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RUNNING HEADER: LOVE AND LOGIC

The Theory of Love and Logic

Rachel Caulfield
Mayville State University
Brittany Hagen
EDUC 301
April 9, 2015

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RUNNING HEADER: LOVE AND LOGIC

Introduction
On first glance, Love and Logic, a concept of working with students, seems to offer
solutions to all the problems in a classroom. Developed by Jim Fay together with doctors Cline
and Fay to improve classroom discipline with a positive outcome for teachers and students.
Love and Logic is used by teachers, counselors, and administrators that teach in both regular
education classrooms and special education classrooms.
Love and Logic
Description and History
A guide to classroom management skills, Love and Logic details specific positive ways to
teach caring, thoughtful responsibility to students. It emphasizes thinking about cause and
consequences of behavior with a goal of achieving self-control. Love and Logic is based off of
psychologically sound parenting and teaching philosophy for the past 35 years. This theory
works because when a student creates a problem, the adult turns it back to them. When this
happens the student has to think, and will learn from the consequences that will occur due to the
situation.
Study of Love and Logic
Love and Logic can be applied to the regular classrooms. This guide is known for all the
positive outcomes that come out of it. Karin Chenoweth, who wrote an article about Love and
Logic after it had been placed in a school, noticed when she did her study throughout two-dozen
schools over six years that the schools had a large population of low-income students and

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students of a different race. Once Love and Logic had been applied, all the students met or went
above the state standards & achievement. These schools were normal public schools that did not
require any entry tests. According to loveandlogic.com, it works because when adults take care
of themselves, they hand the problem back to the student who created it. When the student has
to solve the problem, they have to think. When students have to think, they learn that decisions
have consequences. When students have to deal with consequences, they learn to think. When
we allow the student to deal with the consequences, they learn to think before they cause a
problems. Lastly, when the student learns to ask themselves, How is my behavior going to
affect me? they have learned self-control. What this is saying is that when a student causes a
problem, the teacher should turn the situation back to them. This will help the student learn from
their consequences; from that they will learn in the future not to do that action and gain selfcontrol.
Disadvantages
With this amazing program there are no real known disadvantages. In a video clip on
YouTube that Love and Logic posted, a speaker said Only in childhood you pick out your
weaknesses, instead as a teacher pick out the students strengths. When teaching in a classroom,
a teacher should pick out a students strengths. If a teacher picks out the weaknesses, that
student is going to feel as if they cannot succeed. To help with this Love and Logic created four
basic rules, the first one being the enhancement of self-concept. Students in this era have are
lacking in self-concept. A major part of this has to deal with extended family; due to it takes a
society to raise the youth. Shared control, as put in the words of David Funk (1995), We need
control over our own live. When we dont get it, we go after control over others (p. 141). This
is telling us that we need to share the control, do not try and control the students in the

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classroom. Having consequences with empathy will allow the students to not get hurt, but allow
them to think of what they did wrong. The last rule that Love and Logic provide is shared
thinking. As a teacher, model what is being done and ask the students questions. This will
engage the students in the lessons and keep them involved with learning.
Rules with Love and Logic
In the book Teaching with Love and Logic written by Jim Fay and David Funk, it states
five rules to help with choices. Select choice that will not be questionable. Never provide a
choice that is unwanted. Students will choose the unwanted choice over the choice that the
teacher would like them to have. Never give a choice unless applying the consequences are
acceptable for that choice. Applying these consequences may mean more work when that given
action is in the process. Never give choices when the child is in danger. Never give choices
unless the choice ends in a student not choosing within ten seconds. This would mostly gear
towards older students. An example of this would be if an English teacher gave a student a
choice to read Where the Red Fern Grows or The Giver and they did not pick a book, the teacher
would then pick one for them. Delivery is important when giving students choices. When
giving a choices, starting with welcoming words is a great way to start. An example of this
would be, Youre welcome to or (p. 31). Enforcing consequences is needed when a
students specific actions are present. Students learn from their mistakes when they face a
consequence and an adult provides empathy to that child.
Eight Step Process
Before school. When teaching their maybe those trouble makers, and also the
students who feed off of them. This can be solved by using Love and Logic. In Teaching

