Whole Child Improving Approaches to Behavior Change: Applying the ASCD Whole Child Tenets Dr. Jessica Zanton
Dr. Louise M. Yoho
Introduction In the book Why Are We Still Doing That? the authors identify out-of-date teaching practices and recommend alternatives that are more supportive of the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional learning needs of children. These recommendations align with the five Whole Child tenets of ASCD. According to the tenets, students should be Healthy, Safe, Engaged, Supported, and Challenged. The focus of this article is on the outdated practices of using behavior charts and taking away recess as strategies for managing student behavior. Specifically, these practices will be analyzed in relation to the ASCD Whole Child Tenet #2: Safe, which states that “Each student learns in an environment that is physically and emotionally safe for students and adults.” When thinking of the concept of safety, many people first think of the physical aspects of an environment: Is the space free of dangerous materials? Are furnishings and materials designed for the needs of students who are in that room? Is there an evacuation plan, should the need arise? We cannot deny the immediate importance of these issues. But increasingly educators have focused on 14
