Discovery Elementary School, as a Responsive Classroom school, has expectations for students that are accompanied by logical consequences, as opposed to “rules” and “punishments.” The five tenets of Responsive Classroom are exemplified by the acronym “C.A.R.E.S.”:

• Cooperation
• Assertion
• Responsibility
• Empathy
• Self-Control

When students practice these five tenets, they will generally meet the expectations of their teachers. Examples of these C.A.R.E.S. principles in practice, as expected, might include:

• Cooperating by following teacher instructions regarding when and how to use an iPad.
• Asserting one’s right to refuse to participate in invitations to engage in unexpected behavior online.
• Responsibly keeping technology resources safe and functional by treating them appropriately.
• Empathizing with how it feels to be made fun of or treated badly by someone on the Internet.
• Controlling one’s self by refraining from searching for things that one knows shouldn’t be searched for on a school computer.

When students engage in unexpected behavior, by not demonstrating understanding by practicing C.A.R.E.S., there are logical consequences. There are three major types of logical consequence in Responsive Classroom:

• Reparations, also known as “you break it, you fix it”
• Loss of Privilege
• Positive Time-Out

Examples of a logical consequence might be:

• If a student were to intentionally delete another student’s work, that student might have to work with the Technology Coach to restore that work.
• If a student does not respond to teaching about how to responsibly use technology, such as doing what a teacher asks, a student might have their device removed for a period of time.
• If a student uses technology inappropriately during class, the student might be asked to take some time away from the activity at hand, and the technology in use, to reflect on their decisions, so a constructive dialogue and a new set of positive choices are available.

Please understand that these are examples. We do not do “zero-tolerance” in child-centered, loving education. Different students have different learning needs, and respond to different teaching. However, while each child and each situation is treated individually, it is reasonable to infer a few basic principles that generally will help students demonstrate C.A.R.E.S.:

• Teachers make reasonable requests about how and when to use technology for learning in school. Ignoring a reasonable request is not putting C.A.R.E.S. into practice.
• School technology is for learning, and only for learning. Using technology for a non-learning activity while at school is not putting C.A.R.E.S. into practice.

Online Learning

Taking the above into consideration, there are certain “norms” that should be observed when using technology with others. They might include:

• Cooperating with the teacher by not making off-topic comments or silly jokes instead of sharing good thoughts, because online learning at home is still learning with Discovery Elementary School.
• Asserting yourself by saying “no” to participating in conversations and behaviors that we know aren’t school-appropriate.
• Responsibly doing what is asked and thinking carefully about the work at hand.
• Empathizing with the teacher, who is trying to help all classmates and can’t do that as well if students don’t use expected classroom behaviors online.
• Using self-control by staying on task for the time apps like Microsoft Teams are open.