01
The motto says it all.
I have value. My life has a purpose. I will succeed.
Steal thisWrite your motto where kids can't miss it, then say it until they say it back.
Pause. Pivot. Point.
A framework for reaching the students your school almost lost.
Thank you for spending the hour. Everything from the session is below. Take what helps and pass it to someone in your building.
Download
The conference packet
Eleven pages: the Pause. Pivot. Point. practice grid, the office wall, the motto, four games, the Rap and Game Tests, and one story. Print it or keep it on your phone.
The session slides
The full presentation as a PDF.
The move, in three parts
- Pause
- The reaction you avoid. The space between what a student does and what you do next.
- Pivot
- The different move you make. Not toward the pressure. Toward the space that opened up.
- Point
- The lesson underneath. What the moment was actually about.
The point of the lesson is never the lesson. The point of the lesson is the child.
Pivot the building
What different looks like
The only thing different about an alternative school can't be the room or the number of kids. We have to be different. These are 27 things we tried at Putnam Heights Academy. Our kids deserve different and amazing, just like every other kid. Steal any of them.
Student faces are blurred to protect our kids. Tap any photo to see it larger.
Name it
Say what you believe. Out loud, on the walls, on their backs.
02
Do the work. Earn the win.
Because every message matters, even the one on a T-shirt.
03
A logo they'd actually wear.
It had to be clean enough for staff and cool enough for kids.
04
One rule. Specific in every space.
One rule looks different in different spaces. The more specific you are, the better.
Steal thisTake your one rule and spell out exactly what it looks like in the cafe, the hall, and the classroom.
05
Expectations for everyone.
Expectations should be clear for everyone, adults included. Ours hang side by side: what we expect from teachers, and what we expect from students.
Belong
Give every kid a team before the world hands them one.
06
We adopted the Ron Clark house system.
Students and staff belong to houses. The colors are on the walls, the flags, and the shirts.
07
The red carpet.
The ascension to finding out which house you belong to. Still a work in progress.
08
AI for the shy kids.
Our house points scoreboard puts students on the big screen. Kids who don't want their photo up get an AI avatar instead. Everybody still gets seen.
Steal thisRecognition shouldn't cost a kid their comfort. Give them a way in.
09
We were once like you.
Staff wear IDs with their own high school photos on them. It's fun, and it tells kids we were once like them.
Build it
Schools should look like museums and fun spaces. It matters.
10
The library, redesigned.
Esports, computers, and study booths. Kids can check out posters, musical instruments, and comic books.
11
A planetarium in an alternative school.
Our planetarium, and the astronomy, chemistry, and physical science classroom next to it.
12
Volunteers built the biology room.
Volunteers created a space for our biology, environmental science, and botany students.
Steal thisYour community wants to help. Hand them a paintbrush and a purpose.
13
The outdoor classroom.
A different kind of space to learn.
14
The cafeteria.
Murals on the walls and booths in every color. The cafeteria should feel like a place kids want to be.
15
The Chill Zone.
The Counseling Corner. Our counselors hang out with our kids at breakfast and lunch, right in the corner of the cafeteria.
Steal thisPut your counselors where the kids already are.
16
Every alternative school needs a weight room.
Physical activity is gold for alternative ed students.
17
The school arcade.
Cash in your positive points to play.
Steal thisMake the room they want to be in the reward for the behavior you want to see.
18
It starts with a vision.
This is how it starts. Our bond approved this plan, and the track should be installed in the next year or so.
Steal thisDraw it before you can afford it.
Give them a reason
Give kids something to show up for.
19
Sports and esports.
Get your kids involved. Our alternative school of 150 kids sponsored 7 sports teams.
20
The Cardboard Boat Regatta.
Slip-and-slide boat races at the end of every year. Your ticket in is a small boat you build. The track is a 100-foot-long, 10-foot-wide garden underlay tarp, with a water hose and baby shampoo for slide.
Steal thisCheap materials, huge memory. The ticket-boat means every kid builds something.
21
Atlanta.
We took 6 students to Atlanta, Georgia. For 5 of them, it was the first time they had ever left the Oklahoma City metro. First flight. First hotel stay. Amazing experience.
Steal thisThink about what a kid has never done, then go do it with them.
22
They can do it. Believe.
Almost a year's growth in math in one semester.
Honor them
What you hang on the wall tells kids what you value.
23
Frame their faces.
Always honor your kids by hanging their pictures up, framed, in the building.
24
Graduation bags.
Our seniors picked out what they wanted on Amazon, and a local group sponsored them.
25
Recognize those who help you.
A plaque for the people and partners who show up for our kids, with room left to grow.
26
Mentors in the building.
Some of our student mentors, in front of the cafeteria's Positive Vibes Only wall.
27
It started in 1997.
Building roller coasters with my 2nd graders. Different has always been the job.
Apply it once this week. Tell a colleague. Watch what changes.
- I have value.
- My life has a purpose.
- I will succeed.
Stay in touch
The stories from the session are headed for a book. Leave your email and Shane will send new stories, resources, and news when the book is ready.
Want Shane in front of your staff, your district, or your parents? Bring Shane to your event or email shane@thenelsoncode.com.
