November 14, 2023 • 27 mins
Ever wonder what it takes to build a resilient and effective educational system? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Christine Hunt, a seasoned educator with 28 years of experience in our district, as we journey through her personal experiences, challenges, and rewarding moments. She enlightens us on her 'why' for choosing education as a career, a passion ignited by an influential third grade teacher, and her 'AHA moment' when she realized the pivotal role of student-teacher relationships in fostering success.
As we navigate through Christine's journey, we tackle the challenging task she faced when two schools in our district merged. Imagine merging two distinct behavior systems into one, sounds daunting, right? But our guest walks us through how they successfully created a unified behavior philosophy, implemented the Pelham behavior system, introduced 'Love and Logic' and even made 'Fun Fridays' a tradition. Get a first-hand understanding of how these intentional changes can transform a school's behavior management approach.
Yet, all these changes would be futile without teacher buy-in, right? Christine paints a vivid picture of how a consistent program, born out of a year of discontentment, resulted in teachers being more open to change. We discuss how this unity led to the creation of a unique framework for the district, strengthening relationships between teachers and administrators. We also unravel the process of setting up expectations and common goals, ensuring they are not just understood, but followed. Prepare to be inspired by how this collective effort resulted in an expectation of consistency across the entire school. Don't miss this powerful conversation, packed with practical insights and personal experiences!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to PBIS.
Journey to Genius.
Are you in the process ofimplementing PBIS?
Are you wondering where tostart?
You are in the right place.
We are here to support you.
Stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome back.
My name is Diane Farrell andI'm here with Diane Ruff, and we
are two educators that haveworked together for many years
and we have put together apositive behavior interventions
and support system.
Pbis helped our school receivemany gold awards and recognition
over the years, and we're hereto share our trials,
(00:51):
tribulations and successes sothat you might use these to help
in your positive behaviorintervention survey.
We'll also share current issuesin behavior management today
and how PBIS can help with thoseongoing struggles.
So we are doing a podcast everyweek and Diane and I are here
together.
So what are we going to dotoday, Diane?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, the last episode we discussed the
valuable lesson of listening tothe staff, and it is at the
heart of making lasting change.
A school's assets are theteachers and support staff, so
we were learning to capitalizeon the genius within our staff.
Today, we welcome ChristineHunt, who has been in our
(01:33):
district for many years andtaught in the small building
before being integrated into thelarge building.
So welcome Christine.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Good.
Thanks for having me so everytime we have a guest coming, we
ask them two questions, and inour very first episode, diane
and I did these.
So if you want to know ours,you have to go back to the very
first episode and then you'lllearn our answer to these two
questions.
But the first question is yourwhy?
Why, christine, did you getinto education in the very
(02:02):
beginning?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
So my why started in 1983 when I was in third grade
and I had a third grade teacherthat I went to only for reading
Barb Jamison, what's her nameand I was in the top reading
group but I was the lowest ofthe top reading group and so
everybody was working throughtheir little SRA books and they
would do so many and they got togo put a sticker on the chart
and they got to go to DairyQueen and I never got out of
(02:26):
Dirt Brown in the SRA books.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I remember those colors.
I remember those colors too.
I remember those colors too,the lowest level you could be at
.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Why was it brown?
Nobody knows.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I know Dirt Brown, dirt Brown, yes, and then Lime
Brown.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
And I was always in brown, so I was not going to get
to go to Dairy Queen.
And she saw me struggling, knewthat I had potential, and she
walked me up to the chart withthe stickers on it and she said
look, you need this many more toget to go to Dairy Queen.
Everybody's going to get to gowith you.
I really want you to go with us.
It's important to me that youcome with us.
It means something to me that Iget to take you and I really
(02:58):
want you to go.
And that made such an impact onme.
She bent every rule for me.
She had me come up and doseparate assessments and all
those things and just so I couldget there.
I didn't do that stuff theother kids did, but I did what I
needed to do for me to getthere, to be successful.
And I remember years laterthinking, wow, I want to be Barb
Jameson.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I want to be her.
Oh, that's awesome.
That's my one.
That is why I love that.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
That is awesome when one teacher makes an impact like
that.
I remember Barb Jameson too.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I do too Cool, all right.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
So what's your AHA moment?
My AHA moment has beenthroughout the years 28 years in
education and at some point itclicked with me that I needed to
do more to make connections andhave relationships with the
students and that trumps theacademic side every time.
So you won't get the academicsuntil you get those
relationships.
(03:51):
And that was hard at thebeginning of my career because
you know, I knew I love teaching, I knew I love the subject
matter.
Teaching kids to read was supercool, but I couldn't quite make
those relationships.
And then putting so much moreeffort into making the
relationships first and seeingthe results and seeing how the
kids then responded, that wasjust like wow, I wish I had
(04:11):
known this from the beginning,wish I had practiced this from
the beginning.
So that's kind of been my a-haever since and the relationships
with kids is what keeps me init.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So there was one of our sessions that we were
talking about why an educatorstays so long in one district
and the longevity and howimportant that is whenever
you're putting programs together.
So Christine is an example ofthat longevity.
She has been here for how manyyears.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Christine.
Well, in education, 28 years,25 of those have been spent with
yes so 25 years, a quarter of acentury, in one district and
she looks fabulous, and so wedid talk about that.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
that's important when teachers want to stay in a
district, and that longevity andwhat that looks like to make
programs successful.
So, just to know, we had Kendrayou know, last week, mrs
Peterson, who was 36 years inthis district, and now we have
Christine, who's been 25 years.
So those are just awesomeexamples of teachers that have
wanted to stay and make animpact here.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And I love the whole relationship piece because I
didn't even realize that either.
You know, I maybe we're nottaught that in college, but
really it's relationship first,because once the kids know we
really care about them, thenthey will.
They will, like I've heard likewalk through fire you know like
they will go the mile to try todo what they need to do.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
And sometimes that's not intrinsic, sometimes that's
something you learn along theway and you build on the way and
like it's a continual, like Istill try to build every year
and get a little bit more ofthat relationship building every
single year, yeah, and lastweek when we did or two weeks
ago when we did nuts and bolts,one of the things we talked
about, of the big things forPBIS, was relationship building.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
That that's a big part of PBIS to make it
successful.
So you're right on target, allright last week we interviewed,
just to recap, mrs Peterson, whowas a fourth grade teacher, and
she was coming to us from theviewpoint of someone who was
part of our big building.
