In How To Turn Around Difficult Students (Part 1), I made the case that teachers struggle with difficult students because their compassion overrides doing what is best for the student.
If you haven’t read the article, I encourage you to read it before continuing with this one.
In this week’s article, I’m going to going to show [...]
At the start of every school year you drag your finger down your roster, hopeful you won’t see one of the few names that can send shivers down your spine.
Every year, it seems, there are a handful of students that have the potential to make your life miserable.
Having one of these beauties on your roster [...]
When a teacher seeks help in handling a difficult student, typically one of the first things recommended is a behavior contract.
Behavior contracts are popular because they give teachers a definite plan for improving behavior.
And where there is a plan, there is hope.
If you’re unfamiliar with how they work, behavior contracts are created collaboratively—usually the teacher, [...]
I wasn’t sure I could do this.
One week into my first teaching assignment and I was having second thoughts about my career choice.
Although I had been working with kids since my junior year of high school, I had never encountered a child like Anthony before.
Anthony was one of 32 students in my fourth grade class, [...]
A reader posted a question this week asking what to do if a student, in this case a kindergartner, crawled on the floor and under tables after being sent to time-out. Playing, straying, and not sitting quietly in time-out can happen regardless of grade level.
And this problem can be especially frustrating. It pulls the teacher [...]