"I’m not the same Marc anymore"

This was what a decision-conscious third grader told a summer camp counselor who had been contemplating moving him to a different age group, based on his less-than-mature behavior the preceding year. “I’ve learned how to make good decisions,” he continued.

Marc had transferred into Kate Thorburn’s third grade Haverford School class at the beginning of the school year, coming from a public school where he had experienced numerous behavior problems. “Although Marc was extremely bright, artistic, and athletic, he often got into trouble, especially in ‘special area’ classes such as music and art,” said Kate.

Over the course of the year, however, Marc’s attitude and behavior improved dramatically, due in large part, according to Kate, to his exposure to decision skills, which she stresses throughout the year.

“I try to weave decision education into everything,” she said. “During the second week of class, I introduce my students to the DEF poster, Stop.Think.Decide. At the same time, they begin to work toward earning ‘compliment’ awards. Every time they receive a compliment for something they’ve done, it’s indicative of a good decision, and they get another link for a plastic chain. We also talk about decisions on Parent Night.

I encourage those students who are having trouble avoiding unwise, reflexive decisions to maintain a little notebook, where they can keep track of their decisions and what the consequences were. Marc used his notebook a lot, especially in the special area classes where he was having the most trouble.

But the really special feature of Kate’s class was the “Decision Machine” project. Basing their work on a concept used in Haverford’s Everyday Math program, which gives students the freedom to explore alternative ways to solve a problem, with no right or wrong way implied at the outset, four groups of students constructed four “machines” out of cardboard, tape, scrap lumber, and various household materials, with help from fellow Lower School students in other classes. When finished, the machines could “process” a sequence of choice–outcome–value, as the students explored their choices, what had happened as a result, and what they really valued.

DEF salutes Kate Thorburn and her innovative application of DEF principles—and Marc, for not being the same kid anymore—and the third graders’ Decision Machines, for bringing new meaning to “hands-on” decision making.