Date: January 13th, 2024
Polly answers the question: “I have a kid who hits and spits at others. We have two paraprofessionals in the room and we all try our best to watch her but as soon as we hear a scream we know… she has done something to someone. Even though she gets sent to the office all the time she isn’t getting any better. Do you have any ways of dealing with this?”
Date: October 1st, 2023
Polly answers the question: “I was lining up my middle school kids and one kid kept ignoring my directions and stepping out of line. I told him to go to the office, which he refused to do, but he did get back in line. I called the office and an administrator came down but didn’t do anything because the kid wasn’t refusing at that moment. I felt unsupported. Could I have handled it differently?”
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: March 19th, 2023
Polly answers the question: “I send high schoolers down to the office when they act up in my class and it doesn’t seem to make any difference! So I wonder if I should just save the office for really higher level stuff so the kids know when they have truly gone too far?”
Date: February 12th, 2023
Polly answers the question: “I kept a kid in for recess so we could talk about his behavior in my class. But then his behavior got even worse. I think he likes staying with me during recess! How do I undo this?”
Date: December 21st, 2022
When kids start talking out, don’t ask things like, “What should you be doing right now?” Instead, say “Talking out right now is disruptive.”
Date: September 13th, 2022
Organization is a cognitive skill. It’s not bad behavior when a kid is disorganized!
Date: June 19th, 2022
We make things easier for ourselves when we stop assuming kids have certain skills already. Instead, assume they DON’T have those skills and go ahead and teach them!
Date: May 9th, 2022
During the last two challenging years, the typical school day was everything BUT typical. Skills have been lost, behaviors have accelerated, many children are traumatized, and we are exhausted. But there are all those behaviors to deal with, and all those academic gaps to close. Returning to ‘normal’ has turned out to be daunting. To […]
Date: April 17th, 2022
When I was a classroom teacher, I did not send kids to the office unless they were shutting down my instruction. And here’s why you shouldn’t either.
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