Showing Respect and Calm when a student "Acts Out"

The Special-ism.com site has a blog entry by Janice O'Leary titled, "5 More Quick Tips to Deal with Inappropriate Acting Out Behaviour" which I found was a great help to me with some of the students in my classroom.

While I don't believe in "talking-over" students that are intent on interrupting while you are trying to communicate with sentences that start with "I see that...," "I noticed....," etc., I like to create calm in the room by playing with a toy - even just a marker and rolling it on the table to gain or re-direct their interest from the behavior being displayed by acting out. Sometimes the simple act of sitting close by and rolling a marker on a table and not talking will generate a new interest and/or curiosity.

After gaining their attention I really like items four and five from Ms. O'Leary's blog entry:

"4. Do, not say. Children pay more attention and learn from what adults do than from what they say. If you want your child to be polite, then you must be polite. You cannot expect your child to be non-aggressive when you are fighting with your neighbor.

Yelling “Calm down” at your child will not work, you have to show the child how to behave. Being disrespectful to a child solves nothing, you only teach them that this behavior is acceptable in your family. You must be composed. “I do not like it when you call me names like this.” Then calmly walk away.

Model the behavior you want to see in your child. Show them how to handle frustrations. “I am very upset with the way you spoke to me”, then walk away. Don’t just say “you need to be polite.” Show them in your everyday life how to be polite.

5. Accept bad moods and bad days. Everyone has bad days. This coupled with your child’s difficulty with problem solving and communicating can lead to major arguments. Sometimes people are just not morning people. If you recognize this, you can avoid fights by having an established routine with less communication. Breakfast, get dressed, off to school.

You can accept a bad mood by saying, “It looks like you are having a bad day, lets chat in ten minutes.” Bad moods are okay, you can accept them and say “I know your team lost and you are upset, just take it easy tonight.” But if the bad mood leads to your child to taking out their anger on you and it escalates into disrespectful, rude or obnoxious behavior, that is not okay.

You say “I am sorry you are having a bad day, but don’t take it out on me.” Then walk away. Remember to disconnect."

Please read the entire blog post here: http://special-ism.com/5-more-quick-tips-to-deal-with-inappropriate-acting-out-behaviour/

And a special thanks to all of the great writers at Special-ism.com for providing great information and strategies for all of our students.



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Motivate Children to Do Better in School (great 10 ways from Debbie Pincus)

10 Ways to Motivate Your Child to Do Better in School by Debbie Pincus MS LMHC

Read the entire blog post here: http://www.empoweringparents.com/10-ways-to-motivate-your-child-to-do-better-in-school.php#ixzz2ujF8cz7g


In reading the above blog link I was struck by the simple, yet effective methods, Ms. Pincus discusses in her listing of the ten ways to motivate children to improve in school. The article is great for parents as well as teachers.

My favorites as both a parent and educator are:

Number 1. Keep a relationship with your kids that is open, respectful and positive. This is a great foundation to build upon all of the other ways. Without respect and positive relationship no one is attentive to listening to a parent or teacher.


Number 4: Ask the teacher. As an educator it is important to have your son or daughter know that you have a positive relationships with their teacher. To work together as a team (parent-child-teacher) to help the child understand there are no "enemies" here, but all want him/her to succeed.


And, Number 10, "Don't Futurize" -- We have no way of knowing what will happen in the future, nor do we have any control on events that may happen as a result of others making choices that affect us. What we do have control over is the way we look at and process events which help us to make decisions and choices. Anxiety can lead to paralysis at worst, and can cause us to miss seeing or hearing important information as we process situations in order to make good choices. What they will doing or where they be living in 20 years is not as important to a child trying to work through the anxiety of math one evening at home - it is important for him or her to be successful in front of their peers.



Pincus provides even more ways to help our children to reduce the anxiety of life in school and all that brings, with making sure the responsible adults in their lives assist them in navigating through their journey as them become responsible adults to hopefully repeat the cycle for their own children.



Read more: http://www.empoweringparents.com/10-ways-to-motivate-your-child-to-do-better-in-school.php#ixzz2ujGerAly

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Today's Classroom. How should it look.

