How the Real World Can Teach Kids to Work
Dear Kid Whisperer,
I have been using Behavioral Leadership strategies and have noticed AMAZING results! Most of my students help run the classroom smoothly, from human alarm clocks to taking care of plants to working cooperatively in their teams. One question though: What could I do if a student refuses to do their work besides failing them? I do not wish to take away recess, and they do not work on their "Laters," either. Do you have any suggestions or advice?
*Note: For the “layperson” out there, Real-World Workshop is the procedure for facilitating independent work for students in school that allows the laws of the universe to befall kids when they work hard (their lives get better) and when they don’t (their lives do not get better).
The idea is that 99% of people do 99% of work for the same reason: to get it done. The one way people can “avoid” work in a healthy way is to finish it so that it isn’t there anymore.
We want kids to think of work this way:
I don’t want this work to be in front of me, so I’ll get it done so that it will then be behind me.
The hope is that, as kids are doing schoolwork, they will eventually come across work that they like, and this can change their life, as it can lead them to a career or vocation that they love.
In Real-World Workshop, students are given “Now” activities, or work that they must complete before doing “Laters”: extremely fun and reinforcing activities. All “Nows” and “Laters” should align with common core standards so that everyone is always learning.
This procedure teaches students some truths about work: most importantly, that when you work hard, your life gets better, and once you’re done with work, you can do things that are more fun than work.
So, the answer to your question is to make sure the procedure is working optimally. Here’s how:
Make sure that, for about three weeks, you pull back on the academic rigor of your “Nows.” Get kids addicted to that feeling of accomplishing tasks (Remember that good feeling you get when you cross a Saturday errand off your list?). Let your students have that feeling A LOT. Also, this gives them ample opportunity to experience that wonderful feeling of being DONE (You know that feeling you get the moment you put your kids to bed, and you know you are done for the day?). Let your students have that feeling, too! Start slowly adding the academic rigor back after three weeks, and scaffold appropriately for the learning levels and differences of different kids. You may give out separate workshop folders for certain kids.
Make the “Laters” amazing! While you have no control over whether kids do work, you have 100% control over how fun, exciting and generally reinforcing your “Laters” are! Err on the side of fun (they may be barely academic at first). Make individualized “Laters” for kids who are less inclined to work. “Laters” must be 50x more fun than staring off into space. You want every kid in your class to look at their list of “Nows” and think, “I could get that done with relative ease…” and you want them to look at the “Laters” and think, “…and I am DYING TO GET TO THOSE LATERS!”
Give more attention to students who are working than those who are not by noticing students who are working.
Let the relative ease of those “Nows” and the super-reinforcing fun of the “Laters” do the teaching about the value of hard work instead of your lectures and nagging about work. It is possible for you to set up workshop perfectly, but then ruin all of it for a kid like the one you are asking about by getting into a power struggle by telling him to do his work. If he is brave enough, he will win the power struggle, because you can’t make him do work.
After making sure that I took care of #s 1 and 2 in my planning, here’s how I would facilitate #s 3 and 4 during class:
Kid Whisperer: I noticed Kid #3 has already completed nine out of ten problems. I noticed Kid #26 is already on her “Laters.”
Kid #5 is staring off into space.
Kid Whisperer (to no one in particular): Feel free to do any “Later” you choose as soon as you are done with your “Nows.”
While the specter of failure can motivate kids to work hard, using Real World-Workshop can create constant motivation to do work well before the failure threat becomes necessary!
For complete instruction on Real-World Workshop in schools, you can read my book, The Classroom Behavior Manual.