Building Relationships

A procedure for getting preschoolers to try new foods

On December 4, 2013 / Building Relationships, Discipline Answers, Procedures in the Classroom

A few days ago I was in a restaurant having lunch. Next to me was a young mom also having lunch, accompanied by her lovely little preschooler. As their meal was ending, I noticed the mom lift a spoonful of something uneaten from her daughter’s plate and offer it to the little girl––who, with a shake of her curly blond head, declined to eat. That wasn’t unusual but what the mom said next prompted me to pay a bit more attention.

She said, “Okay, Katie, if you like this can be your “No thank you bite.” The little girl shook her head no.

No thank you bite?

Huh? What was she talking about?

Since I’d never heard this expression before, … >>>

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I need a letter to send home to parents about Discipline without Stress.

On November 8, 2013 / Building Relationships, Discipline Answers, The Teaching Model

QUESTION:

Does anyone have a letter communicate to parents about Discipline without Stress?

RESPONSE:

Here is one letter that was shared by a Kindergarten teacher in Memphis and is based on the outline Dr. Marshall provides in his book. It may provide a starting point for your own letter.

Dear Parents,

Our classroom is a small community where teamwork and good relationships are expected. Since Kindergarten is a new experience for most students, we will spend a lot of time learning class procedures/routines and practicing them. Each student is expected to act within our standards of behavior.

The following are the standards for our class:

1. Be kind and nice.

2. Be safe.

3. Be a good listener.

4. Take … >>>

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Do you think I did the right thing?

On July 21, 2013 / Building Relationships, Discipline Answers, Positivity, Rewarding, RRSystem in Action

QUESTION:

I am an art teacher at an elementary school. I have three 4th grade classes that are usually difficult to manage. I have recently asked a guest artist to come and do a Jackson Pollock lesson with them. She is supplying all the paint and canvases for this lesson, except one. I also have one very large (6 X 8) canvas that only one class will get to paint. The other two classes will have to work on smaller individual canvases. This lesson requires the students to be on their best behavior and be good listeners as we will be “splatter” painting. I told the classes they could “earn” the big canvas. I said that the class with the … >>>

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Using procedures to gain the cooperation of a passive-aggressive student

On November 27, 2011 / Building Relationships, Discipline Answers, RRSystem in Action

My teaching partner and I have a little girl in our grade one classroom this year who is very stubborn and actually downright defiant in a passive aggressive way. Right from the beginning of the year she would deliberately do the opposite of whatever the teacher was asking or quietly not do anything at all. When everyone was asked to print certain letters on the chalkboard she would draw pictures. When asked to get out her calendar binder, she would get out something entirely different. Then just before the end of calendar time, she would quickly take out her book and finish up what was expected. When everyone else would stand to celebrate a classmate’s birthday by singing a … >>>

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Positive phone calls home

On November 12, 2011 / Building Relationships, Discipline Answers

I’ve learned a great lesson from my teaching partner, Darlene, who has wonderful “people skills.” We share a grade one class. She begins the year with a quick phone call to every family, starting with those children who look like they may eventually have some behavior issues. She simply asks the parents to let her know how the child is adjusting to school and whether or not they feel comfortable coming. The parents are happy to have this conversation and are encouraged by it.

By starting home phone calls so quickly, she generally has only positive comments to make––usually kids are on their best behavior on the first days of school! This gets her off on the right … >>>

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Just 5 Minutes of Relationship

On April 23, 2011 / Building Relationships, Discipline Answers

I had an interesting experience on Thursday evening during my Parent Teacher Interviews which were to be “student led.”

I prepared a typical list of classroom areas for parents and child to visit on a “Kindergarten Tour” and the children practiced explaining about activities we do at each one. Things like: “Here is my book box. I’ll read you some books that I’ve made.”

During several of the interviews, older siblings attended. While some of these intermediate students respected that their younger brothers and sisters deserved the limelight at this time, others did not. One grade 5 boy in particular was a problem. At first he was just traveling around the room at great speed, but very quickly he moved

… >>> READ MORE >>> →

A Discipline without Stress Mindset – Misbehavior as an Opportunity to Learn

On May 5, 2007 / Building Relationships, Discipline Answers, Positivity

Recently, I attended a community workshop. Over the lunch hour I happened to sit with a very interesting lady. After a few minutes, our conversation turned to what we did for a living and I explained that I was a teacher. She told me that she worked for the Ministry of Social Services, a government agency. Her job was to take some of the most severely disturbed teens of our community into her home for approximately six weeks at a time, with the goal of readying them for foster care.

She expressed with some regret that the Ministry wouldn’t consider allowing her to take on the role of a regular foster parent, instead of what she does now. She explained … >>>

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Some thoughts on rewarding from a Discipline without Stress teacher

On April 29, 2007 / Building Relationships, Discipline Answers, Rewarding

Shared by Robin Tzucker
on the Discipline without Stress Mailring:

One of the reasons I like this system so much is that it feels much nicer to be in a place where everyone is treated equally. Kids don’t always need the same things, so there will always be plenty of times when we need to give certain kids more of our attention, more time, more help, etc.—but that’s not the kind of equal I’m talking about.

What bothers me is that it often seems that the more behavior problems a child has, the more “rewards” they ultimately end up with. This may sound odd, because they certainly also end up with a larger share of negative consequences too—but in … >>>

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