Note: This porcupines is so famous, using his first name might make him too easy to guess before you read his story, so he’ll be referred to as “W.”
Stupid and Lazy
W was a sensitive and imaginative child, born
“I Felt Very Alone”
Dave misbehaved in school—a lot. He says that he did not have a good experience in elementary school: “I had a lot of challenges growing up in school. I felt very alone in a lot of
He Hated Being a Kid
Childhood was not fun for Ryan. In fact, he hated being a kid. He didn’t like being told what to do (a common theme among porcupines), and he was teased and bullied in elementary school.
A “Goof Around Student”
Mary was born in Boston in 1947, and her mother suspected something was different right from the start. As a small child, she was sensitive to touch, didn’t like hugs, and threw destructive tantrums. She was
Young George Was Not Easy
George was born to a poor family in the rough Pigtown neighborhood of Baltimore. His parents were kept busy trying to make ends meet. His father worked a variety of jobs including as a lightning
School is hard work for kids. They have to sustain attention and focus, manage frustration when learning gets hard, work cooperatively with other students and adults, and try lots of new things. This all requires incredible amounts of energy.
Parents
You’ve got a student who is really struggling. Almost every day during math, he’s disrupting students nearby. You want to sit down with him for a problem-solving conference to figure out what’s going on. Maybe the two of you can
“What about kids who just don’t care?”
When I’m supporting teachers in schools, either around classroom management and discipline or academic engagement and motivation, this is a question that often comes up.
We all know these kids, don’t we? They
Classroom management and academic engagement are two of the most important aspects of getting off to a great start in the new school year. Though gem/marble jars, tickets, clip charts, and other incentive systems (including traditional grades) are common throughout
Are you a teacher struggling to keep your students engaged? You’re not alone. A team of teachers at Sandown North Elementary School faced similar challenges, witnessing a decline in student engagement and an uptick in students that were dysregulated. Instead
Early in the school year, there’s a powerful proactive strategy we should all consider. Positive phone calls to families give you the chance to build connections and relationships with families that will yield benefits all year long. But is this
My wife and I loved watching Ted Lasso. In fact, when our daughter came home from college for the holidays, we got her into it and watched both seasons again! One of the most powerful and uplifting scenes comes in
Is it time to try something different with your students? Is there something you’ve been trying over and over again that just isn’t working?
One year, I remember it taking me way too long to realize that I needed to
Consequences are complicated. You can’t have an effective approach to discipline without them, yet they can’t be the focus of discipline either. In schools, there are often many different opinions about what appropriate consequences are and how they should be
Have you ever had a student you struggled to connect with? How you ever felt a twinge of guilt as you recognize that there are a couple of students in your class who are harder to like than others?
I
We know about the power of relationships. We’ve heard (and believe!) the old adage, “Kids don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” So how do we build and cultivate those all-important relationships…with some of our toughest
Childhood anxiety is on the rise. According to research cited in a recent Washington Post article, the diagnosis of childhood anxiety in children ages 6-17 has jumped 20% in recent years.
The first weeks of school are long past, and your class has likely settled into a rhythm. This is a great time of year to reflect on how things are going. Are routines running as smoothly as you’d like? Are
One student can change the feel of a whole classroom. John throws a tantrum whenever things don’t go his way. Alicia enters the room each morning with a deep scowl exuding negative energy. Allen has way too much sexual knowledge
Mark was a challenging fourth grader. He broke down in tears often in the beginning of the year. Reading was hard. Math was hard. Recess was hard. Everything was hard. He crumpled work papers, fought on the playground, and teased