CREATING NORMS

Norms are expected or accepted rules for behavior.  To change the culture in a school, everyone needs to agree on a set of pro-social normative beliefs and then work together to bring them to life.  These normative beliefs or norms are based on the premise that Every one of us participates in creating a safer social climate.  Every teacher, student, staff member, and parent is responsible for implementing the norms in order to create a school environment that promotes pro-social behaviors and discourages all forms of peer aggression.

Help your students understand normative behaviors by giving examples of how other norms have changed over time.  For example, there was a time when:

·         People threw trash out of their cars on the highway; now there are laws to prevent this behavior. 

·         It was considered “cool” for adults to smoke; today people are more aware of the medical risks and fewer people smoke.  

·         Cars did not have seat belts; now all cars have them, along with safety seats for infants and children. 

Encourage your students to offer examples of changes in beliefs that they experienced..

The key notion  of “CASS” is that by changing normative beliefs, we can change behavior.  We know that beliefs predict behavior.  The more likely a person is to believe that certain behaviors (such as sarcasm, teasing, excluding, humiliating) are okay, the more likely s/he is to produce those behaviors or to tolerate them in others. When students, their teachers, administrators and parents agree to replace negative peer aggressive behaviors with pro-social ones, the consistent and persistent communication of such norms beliefs will promote a safer climate.  The pro-social norms that we share with CASS schools are found below.  These can be adapted by schools and posted throughout the building. 

 CASS NORMS

1.                    We treat everyone with respect and civility.

2.                    We are each accountable for our actions.

3.                    After we make a mistake, we make it right.

4.                    Adults help us deal with aggression.

5.                    We protect each other.

6.                    Aggression is everyone’s problem.

Accepting these norms is the first step toward changing the culture of your school.  The next step is to create a school-wide Code of Conduct that specifies the types of behaviors that are acceptable and unacceptable.  For example:

CLASS/SCHOOL CODE OF CONDUCT

In our school/classroom (lunchroom, after school activities, etc.), it is never okay to:

1.      Use teasing to hurt someone

2.      Spread malicious gossip

3.      Use exclusion to hurt someone

4.      Build alliances against another person

5.      Use covert aggression to hurt, embarrass or humiliate a classmate

6.      Laugh at a classmate who makes a mistake or gives the wrong answer

7.      Use e-mail and/or Instant Messaging to spread rumors, embarrass a classmate or to send intentionally hurtful messages

In our classroom/school we strive to:

1.      Respect the opinions, ideas and contributions of others

2.      Protect each other when peer aggression occurs

3.      Include others as much as possible

4.      Appreciate the contribution each of us can make to our classroom and school

5.      Acknowledge that everyone has different skills and abilities