Jody Antes admits people in her profession can sometimes nag.

But training the first-grade teacher received last month showed her how to avoid that.

Antes, a teacher at Anthony Elementary School, was one of more than 20 staff members from the Leavenworth public schools who attended training on the positive classroom discipline procedures developed by author Fred Jones.

Superintendent Mike Aytes said the district has been using this model, which he says helps teachers manage classrooms without creating adversarial relationships with students, for the last couple of years.

Before students can learn, they have to have positive relationships with teachers, he said.

“I think it’s really important that we have a common model in our district,” he said.

Jones reportedly has studied successful teachers for more than 30 years and received his doctorate from the University of California at Los Angeles specializing in work with schools and families, according to his Web site.

Antes said she has tried to apply the training in her classroom so far this school year and plans to attend additional training this month.

She said the initial training, which was conducted in early August by Aytes and Assistant Superintendent Kelly Harris, dealt with things such as a technique for disciplining a child without saying anything.

When a child is doing something wrong, Antes said it’s best to simply look at the student and wait for him to correct his behavior.

“If you let the (children) figure it out for themselves, they know what to do,” she said.

If the student doesn’t stop what he’s doing, the teacher should then go over to him and speak face-to-face instead of calling him out.

“I think it works pretty good,” she said.

She said students can take pride in fixing problems themselves.

“They don’t hear me nagging,” she said. “They know what they’re supposed to do.”

Antes said last month’s training also looked at such things as the arrangement of desks in the classroom.

She said the training dealt with “working the crowd” and how it’s best to move around instead of staying at the chalkboard during an entire lesson.

By maintaining a presence around the room, students should correct their behavior without the teacher telling them to do so, Antes said.

She said her room has pathways that make it easy to get to every student.

She said the training looked at things such as the use of incentives. For example, students may be told if they finish a task on time they can work on a computer.

She also said it’s a good idea to review classroom procedures during the first week of school. The instruction should come more easily.

For teachers, it’s important to be clear, fair, firm and consistent, Antes said.

“You have to follow through with the same thing for every kid,” she said.

Aytes said the training involves not just what to do but also looks at why things work.

“It’s more than just theory,” he said.

Aytes said most administrators have gone through the training and some have helped train others in the district. A number of teachers also have had the training.

Antes said she had three days of the training in August.

“So I’ve only really taken the first three classes,” she said.

She said the next part of the training will be offered on the next three Mondays of September.

By JOHN RICHMEIER, Times Staff Writer

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