This Ain’t No Spa!: Creating Self-reliant Citizens Through Radical Strategies In a Discipline Alternative School

By Blake Fitzgerald

If you want to improve classroom management while promoting higher levels of learning, then this book is for you. Blake Fitzgerald, a veteran businessman now making a powerful impact on public education, shares a radical process of teaching at-risk students—one that gets results. His out-of-the-box thinking and drastic ideas will help you • eliminate redirection in the classroom; • boost students’ learning beyond the lower cognitive level; and • convert troubled students into self-sufficient citizens. With more than twelve years of experience in public education, Fitzgerald recognized that conventional techniques do not always work when seeking to help students. By applying his ideas to a Discipline Alternative School, he has transformed troubled students into upright citizens using a technique counter to customary teaching. He created a peaceful environment not described in any other book or manual with a strategy he calls “isolationism.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Mar 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781483499260

Book preview

This Ain’t

No Spa!

Creating Self-reliant Citizens through

Radical Strategies in a Discipline

Alternative School

BLAKE FITZGERALD

Copyright © 2019 Blake Fitzgerald.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-9927-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-9926-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019903024

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 03/27/2019

To my beautiful wife, Kassie. Thank you for the love and support you give me despite my eccentric brain. Part of you is on every page in this book. You are the love of my life.

To my father-in-law, James Wilcox. You opened my eyes to the denial of a quality education for the have-nots. You inspired me to find a better way. By encouraging me, you are now a part of a solution to improve the quality of education for all kids.

And to my uncle, Roy Calma. You are a role model who motivated me to be tenacious, to avoid herd mentality, and to share unconventional ideals in the face of cruel opposition.

Preface

This ain’t no spa is a slogan that began during my first year of teaching at a discipline alternative school. Several years ago, students would ask for certain freedoms such as wanting to lie on the floor to read, play computer games, get more mustard on their sandwich, and so on. I would not allow it. I reminded them they were in a disciplinary school for a reason. I always finished by saying, This ain’t no spa. I would smile after saying it. I am not a total jackass. I might even get them more mustard.

At first, everyone laughed at me, but then it caught on with the principal and other teachers. We say it constantly. It is a slogan and appears on shirts and various items. Kids will often say it when beginning a difficult assignment.

I am not a dictator. I develop rapport with each student and really enjoy our interactions. The students are relaxed and take learning seriously. I am fortunate that I do not need a job at this point in life. Enjoying the kids is what keeps me here. I recognize the difference I am making.

However, it is not easy for every teacher. Teaching in a disciplinary school can be grueling and scar a teacher for life. It is heartbreaking where some of these at-risk kids come from. They are products of their reckless environment. The crimes they commit and the jail time served is shocking. We cannot adopt every one of them. We cannot love them enough to fill the void in their lives. Our first instinct is to feel empathetic and want to help, but we cannot let empathy carry over into enabling.

We must keep in mind our long-term goal for these kids. They must abandon their tragic state and thrive on their own. It is up to us to give them the tools to prosper. We must lead by staying out of their way. Our goal should be to help them survive from ages eighteen to eighty-five. Create a self-sufficient citizen.

Once an at-risk kid breaks away from a dreadful life and becomes independent, he starts the ball rolling. His kids will be different. Independence improves the lives of generations that follow. Maybe we cannot change the world, but we can change a legacy.

A reliable system must be in place to maintain order and produce self-reliant adults. In this book, I introduce a radical strategy contrary to traditional methods, and it works! With adaptations, it is applicable in any classroom.

This Ain’t No Spa

A while back, I was driving home after a day of teaching. I was reflecting on the day and recalling the positive interactions I had with students and faculty. I like my job. It is rewarding.

Once home, my wife asked me, Well, how was it today?

Man, what a great day. Schlotzsky’s had sandwiches for a dollar ninety-nine.

"Seriously? That’s your day? No one punched a hole in the wall, threw a chair down the hall, showed up on Who Got Busted, or assaulted a teacher?"

Nope.

At one time, our evening discussions centered on student misbehavior and destruction of the learning process. Now conversations center on the positive change in students’ behavior and quality of work. As a school, we created balance so each class would have similar structure. The other teachers and principal recently adopted my process, and the school is a sanctuary of higher learning