Chief of Strategy and Turnaround Erin Linville interviewed Morgan’s Dean of Students Carmen Lopez to learn more about how the Morgan team supports students to be their best selves. Ms. Linville used what she learned to write this fictionalized account of a day in the classroom that is based on real-life scenarios that help illustrate the power of the student support team in action.
It’s 8:30 a.m. The doors at Morgan School open. A teacher individually greets 21 students as they enter their classroom. Students are offered a breakfast of bagel bites with strawberry cream cheese and orange slices. Soon after, the teacher helps students transition to morning meeting, and the learning day begins. Most children are ready to learn, but some might not be quite ready. Perhaps they had a rough morning. They might be sleepy or worried about something at home. Each person brings a range of experiences and feelings to their classroom each day, so school staff work together to support students’ needs at any given time.
In this realistic but not actual scenario, “Cameron” behaves in a way that affects classroom learning. Perhaps Cameron is off task and the teacher tries to redirect them to the lesson at hand. Perhaps Cameron raises their hand to ask a question but doesn’t get an immediate response so they yell at the teacher. Perhaps Cameron is frustrated that they aren’t sure how to complete an assignment so they purposely knock over a chair.
The teacher first proactively tries a variety of interventions to redirect the student’s attention and behavior, but if that’s not successful, the teacher will email or call members of the student support team for assistance, which includes the dean of students, a student support paraeducator, counselors, the administrative team, and specials teachers (art, physical education, etc).
In this illustrative scenario, let’s say Dean of Students Carmen Lopez responds to the teacher’s call for assistance. She arrives in the classroom, speaks with the teacher for a moment, and then accompanies Cameron to the student support room. She sits with Cameron for a bit, working with them to process their feelings about the situation and so she can better understand what triggered Cameron’s behavioral response in the classroom that morning.
Ms. Lopez also wants to help Cameron process and understand what led up to their outburst in the classroom that morning—and that they experienced harm that morning. Before Cameron threw the chair or yelled at the teacher, they were already struggling with the morning’s lesson and feeling inadequate about their ability to learn. Those feelings grew bigger when their raised hand went unanswered and the teacher did not respond as fast as they wanted.
Then, after Cameron understands his feelings and that he experienced harm, she will ask, “Was anyone else harmed?” Cameron may be able to identify that their teacher or classmates were harmed by the chair throwing. Then, Ms. Lopez and Cameron discuss, “What are next steps you could take next time you feel this way?” Cameron might identify that they could wait and breathe, or walk to the calm-down corner of the classroom, or request to visit the student support room for a break.
“There can be a negative thought about going to the student support room,” Ms. Lopez noted. “It’s not in-house detention. It’s in the word support. The room is intended to be used for a break, and during that break an available student support team member can use this opportunity as a social emotional learning intervention. It’s an opportunity to calm down, process, and restore.”
When Ms. Lopez accompanies Cameron back to the classroom, she will privately provide the teacher with a quick update on the situation and response. The teacher welcomes the student back into the learning environment.
“Whatever was happening with the student at 9:30 a.m. isn’t happening at 10 a.m.,” Ms. Lopez explained. “It’s a chance for a fresh start.”
From there, Ms. Lopez will email all members of the student support team so everyone understands how the student was supported and how the situation was addressed.
“We don’t force a student to apologize,” she explained. “What we focus on is the understanding of the harm that has occurred so that we are able to make decisions that have positive intentions. Often, the student will apologize to the teacher, a classmate or even the entire class once they’ve had the opportunity to understand the harm that was caused.”
Every situation is different, she said. Sometimes, a student may just need to leave the classroom space, process what happened, and perhaps complete some other school work or another consequence, before returning back to class. “In HPS, we strive for a balance between restorative practices and appropriate consequences.”
The emphasis on restorative practices helps contribute to a more supportive, student-centered culture at school, Ms. Lopez said. “A behavior isn’t positive or negative. It’s just a reaction to a feeling, and we don’t want to dismiss anyone’s feelings. We want to understand the root cause of the feeling and find appropriate ways of expressing or dealing with that feeling. We at Morgan want our students to care about the community and find ways to decrease harm that often affects us all.”
Morgan Principal Sacha Garcia-Mailloux sees real value in restorative practices. “Our team at Morgan is hopeful that the restorative approach will allow them to better understand and meet students’ needs, so that the entire classroom community can be focused on both social emotional and academic learning.”