Daily Commitments

Part of the Brain-Smart Start in Conscious Discipline involves having the students make and write down a daily commitment. This week I've emphasized writing commitments with my fifth grade students, and have discovered some things that really help my class with this concept.

First I explained to the students the difference between a commitment and a goal. Many students wanted to write "I'll bring my Reading grade up" for their commitment. However, this is a goal because it takes a long time to achieve. I told my students that their commitment must be something they could accomplish during the school day, and it must be measurable. Several students like to write vague statements such as "I will be nice today." When we share our commitments and a student uses one of these vague statements, I always ask them to explain what "nice" looks like. "How will you know if you are being nice? What will you be doing if your being nice?" When the child responds with a concrete example, then I suggest they write that down as their commitment. Now instead of having a vague, difficult to measure promise, the students have something more concrete. "I will be nice today" becomes "I will include others when they are feeling lonely" or "I will remember to control my temper during recess."

During our morning class meeting, I hand each student a post-it note. The students write their commitment for the day on the post-it note and stick it on the corner of their desk. We then share commitments, I help students redirect theirs if necessary, and we begin our day. Throughout the day, I remind students to work on their commitments; the post-it note comes in handy so that they can check their progress.

Before we leave for the day, we take a minute to re-read our commitments and decide if we Oopsed or if we Succeeded. It's really wonderful to see their faces light up when they realize they made their commitment. It's also interesting to see how they respond when they've oopsed; we talk about ways to improve the next day and I help them come up with suggestions. The important thing is I try not to be judgemental about their success or lack thereof; I simply accept their evaluations and move on to the next student.

I also make a daily commitment myself that I share with the students. Yesterday my commitment involved walking a mile during our recess time. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and after half a mile I brought the kids back inside the school. That afternoon when we shared our commitments, several students delighted in pointing out that I did not keep my commitment. They thought it was funny. I found the whole thing very interesting. Personally, I think it is good when students see their teachers make mistakes and then handle those mistakes in a calm, rational manner. After all, isn't that part of teaching too?