that they can be.

6.       Make My Day constantly points out to students that being responsible for his/her learning is the key to school and probably lifelong success.  When a child acknowledges that he/she has not earned their points for a particular instructional period, the teacher's verbal response is "Thank you for taking responsibility."  That continual praise for personal responsibility is a unique and special strength of Make My Day.

So, what happens at the end of the school day if a child does not make their day?  A note is sent home to the parents informing them of the child's difficulty.  This daily communication with parents is critical for changing negative behavior and another strength of the program.