MindSpring believes that the best classroom disciplinary plan is a superior instructional plan that engages students in the learning process.

As secondary teachers, Haydn and Terry taught Style Differentiated Instruction (SDI).

The very first program of the “Teacher as Leader” curriculum is “Leadership through Learning and Teaching Styles.” Using this understanding of style and your ability to assess it, instructional plans are developed around your awareness of the dynamics that make up your classroom. This effective approach provides a superior learning and teaching process.

We view student participation through 5 categories:

1. Rebellious
2. Removed
3. Passive / Compliant
4. Engaged
5. Creative

Our experience is that the majority of teachers teach at an engaged level but that the majority of students are learning at a passive / compliant level. These same teachers, because they are teaching at an engaged level, believe that the thinking skill they are advocating is dynamic, when in fact it is basic thinking that corresponds to knowledge and comprehension on Bloom’s taxonomy. The teacher is the hardest working person in the classroom.

This program motivates the educator to develop superior instructional processes that increase effective thinking skills, moving from basic thinking to engaged thinking to dynamic thinking. This program will help the educator move from the engaged / creative instructor to the facilitating instructor and the student from the passive / compliant learner to the engaged / creative learner.