Date: December 22nd, 2024
Polly answers the question: “I am a paraprofessional dealing with a fifth-grade boy who curses me out, hits me, throws things at me, and generally terrorizes me. He says he hates me and wants to force me to quit my job. I do not have support from the teacher. What can I do?”
Date: July 28th, 2024
Polly answers the question: “In my position, I offer support to kids who have difficult life circumstances. However, sometimes it seems the child doesn’t have the bandwidth to process my suggestions and still participate in their classwork. Do you have any ideas for me?”
Date: May 26th, 2024
Polly answers the question: “I used to say ‘treat others the way you would like to be treated’ but considering that not all my students are treated kindly at home I realized this was not effective. But…what do I say and how do I teach this lesson about respect?”
Date: September 3rd, 2023
Polly answers the question: “I have a high school kid who will not turn over her cell phone when I ask for it! It’s my policy and all the kids know it. I know her life is not that positive, and there isn’t a lot of room for learning in her brain right now, but I feel like I need to hold her accountable. It’s always a huge power struggle that results in administrative referral. How can I chip away at her refusal without it costing me our relationship?”
Date: December 31st, 2022
Polly answers the question: “I have a student who cusses like you wouldn’t believe! I spend all day kicking him out and sending him down to the office only so he can return and say, “Well that was fun, the office sucks, too!” How should I respond and what’s the best consequence to stop this?”
Date: October 23rd, 2022
Polly answers the question: “OMG! I have a 1st grade student who says things that are so not OK! Things I’m sure he’s seen on TV or in video games, fly out of his mouth, and it’s shocking! How do I deal with him?”
Date: October 2nd, 2022
Polly answers the question: “The kids in my 2nd grade class are so disrespectful to one another. They’re really mean! We talk all the time about how to treat others the way we’d want to be treated but they don’t care. How do I get them to be kinder?”
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.
Date: November 6th, 2021
Don’t give up on kids who have learned poor behaviors at home! TEACH them how to behave in school! Behaving differently in different environments is a skill that will stay with them for LIFE!
Date: October 10th, 2021
In this video I share why I DISLIKE the popular classroom poster that says: “Treat People the Way You Want to be Treated.”
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