Secondary Professional Development Classroom Management Resources, Books, Podcasts, Courses

This is Youth Change Professional Development Workshop's educational archive of past Classroom Management Forum posts from 2011. This page is designed to meet the needs of youth professionals like principals, teachers, special educators, teaching assistants, program administrators, LPCs, social workers, school psychologists, staff development directors, and juvenile justice program workers. If you need more help, check out our live and recorded workshops, podcasts, posters, books and ebooks. Plus, you can always reach our expert trainers at Youth Change Workshops by toll-free phone by clicking here. Click here to email us. Youth Change provides this interactive resource as a professional development service. When you think of problem students, think of Youth Change. We're one of the oldest, most respected professional development course sponsors in North America. We can help you to best help your troubled and problem students.

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QUESTIONS shown in GREEN
ANSWERS shown in BLUE

Date: 2011-01-11 4:53:02 Name: Harvey Wong Subject: Conduct Disorders? Job Title: Secondary Charter School Program Director Number: 404

I have a staff person who attended your professional development course somewhere on the east coast. She said that you said that mental health professionals have different, more elaborate interventions and resources for severely acting-out students. She said you used the term "conduct disorder." Explain please.

Your staff person is correct on all counts. There are two introductory articles on conduct disorder in our educational articles section (click), that will answer all your questions. If you want the full answer, we have an enormously popular $15 book that can change how you run your charter school discipline program for the better. We get more effusive emails about this book than any other book we produce. View the details on All the Best Answers for the Worst Kid Problems: Conduct Disorders and Anti-Social Youth here. To find out when our professional development inservice workshops will be back in your area, click here. To get the professional development course on DVD, click here.

Reply written by Ruth Herman Wells, M.S., Director, Youth Change at 2011-01-03 8:19:16

Date: 2011-02-12 2:55:05 Name: Torey Subject: Professional Development Job Title: School District Staff Development Director Number: 414

We are a small school district. I was wondering what you have any affordable professional development training on a budget, or creative ideas for budget problems. We serve both elementary and secondary students. We badly need innovative methods for the misbehavior especially for secondary students, but funds are terribly tight right now. Don't know if you can suggest anything for our secondary students with the most serious problem behaviors and discipline issues...

Yes, we can help. Consider getting our

professional development resources as distance learning workshops on DVD (click for details.) You can also sponsor and workshop and turn it into a fund raiser. Details are here. Note that we can train elementary and secondary staff all at once. That may help. Plus, you can certainly call us and ask about a donation from our company. We do try to make a few donations to school districts each year that can solve some of the budge concerns.

Reply written by Ruth Herman Wells, M.S., Director, Youth Change at 2011-01-16 1:09:13

Date: 2010-01-04 10:31:31 Name: Chaz Subject: School Skills Training Job Title: Secondary Teacher Number: 39

I have been hearing about School Skills Training from colleagues who sat in on a professional development course you taught. What is School Skills Training?

School Skills Training refers to the idea that children aren't born instant students and must be taught how to look, act, and sound like students. Parents used to routinely teach their offspring to be prepared, motivated students. That doesn't always happen these days so you can end up working with students who have no clue how to behave, and they may lack the necessary attitude and motivation to succeed in school. You may even see secondary students who don't know how to raise their hands, talk one at a time, or know why school is important. Here is an eye-opening article on School Skills Training (click) that will provide the details. It shows you how schools need to teach the School Skills behaviors, attitudes and motivations that kids need to succeed in almost any school environment.

Reply written by Ruth Herman Wells, M.S., Director, Youth Change at 2010-09-29 10:19:16

Date: 201-03-14 7:30:30 Name: Charlene Ellis Subject: Twin bad behavior Job Title: Kindergarten Teacher Number: 39

Thanks for your previous response. I am in close contact with the parents. Apparently this twin has been a challenge at home since infancy. The preschool the girls went to was based on montessori practices-totally child directed and a 1 on 3 ratio so she did not develop the skill of waiting to be helped or being required in a school setting to start, finish or even attempt a project or assignment that she finish. Her sister has learned these skills as does well academically and socially. She had at her disposal adult one on one whenever she demanded it. She is currently seeing a child psychologist that considered ODD, but now says no(I think this may be fairly accurate for this child). However she has not given me many options for helping her in the classroom or helping me cope. I came up with a grab bag for her for calming activities she could try today-take 3 deep breaths, give yourself a short time out on the couch, ask to take something to the office, quietly sing a song you like where what I came up quickly this morning. She still tantrumed today, not as badly as yesterday. Mom is stay at home mom who tries really hard with the girls-good boundaries are on both girls and consistent consequences and rewards. No trauma is noted. Hope that this helps. I would love any help or ideas you can give. Thanks!

