OI

I was recently substitute teaching when a high school student asked me why I had sent a former student to office intervention (OI) on the first day of school. I didn't remember, but obviously this former student remembered. He is an adult now, working in the community. 

Little did I know that OI would prepare me for disciplining my own children. Looking back, I realize the similarities between OI and time out are staggering.

In both OI and time out the student or child stops what they are doing and leaves the area.

For OI that meant going to the office, and for time out that is a chair in the corner.

After the allotted cooling down period or thinking time, the student or child explains what they did wrong. For both high school students and toddlers the answers seem to match, "I don't know." Or "I didn't do anything."

After the discussion of what they really did wrong, which is mostly adult led, the student or toddler

explains what they will do differently next time. This could be: I will follow directions, I will not throw things, or I will not be inappropriate.

Lastly, the student or toddler apologizes to the offended parties. As a teacher, I was the offended party, but for my toddlers it's usually a sibling. At this point the offended parties offer a welcome back into the classroom or play area.

I have to say that this whole process has kept me sane. It kept me alive teaching and it still does as a stay at home mom, domestic engineer, and couch potato. In those first few years of teaching, I used OI as an age check. If students were going to act like a child they were going to be treated like one in OI. I didn't necessarily agree with it, but it got students out of my classroom. Now with my own children it defuses situations, and the talking afterward makes them think about fixing the problem. It's a consequence that is tried and true from the classroom, which is something I never thought I would use.

OI is a distant memory and left with the last administrator, but I still have fond memories of it. I can look back and laugh at what high schoolers did to end up in OI, just like I can laugh at what my own children do to end up in time out. At the time I'm furious. But when I retell the tales to my husband and I see the humor on his face, I know it's a devilishly funny story to be remembered.

To all those students I sent to OI: I really just needed you out of my classroom, so I wouldn't freak out on you. It was for your own good.