Teacher’s Bag of Tricks

What do you do with a socially immature student who struggles to stay on task, and therefore struggles to grasp academic concepts?

• recommend one of the school counselor’s small groups for self-esteem or peer relationships
• after-school Math tutoring
• design a behavior plan that targets three specific goals and a checklist to track daily (or hourly) successes
• set up read-aloud sessions where the student can read books to a younger buddy student.
• schedule one-on-one time with an instructional assistant to work on multiplication facts and spelling
• use a timer and give the student micro-assignments (”complete this problem in 2 minutes and then come and show me”)

Thursday was our final day in the Masonic Model Student Assistance Program. Here are some final points that stood out to us:

• By working a consistent system without deviation, we can be an effective team. A dedicated recorder, time-keeper, and team leader are essential to keep us on track. Story-telling is not part of the equation.
• We need to intentionally publicize in order to educate staff members and parents about who we are, why we exist, and how we operate. If we don’t share our story, other people will make up their own stories about us.
• Helping students is serious business and critically important, but it is also exciting and fun. We need to do all we can to decrease pressure, alleviate stress, and celebrate success, even small, day-to-day success.

Our child study team is attending the Masonic Model Student Assistance Program, a training experience targeting at-risk interventions and strategies.

• Life skills and academic content can live together in the same lessons and activities.
• Brainstorming is most effective in 5-7 minute stretches. That lull in the action after 90 seconds is the transition from left brain to right brain, so keep going to get creative ideas. Save the “yeah, but” comments for later.
• Keep parent conferences positive and collaborative, not confrontational. Remember, the parents of at-risk students are likely moving through the grieving process for their students. Be firm but sensitive.

A quick rundown of some key ideas from the Masonic Model Student Assistance Program.

• Developmental assets analysis helps to put a student’s life skills in perspective and leads to greater adult compassion for that student.
• Every school should have a comprehensive plan in place for crisis prevention, intervention, and postvention.
• Educators can carefully ask students to assist in identifying at risk students.
• The more a student knows about her classmates, the less likely she is to act out in violence against them.