10 Teaching Strategies that Help Quick-to-Frustrate Students Settle in the Classroom

Check out my first guest blog post for Free Spirit Publishing. They asked me to write 10 strategies to help students cope with frustration.

Over the last 20 years, I’ve worked with many kids who lash out regularly in school. My referral sheets often look like this:

Suspended for fighting
Flips-off teachers and walks out of class
Tips desks and chairs in the classroom
Threatens teachers and classmates

In this blog, I will share the best strategies I’ve learned to help quick-to-frustrate students avoid blow-ups in school. Since I’ve been assessing kids (many with extreme behavioral challenges) for years now, I have a few tools in my “tool-kit.” I’ve had some testing sessions go VERY BADLY, particularly in the beginning of my career, which has helped me learn a lot about what to avoid. I used to push kids too hard to finish tough tasks. I didn’t respect their warning signs (e.g., head down, fists clenched, lightly kicking my desk).

One thing I’ve learned is that testy kids really want to do the right thing. They just need a different teaching approach. They’re more emotionally brittle than their peers. Brain science supports this too. Many of these kids have executive functioning weaknesses, which impacts their ability to cope.

Here’s the deal though……

At the office, I may have to work my tail off to get a tiny smile from one of these kids, but when I get that smile, IT MAKES MY MONTH!