Remember this, these podcastsleading up to this about two
buildings consolidating a smallbuilding and a large building
(06:16):
and Mrs Peterson, kendra, wascoming from the large building,
850 students and the majority ofteachers.
Well, christine is coming to usfrom the small building.
So this was a small building,about 250, some students,
probably about 12 teachers,maybe 10 to 12 at each grade
level and coming together andwhat that was like.
(06:39):
Okay, so, christine, when youwas doing it, you did have an
established discipline policy.
At your other building we didwhen MIT did not have as much.
So what was that light comingtogether and what were your
frustrations?
What do you remember?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
happening.
So, yeah, we had that systemout at West Elementary and I was
fortunate enough to.
I worked in Alliance for twoyears and they actually
implemented the Pelham behaviorsystem in Alliance at the
building I was at.
They then trained WestElementary.
So by the time I ended up atWest Elementary I'm like whoa,
this is, I know this.
I've been doing this.
So really, only one year out ofmy career I've not had this
(07:14):
type of behavior system,school-wide framework to work
from.
Wow.
So when we came together,obviously I feel like this, this
works for me and I know I'vetweaked it for me and I know how
to make this work because I'vedone it for a lot of years and
had a building where we were alllike total buy-in on that.
So coming into a big buildingand meshing the two, where
(07:37):
everybody kind of had their ownideas and their own systems, it
was kind of frustrating for mebecause you know you want to say
, hey, I've got this and itworks and and let's try it out.
But out of six teachers on mygrade level, I was the only one
from West Elementary andeverybody had their own thing
and some people had Very little,some people had a lot.
(07:58):
It just depends on who and what, but nobody else on my grade
level was doing anything closeto the behavior system that we
had been doing.
It was and they didn't reallyknow much about it today not
much.
We had begun to kind of talkabout it a little bit as people
had transferred from building tobuilding, had brought little
pieces of that with us with them.
There was some talk about it,some elements were implemented,
like on Friday here and there,or talk a little bit about fun
(08:21):
Friday.
So fun Friday is if you meetthe behavior goals throughout
the week.
At the end of the week, onFriday afternoon, the last half
an hour of the day at Westelementary, the entire building
shut down and participated infun Friday.
It was across multiple gradelevels so, like we might do
kindergarten first orkindergarten first and second,
you could buddy up however youwanted.
(08:41):
One person would be the taskteacher who took the kids who
had not met their behavior goalsfor the week and at that point
they had to go and do some workor something.
They weren't allowed toparticipate in the fun activity.
Every other classroom hadactivities and we had a sign up
sheet, sign up sheet.
So maybe you would go to myroom for an art project, maybe
you would go to the next doorteacher's room for singing or or
(09:02):
some kind of a fun activitiesand maybe might go for like a
gym activity or there were justdifferent things, make and much
all kinds of things like that,and kids could sign up for what
they wanted to do every week andgo to different classrooms.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Participate in that, and I do too.
So this is the very beginningof the acknowledgement system.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Very beginning it was , and I do think I was third
grade in this building, the bigbuilding when we came together
that first year, I do believe weand third grade actually did do
that.
I remember kids signing up andI would have an activity yes, or
a task or yes.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
we did that for a while, like we eventually got
enough people on board that theywould do at least that part of
it.
So there were little pockets ofthat, like I said on Friday
being one of them, littlepockets of that old behavior
system from West that we broughtwith us, and that was, that was
pretty widely, you know,received because not everyone
had to do it though Didn't haveto do it and people didn't want
to take time out of academicssome people didn't want to spend
(09:58):
the money or didn't want to,just didn't want to participate.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So then you have the kids that were participating and
got to see kids doing it, andthen kids who weren't
participating in yeah, we're ina part of it, and then you know
you had that inconsistency andso you know, and we did see the
inconsistency here at the officelevel Diane, myself and
Michelle, and so, and then,being in the RTI and also being
(10:23):
in the PBIS, learning about PBIS, at this point, we knew we
needed like a philosophy for thebuilding.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
And so that's when we looked at the love and logic
from Jim Fay and we said in ourpodcast last time that we're not
knocking love and logic at all,it's a very good program.
We were just saying that weprobably didn't roll it out the
best way.
So what were your thoughts likewhen, you know, we came across
that and we thought, becauseDiane and I in our defense, in
(10:54):
our defense, you know, we, wewanted, we saw the need for
everybody to be on the same page?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Oh for sure, we wanted everybody to be on the
same page because things werenot working out like we wanted.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And now I digress because I think maybe had we and
I was an assessment or anadministration then, but had we
taken the time to if theadministration would have taught
us about your stuff at West,the name of that program and the
philosophy behind it?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
and why.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
When we were bringing two buildings together.
That may have helped us.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, see hindsight, I was 20, 20.
It's always 20, 20.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
But you know, like so many schools do, this is where
just this is what we're doing.
We're putting everybodytogether, we're building one
school and we don't.
Administrators don't take thetime to do that, which is why
we're doing this podcast.
So if you're out therelistening.
You need to take the time, butnow I'm moving forward again.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Okay, so when you you know what were your thoughts
when you were handed those books, read it, and we're going to do
it, and this fall yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Be honest.
So it was not a lot of love forlove and logic, and was it
because because, diana, I havegone back and forth on it.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Was it because of the program or is it because you
were just given it and told todo it and not asked your opinion
?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
It was both.
It was both, it was twofold.
If you didn't choose to readthe book over the summer, we got
it at the staff meeting rightbefore school started, right, so
immediately there was an uproarof I've already run off my
behavior sheets, I already havemy daily report cards printed, I
already love all this stuff andI already have this whole
system set up.
And you want me to change in aweek and how I'm going to do
this, and I think it becauseit's gone around a bunch of
(12:33):
times.
The key phrase that kind of seteverybody over the edge was we
are no longer supporting ruleviolations or this or this or
this or this from all of yourseparate plans, your separate
systems, so whatever yourseparate system was.
When you heard that was like, ohmy goodness, now what?
So when I send a kid to theoffice and I understood the
(12:54):
frustration because You've got30, some teachers in this
building, all if you send a kidto the office, we need to know
what your plan is, how they gothere, what the next step is, and
none of that's consistent.
So that makes total sense to methat that would be so
frustrating for theadministration.
So how it was presented, thatput us all on our heels and kind
of made us scramble a littlebit, and for me I had no choice
(13:15):
to but to kind of dig my heelsin and go.
