Part 2: New Approach

The quote from the video that resonated with me the most was, “There is nothing fabulous to do in the heat of the moment." One of my lingering fears as a classroom teacher is that the lesson of the day might be interrupted. If a student in class does exhibit distracting behaviors or interrupts the lesson, it is almost a protective instinct for many teachers to try and immediately bring an end to the distraction so that instruction can continue. Or the other fear that more students might join in the bad behavior. It is still possible to follow the steps suggested by Dr. Greene because even though we might feel pressured to find a solution in a short amount of time, there really is not anything fabulous that would help the situation. The behavior might stop for the time being, but the underlying problem would never be solved and would resurface another day. 

Dr. Ross Greene said it finely: "Kids are your teammate; not your adversary." This quote resonated with me the most as a teacher because often I feel there is a power imbalance within the classroom setting: often the teacher feels like they don't have control over a student and their behaviors or a classroom dynamic and exhausts themselves as they look for a solution. What I appreciated that Dr. Greene explained was that it is more beneficial to find the root of the problem and instead of punishing a student for their behavior and gain control; we need to help them find proactive solutions so they feel in control. A quote I have learned from my few years teaching is very much related to Dr. Greene's philosophy: "Students behaviors are not the problem. Students behaviors are a solution to a problem." Learning to not react in the heat of the moment and instead, be a teammate to the child and help them overcome their problems and difficulties.

I think that when we pause and don't respond in the moment, we are able to approach the situation in a better way.  The quote that stuck with me the most was, "Behaviorally challenging kids are not lacking motivation...behaviorally challenging kids are lacking some very important skills in the very global domains of flexibility, adaptability, frustration tolerance, problem solving."  This really shows that a lot of our discipline measures do not show the students HOW to change the behavior. This shows why SEL proactive lessons, working with students to solve problems, and integrating skill development in lessons and classroom environment are so important.

The quote from the video that resognated with me was when Dr. Greene was explaining how kids with challenging behaviors are lacking coping and problem solving skills. Strategies that parents and teachers use as a response to challenging behavior such as time- outs and other forms of punishment, are strategies that don't teach skills. Simply putting a kid in a time out corner doesn't teach the child what to do different if this problem occurs again in the future. Another quote that stood out was how parents/teachers should work with children as teammates to develop solutions to problems rather than just exerting power over them. While this all sounds very logical, I don't think I really understood this until I became a parent myself. My son does not respond well to yelling or parental power plays. It only makes the behavior worse. When we are able to talk about what happened and cone to a solution together is when I see a change in his behavior. 

The quote that resonated with me is, "Children with poor behavior are not lacking motivation, they are missing the skills to solve their problem". I think we all are human and it is our nature to react to a situation when it occurs.  Having a plan to will help to assure the interaction is positive.   As stated in the video, children with behavior problems are missing skills such as problem solving, flexibility and tolerance.  Tolerance is an area that we all should be concentrating on.  By being teammates, parents, students and teachers can develop and nurture the skill set that is required for success.

The quote that resonated with me was the idea that punishment for behaviors is doing something "to them" where the alternative would be to do something "with them" to really address the problem instead of putting a bandaid over it. Dr. Greene continues to explain that punishment is really about power and not really about solving the problems that the child has. 

Often when I am faced with  behaviors of a challenging student, I consider what Type of plan I will put in place to change the behavior. It seems that if I am trying to teach the child about flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance or problem solving, I would need them to be an active participant in the process.

This quote stood out to me the most during Dr. Ross Greene's presentation, because most of the time you are thinking about the reward/punishment process.  With this, Dr. Greene is telling us to get to the root of the problem and move through a three step process to determine the cause of the behavior. This way you can focus on solving those problems rather on modifying the behavior.