So we have two possibilities, that the girl has ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) or is untrained on how to be a patient, cooperative student. Either way, I would begin now to teach her those skills starting with the most important first: self-control. Begin by finding out her likes and dislikes, and use those as you go, e.g. if she prefers to be in class vs outside, then remove for tantrum, readmit for stopping. Teach in small steps and be very careful to teach behaviors not repeat expectations. So you will teach specific skills like voice level, voice tone, what words to use, and so on. You must also motivate her to be different so use some of our potent motivators that ease very resistant children into understanding that they can't even make it through the morning with a temper like that. Best resource: Temper and Tantrum Tamer lesson plan book. What's key? Motivate her, meaning she sees urgent need to be different.

Reply written by Ruth Herman Wells, M.S., Director, Youth Change at 2011-03-22 01:15:47

Date: 2011-04-01 12:13:40 Name: Ramona Jacobs Subject: Workshops Job Title: Supervisor of Social Workers Number: 51

Our staff are now managing many times the number of troubled students than 3 years ago. We have a day treatment center for severely disturbed children and adolescents. I need a crash course professional development program ASAP as the students behavior has really deteriorated since the increase in group and class size. What can you suggest that would be fast and inexpensive?

Breakthrough Strategies to Teach and Counsel Troubled Youth professional development flyer here.

distance learning professional development workshop (click).

professional development information page here.

Reply written by Ruth Herman Wells, M.S., Director, Youth Change at 2011-04-01 12:26:10

Date: 2011-04-01 12:15:03 Name: R. Hand Subject: Cyberbullying posters Job Title: Principal Number: 50

I have been scouring the net for cyberbullying posters and also posters for "regular" bullying. Do you know where I can find some? Thanks for your great site.

Yes, we have posters for bullying and cyberbullying here. If you need to find interventions other than posters, we have quite a few here. Our Breakthrough Strategies to Teach and Counsel Troubled Youth Professional Development Workshops always cover the topic. We also provide breakout workshops for conferences on cyberbullying and bullying as well, and all our professional development trainings focus on both the bully and the peers that are being bullied. Let me know if you have more questions.

Reply written by Ruth Herman Wells, M.S., Director, Youth Change at 2011-04-01 12:26:10

Date: 2011-02-16 20:30:10 Name: Pete Subject: Violent outbursts Job Title: teacher Number: 49

I was wondering what advice you have for a new teacher coming into a school midyear as the fifth teacher. The school has a large number of at-risk youth, is being closed due to poor achievement, and lacks adequate staff to address fights and violent outbursts. The lack of administrative staff leads to a system where teachers must deal with fights by themselves within the classroom. Only the worst offenses receive punishment. Minor hitting, pushing, shoving, hair pulling, and slapping is dealt with, but without any consequence beyond a discussion about the situation, a call home (most parents will not take the call), and in-class consequences. There is no place to take the student because the administrator does not let teachers send students outside of class, the teacher must escort the student, and it is difficult to get another teacher to help because most classes have similar conflicts at any given moment during the day. It would be wonderful to think that I can make a difference based on my desire to help, but realistically I know this is not the case. My enthusiasm will help, but there were 12 physical confrontations in the classroom I observed today, and there was never less than two teachers, (sometimes three) in the room, I believe the largest class size was 18 students to three teachers and it was total chaos.

You simply need to upgrade your skills to fit your new population. That's all we do: help teachers learn updated methods for today's students. Right now, you're using methods for Beaver Cleaver but you're teaching Beavis and Butthead. Our methods offer proven, improved ways to stop problems before they start, and to remedy concerns that do occur. Our next professional development workshop is Seattle, May 5-6, or get the distance learning course on DVD.. We've trained everyone from alternative schools to at risk programs to juvenile detention centers. I regret to say that until you update your skills, you will find "nothing works" to rein in these students, and you will be at high risk of becoming another teacher who had to leave. The tools you need exist, but you will have to avail yourself of them because using yesterday's tools with today's at risk students will never work, and safety concerns will reign. We also can provide training on-site to your whole site including admins. Hope one of these suggestions helps.

Last edited by Ruth Herman Wells, M.S., Director, Youth Change at 2011-02-17 10:03:24

Date: 2011-02-23 10:20:10 Name: Phadra Subject: Educational Articles on Secondary Work Refusers Job Title: secondary teacher Number: 4109

I was wondering what help or articles you have to help me in a secondary charter school program to do a better job with work refusers. I have a lot of them and am open to your suggestions. Thanks.

Our Articles Archive has lots of educational articles (click) on secondary and elementary school work refusers, and really opens your eyes to new, more effective ways to help students succeed in school, and moderate the work refusal they are doing. The articles are geared to offer intervention strategies for the "real world," not more theory like you may be used to getting from other professional development training sources. You will find our methods fit your students like a glove and can accomplish a lot more than all the theory and philosophizing. Our methods are certainly theoretically sound but the interventions are designed to be more practical and effective than conventional strategies. These approaches are designed to work when conventional classroom management interventions fail. Our live workshop is your best, most comprehensive option for work refusal solutions because in our course, we show you at length what to do. However, our recorded distance learning course does a good job also; click.

Last edited by Ruth Herman Wells, M.S., Director, Youth Change at 2011-02-17 10:03:24