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RUNNING HEADER: LOVE AND LOGIC

with Love and Logic, it highlights a way to solve problems using eight steps. These steps
are not limited sequential order or may not apply. The first step is to make a list of all the
students. List the students in order from most complaints to least complaints. This is a
good visually way to see who is fooling around when instructions are being given. Also,
this can be used for seating charts of knowing who can and cannot sit near each other.
Talk to other educators about placing a chair in the back of their room, this will be for
those misbehaving students that you just made a list for. Each student needs a different
spot, and are not participating in that classes activity, they are to just think about what
happened. When going through this ideas, be sure to okay the plan with the principal,
one for support, and two so they know what is happening.
During the school year. Once the behavior has shown, divide the students up.
Spilt the students who are disrupting the class and place them in different spots in the
classroom. If this does not work, send the students to their designated temporary room.
Students are to return when feel like they will no longer disrupt the class. If the student is
to still act up while in their temporary spot, this is the time that the teacher in that given
room or the students teacher, if they happen to check-up on them, sends the student to
the principals office. This is just a time for them to cool-down, and not to be in trouble.
The student may think they are in trouble, but be sure to explain that they are not, it is a
time for them to get away from the classroom setting. As the disruption is happening,
deciding on the strength of it is important. Determining the strength will determine the
outcome of the consequence. Some consequences that may occur are: moving the leader
of the disruptions, or sending students to their temporary rooms and to have them return
when they feel they will no longer disrupt the class. To help the student with their self-

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confidence, give them one sentence compliment or acknowledgment in private. This

could be something that they like, such as a student that likes to collect coins. This
should happen a couple times a week, but saying something different each time. Once
the student misbehaviors they will more than likely try stop instantly due to them liking
the teacher now. Sitting down and talking with these students can lead to learning a lot
about them, from what they do outside of school, to their home life. During this time, do
not solve the problem in one sitting, break it down step by step. This may occur in
having more than one talk, but it will lead to a better teacher and student relationship. If
none of these techniques worked, resort to Plan B which is having a student(s) be
reassigned due to all the disruptions, and interventions have been applied, but were
unsuccessful.
Special Education
Love and Logic can be applied to students who have a disability too. In David Funks
book Love and Logic Solutions for Kids with Special Needs (2002), he lists five norms that
society has set which makes teaching and or parenting more difficult. The first one is that
learning should be entertaining. Students now days expect learning to be fun and amusing, but
teachers become stressed and worn out trying to keep students amused and entertained. The
second norm is externalized locus of control, which is everyday words would be Its not my
fault. Teachers may think it is not their fault that the students are learning, but in reality
educators have to take part of the blame when teaching special education. Teachers need to
adapt to these students to help them learn. Next is I see, I want, I believe I deserve. David Funk
says (2002), Using authoritarian or enabling methods with students who have this mind-set can
be an exercise in futility (p. 21). The ability that determines worth is next. As a teacher,

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teaching to different learning styles is the best way to have the students learn. This will also help
from students being picked out if they are lower in an area, and from getting made fun of.
Lastly, different is bad. Students do not want to be compared to one another, they want to stand
out in their own individual way. As teachers we should allow them to be their own person and
explore what works best for them when learning.
Applying in Special Education
Applying these methods to a special education realm is different than in a normal
education classroom due to having more peoples involved. Student need be welcomed in the
classroom and feel safe, this does not only apply to special education it applies to all classrooms.
This aspect is a reflection on what the love portion means in Love and Logic. Having students
engaged is important otherwise, no matter what teaching strategy is used, there will be no
learning done if the student is not engaged. Another aspect you have to take in to consideration
when working with special needs is to maintain a balance perspective guided by thoughtful
common sense. This means balance what they know with what you want them to learn. You
cannot overwork a student who has a disability, they will end up frustrated. When working with
special needs, more people will be involved in this students life. Two of the most important
people are the parents, who are the ones in charge of the childs education. There are two
different types of parents, the ones who focus on their child and the ones who focus on
themselves. The ones who focus on their child, according to David Funk (2002), Demonstrate a
wide range or attributes. They are capable, understanding, grateful, competent, and overjoyed
that their child is getting help with learning (p. 168-169). In contrast, the other parents are
using their child for their own good and do not focus on their education.
Application of Love and Logic