Well, then I'm gonna have to doit in my own room because I
couldn't find, I couldn't makeit right in my brain and find a
way to Do a complete turnaroundin that short amount of time.
So I thought, well then I guessI won't send kids to the office.
So I guess I just won't becauseI know this and I know it works
for me and maybe someday willdo something different.
But for now I got to stick withwhat I know, because there just
(13:35):
wasn't time for me the part oflove and logic that we weren't
fond of.
And I just had this discussionwith my grade level.
Everybody unanimously,unanimously agreed if they were
here back then, that there weregood parts in how you spoke to
children and how you framedthings and how you approach
situations.
And delaying To kind of you know, if you're upset with a child
(13:57):
and you're kind of in thatmoment, this would kind of delay
you a little bit and kind of,you know, make you think about
what was gonna happen first.
The issue is you got 21 littlepeople up there and or 25 or
however many, and to say to achild Something along the lines
of you think about whatconsequence fits the behavior,
and we'll talk about this later.
I'm lucky if I can remember dolunch count?
(14:19):
I'm lucky if I can remember.
I just want to get ready homeand one piece at the end of the
day, so we would lose that andthen like for our little guys,
they can't remember at the endof the day why they got a poor
choice.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Mark be immediate.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
So for them to go.
Oh, a half an hour ago even Idid this and I don't know, it
was just they couldn't do it andit Was frustrating for us, the
management, and I guess we justdidn't have there's probably a
great way to do it, so you getreally good at that and it's
efficient.
We just didn't have the time to, I guess, learn how to be
efficient with it.
So what we ended up doing?
A lot of us, like I, stuck withmy plan, but I tried to take
(14:52):
bits and pieces of love andlogic and apply that's what
Peter's, that's what Kendra saidyeah, she did she said I tried
to embrace some of it.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yes, and stuck with my thing.
But what Diane and I said isfrom everything come is a reason
.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
So, through.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
All of that brought pain, for sure, but it also
brought the.
Why bought the?
Speaker 3 (15:11):
brought the best thing, because now let's fast
forward.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Okay, we've gone through that year.
Now we are calling everyone tothe table because we know people
are frustrated.
We've had a year of this.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
It's very frustrating and and we're hearing about the
framework yes, the PBIsframework, and so we're
realizing that, okay, we now areunderstanding how to build a
framework.
Yes, and again, we realized atthat point in time we could
build a framework and it couldjust be the office.
Or we could build a frameworkand have teacher input.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, so how did you feel what?
What did you want to accomplishwhen you came to that first
meeting?
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Well, there was no better time to get teacher
buy-in.
Then we're when we're comingfrom a year of Chaos and kind of
discontentment, right.
So we're all feeling like thiswas terrible and we need to do
something different.
And people, I think, who wouldnot have normally had buy-in or
even cared and just said dowhatever.
And then let me know what it is.
Those people are now going ohmy gosh, what do I do?
(16:11):
This doesn't work for me.
So we had buy-in like we'venever seen and that was, I think
, a key, pivotal moment for us.
I don't think we would be wherewe are with PBIs had we not had
that year of Discontentment tobe able to set us up.
For now we are open forsomething Anything.
Give us a framework, give ussomething to work from yeah.
(16:32):
And and let us help you build itand let us so.
Then everybody had theiropinions about how they wanted
it to look and how we should.
But you know, we basically tooka lot of what we had then and
we're able to kind of funnel itdown into some some very core
Key pieces.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And did you think now teachers were open to a
consistent Program now, whereasbefore I think they still want
to hang on to their own stuff.
But now they were like, okay,I'm open to, let's do something.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, I'm a person has had that.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Yes, the small building had that, the large
building did not, yes.
So now they're like, okay, pbisis asking it to be consistent.
That is part of the frameworkis for it to be consistent
throughout the building.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
And now teachers are like, yes, this is something we
need so I think the West peoplewere already going yes, bring
something like this back, we'vegot this, we like it, we want it
, we don't want to veer from it,we want to build on it.
And I think other people thatwere discontent.
We're just like oh well, if wehad something that kind of
worked, how can we?
So people were jumping on andthen we did make it our own.
(17:32):
It wasn't like it stayed a Westelementary thing.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
We did make it our own For MES yes, and so you know
I, in being an administratorand only a few years in, at that
point, I was looking forsomething for the consistency,
because I felt like I was allover the place, too, about how
do I deal with all thisdiscipline.
And so when we started hearingabout the framework and that's
(17:55):
what I love about a framework,it's not a manual telling you
almost like the love and logicto this, this and this.
But the framework is, we buildit together and make it our own
with these guidelines, andthat's the first time that had
ever been done at the largebuilding.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I know you at West your teachers had come together
but you had a small group ofteachers.
Yeah, we did.
But at MIT I mean, dyn and Ihave both taught there for many
years this discipline system hadcome from the principle yes,
like you know, we didn't haveany say in that and it really
was your own thing.
That was more of aold-fashioned, you know type of
(18:32):
way to do it.
So coming together so let'sbecause I know we've got don't
have much time left.
But when we came together onthat matrix and you were a big
part of that you came to thefirst meeting but then you kept
into it, partly because I thinkyou'd had so much input from
West.
You were, you know, andalliance, you said so when you
came in that, how did you feelwhen you were starting to help
(18:55):
make the expectations of thebuilding and released time to do
that, like you were given timeto do that.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Yeah, I think it's empowering.
You know, you get to kind ofhelp guide the ship.
You're not just a passenger,like you said.
And again, we all had our ideas, but we had kind of taken our
major, you know, rules and wewere able to kind of fit them
into what would work.
And it was just again, I justkeep coming up with empowering
(19:22):
it was very empowering.
It was like, okay, I have avoice on this, I know what I
would like to see it become, butat the same time there were a
lot of other good ideas that wecould kind of mesh into that.
And so, you know, I think mostpeople were kind of open to all
right, this is a good idea,let's add this in, or we don't
like this part anymore, let'sget rid of this.
But being able to do that as astaff and not just be told by
(19:44):
the administrator or not just behave this, you know, put on you
, that was, I think, another keyselling point for it, because
you would not have had people,even if you had initial buy-in,
you would not have had peoplestay, work through the problems.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
If they were the part of it, you know, yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
But, they would not have stayed, worked through it
and become successful at it andthen gone on to kind of drive
that and continue to drive thatwith new staff members and bring
new people on One of the thingsthat you know we first talked
about in the meeting, where weinvited anybody and everybody to
come.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And we did get a lot of people that I think wouldn't
have normally.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Oh for sure, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Because they're like what's the office doing now?
