Time-In™ 4 Schools
The construct of ‘Time-In™’, as we see it, is to offer children a sense of belonging, nurturing, and relationship within in boundaries that provide routine and a sense of safety. It also provides healthy role modeling and in-vivo skill building. In the school setting the aim is to develop a sense of a caring community in which to learn. Research has shown that a strong sense of community increases academic performance and improves student behavior. Some of the primary work in this area was done by Vic Battistich and colleagues with “schools as a caring community”. “Time-In™” is an investment with others (students, teachers, and support staff).
Time-In™ 4 Schools is designed to help schools to promote a prosocial learning environment in which students’ needs-socially, emotionally, and academically-are met. It is centered on development of behavioral expectations that are clearly understood and articulated, creating a consistent, positive, predictable, safe, and nurturing learning environment for all students.
The model includes resources such as:
Time-In™ Vocabulary to assist in school-wide understanding and implementation.
School-wide Three Step Classroom Management System.
Structures to support shifts in adult behavior that are necessary to create more prosocial neural pathways for our developing students.
Procedures to address emotional states of students by all staff “in the moment” to pro-social behavior.
A shift in school wide thinking from “What is wrong with this kid? To What happened and how can I help?”
Shift from school being built on Time-Out (detentions, referrals, suspensions) to sending support in the classroom where and when the behavior is taking place.
Some of the school staff/teachers who have been a part of our training have provided the responses below:
• Spending time with students can change behavior, build a template for healthy choices.
• What stands out is spending “Time-In™” with student in their environment can help build a template to help student make more positive choices.
• How important it is for students to stay in class, so they can learn as much as possible.
• “Time-In™” is about creating a culture in class and school about building relationships with students to better understand their procedural templates. Relationships make the children the way they are and relationships can change their patterns.
• That it’s about connecting with the student and trying to teach them positive interactions through positive modeling. Engagement and disengagement in a healthy way.
• “Time-In™” is a great tool to teach expected behaviors in class too. This approach is sometimes very challenging but the main reason it is used so we can keep teaching our students.
• That we as teachers need to have a connection for/with each child.
• Making a connection.
• “Time-In™” is not a type of program, it is to me, a sense of being present in the moment you are trying to connect with an individual.
• What stands out the most is that with “Time-In™”, teachers are able to maybe get to the root of the problem and students will maybe see how their actions/behavior do affect others.
• Start each day as a fresh start.
• The concepts discussed today have given me more insight on how to better connect with students, co-workers, children, etc…
• I can be an agent to change procedural memory for the positive and being a positive role model in building healthy relationships.
Dr. Kiti Freier Randall
Dr. Kiti Freier Randall is an internationally known Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Psychologist. Her passion is child advocacy as a means to promote optimal and healthy living. She has extensive experience, spanning over 26 years, with infant, child, and adolescent populations. She has specialized expertise in the area of high risk populations; developmental disability, trauma, and pre and postnatal substance exposure. She has worked within school districts as a school psychologist and expert consultant. With her expertise and years of clinical experience, Dr. Kiti developed and integrated constructs to develop the Time-In™ 4 Schools paradigm.
Burt Umstead
Mr. Umstead has had extensive teaching, coaching, and administrative experiences throughout Southern California. After moving into school administration, Mr. Umstead served as an Athletic Director, high school Assistant Principal, Middle School Principal and is currently serving as both an Elementary School Principal and Assistant Superintendent. Mr. Umstead has completed extensive work with PBIS and Time In 4 Schools. During his administrative tenure Mr. Umstead has been able to completely transform the behavioral culture of his schools by the integration of PBIS and Time In 4 Schools. The practical implementation for schools starts by addressing student behavior through Time-In™ rather than Time-Out. Time-In™ 4 Schools shifts school wide patterns of sending students out of the classroom and out of school to one of sending support into classrooms to address behavior where it is happening.