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RUNNING HEADER: LOVE AND LOGIC

Applying Love and Logic into your classroom can change your whole outlook on
teaching. In Karin Chenoweths article, Leaving Nothing to Chance (2010), she listed for
reasons for success. The first reason is it is everyones job to run the school. Having staff that
will take care of their jobs without being told is part of this process. If the staff in a school will
do this, the principal can then focus on student achievement rather than the little everyday crises.
Inspecting what to expect is one reason for success. School principals cannot expect all students
to meet standards, but what they can expect is that their teachers are evaluating and checking
their own goals and looking for improvement for themselves and for the students. Teachers are
responsibly to let their principal know of any materials needed to have a successful learning
experience. Being respectful- relentless means that the educators will make sure that the
students will meet or exceed the state standards. If students pass the standards, teachers are to
challenge them with challenging work. In contrast, relentless respect means that principals
assume that educators will and want to be successful. Due to this, these students end up needing
services and support since they have not met or exceed state standards. As the school year is
going on, use the students data to teach lessons. This is a great step to make sure that all
educators are learning the steps to become a Love and Logic school. Educators can learn from
others during this time. Educators were find out that to have every student achieve, but when
they fail to help them improve in the area needed quickly. In that struggled area, teach in any
way possible to help that student learn the material best.
Karin had those five great ways of how to implement Love and Logic into a classroom,
but Jim Fay, who is the founder, wrote some guidelines on how to create a classroom using Love
and Logic. As a principal, introduce Love and Logic to the staff. This can be done in many
ways, such as having someone come and talk about Love and Logic, or simply watching videos.

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RUNNING HEADER: LOVE AND LOGIC

For those that are interested in using Love and Logic in their classroom, create a study group,
this way they can learn about it together and have others to go to when needed. For those that
are planning on using this method, provide them with beginner materials. Throughout the whole
school, Love and Logic can be applied through a philosophy of discipline. Some examples of
this would be: to post Love and Logic rules in all the rooms in the school, and to share it with the
parents and community. This will have allow for school community to be following the same
rules, and to integrate those rules into learning in the classroom. With discipline, each teacher
should have their own way to handle a situation, due to what works best for each person.
Providing an opportunity for parents and the community to learn about Love and Logic is great
for them to learn how their school community is working. This can be done by way a speaker, or
having books available for parents about Love and Logic.
Conclusion
In the end, using the Love and Logic guide can solve many problems that a teacher may
encounter while teaching. This is one of the most known ways to help solve them, since students
are receiving consequences in a positive way which allows them to feel empathy. Roughly 2,500
teachers are using Love and Logic in their classroom which means that this guide must be a
success for all of teachers problems in a general education classroom or special education
classroom.

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RUNNING HEADER: LOVE AND LOGIC

References
Chenoweth, K. (2010, November 1). Leaving Nothing to Chance. Retrieved April 3, 2015, from
http://education.illinoisstate.edu/downloads/casei/LeavingNothing.pdf
Delisio, E. (2008, January 1). Practicing Love And Logic Can Mean Happier Schools. Retrieved
April 3, 2015, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin536.shtml
Fay, J., & Funk, D. (1995). Teaching With Love & Logic: Taking Control of the Classroom.
Golden, Colorado: The Love and Logic Instiute.
Fay, J. (1998). 23 Classroom Interventions. Retrieved from http://www.loveandlogic.com/t-23classroom-interventions.aspx
Fay, J. (2007). How To Create A Love And Logic School. Retrieved April 3, 2015, from
http://www.loveandlogic.com/pdfs/how-to-create-a-love-and-logic-classroom.pdf
Funk, D. (2002). Love & Logic Solutions for Kids with Special Needs. Golden, Colorado: The
Love and Logic Institute.
Love and Logic. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 3, 2015, from
http://www.loveandlogic.com/t-Free-Articles-and-Handouts-for-educators.aspx
(2009, September 25). [Television broadcast].YouTube.
Love and Logic. (2009, September 25). Strengths and Weaknesses [Motion Picture]. United
States: YouTube.