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Yeah, we're going to be there, which was fine,
because that's what we wanted.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yes, and we had about 25, 26 teachers, which I love.
And the very first thing that Irecall and maybe you recall
differently is we talked aboutwe had learned that we should
have three big positivestatements.
Yeah, and you know, and we putout the ones we had heard Be
safe, be responsible, berespectful and everybody at the
table said, yeah, we like those,yes, we can get behind those.
(20:47):
Then the second thing we talkedabout is we put up that matrix
and we said, ok, what does thatlook?
How do we want our kids tobehave in the hallways?
And you know, everyone aroundthe table said, well, it'd be
nice if they just walked quietlydown the hallway.
Do you remember that?
Yes, I do.
And then from there that kindof grew to.
Well, what does that look like?
They walk in a straight line,the teacher leads them, and then
(21:09):
from there it led to thebathroom.
Yep, you know.
Do you want us to talk a littlebit about that?
Do you remember some of thediscussion we had?
Speaker 3 (21:16):
about that.
I do because, you know, firstof all, a lot of us were coming
with those five main rules andwhat we learned was all of those
could fit into these threebigger categories.
So that was part of it, andonce we got that, it really was
like again, I think, aha momentsfor lots of us when we're like,
oh well, guess what?
(21:37):
Kids don't necessarily know howto walk down Hall quietly.
You think they should just beable to do this.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
We talked about that.
They come to school with a lotless knowing behaviors.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
But we've been here forever, so we're saying they
should know how to do this andthey should, and we taught our
kids to do it and they should,and that's not how it works
anymore.
So it's as simple as and thatwas a big like wow.
It is as simple as.
What do we do when they'rewalking in the hall?
What do we expect?
What should it look like?
How do we make that happen?
Ok, now, what should they do atthe bathroom?
Way down to the one?
(22:08):
Pump of soap, three pools onthe paper towel, five second
drink or whatever it is likeclear down to.
So then it becomes a, notsubjective, it becomes a.
This is what it is.
The behavior is expected acrossthe board.
The building believes this, I'mgoing to teach this.
And then it just becomes amatter of teaching it and oh, we
didn't do that right.
We need to practice again.
(22:29):
And oh, we're going to go backand practice that again.
I talked to a teacher todaythat just said just today she
had a little girl walking up anddown the steps for three tries
at lunchtime because she wasjumping down the steps and it
was actually really unsafe.
She fell.
So she's like no, go back andtry that again.
Go back and try that Third time.
She got it right.
Oh good, I'm so proud of you.
We can go to lunch now.
Like we didn't know that kindof stuff we did.
(22:49):
It was so simple.
It was simple.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
The behavior and we talked about the fact that OK, I
know you're saying things likethree pulls on the paper towel
and some parents even may thinkthat's dumb but the consistency
and the fact we talked aboutthis last week.
We didn't go out and say, hmm,I want Christine Hunt to come
and I want Mrs Peterson, karento Peterson's to come, because I
(23:12):
know they're going.
We didn't do that.
We said everybody can come.
So by opening that invitationand everybody getting together
and deciding on theseexpectations makes, and then the
people would go back to theirgrade levels.
They tell about thoseexpectations.
If they weren't happy withthey're welcome to come.
So with that we came togetherwith that matrix that everybody
(23:34):
agreed on and when that happensthen everybody's willing to
enforce it and practice it andit was amazing how many.
It's an amazing aha, it reallyis.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
It's amazing how many places we could find
commonality, where we could go.
Oh guess what?
You don't want your kids aroundin the hall either.
You don't want them to act likethis at an assembly.
Exactly.
That's what I saw, we all acrossthe board were like, well, no,
this is what we expect, and Iwould say 95% of us were on
board with what we expected.
It was just now how do we getthere?
We had to go a little bitdeeper to decide what should
(24:03):
that look like and what shouldour main key points of that be
so that we can project these tokids?
And, like you said, ok, thepaper towels and the soap.
Are we going to police that,like, oh my gosh, this is the
end of the world?
No, but by putting that outthere, that creates an
expectation for the child sothat they are not standing there
, you know, clicking on thepaper towel thing till the paper
(24:23):
towels are all over the floor.
Or pump and soap and thensplash it.
Just, it sets, you know, thestandard.
We hit it hard at the beginningof the year and then we follow
up on it.
But basically, like you need toact within reason and here are
your reasonable boundaries.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So this is the genius of all of this.
Yes, because I have heardschools talk to schools in the
past and you know the committeewill make the matrix and I say
you need to let the teachersmake open it up.
You know have.
If you're gonna do it afterschool one night, then have we
did it during the day and weprobably had lunch or something
brought in I don't remember, youknow, cause it was a day after
(24:59):
school was out.
We did make those days where wegot subs and stuff, where we
gave six hours and stuff.
But, you know, stay afterschool one night and feed
everybody but and invite anybodythat wants to be a part of it
and aid the educational aids,the teachers, because when they
come around they all begin tosee that we do have a lot in
(25:20):
common and we do want the samething.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
And that's the genius of this.
Yes, I remember theconversation where we brought a
bus driver in and the bus driverwe just realized this bus
driver was having the sameproblem with these kids on the
bus that we were having here andit was something very simple,
and by bringing her into themeetings, we were able to say,
hey, here's what we do, here'swhat we need to.
We need to expect this on thebus now.
We need to expect to just leadto more and more of you know
(25:44):
diving deeper into what thatshould look like, but we all
pretty much wanted the samething as far as how children
should behave, right?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
So in this episode, we have discussed creating the
why, and I think that's reallycool because we have talked a
lot about bringing thesebuildings together and why we
needed this system and why itwas ready to do it.
So our last two episodes AVoice With a Choice and Creating
the why we're showing bringingbuildings together.
So if you're in this processwhere you are consolidating
(26:14):
buildings and you're trying toput together, we have talked
about that for the past twopodcasts so please look at our
podcast, you know, if you'reinterested in that.
We've had great representationToday is Christine Hunt and
we've had a great time with her,and so we're gonna wrap this up
today.
Do you have any other points toshare with us today?
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Not really just.
