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Articles

Testing Limits

What to Do When Students Start Testing Limits

The school year is in full swing: hopes and goals have been established, classroom and school expectations are in place, and learning is in high gear. Everything is off to a great start. So why are you noticing some students beginning to test limits and misbehave? And what can you…
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Oct 21 2019

It’s Time to Reconnect

Helping students build relationships with each other is a key to creating an optimal learning environment. Stronger bonds mean students will be less likely to be unkind, to exclude others, to call each other names, or to stand by in the face of mean behavior toward a classmate. The safer…
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Mar 22 2018

Stop Bullying Before It Starts

National Bullying Prevention Month is an opportunity to reflect on a serious problem that not only deprives students of a joyful learning environment, but can have toxic effects on the recipient that extend into adulthood, such as difficulty sleeping, anxiety, and depression. While teachers and other adults who work in…
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Oct 12 2017
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Responding to Defiance in the Moment

Why Do Children Defy Authority? At certain ages, children are more likely to defy us and take active steps to test limits. At other ages, children are tuned in to issues of fairness and may push back when they sense an adult is being unjust. Picture Amelia, a sixth grader.…
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Nov 07 2016
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Teaching Without Using Rewards

Children build on their strengths, and to do that building—to grow academically and socially—they need us to recognize and encourage their positive efforts. But what’s the best way to offer that recognition and encouragement? For some time, I used rewards—tickets that I gave out when students met expectations. But something…
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Apr 17 2015
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

When Students Need More: Taking the Long View

A reality of teaching that all teachers know well is that no matter how effectively we teach, no matter how hard students try, and no matter how many good days the class has together, students will sometimes need more—more direction, more support, more teaching, more time. But in one of…
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Feb 18 2015
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

When Children Get Rattled

Remember that children develop new skills over time and at different rates. As they develop greater coping skills, they’ll make mistakes. The calmer you are when they fail to shake off a little setback as practiced, the easier it will be for them to bounce back. Keep your cool We…
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Oct 10 2014
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

What to Do When Greetings Get Silly

Do you often wonder how to keep the sense of comfortable routine while also varying Morning Meetings enough to keep students (and adults) interested and engaged? Greetings can be especially important because they set the tone for the whole meeting—and the whole day. Here's another answer to a question teachers…
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Apr 24 2014

Cyberbullying Prevention in the Classroom

These days even young children have active digital lives through texting, instant messaging, and multi-player online games such as Club Penguin. However, children who are adept at using digital devices such as smartphones and tablets often lack the digital social skills needed to be safe online. Unless adults directly teach…
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Feb 19 2014

Cyberbullying: A Resource for Educators

Do elementary educators need to proactively protect their students against cyberbullying? Elizabeth Englander, in her engaging and readable new book Bullying and Cyberbullying: What Every Educator Needs to Know, makes a persuasive argument that we do. Dr. Englander, the director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC), is a professor…
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Dec 19 2013
The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig

The Invisible Boy

Do you have a child in your class who is invisible to the other children? I'm thinking about the child who is forgotten when children choose work partners, who plays alone at recess, who may sit with others at lunch but isn't part of the conversation. I sometimes had such…
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Oct 23 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

How Well Do You Know Your Students?

I'd like you to try a challenge I used to give myself several times a year when I was a classroom teacher. First, divide a piece of paper into three columns. In the first column, make a list of your students. Try not to use alphabetical order, grade book order,…
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Apr 19 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

When Children Are Defiant

I once taught a second grader who sometimes subtly refused to go along with what we were doing. For instance, if we had to leave the classroom and John didn't want to go, he'd get in line—but then walk as slowly as possible. The more his classmates and I urged…
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Apr 16 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

“We All Get Angry Sometimes”

Natasha hurls a block when her carefully constructed tower falls down. Jose's flower drawing fails to resemble what he envisioned. Ripping up his paper, he stomps away. Abby tells Zara she can't join a math game. Zara scowls and shoves her classmate. Welcome to a fairly typical afternoon in my…
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Apr 16 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

