Letter of Intent to become a Certified Positive Discipline Associate

After taking a two-day Teaching Parenting the Positive Discipline Way workshop to become a Certified Positive Discipline Parent Education, some participants decide they want more training to become a Certified Positive Discipline Associate. (More info at www.positivediscipline.org) To begin the process they write a Letter of Intent. I was so moved by Julia Tomes letter that I asked her permission to share it on my blog.

Dear Positive Discipline Community,

     I can’t remember how I first happened upon a copy of Positive Discipline, by Dr. Jane Nelson, but somehow it found it’s way into my hands during my third year of teaching. I was starting at a new school in a new district.  All I remember thinking was that I wished that I had the book the year before.  Prior to coming to this school I was teaching an alternative middle school program for students in 6-8th grade who were having difficulty with the traditional school setting.  They would spend half their day in the “regular” school and then get bused over to me for the other half.  I had two classes of students, morning and afternoon.  These were students who were disaffected, defiant, abusive, angry, and had no sense of belonging.  As a second year teacher, they burned me out.  I worked hard to give them some meaning and a sense of belonging, but I know that if I had Positive Discipline in my tool box, that year would have been so much better.