You know your staff is yourgenius and you need to bring
them together, whether you'reeven a building that's been
around for a long time andyou're just wanting to redo your
, your PBIS but includingeverybody in on that matrix and
the beginning parts of this,year Because the top down does
not work.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
No, it does not.
Top down.
Work from the bottom up, createa solid foundation and have a
majority buy-in.
All right, thank you so muchfor staying with us on episode
six, creating the why I'm DianeFarrell.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
And I'm Diane Ruff.
And so next time, join us onour PBIS journey to genius when
we discuss the beginning ofimplementing tier one.
A year of beginnings.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Thank you, bye-bye On the next episode of hydraulic
painting research.
Welcome to PBIS.
Journey to Genius.
Are you in the process ofimplementing PBIS?
Are you wondering where tostart?
You are in the right place.
We are here to support you.
Stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome back.
My name is Diane Farrell andI'm here with Diane Ruff, and we
are two educators that haveworked together for many years
and we have put together apositive behavior interventions
and support system.
Pbis helped our school receivemany gold awards and recognition
over the years, and we're hereto share our trials,
(00:51):
tribulations and successes sothat you might use these to help
in your positive behaviorintervention survey.
We'll also share current issuesin behavior management today
and how PBIS can help with thoseongoing struggles.
So we are doing a podcast everyweek and Diane and I are here
together.
So what are we going to dotoday, Diane?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, the last episode we discussed the
valuable lesson of listening tothe staff, and it is at the
heart of making lasting change.
A school's assets are theteachers and support staff, so
we were learning to capitalizeon the genius within our staff.
Today, we welcome ChristineHunt, who has been in our
(01:33):
district for many years andtaught in the small building
before being integrated into thelarge building.
So welcome Christine.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Good.
Thanks for having me so everytime we have a guest coming, we
ask them two questions, and inour very first episode, diane
and I did these.
So if you want to know ours,you have to go back to the very
first episode and then you'lllearn our answer to these two
questions.
But the first question is yourwhy?
Why, christine, did you getinto education in the very
(02:02):
beginning?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
So my why started in 1983 when I was in third grade
and I had a third grade teacherthat I went to only for reading
Barb Jamison, what's her nameand I was in the top reading
group but I was the lowest ofthe top reading group and so
everybody was working throughtheir little SRA books and they
would do so many and they got togo put a sticker on the chart
and they got to go to DairyQueen and I never got out of
(02:26):
Dirt Brown in the SRA books.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I remember those colors.
I remember those colors too.
I remember those colors too,the lowest level you could be at
.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Why was it brown?
Nobody knows.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I know Dirt Brown, dirt Brown, yes, and then Lime
Brown.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
And I was always in brown, so I was not going to get
to go to Dairy Queen.
And she saw me struggling, knewthat I had potential, and she
walked me up to the chart withthe stickers on it and she said
look, you need this many more toget to go to Dairy Queen.
Everybody's going to get to gowith you.
I really want you to go with us.
It's important to me that youcome with us.
It means something to me that Iget to take you and I really
(02:58):
want you to go.
And that made such an impact onme.
She bent every rule for me.
She had me come up and doseparate assessments and all
those things and just so I couldget there.
I didn't do that stuff theother kids did, but I did what I
needed to do for me to getthere, to be successful.
And I remember years laterthinking, wow, I want to be Barb
Jameson.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I want to be her.
Oh, that's awesome.
That's my one.
That is why I love that.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
That is awesome when one teacher makes an impact like
that.
I remember Barb Jameson too.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I do too Cool, all right.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
So what's your AHA moment?
My AHA moment has beenthroughout the years 28 years in
education and at some point itclicked with me that I needed to
do more to make connections andhave relationships with the
students and that trumps theacademic side every time.
So you won't get the academicsuntil you get those
relationships.
(03:51):
And that was hard at thebeginning of my career because
you know, I knew I love teaching, I knew I love the subject
matter.
Teaching kids to read was supercool, but I couldn't quite make
those relationships.
And then putting so much moreeffort into making the
relationships first and seeingthe results and seeing how the
kids then responded, that wasjust like wow, I wish I had
(04:11):
known this from the beginning,wish I had practiced this from
the beginning.
So that's kind of been my a-haever since and the relationships
with kids is what keeps me init.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So there was one of our sessions that we were
talking about why an educatorstays so long in one district
and the longevity and howimportant that is whenever
you're putting programs together.
So Christine is an example ofthat longevity.
She has been here for how manyyears.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Christine.
Well, in education, 28 years,25 of those have been spent with
yes so 25 years, a quarter of acentury, in one district and
she looks fabulous, and so wedid talk about that.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
that's important when teachers want to stay in a
district, and that longevity andwhat that looks like to make
programs successful.
So, just to know, we had Kendrayou know, last week, mrs
Peterson, who was 36 years inthis district, and now we have
Christine, who's been 25 years.
So those are just awesomeexamples of teachers that have
wanted to stay and make animpact here.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And I love the whole relationship piece because I
didn't even realize that either.
You know, I maybe we're nottaught that in college, but
really it's relationship first,because once the kids know we
really care about them, thenthey will.
They will, like I've heard likewalk through fire you know like
they will go the mile to try todo what they need to do.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
And sometimes that's not intrinsic, sometimes that's
something you learn along theway and you build on the way and
like it's a continual, like Istill try to build every year
and get a little bit more ofthat relationship building every
single year, yeah, and lastweek when we did or two weeks
ago when we did nuts and bolts,one of the things we talked
about, of the big things forPBIS, was relationship building.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
That that's a big part of PBIS to make it
successful.
So you're right on target, allright last week we interviewed,
just to recap, mrs Peterson, whowas a fourth grade teacher, and
she was coming to us from theviewpoint of someone who was
part of our big building.
Remember this, these podcastsleading up to this about two
buildings consolidating a smallbuilding and a large building
(06:16):
and Mrs Peterson, kendra, wascoming from the large building,
850 students and the majority ofteachers.
Well, christine is coming to usfrom the small building.
So this was a small building,about 250, some students,
probably about 12 teachers,maybe 10 to 12 at each grade
level and coming together andwhat that was like.
(06:39):
Okay, so, christine, when youwas doing it, you did have an
established discipline policy.
At your other building we didwhen MIT did not have as much.
So what was that light comingtogether and what were your
frustrations?
What do you remember?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
happening.
