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Wow! My kids are on a roll.

We have a new student, she's a firecracker. So, I asked the group after the group she was in a little about her. They revealed that she was not behaving the way she should. Yikes! Probably I shouldn't have asked. So I tried to turn the conversation around to ways we could be good examples, to give her a way to see how good behavior should look. My friend, J. (who is all business and an old soul in a tiny body) settled herself in her chair, pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, straightened her scarf, interlaced her fingers, cleared her throat and began...

"Well, I would tell her that, you know, we don't appreciate the way she's acting. We should tell her that she needs to start behaving better or she will be in Step 2 (a behavior modification technique) and that is not a good thing for her. Now maybe she doesn't get it because she's new here, but she needs to understand how we do things."

Well said, J! I vote we put you in charge of addressing teachers and staff when we discuss classroom behavior strategies at our next staff meeting.

Sometimes kids need a little bit of attention. And, quite honestly, I hate giving it to them. That sounds bad, but isn't meant to. I mean that kids act out when they need attention, and I am not about to fall into their traps. Instead, I like to give them a chance to turn it around. One of the things I like to do is to have a squirrely kid help me teach. They get to stand in front of the group with me, they call on kids for answers. I have them pass out paper, pencils, crayons, etc.. I also have them explain what we're doing. They get to be the expert. It is far and away the best way I've found for helping a kid who is having a bad day, turn it around and make it positive. They love it. They feel important, in a good way. And I love it, too. I save a lot of energy not handing out supplies.

From farting to good behavior, my kiddos have got it all covered.