A great blog entry from George Couros on what we should find in every classroom. If only it could happen  quickly.  I will at a least start this check list in mine.

georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/3586

Improve Listening using this simple method

Improve Listening!

When I first read this I thought it wouldn't work. 

But then I decided to try it. I was wrong. 

The students did exactly what Michael said. Following his simple method allowed my students (and it works on adults, too!) to learn to listen for the directions and instructions when they are provided. 

Please read his complete article titled: 

A Simple Way To Improve Listening

by MICHAEL LINSIN on OCTOBER 27, 2012

Communicating differently...Listen Carefully.

I will return to the classroom filled with my students on January 7th. Yes, I'm lucky to have such a long break. But the truth is I miss them. I miss each of them for different reasons. I miss their smiles, their excitement when they are engaged in learning, their frowns (and some screams) when their choice boards show that "work" is involved before they get their preferred activity. Yes, I miss all of that.


As I reflect on these things I also remember the comments in the halls from other teachers: "Oh, I couldn't do what you do all day long." or "How do you deal with the yelling and screaming?" I just look at them and I smile. Truth is, I don't hear the yelling or screaming or whining or any other of the protests as they are presented. I hear each of my students on the autism spectrum when they do "yell" to really be saying, "I'm overwhelmed, "I need you to help me" or "I don't know what to do, please help!"

My students don't articulate these words exactly, but they do communicate, they can tell me with their body language, their eyes, and the looks on their cherub faces. Their verbal abilities may manifest in what others would call "yelling" or "screaming". I call it communicating and when we as teachers learn their "language" we can engage their minds and they learn.

Yes, learning is sometimes messy and almost always loud in my classroom. I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

Sometimes classroom management (or lack thereof) can stress teachers. Sometimes teachers get overwhelmed, tired and cranky, too. The website SmartClassroomManagement.com by Michael Lisin is a great resource for help when we need it. A recent posting of the "5 Ways to Be A Calmer, More Effective Teacher" can help us all with tips and techniques to remain focused and calm all day.

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Praising Students (all people really)!

Michael Linsin of Smart Classroom Management.com posted a great article on how to and how not to praise children.  After reading the article, I think it works for more than just students in the classroom. If we all were given genuine praise, then our world would have to be improved. 

Check out the full article here and see if you agree. 

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don.breedwell@gmail.com has shared: What is “Stimming” and Why is it Important?

	What is "Stimming" and Why is it Important? Source: special-ism.com September 20, 2012 By Gavin Bollard, Does your special needs, child frequently rock, bob their knee, make annoying humming noises, squint or smell strange things that they shouldn’t?  These behaviours are sensory, stimulation or stimming, and they’re not simply normal. For a child on the autism spectrum, , they’re an essential part of coping with life. Stimming, involves supplying feedback to the senses. There are five commonly discussed senses; sight, , hearing, , smell, , taste, and touc...

don.breedwell@gmail.com sent this using ShareThis. Please note that ShareThis does not verify the ownership of this email address.

From Michael Linsin of SmatClassroomManagement.com: 

"A teacher who dishes out consequences based upon her (or his) own, personal subjective view of her students, the behavior in question, or the particular situation will lose control of her classroom and the respect of her students.

A well-written classroom management plan, on the other hand, followed as taught, modeled, and practiced, is fair to all students and never creates resentment, friction, and hard feelings between the teacher and her students.

Unless you have a student in need of specific behavioral accommodations detailed in an IEP, it’s best for your students, their learning, and your peace of mind that they all fall under the same clearly defined, objective classroom management plan."


This is from a great article published at http://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2012/06/16/how-to-be-consistent-with-classroom-management/


I would highly suggest reading the entire article by MICHAEL LINSIN and also subscribing to their newsletter. It is filled with great information and techniques.

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Stopping boredom - Using Classroom Management

I have found this to be so true: "If the students are not engaged in meaningful, relative activities of learning, they will devise their own relative activities."  So, in order for them to remain engaged, this website of 8 Thing Teachers Do To Bore Students was a great find.   Check it out and be sure to leave a message on their site if it has helped you!!

8 Things Teachers Do To Cause Boredom

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