Walk your way to better student behavior

Teaching Pre K-8, Apr 2000 by Molina, Mark

A special way of walking teaches kids to respect nature - and each other

Managing student behavior ef festively, yet in a way kids can understand, is often a Herculean challenge for school administrators. Rivers Edge Elementary in Port St. Lucie, Florida uses a simple technique that has improved student conduct as well as the overall school climate: the Rivers Edge Walk. Eyes on the goal. The Rivers Edge Walk includes "eyes forward, mouth closed, hands behind the back, feet walking." The Rivers Edge Walk is the way that students - and many faculty members - traverse the campus. It's simple, but it's been extremely effective in curtailing typical inline behaviors such as running, pushing and loud talking and such acts of violence as hitting and kicking.

Rivers Edge, a science and technology magnet school with a six-building campus, is located in the middle of hundreds of acres of wilderness along the scenic St. Lucie River. The Rivers Edge Walk not only helps with management of student conduct in school corridors, it has improved student behavior in virtually all student venues.

On the dozens of trails that crisscross the surrounding ecological preserve, the Rivers Edge Walk has greatly assisted with outdoor safety and contributed positively to the outdoor educational environments. Students tend to pay attention to the teacher, rather than to their surroundings. On off-campus field trips, Rivers Edge students - and their parent chaperones - are immediately identifiable by their REW.

Cooperating with nature. The REW was born when the school was adopted by a family of sandhill cranes. The cranes, apparently used to being fed by the construction workers who built the school, approached students, seeking a handout. Six-inch beaks and threeinch kindergartner hands don't mix well. As a result of having to deal with hungry cranes, many of whom were taller than the younger students, as well as snakes, armadillos and gopher tortoises, the Rivers Edge Walk was implemented.

A simple technique. Rivers Edge teachers and staff start teaching and reminding students to do the Rivers Edge Walk on the first day of school - a task that isn't easy for a school with an enrollment of nearly 900 students. But students recognize the effectiveness of this conduct management technique. When adults forget to REW, it's not uncommon for students to remind them to do it.

Although the Rivers Edge Walk is a simple behavior management technique, it would fail without two essential factors: consistency and teamwork. Principal Sandra Marshall says, "It takes every teacher, every aide, every custodian and, of course, my assistant principal and I to model and monitor the Rivers Edge Walk every day - consistently!"

Mark Molina has worked in the St. Lucie County School District for 23 years. He is currently an elementary assistant principal.