Chapter 3 Letter of Advice

The next assignment for the book club was to compose a letter of advice to yourself addressing 2 of the 7 teaching mistakes discussed in Chapter 3. There is a lot of great advice in that chapter. It is the precipitating event for some major self reflection! Dear Self, As we prepare for a new school year in a new district and new building, I hope to offer you some advice. Who better to offer you advice than yourself? No one else knows you better, right? You have never been a "yeller" or a "screamer" when it comes to addressing student behavior. However, you can lose your temper. Remember the last time the lawn mower wouldn't start? (Enough said) It is important to remember to "keep calm and teach on". Yelling and screaming at the students is completely ineffective because students with challenging behavior often come from homes and classrooms where that is the norm. They do not know any better so they will not act differently. To combat this the solution is simple: good teaching. You have said before that "the number one deterrent for bad behavior is good teaching". Now it is time to take your own advice. You know what good teaching is, and with the help of Coach B's book, you know how to take that to great teaching. The students have been allowed to develop some pretty bad habits by though. You have been "warned" about their behavior on more than one occasion. So when those difficult situations arise, remember not to be confrontational with an audience. You know how the function of many inappropriate behaviors is attention from peers. How many functional behavior assessments have you written to address attention maintained behaviors? The solution again is simple: remove the audience. Flood them with positive attention for appropriate behaviors and address the inappropriate behaviors in a non-attention maintaining way. So, this year don't be part of the problem, be part of the solution. Keep calm and teach on! Best wishes for a fabulous school year,