…POSITIVE INTERACTION!!!! As a principal of an alternative school, I work with middle and high school students who have been caught with drugs, who have out-of-control behavior, or have mental health issues. I’m often asked how I “control” the students. I’m asked what consequences I use. I’m asked how we…
A LETTER TO MY FAVORITE TEACHER
Dear Mrs. Davis, You were my second grade teacher at Arapaho Elementary School in Richardson, Texas. The year, 1965. I really don’t remember much about what you taught me, outside of the Planets Song, but I remember how you made me feel…Loved. You were old, plump, and wore horn-rimmed glasses. …
Effective Office Referral Forms
Welcome back. Last month I showed you how I level behaviors. I used these levels to develop office referral forms. It is important to have a well-developed office referral system. A well-developed system allows you to easily organize and analyze behavior. Before you can change behavior, you have to analyze…
THE UMBRELLA PLAN: A Counseling Strategy for Planning Ahead, Just In Case
Have you, like most people, ever taken an umbrella with you just so it wouldn’t rain? You know the old adage about how it won’t rain because you are uncharacteristically prepared for it?! That’s this strategy! When a student seeks you out because of a current significant stressor, grab the…
SENT TO THE OFFICE? TAKE A NUMBER…
When I was Behavior Consultant in my school district, one of my duties was to review the office referral data in all the schools. I noticed the administrators were overwhelmed with the number of students being sent to the office for disciplinary reasons. In one school, students were sent to…
THE RIPPLE EFFECT: A Strategy for Analyzing Conflicts
rip·ple ef·fect (n.): The continuing and spreading results of an event or action. www.oxforddictionaries.com A simple technique I frequently use with students is the “Ripple Effect” strategy. Often, I work with students who are impulsive in their decisions, resistant to authority, quick to anger, or easily baited by peers to…
Bugs and Gaps- what’s the connection?
Achievement gaps. Those reports, the watch lists, and strategies to help ensure all students are successful. I wish that we could add “attendance gap” to the list but that’s a topic for another day… So what do bugs have to do with gaps? Maybe quite a bit. When I started in…
Anger Outbursts
Does it seem like your student explodes instantly? Actually there are many signs before an explosion. This handout, The Cycle of Anger, will help you and the student recognize these signs in order to avoid the explosion. Step 1: High Risk Situations-this identifies what was going on and where…
YOU SCRATCH MY BACK, I’LL SCRATCH YOURS: The Give and Take in Relationships
With the approach of Valentine’s Day, a very busy day for counselors due to broken or lonely hearts, I thought it would be worthwhile to consider the importance of practicing reciprocity, the ability to give to and receive from others. The ability to give and take in a balanced manner…
Diabetes Tips
Things have sure changed since I went to school. Some may say for the good, some may say for the worst but either way life is different than I knew it. I was raised in an era where the lunch ladies made home cooked meals, the president’s wife wasn’t worried…