Reduce behaviors by improving curriculum delivery
Date: January 16th, 2014
Watch this video [0:58] to learn a trick I used in algebra instruction that improved delivery of the curriculum, and hence reduced behaviors.
Let’s describe good behavior choices as well as poor ones
Date: January 9th, 2014
Watch this video [1:33] to learn about describing both good and bad behavior choices for kids.
The fastest way to wreck a perfectly good behavior plan
Date: January 2nd, 2014
Watch this video [0:54] to learn the single factor that renders most behavior plans useless.
The Boy Who Threw a Book at My Head
Date: December 24th, 2013
I spent the weekend trying to resurrect an inviting classroom from a carnage of mismatched plastic furniture. Every chair and desk wore battle scars or patches of duct tape. The closet overflowed with garbage. I’d been hired just three days before school started so, with almost no preparation time, I was grateful I’d be teaching an old favorite for my first class, “Catcher in the Rye.” Officially my title was teacher of the Emotionally and Behaviorally Disturbed; unofficially, it was 9th grade English.
Understand the parents’ heartache or lose the battle.
Date: December 19th, 2013
If you give an accommodation, teach ’em how to use it
Date: December 12th, 2013
Watch this video [0:46] for a funny little story about what can happen to a kid, or anybody, who has an accommodation but doesn’t know how to use it!
Asking a question is a complex social skill
Date: December 5th, 2013
Watch this video [0:39] to learn the basic, social-skill components of asking a question.
Watching an emotional disability in action
Date: November 23rd, 2013
“Spirit Week” was in full swing at Sheldon High. Every year the student council organized a week of activities to promote school spirit, culminating in a football game against our rivals, the Derby Raiders. It was “School Colors Day” and the kids were in high gear. I enjoyed participating and encouraged my students to do the same, but I did it with caution. It’s funny, I know how much they enjoy these social activities, but I’m also keenly aware of the potential for problems when easily escalated, impulsive kids are put into exciting unstructured situations. I couldn’t prevent them from attending, but I could provide a refuge if tensions arose and coping skills were depleted. One student loved these events more than anyone—Luke.
Oops. I forgot my homework. Again.
Date: November 21st, 2013
Watch this video [1:17] to learn how I teach an unorganized kid to get organized.
Miss, he just gave you the finger!
Date: November 14th, 2013
Watch this video [1:12] to learn how I respond to behaviors carried out behind my back.
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