So, yeah, we had that systemout at West Elementary and I was
fortunate enough to.
I worked in Alliance for twoyears and they actually
implemented the Pelham behaviorsystem in Alliance at the
building I was at.
They then trained WestElementary.
So by the time I ended up atWest Elementary I'm like whoa,
this is, I know this.
I've been doing this.
So really, only one year out ofmy career I've not had this
(07:14):
type of behavior system,school-wide framework to work
from.
Wow.
So when we came together,obviously I feel like this, this
works for me and I know I'vetweaked it for me and I know how
to make this work because I'vedone it for a lot of years and
had a building where we were alllike total buy-in on that.
So coming into a big buildingand meshing the two, where
(07:37):
everybody kind of had their ownideas and their own systems, it
was kind of frustrating for mebecause you know you want to say
, hey, I've got this and itworks and and let's try it out.
But out of six teachers on mygrade level, I was the only one
from West Elementary andeverybody had their own thing
and some people had Very little,some people had a lot.
(07:58):
It just depends on who and what, but nobody else on my grade
level was doing anything closeto the behavior system that we
had been doing.
It was and they didn't reallyknow much about it today not
much.
We had begun to kind of talkabout it a little bit as people
had transferred from building tobuilding, had brought little
pieces of that with us with them.
There was some talk about it,some elements were implemented,
like on Friday here and there,or talk a little bit about fun
(08:21):
Friday.
So fun Friday is if you meetthe behavior goals throughout
the week.
At the end of the week, onFriday afternoon, the last half
an hour of the day at Westelementary, the entire building
shut down and participated infun Friday.
It was across multiple gradelevels so, like we might do
kindergarten first orkindergarten first and second,
you could buddy up however youwanted.
(08:41):
One person would be the taskteacher who took the kids who
had not met their behavior goalsfor the week and at that point
they had to go and do some workor something.
They weren't allowed toparticipate in the fun activity.
Every other classroom hadactivities and we had a sign up
sheet, sign up sheet.
So maybe you would go to myroom for an art project, maybe
you would go to the next doorteacher's room for singing or or
(09:02):
some kind of a fun activitiesand maybe might go for like a
gym activity or there were justdifferent things, make and much
all kinds of things like that,and kids could sign up for what
they wanted to do every week andgo to different classrooms.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Participate in that, and I do too.
So this is the very beginningof the acknowledgement system.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Very beginning it was , and I do think I was third
grade in this building, the bigbuilding when we came together
that first year, I do believe weand third grade actually did do
that.
I remember kids signing up andI would have an activity yes, or
a task or yes.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
we did that for a while, like we eventually got
enough people on board that theywould do at least that part of
it.
So there were little pockets ofthat, like I said on Friday
being one of them, littlepockets of that old behavior
system from West that we broughtwith us, and that was, that was
pretty widely, you know,received because not everyone
had to do it though Didn't haveto do it and people didn't want
to take time out of academicssome people didn't want to spend
(09:58):
the money or didn't want to,just didn't want to participate.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So then you have the kids that were participating and
got to see kids doing it, andthen kids who weren't
participating in yeah, we're ina part of it, and then you know
you had that inconsistency andso you know, and we did see the
inconsistency here at the officelevel Diane, myself and
Michelle, and so, and then,being in the RTI and also being
(10:23):
in the PBIS, learning about PBIS, at this point, we knew we
needed like a philosophy for thebuilding.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
And so that's when we looked at the love and logic
from Jim Fay and we said in ourpodcast last time that we're not
knocking love and logic at all,it's a very good program.
We were just saying that weprobably didn't roll it out the
best way.
So what were your thoughts likewhen, you know, we came across
that and we thought, becauseDiane and I in our defense, in
(10:54):
our defense, you know, we, wewanted, we saw the need for
everybody to be on the same page?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Oh for sure, we wanted everybody to be on the
same page because things werenot working out like we wanted.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And now I digress because I think maybe had we and
I was an assessment or anadministration then, but had we
taken the time to if theadministration would have taught
us about your stuff at West,the name of that program and the
philosophy behind it?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
and why.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
When we were bringing two buildings together.
That may have helped us.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, see hindsight, I was 20, 20.
It's always 20, 20.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
But you know, like so many schools do, this is where
just this is what we're doing.
We're putting everybodytogether, we're building one
school and we don't.
Administrators don't take thetime to do that, which is why
we're doing this podcast.
So if you're out therelistening.
You need to take the time, butnow I'm moving forward again.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Okay, so when you you know what were your thoughts
when you were handed those books, read it, and we're going to do
it, and this fall yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Be honest.
So it was not a lot of love forlove and logic, and was it
because because, diana, I havegone back and forth on it.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Was it because of the program or is it because you
were just given it and told todo it and not asked your opinion
?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
It was both.
It was both, it was twofold.
If you didn't choose to readthe book over the summer, we got
it at the staff meeting rightbefore school started, right, so
immediately there was an uproarof I've already run off my
behavior sheets, I already havemy daily report cards printed, I
already love all this stuff andI already have this whole
system set up.
And you want me to change in aweek and how I'm going to do
this, and I think it becauseit's gone around a bunch of
(12:33):
times.
The key phrase that kind of seteverybody over the edge was we
are no longer supporting ruleviolations or this or this or
this or this from all of yourseparate plans, your separate
systems, so whatever yourseparate system was.
When you heard that was like, ohmy goodness, now what?
So when I send a kid to theoffice and I understood the
(12:54):
frustration because You've got30, some teachers in this
building, all if you send a kidto the office, we need to know
what your plan is, how they gothere, what the next step is, and
none of that's consistent.
So that makes total sense to methat that would be so
frustrating for theadministration.
So how it was presented, thatput us all on our heels and kind
of made us scramble a littlebit, and for me I had no choice
(13:15):
to but to kind of dig my heelsin and go.
Well, then I'm gonna have to doit in my own room because I
couldn't find, I couldn't makeit right in my brain and find a
way to Do a complete turnaroundin that short amount of time.
So I thought, well then I guessI won't send kids to the office.
So I guess I just won't becauseI know this and I know it works
for me and maybe someday willdo something different.
But for now I got to stick withwhat I know, because there just
(13:35):
wasn't time for me the part oflove and logic that we weren't
fond of.
And I just had this discussionwith my grade level.
Everybody unanimously,unanimously agreed if they were
here back then, that there weregood parts in how you spoke to
children and how you framedthings and how you approach
situations.
