Introducing "Mean Jean"--Unthinkable # 1

Mean Jean

Mean Jean’s Plans		Strategies to DEFEAT Mean Jean
1.	May get you to say mean or hurtful things to others.	Self-talk: "Will this hurt my friend’s feelings?" Keep bragging, bossy, or hurtful thoughts in our brains.     “If I have a thought, I wait my turn to share it” Wait my turn     “If someone asks for my help, I will try my best to help.” Ask if my friend needs my help..don't just do it!      “If someone hurts me, I have the right to walk away and tell an adult” It is my responsibility to keep a peaceful classroom and school!
2.	May get you to insult someone or name call.
3.	May get you to grab or take things from others.
4.	May get you to get easily upset about tiny problems (i.e., someone is trying to talk at the same time and you insist that you were talking first and he must stop talking).
5.	May get you to quickly have a big reaction to a tiny problem and YELL at others.
6.	May get you to insist that things go your way and others do what you want to do ALL THE TIME

Mean Jean is one of Superflex’s trickiest nemeses. She can often disguise herself quite well, but not well enough for our Social Learners!. Our Social Learnig Bunches are exploring some great strategies to use against Mean Jean. Take a look. You might even be able to come up with a few strategies that can be useful at home or in the classroom, too!

These behaviors were very hard for some of our students to identify and place in the appropriate column of the T-Chart.  Some students were puzzles on why their behavior was in fact a “Mean Jean Behavior” and not a “Good Friend Behavior”. 

IMPORTANT TIP:  Some students are slower SOCIAL learners and require extra time to think, work, and complete assignments and others are impulsive and have trouble controlling their actions. We must teach and reinforce for our social learners that If we try to help without asking first, then we might be causing more “HARM” than “HELP”.

Our Social Learners were then able to come up with their own Mean Jean behaviors and Good Friend Behaviors. This is what they shared from their perspectives:

Tattle telling vs. Figure it out with respect and friendship.

Let it go.

Figure it out by yourself.

Steal vs. Put in lost and found or return

Touch people vs. Keep hands to self.

Once students were able to understand these behaviors, they were able come up with ways to AVOID them or DEFEAT MEAN JEAN. It is important to try really hard to avoid these behaviors rather than problem solve and fix other people’s feelings after all has been said and done.

Students were able to come with these ways to DEFEAT MEAN JEAN:

Be Focused

Think positive

Respect each other, be respectful to friends

Think about giving other people blue thoughts/good thoughts

Do things that feel right

Keep it (interrupting words) to yourself

Think before you act

Calm down

Say nice words

Follow directions, the first time given

THINK FIRST AND ALWAYS

Think about the things you’ve learned in breakfast bunch J

Be a flexible thinker

R-E-S-P-E-C-T...What Does It Mean To Me

This week in our Social Learning Bunches our students shared and learned about being “Respectful”.  We explored that in order to be a strong social thinker, we must show respect to our teachers, friends, and family by taking responsibility for our actions and thinking about others. We demonstrated how this "looks" while communication and learning, and then had the students practice using concrete, observable, behaviors.

First, each student is assigned a "Job"--Listener or Talker. We teach our social learners that EVERYONE has a job during communication. There is usually someone who is talking such as a parent, teacher, or peer. When this person is talking or teaching, everyone else’s job is to listen and NOT talk. Being a respectful Talker looks like:

1. Not talking about one’s SELF  without looking to see others reactions

2. Not talking about SELF INTERESTS only 

This was a very slow process and these steps had to be taught for every conversational turn. Toward the end of the group, students were demonstrating that they could be rerspectful listeners and talkers when engaged in social learning. For the quiet/shy students, difficulties were noticed in initiating, coming up with questions/concepts, or simply taking a turn, choices were given and thus making students successful. We also talked about the difference between Rules vs. Responsibilities. All students were able to recite rules and consequences, we were very proud to see this. When we talked about responsibilities and the impact of making other people feel good when we are responsible and do things, not because we MUST, but because it makes others feel good, and the students were able to share examples.

Things to try at home and in the classroom that shows being RESPECTFUL while "thinking about others" that our social learners discovered and shared with the group are:

1. Give compliments and say nice words

2. Give/Model good examples to younger students,

3. Bring materials to class (especially when working in groups)

4. Clean up

5. Do the right thing

6. Be a good person and friend

7. Keep other people’s property safe

8. Be Flexible!

Social Learning Program for Fall 2011

Welcome! We are exited to share with you a brief description of our Social Learning Programs for Fall, 2011 at MLC. We invite you to stop by at the beginning of the week to read about social strategies, successes, and information about the overall Social Theme of the Month.
This semester (Mid Oct-Mid Dec) we are offering the following Social Learning Groups for 8 total sessions!

SUPERFLEX ACADEMY!

·         Following a plan and demonstrating flexible thinking

(Defeat Rockbrain, Brain Eater)

·    Controlling our brains and bodies and staying part of the group

(Defeat Energy Harey, Body Snatcher, Space Invader)

·    Behaving respectfully, non-competitively, and having appropriate reactions

(Defeat Mean Jean, DOF-Destroyer of Fun, Glassman)

 

·         Adapting own behavior when faced with “expected and unexpected behaviors”of self and others while communicating their related thoughts respectfully.

·         Modifying reactions and strategies when faced with new and familiar situations using a 5 point scale, social-behavior-mapping, and community circle communication.

·         Utilize personal social strategies to remain calm and focused during new and familiar situations