Date: April 13th, 2025

Polly answers the question: “My students have assigned seats in all my classes, but lately it’s becoming a thing for several students to switch seats to see if I notice. At first it seemed kind of funny and cute, so I let them get away with it. Now I can’t seem to get them to stop. What do you suggest?”
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Date: March 5th, 2025

When kids are able to depend on every school adult to be consistent, that’s a culture!
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Date: January 18th, 2025

Polly answers the question: “I am very concerned about one of my students. It seems like there is nothing anyone can say to this child. They cause trouble in class which lands them in ISS where they cause trouble again. Recently their behavior escalated to the point that they landed in juvenile court where they talked back to the judge! What can be done?”
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Date: October 5th, 2024

Polly answers the question: “What’s the most impactful thing I can do to improve behavior in my classroom?”
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Date: April 7th, 2024

Polly answers the question: “The other day one of my students got really upset with a peer because she wouldn’t stop bothering him. I gently told her to stop, pointing out that he had been asking very nicely. But what I really wanted to do was yell, ‘JUST STOP!!!’ Is there a time for that? I pride myself on being calm and gentle but sometimes I worry… am I too kind?”
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Date: March 23rd, 2024

Polly answers the question: “Right now my students seem to think they should have a choice about everything. At what point should they realize that some things are not up to them?”
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Date: October 4th, 2023

When dealing with behaviors, don’t respond right away. Instead stop, think, and process the situation.
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Date: July 1st, 2023

Polly answers the question: “We have a pack of kids in our middle school who feed off each other! They wander the halls, cause trouble, they make snarky comments to teachers. And it’s getting harder and harder to muster up the energy to deal with them! How can we get this group to stop?”
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Date: January 29th, 2023

Polly answers the question: “Our middle school boys are very aggressive and ‘hands on’ with each other. I know horseplay is to be expected, but often things get out of hand at lunchtime or in the hallways. What can we do?”
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Date: July 10th, 2022

When the lines of authority are blurry at home, those kids bring that into school. Which means we have to teach them that things are different at school.
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