Kid Whisperer Nation Teacher Tip #111

EFFECTIVE TRANSITIONS PART VI
SHIFT YOUR PARADIGM
Stop thinking that it is your responsibility to get your students to P.E., lunch, or the bus lot. Instead, think of your class getting to these places as their responsibility. Explain to Specials teachers that they may be late at the beginning of the year from time to time, but after the first three weeks, they will be the most prompt class in the building.

Kid Whisperer Nation Teacher Tip #112

NEVER ALLOW YOUR STUDENTS TO START WITH DOWNTIME
Kids need breaks from work, but they don’t need a break first thing in the morning. ALWAYS have an academic activity that does not need to be explained by the teacher available at the beginning of each day. This gives the implicit message that school is a place for working and learning, not a place for lounging and getting to know your neighbor better. Of course, students should be able to eat breakfast (if applicable) and talk with friends while working at this time, but their first priority must be the work in front of them.

Kid Whisperer Nation Teacher Tip #113

SEPARATE THE STIMULUS FROM THE RESPONSE
Train your brain to respond with a calm, empathetic response to the actions of the humans around you. Make your response the same every time. Mine is “Oh, man.” It could just be a sound or an exhale. Doing this acts as you pressing the pause button on your classroom. It gives you time to calm down, think, and decide what to do next. This effectively slows down your hectic day and models being calm and thoughtful to your students.

Kid Whisperer Nation Teacher Tip Number 114
BE “UNFAIR”
Our schools have systematically trained our children that if someone gets something, everyone else is entitled to it as well. This isn’t how life works, so we might as well teach kids that now. If you are doing a demonstration, let’s say cutting up a Twizzler as a way to teach fractions and you give the fractional parts out to students who answer correctly, you are not obligated to make sure everyone in the room gets candy. In fact, if you take the time to make sure everyone gets candy, you are missing an opportunity to teach kids the real-life skill of dealing with disappointment.

Kid Whisperer Nation Teacher Tip Number 115
DON’T GIVE OUT TANGIBLE REWARDS FOR KIDS DOING WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO ANYWAY
There is absolutely no research that shows any long-term benefit for kids being given tangible “prizes” for exhibiting positive behaviors.