Ch. 13 How Do Leading Experts Engender Respect and Civility in the Classroom?

This chapter gives three examples of leading experts’ opinions on how to teach and cultivate a classroom environment that is based on respect and civility.   

The first expert, Dr. P.M. Forni believes that it is the teacher’s responsibility to promote and teach civility in the classroom.  He lists several values and behaviors that he believes are necessary in doing so, including politeness, good manners, tolerance, and helpfulness, among many others.  In his opinion, teachers can use what he terms “rules of considerate conduct” to create a respectful atmosphere.  In short, his theory is based on building mutual respect in the classroom by cultivating kindness, goodness, and self control.  I like to think of him as the “Fruits of The Spirit” guy.  

The next expert, Dr. Michele Borba, takes a similar approach in that she promotes building moral intelligence, stating that teachers should target and address specific behaviors that damage respect in the classroom.  She lists seven “Virtues of Goodness” that she claims are “universally” accepted by all societies (she should talk to some anthropologists  I know about universals in society).  They include empathy, conscience, self-control, respect, kindness, tolerance and fairness.  As a teacher, it is important to model these behavioral characteristics so that students learn them and put them into practice every day.

The final expert, Diane Gossen, believes that self-restitution is the solution to curtailing misbehavior and promoting a respectful classroom.  She created what she calls the “Restitution Triangle” which provides a visual representation for solving problems between students (which to me looks about as useful as flying a plane through the Bermuda Triangle).  Gossen’s Triangle starts out by “stabilizing” the students, moves on to making them feel better by pointing out what they didn’t do wrong, and then helps them decide what things they could have done differently in order to avoid the problem the next time.  I’d like to invite Ms. Gossen to teach in an inner city school in America instead of on a Native Canadian reservation in Saskatchewan to see if her plan works as well as she thinks.   

Sorry if this last bit comes off as rude, but I absolutely disagree with Gossen’s plan, due mostly to my experience with kids here and the ridiculous idea that sitting down and talking out problems with two kids who were just about to stab each other will make the slightest difference.  I like the first two expert opinions and agree that teaching respect is essential in maintain good behavior, but I can’t see any aspect of Gossen’s plan that would work where I teach.  I do believe that promoting the things listed in Galatians 5:22-23, the Fruits of The Spirit, is a great idea.  Unfortunately, it shouldn't take an "expert" to point out that these are things teachers should be doing on a daily basis anyway.  As a figure of authority, and perhaps the only consistent figure of authority a kid might have, teachers should be teaching kindness, goodness, self-control, and forgiveness all the time...without having to be reminded to do so.