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As a classroom teacher I looked forward every year to teaching students all kinds of academic concepts and skills that would enable them to be engaged and successful in their learning. Organizing book clubs to get them thinking about themes and character traits, guiding research on how animals adapt to…

"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…

Question: I have a dilemma about time-out. I tell my students that time-out is not a punishment, but I know it can feel like punishment when I send them to time-out for acting out. It probably doesn’t help that their previous teachers may have used time-out as a punishment—and I’ve…

A few weeks ago, on the RC discussion board on Facebook, Aimee Casale asked for suggestions for introducing Take a Break (also called Positive Time-Out) to students in the upper elementary grades. I answered her there, and I wanted to share what I said to her with you, as well:…

When used calmly, consistently, and respectfully, Responsive Classroom time-out can be a valuable strategy for helping students develop self-control while keeping the classroom calm, safe, and orderly. Santiago is at the interactive whiteboard, showing the class his solution to a math problem the teacher challenged them with. Everyone is paying…

Alison, a young five-year-old I taught recently, struggled with separation anxiety at the beginning of the year. She had a hard time saying goodbye to her dad when he dropped her off in the mornings. On one particularly difficult day, she went through all the usual routines—blowing a kiss, waving…

Question: I’ve had pretty good success using time-out with most children. I have children go to time-out to regain their self-control as they start to lose it. But what about the child who just refuses to go to time-out when told to? I keep trying different things, and nothing seems…