Which one of these sounds like you?
(If you’re not currently teaching - or you’re teaching remotely - due to Covid-19 closures read on - we’ll get to that, I promise! But you still might relate to some of these…)
You’re seeing more extreme behavior, more often, from more kids than ever before.
You’re feeling hopeless or angry because nothing you try is working and you’re not getting the support you need from your supervisor.
You’re questioning whether you chose the right field, wondering what’s wrong with you when you can’t prevent challenging behavior, feel secretly happy when some children don’t come to school.
You’re flabbergasted by the idea that you should somehow know how to work with these kids. It certainly wasn’t covered in your early childhood studies!
The strategies that worked for the past 10, 20, 30 years don’t seem to work anymore.
How many of those sound like you?
Here’s the deal.
While it’s easy to beat ourselves up and true that many in our field don’t have adequate support…
The real culprit is that the current reality of early childhood makes it almost impossible for many teachers to be successful when it comes to preventing and addressing challenging behavior.
It’s not you!
And it’s not the kids. Or, the parents and families. (Though, yes, some of them are difficult!)
You have too much on your plate. Not enough support. Enormous pressure around observations, documentation, hitting academic standards, implementing curriculum to fidelity, getting observed by CLASS and paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.
Plus, if you’re like most early childhood teachers you probably weren’t taught how to de-escalate severe challenging behavior, what to do when families fail to cooperate, or how to get to the root of challenging behavior (sometimes it just seems to happen randomly and unpredictably!)
When you ask for help you probably get suggestions that are unrealistic, don’t work, or just don’t match up with your beliefs and how you like to run your room.
Hoards of politicians now yabber on about the importance of preK and wanting to “improve quality in early childhood” but the truth is that a lot of the measures to improve quality have resulted in more work for teachers without increased pay, respect, time for planning or support for solving behavior problems.
In the face of all this wanting to give up is a VERY reasonable reaction.
Just like in the face of this current pandemic wanting to stay in bed and hide under the covers is a VERY reasonable idea.
So we need to allow ourselves moments to hide in the bed...to throw our hands up in the air...to yell and scream and rant and complain. To be outraged about our circumstances.
They ARE outrageous.
And...if your program is currently closed (even if you’re doing online circle times or supporting families) maybe now is the moment to invest some time in figuring out this whole behavior challenge once and for all.
If you’re an essential worker who’s still working, investing time in yourself and your own learning right now might be TOUGH. But you might need it now more than ever.
If you don’t take matters into your own hands, and if you don’t invest the time in learning the most current and effective strategies for addressing and preventing challenging behavior then things will just continue to get worse.
You’ll burn out. Your work stress might impact your health. It might even impact your relationships with your own kids, your partner or spouse, your family and friends.
And, if you don’t find an approach to preventing challenging behavior that works for you, you’ll miss the chance to help the children who need you most.
Today I want to invite you to make a choice.
To decide whether or not you want to invest in your own learning. You don’t need to invest money. Just time.
I invite you to join me for the 3rd annual Transform Challenging Behavior Online Conference.
Last year over 23,000 early childhood professionals from around the world said yes.
During the conference you’ll have the opportunity to engage in anywhere from 1 to 22 hours of online learning.
We’ll get at the issue of “challenging behavior,” social-emotional learning, and classroom management from many angles.
We’ve got speakers who are experts in The Pyramid Model and Conscious Discipline.
We’ve got trauma experts, special education experts, pioneers who are developing innovative and super useful frameworks for understanding behavior, and so much more.
This is your chance to learn from leaders in the field. Get cutting-edge information.
Take it in and decide what will work best for you.
You’re the professional. You know what will work for you and the children in your class.
I’m offering you a menu of choices, of diverse cuisines...but all are nutritious and delicious.
(That said, not everything is for everyone - some people think cilantro tastes like soap!
You get to choose just an appetizer (sign up and watch 20 minutes of one session).
Commit to one healthy meal per day (sign up and watch 1 hour each day).
Or, GO ALL IN. (Sign up, and try to eat 2-3 meals per day, knowing you can always just nibble or skip a meal).
7 days. 3 videos per day. Each video is available for on-demand viewing for 24 hours.
Plus, this year you can...
Choose English or Spanish subtitles on the videos!!!!!!!
Download your workbooks in English or Spanish.
I’ve curated a team of speakers who will help you to be the teacher you want to be.
It’s FREE. It takes place May 6-12, 2020.
You can watch in bed from under your covers, while you cook and do dishes, or even click the link in the daily email from your smartphone and watch on your break at work, or listen through your smartphone web browser while you take a walk.
Join me?
get in some learning even if the conference is over
Our 2021 Transform Challenging Behavior Online Conference Video Library has over 50 hours of learning that includes strategies on everything from trauma-informed practices to social emotional skills to figuring out the cause of challenging behavior and so much more!
