Positive Behavior Intervention & Support
To help our students embody the IB Learner Profile, Birney staff and students follow the guidelines of the Positive Behavior Intervention & Support (PBIS) program, in which desired behaviors are explicitly taught and revisited throughout the year. Learn more about the program at the School-wide PBIS website.
To help our students learn to mediate their actions and behaviors, we use the IB PYP Action Cycle of Choose-Act-Reflect. We have also integrated the Committee for Children's Second Step violence prevention program (UTK through fifth grade) into our IB curriculum, which encourages students to develop empathy for others and to learn problem-solving and anger management strategies through practice and role play.
We ask our students to model the IB Learner Profile by being thinkers who are:
- Responsible (principled, caring, balanced)
- Respectful (reflective, communicative)
- Problem-solvers (open-minded, knowledgeable, inquiring, risk-taking/courageous)
We encourage our students to take responsibility for their actions and choices, while being respectful of all people and property at school. Students who show excellent decision-making skills by embodying the IB Learner Profile may be given a yellow IB Attitudes card or a blue IB Learner card by any member of the school staff.
These cards are placed in the classroom collection box for the next weekly drawing. Prizes are the coveted "IB Learner" gold pencils.
The Birney staff acknowledges that when there are many little bodies in one place, conflicts do indeed arise, and in these cases we revisit the part of the IBO Mission Statement that says, "Other people, with their differences, can also be right."
To a resolve the conflict, we encourage students to find a middle ground where they can accept another position, or agree to disagree. Students may be required to problem-solve a conflict on the spot, in writing or at the problem-solving table for a few minutes during recess or after school.
Students are asked, "What happened?" and "What will you do next time?" to help them think through and explain the outcome of their choices. Invariably, students realize through mutual reflection that they could have easily made a better choice. Ideally, mutual problem-solving ends with a sincere handshake. If the problem-solving involves a written explanation of what happened and what the student(s) would do better next time, the problem-solving slip is sent home to inform the family, and is returned the next day with a parent signature.