And delaying To kind of you know, if you're upset with a child
(13:57):
and you're kind of in thatmoment, this would kind of delay
you a little bit and kind of,you know, make you think about
what was gonna happen first.
The issue is you got 21 littlepeople up there and or 25 or
however many, and to say to achild Something along the lines
of you think about whatconsequence fits the behavior,
and we'll talk about this later.
I'm lucky if I can remember dolunch count?
(14:19):
I'm lucky if I can remember.
I just want to get ready homeand one piece at the end of the
day, so we would lose that andthen like for our little guys,
they can't remember at the endof the day why they got a poor
choice.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Mark be immediate.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
So for them to go.
Oh, a half an hour ago even Idid this and I don't know, it
was just they couldn't do it andit Was frustrating for us, the
management, and I guess we justdidn't have there's probably a
great way to do it, so you getreally good at that and it's
efficient.
We just didn't have the time to, I guess, learn how to be
efficient with it.
So what we ended up doing?
A lot of us, like I, stuck withmy plan, but I tried to take
(14:52):
bits and pieces of love andlogic and apply that's what
Peter's, that's what Kendra saidyeah, she did she said I tried
to embrace some of it.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yes, and stuck with my thing.
But what Diane and I said isfrom everything come is a reason
.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
So, through.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
All of that brought pain, for sure, but it also
brought the.
Why bought the?
Speaker 3 (15:11):
brought the best thing, because now let's fast
forward.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Okay, we've gone through that year.
Now we are calling everyone tothe table because we know people
are frustrated.
We've had a year of this.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
It's very frustrating and and we're hearing about the
framework yes, the PBIsframework, and so we're
realizing that, okay, we now areunderstanding how to build a
framework.
Yes, and again, we realized atthat point in time we could
build a framework and it couldjust be the office.
Or we could build a frameworkand have teacher input.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, so how did you feel what?
What did you want to accomplishwhen you came to that first
meeting?
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Well, there was no better time to get teacher
buy-in.
Then we're when we're comingfrom a year of Chaos and kind of
discontentment, right.
So we're all feeling like thiswas terrible and we need to do
something different.
And people, I think, who wouldnot have normally had buy-in or
even cared and just said dowhatever.
And then let me know what it is.
Those people are now going ohmy gosh, what do I do?
(16:11):
This doesn't work for me.
So we had buy-in like we'venever seen and that was, I think
, a key, pivotal moment for us.
I don't think we would be wherewe are with PBIs had we not had
that year of Discontentment tobe able to set us up.
For now we are open forsomething Anything.
Give us a framework, give ussomething to work from yeah.
(16:32):
And and let us help you build itand let us so.
Then everybody had theiropinions about how they wanted
it to look and how we should.
But you know, we basically tooka lot of what we had then and
we're able to kind of funnel itdown into some some very core
Key pieces.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And did you think now teachers were open to a
consistent Program now, whereasbefore I think they still want
to hang on to their own stuff.
But now they were like, okay,I'm open to, let's do something.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, I'm a person has had that.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Yes, the small building had that, the large
building did not, yes.
So now they're like, okay, pbisis asking it to be consistent.
That is part of the frameworkis for it to be consistent
throughout the building.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
And now teachers are like, yes, this is something we
need so I think the West peoplewere already going yes, bring
something like this back, we'vegot this, we like it, we want it
, we don't want to veer from it,we want to build on it.
And I think other people thatwere discontent.
We're just like oh well, if wehad something that kind of
worked, how can we?
So people were jumping on andthen we did make it our own.
(17:32):
It wasn't like it stayed a Westelementary thing.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
We did make it our own For MES yes, and so you know
I, in being an administratorand only a few years in, at that
point, I was looking forsomething for the consistency,
because I felt like I was allover the place, too, about how
do I deal with all thisdiscipline.
And so when we started hearingabout the framework and that's
(17:55):
what I love about a framework,it's not a manual telling you
almost like the love and logicto this, this and this.
But the framework is, we buildit together and make it our own
with these guidelines, andthat's the first time that had
ever been done at the largebuilding.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I know you at West your teachers had come together
but you had a small group ofteachers.
Yeah, we did.
But at MIT I mean, dyn and Ihave both taught there for many
years this discipline system hadcome from the principle yes,
like you know, we didn't haveany say in that and it really
was your own thing.
That was more of aold-fashioned, you know type of
(18:32):
way to do it.
So coming together so let'sbecause I know we've got don't
have much time left.
But when we came together onthat matrix and you were a big
part of that you came to thefirst meeting but then you kept
into it, partly because I thinkyou'd had so much input from
West.
You were, you know, andalliance, you said so when you
came in that, how did you feelwhen you were starting to help
(18:55):
make the expectations of thebuilding and released time to do
that, like you were given timeto do that.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Yeah, I think it's empowering.
You know, you get to kind ofhelp guide the ship.
You're not just a passenger,like you said.
And again, we all had our ideas, but we had kind of taken our
major, you know, rules and wewere able to kind of fit them
into what would work.
And it was just again, I justkeep coming up with empowering
(19:22):
it was very empowering.
It was like, okay, I have avoice on this, I know what I
would like to see it become, butat the same time there were a
lot of other good ideas that wecould kind of mesh into that.
And so, you know, I think mostpeople were kind of open to all
right, this is a good idea,let's add this in, or we don't
like this part anymore, let'sget rid of this.
But being able to do that as astaff and not just be told by
(19:44):
the administrator or not just behave this, you know, put on you
, that was, I think, another keyselling point for it, because
you would not have had people,even if you had initial buy-in,
you would not have had peoplestay, work through the problems.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
If they were the part of it, you know, yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
But, they would not have stayed, worked through it
and become successful at it andthen gone on to kind of drive
that and continue to drive thatwith new staff members and bring
new people on One of the thingsthat you know we first talked
about in the meeting, where weinvited anybody and everybody to
come.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And we did get a lot of people that I think wouldn't
have normally.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Oh for sure, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Because they're like what's the office doing now?
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Yeah, we're going to be there, which was fine,
because that's what we wanted.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yes, and we had about 25, 26 teachers, which I love.
And the very first thing that Irecall and maybe you recall
differently is we talked aboutwe had learned that we should
have three big positivestatements.
Yeah, and you know, and we putout the ones we had heard Be
safe, be responsible, berespectful and everybody at the
table said, yeah, we like those,yes, we can get behind those.
