Julie Causton, Kate MacLeod, and Kristie Pretti-Frontczak work with administrators all over the world who believe in supporting students with compassion and leading schools with love. But these administrators report incredible challenges they face in ditching traditional behavior-management practices like punitive or public discipline tactics.…

As schools continue to transition from pandemic-induced disruption to a new normal, educators must realize that the most vulnerable students are the ones who've been harmed the most. The problem is, because trauma and mental health distress aren't immediately visible, educators won't know "which" students are in a quiet state of…

Long stereotyped as not being interested in building relationships with teachers, boys actually search for--and are in need of--teachers who make meaningful connections with them, writes Reichert in this article. The author examines how school practices of the past and present have contributed to the so-called gender achievement gap and stresses…

Charts that keep (public) track of whether a student's behavior is in some equivalent of a red (problem), yellow, or green ("well-behaved") zone are ubiquitous in elementary schools. This strategy based on shaming students is due to be retired because (1) it promotes only compliance, not social-emotional learning; (2) charts don't teach…

Schools can view challenging student behavior in one of two ways: (1) as a failure on the part of the student or teacher that distracts from the work of learning, or (2) as a normal developmental occurrence that provides an opportunity for the student to practice new or emerging skills. The authors of this article, researchers at the Harvard…

People tend to misbehave when they find themselves in circumstances that threaten their well-being. When they feel vulnerable, misunderstood, humiliated, or betrayed, they're inclined to act out. Families do it at the dinner table, educators do it in faculty meetings, and students do it in classrooms. Why, then, do teachers often view their…

A teacher's authority in a classroom is no longer assumed--it has to be earned. Without establishing a baseline of rapport and mutual respect, cultural misunderstandings between teachers and students can devolve into chaos. Gabriel Benn, hip-hop artist and former school teacher and administrator, shares real-life examples of how rapport can go…

According to the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention, about one quarter of children in the United States will witness or experience a traumatic event before the age of four. In this article, Susan E. Craig explains how these early trauma histories prime a child's brain to expect certain experiences,…

"Baxter pushed me away every moment that we worked together, He was rude, sarcastic, and often downright mean. He got up and walked away every time I asked him to do something he didn't want to, which was ... everything." That's how Lisa Medoff describes the 4th grade boy whom she tutored twice a week to help him manage his ADHD. Despite…

For many emotionally troubled students, adults in their lives have acted like the mountain trolls featured in the Harry Potter books: scary, unpredictable creatures who can't listen and who respond to conflicts with the club of punishment. Although emotionally fragile students often "act out" or withdraw in ways that create problems, and…

Why is that child so rude? Why does that mother let her daughter come to school dressed like that? Why doesn't he ever do his homework? That child is so lazy that he sleeps in class every day! It's not unusual for teachers to express frustration with students' behavior by making comments like these. But do these teachers really know…

This White House report investigates the essential role that peers play in promoting or preventing bullying. Bullies use bullying to attain success and recognition; their success in doing so depends on the characteristics of the bully, the relationship that exists between bullies and those whom they target for harassment, and the reactions of…

When the author was asked to write an article for this issue about teaching kids with autism, he thought, who better to tell that tale than him? He grew up with undiagnosed autism in the 1960s, so he has a first-person understanding of what it's like. He has also raised a child with Asperger syndrome, so he has seen autism from the parent's point…

One hundred repetitions--100 "useful" repetitions. This notion has guided the author's work in alternative education programs for almost 20 years, dealing with the most challenging students, from addicts to conduct-disordered adolescents to traumatized 5th graders. There are no magic tricks. The role of educators is to align with the healthy…

For long-term learning and positive connections to take place in the classroom, we need to assume that our students want to learn both content and appropriate behavior in school. Teachers must explicitly teach behavior, pausing in their lessons to address misbehavior in the classroom. Five strategies can help: using volume, tone, and posture to…