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#3: Adult & student triggers and how to overcome them

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#3: Adult & student triggers and how to overcome them

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The premise of this book is that what we’ve traditionally thought of as the right way to correct students’ challenging behaviors does not work for them because it doesn’t address the root cause of the problem, which is often lagging skills. Because of this, teachers are routinely at risk of triggering students’ challenging behaviors, and students are at risk of triggering their teachers' disciplinary reactions to it. It’s a vicious cycle. In order to overcome this problem, educators need to take a proactive, team-based approach to addressing the lagging skills that underlie the students' challenging behaviors.

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I feel we need to listen. I think that the situation would not have escalated if the teacher had asked another question. On page one when the teacher says “Joey, the instructions are on the board. How can you not know what to do?” I feel she should have asked, “How can I help you understand what to do?” or “What don't you understand, maybe I can clarify it”  this might have avoided the escalation.

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The example of the student Joey reminded me a lot of one of my students. He obviously has lagging skills given that I am the speech, language pathologist and I know that is one of my strengths that I have been advocating for him to administrators: he bolts when he doesn't understand or feels put on the spot etc. One of my challenges is how to engage these students that continue to have lacking skills and are starting to become aware of them as they enter middle school. I believe the answer is in relationship building and finding the time.

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While reading I definitely felt a connection with the teacher, Mrs. Woods. Although I tend to be a lot more understanding, I do find myself getting aggravated when this scenario would pop up. I would call this a weakness, but I have learned a lot in the pat 3 years and have grown out of it. I think mainly because I always form great relationships with my students now and know them and their reactions. I think that the relationship building has been a huge strength of mine as I grow more comfortable in my role.

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Q1: Identify strengths and challenges and transfer skills to your students

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Q1: Identify strengths and challenges and transfer skills to your students

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Ch. 1 revolved around a classroom scenario with a kid who wasn't doing work. It was easy to see identify all the things the teacher did that I know I would have handled differently and also seeing where I can grow and change my mindset when thinking about students. The teacher in the chapter did not handle the situation well at all and came from a reactive place instead of thinking things through. Approaching the student and calling him out in front of other kids, trying to make him come to her desk, sending him out - all led and added to his "bad" behavior. And the way the administration handled it as well was terrible. Reading through the story I identified where I would have approached it differently that would have been more productive and kept him in the classroom. But I can admit in some of interactions with students I can definitely have the wrong mindset about how they're acting (they just don't care, they don't want to be here, they just have a bad attitude) and I need to notice that and change it to better try and reach those students to keep them engaged in the class.

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Question # 1
From the reading I was able to see how I have empathy for struggling students and how I try to identify why a student may react in a certain way. The teacher seemed to have the mindset that all students are alike and her expectations were way off. Putting a student on the spot and embarrassing him was terrible. I also found that I want to work on pausing before reacting to a student's behavior and how that can be a challenge. I will transfer these skills while working with students by being mindful of my strengths and challenges and learning through each experience by reflecting back on them later.

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Lost At School begins with an introduction (xiii, first good size paragraph) that I found very powerful. "Helping kids with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in not a mechanical exercise...." "The work is hard, messy, uncomfortable, and requires teamwork, patience, and tenacity, especially as the work also involves questioning conventional wisdom and practices." Our focus in reading this week was self-awareness. This means we need to be reflective in what we do, how we help, teach, and basically - everything. We try our best as educators to reach all students. The reading helped me identify my strengths and challenges by looking at what I do as an educator. Listening is a major key and I hope strength. A challenge is for me to not be judgmental. Every situation is different. I found myself in reading the first chapter, wondering why Mrs. Woods wasn't trying different strategies to help Joey engage in the lesson, listening to him when he whispered under his breath and then adding demands to someone who is already struggling. I have to keep in mind that everyone is trying their best and every situation is different. Supporting, modeling, and learning from colleagues and students is something I will transfer. I don't know everything and it's okay to share that. We're all growing and learning together.
This is Bandit, my 12 year old pit bull who is my reading partner/hinderer.

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After reading Joey’s scenario and the school’s approach to handle his behavior, it appears that Greene intends his readers to think about shifting their mindset when working with students displaying challenging behaviors. Instead of solving problems with the school vs. student approach, we need to think about solving these types of problems with collaboration, data and compassion. Greene expresses that “behavior is the signal.”We need to take the time to understand what that “signal” is communicating to us. If we can shift our mindset by being more proactive with our problem solving, we have the ability to create more learning environments that are successful for all of our students. 

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"In the same way that kids who are delayed in reading are having difficulty mastering the skills required for becoming proficient in reading, challenging kids are having difficulty mastering the skills required for becoming proficient in handling life's social, emotional, and behavioral challenges." (p.7) This statement resonates with me BIG TIME. Challenging behavior can be so, so frustrating, but flipping my perspective and looking at it this way helps to change my way of thinking. By looking at certain kids with the idea that they need help and guidance versus "fixing" makes it easier to understand a student's needs as a whole. We are looking for progress in all aspects of what we teach and also how we do it.

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When reading about Joey and Mrs. Woods I found myself criticizing the entire situation. It is easy to stand on the outside and look at a situation and decide what you would do differently. Having experienced similar instances as a teacher, I can remember that it is much different when you are actually "in" it. I empathized with Joey and struggled read how misunderstood he is. It helped me to realized that a strength I have is to stay calm when a student is escalated and read their body language to allow space and time to deescalate. Something that continues to challenge me is figuring out why I use certain strategies in each experience and how to explain that to the paraprofessionals I am working with.

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Identifying my strengths and challenges. One of my strengths I think is that I have a lot of patience (most of the time). I try to stay calm in unsettling situations. One of my challenges is that I don't often notice an antecedent. Sometimes a student might react to something that happened to them in another class or something in my class that I didn't even notice. I'm not saying I don't pay attention, I just might not pick up on a slight escalation of anxiousness or anger, until it is too late and a child has some kind of outburst. I will try to be more aware of this and pick up on is sooner. Another challenge is where to make time to have a discussion like the Plan B discussions, when you are teaching a whole class? The other students need and deserve your attention as well. It seems like something that needs to be done after school or in a special meeting time, but where to find that time?