A Lesson Learned About Prizes

During my years of teaching, I have used individual written agreements coupled with a simple token system to give children with particularly challenging behavior the extra support they need to improve. Recently, I learned a big lesson about the effective use of these systems through a mistake I made while…
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Apr 12 2013
Sammy and His Behavior Problems

How Reading About Sammy Healed Me

A few years ago, I had a student who broke me. During our very first Morning Meeting, as my brand new class met each other, he slapped another first grader. Hard. As the year progressed, his behavior challenges continued. He pushed over desks, punched children on the playground, and drew…
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Mar 27 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

How to Talk With Parents about Cliques and Exclusion

Early in the school year, share with parents school and class expectations related to exclusion. You could do this in a letter or at back-to-school night. Give them a broad understanding of why inclusion matters and how it helps every child develop better social-emotional and academic skills. Also, share with…
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Feb 13 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Teaching Self-Calming Skills

"You need to calm down." This is something I hear a lot in my work as a behavior specialist when a student starts to get agitated—answering rudely, refusing to work, making insulting comments, or whining. A teacher might tell a child to "go sit in the beanbag chair and calm…
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Jan 30 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Individual Written Agreements

When Justin started first grade, he was prone to violent outbursts. On the very first day of school, after I asked him to complete a reading response task and he threw his shoes at me, he was removed from the classroom. Then, on the second day of school, he had…
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Dec 13 2012
Bullyproof your classroom book

Bullying and the New Kid

"There's a new girl in my class," my grandson told me. "She's from Russia, and she doesn't speak English yet. Her name is Petra, but kids call her 'Comrade Communist.' " It was clear from his tone that "Comrade Communist" was not a friendly name. "Does your teacher know about…
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Dec 04 2012
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

November Blues

What teachers have to deal with at this time of year (in addition to teaching, of course) can be daunting—writing report cards, meeting with families at conferences, grading papers, adjusting to a time change, and in some cases, even dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane. It is natural for…
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Nov 11 2012

Close the Gateway to Bullying

An adapted excerpt from Chapter One of the award-winning book, How to Bullyproof Your Classroom Bullying typically does not emerge from thin air. It starts with small, mean social behaviors, such as Missy's whisper to Laticia as the children trickle into their third grade classroom: "Your hair's nappy. You'll never…
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Aug 01 2012

Extraordinary Acts

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the amazing things teachers do, often almost without thinking. While working on my latest project, a book about behavior challenges, I've been interviewing some experienced teachers about how they managed challenging situations over the years. I've been moved to tears by stories of…
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Jun 08 2012

Helping One, Helping All

Every year we teachers have some students who present challenges to themselves, to their classmates, and to us. In Sammy and His Behavior Problems, I wrote about one such student, Sammy, a third grader who struggled with impulsiveness, paying attention, completing schoolwork, and learning to be a friend. It's the…
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Jan 24 2012

Questioning Your Assumptions

Winter break can provide teachers a bit of time and space to reflect on how the school year has gone so far, and to decide what adjustments to make in January. This year, in addition to thinking about classroom routines and procedures, progress toward learning goals (for yourself and your…
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Dec 27 2011

Three Types of Logical Consequences

Teachers who use the Responsive Classroom approach learn a variety of strategies for responding to misbehavior; logical consequences are one of those strategies. Depending on the child and the situation, teachers might combine a logical consequence with other strategies, or they might use more than one logical consequence. We recommend…
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Oct 24 2011

Responding to Misbehavior

No matter how carefully we teach positive behavior, students will still sometimes misbehave. They'll forget the rules, their impulses will win out over their self-control, or they'll just need to test where the limits are. For example: Janna rolls her eyes and snickers as Hector shares details of his weekend…
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Oct 24 2011

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