(20:47):
Then the second thing we talkedabout is we put up that matrix
and we said, ok, what does thatlook?
How do we want our kids tobehave in the hallways?
And you know, everyone aroundthe table said, well, it'd be
nice if they just walked quietlydown the hallway.
Do you remember that?
Yes, I do.
And then from there that kindof grew to.
Well, what does that look like?
They walk in a straight line,the teacher leads them, and then
(21:09):
from there it led to thebathroom.
Yep, you know.
Do you want us to talk a littlebit about that?
Do you remember some of thediscussion we had?
Speaker 3 (21:16):
about that.
I do because, you know, firstof all, a lot of us were coming
with those five main rules andwhat we learned was all of those
could fit into these threebigger categories.
So that was part of it, andonce we got that, it really was
like again, I think, aha momentsfor lots of us when we're like,
oh well, guess what?
(21:37):
Kids don't necessarily know howto walk down Hall quietly.
You think they should just beable to do this.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
We talked about that.
They come to school with a lotless knowing behaviors.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
But we've been here forever, so we're saying they
should know how to do this andthey should, and we taught our
kids to do it and they should,and that's not how it works
anymore.
So it's as simple as and thatwas a big like wow.
It is as simple as.
What do we do when they'rewalking in the hall?
What do we expect?
What should it look like?
How do we make that happen?
Ok, now, what should they do atthe bathroom?
Way down to the one?
(22:08):
Pump of soap, three pools onthe paper towel, five second
drink or whatever it is likeclear down to.
So then it becomes a, notsubjective, it becomes a.
This is what it is.
The behavior is expected acrossthe board.
The building believes this, I'mgoing to teach this.
And then it just becomes amatter of teaching it and oh, we
didn't do that right.
We need to practice again.
(22:29):
And oh, we're going to go backand practice that again.
I talked to a teacher todaythat just said just today she
had a little girl walking up anddown the steps for three tries
at lunchtime because she wasjumping down the steps and it
was actually really unsafe.
She fell.
So she's like no, go back andtry that again.
Go back and try that Third time.
She got it right.
Oh good, I'm so proud of you.
We can go to lunch now.
Like we didn't know that kindof stuff we did.
(22:49):
It was so simple.
It was simple.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
The behavior and we talked about the fact that OK, I
know you're saying things likethree pulls on the paper towel
and some parents even may thinkthat's dumb but the consistency
and the fact we talked aboutthis last week.
We didn't go out and say, hmm,I want Christine Hunt to come
and I want Mrs Peterson, karento Peterson's to come, because I
(23:12):
know they're going.
We didn't do that.
We said everybody can come.
So by opening that invitationand everybody getting together
and deciding on theseexpectations makes, and then the
people would go back to theirgrade levels.
They tell about thoseexpectations.
If they weren't happy withthey're welcome to come.
So with that we came togetherwith that matrix that everybody
(23:34):
agreed on and when that happensthen everybody's willing to
enforce it and practice it andit was amazing how many.
It's an amazing aha, it reallyis.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
It's amazing how many places we could find
commonality, where we could go.
Oh guess what?
You don't want your kids aroundin the hall either.
You don't want them to act likethis at an assembly.
Exactly.
That's what I saw, we all acrossthe board were like, well, no,
this is what we expect, and Iwould say 95% of us were on
board with what we expected.
It was just now how do we getthere?
We had to go a little bitdeeper to decide what should
(24:03):
that look like and what shouldour main key points of that be
so that we can project these tokids?
And, like you said, ok, thepaper towels and the soap.
Are we going to police that,like, oh my gosh, this is the
end of the world?
No, but by putting that outthere, that creates an
expectation for the child sothat they are not standing there
, you know, clicking on thepaper towel thing till the paper
(24:23):
towels are all over the floor.
Or pump and soap and thensplash it.
Just, it sets, you know, thestandard.
We hit it hard at the beginningof the year and then we follow
up on it.
But basically, like you need toact within reason and here are
your reasonable boundaries.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So this is the genius of all of this.
Yes, because I have heardschools talk to schools in the
past and you know the committeewill make the matrix and I say
you need to let the teachersmake open it up.
You know have.
If you're gonna do it afterschool one night, then have we
did it during the day and weprobably had lunch or something
brought in I don't remember, youknow, cause it was a day after
(24:59):
school was out.
We did make those days where wegot subs and stuff, where we
gave six hours and stuff.
But, you know, stay afterschool one night and feed
everybody but and invite anybodythat wants to be a part of it
and aid the educational aids,the teachers, because when they
come around they all begin tosee that we do have a lot in
(25:20):
common and we do want the samething.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
And that's the genius of this.
Yes, I remember theconversation where we brought a
bus driver in and the bus driverwe just realized this bus
driver was having the sameproblem with these kids on the
bus that we were having here andit was something very simple,
and by bringing her into themeetings, we were able to say,
hey, here's what we do, here'swhat we need to.
We need to expect this on thebus now.
We need to expect to just leadto more and more of you know
(25:44):
diving deeper into what thatshould look like, but we all
pretty much wanted the samething as far as how children
should behave, right?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
So in this episode, we have discussed creating the
why, and I think that's reallycool because we have talked a
lot about bringing thesebuildings together and why we
needed this system and why itwas ready to do it.
So our last two episodes AVoice With a Choice and Creating
the why we're showing bringingbuildings together.
So if you're in this processwhere you are consolidating
(26:14):
buildings and you're trying toput together, we have talked
about that for the past twopodcasts so please look at our
podcast, you know, if you'reinterested in that.
We've had great representationToday is Christine Hunt and
we've had a great time with her,and so we're gonna wrap this up
today.
Do you have any other points toshare with us today?
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Not really just.
You know your staff is yourgenius and you need to bring
them together, whether you'reeven a building that's been
around for a long time andyou're just wanting to redo your
, your PBIS but includingeverybody in on that matrix and
the beginning parts of this,year Because the top down does
not work.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
No, it does not.
Top down.
Work from the bottom up, createa solid foundation and have a
majority buy-in.
All right, thank you so muchfor staying with us on episode
six, creating the why I'm DianeFarrell.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
And I'm Diane Ruff.
And so next time, join us onour PBIS journey to genius when
we discuss the beginning ofimplementing tier one.
A year of beginnings.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Thank you, bye-bye On the next episode of hydraulic
painting research.
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