De-escalation Strategy With A Coffee Cup

Call it an old wive's tale or an untested scientific hypothesis, but bringing a coffee cup to situations with upset students can assist in de-escalating situations with students who are upset.  I know, call me crazy, but this is a theory I can get behind because it is all about a student's own perception.

Just a simple coffee cup.  You don't even need coffee in it.

There was a teacher/administrator who always brought an empty cup of coffee whenever they knew they were entering a tense situation involving students.  There didn't have to be anything in the coffee cup either because the cups normally from Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts and covered with a top.  He'd grab the cup before he left his office, just so he could walk into the situation nonchalantly and without escalating the situation.  


Someone drinking a cup of coffee just looks relaxed; enjoying the taste of finely ground beans, all while the aroma awakens the senses and the caffeine grabs hold of your receptors.

The idea behind this involved student perception.  If students see teachers enter situations with a calm approach (and a cup of coffee) it can immediately change the the entire outlook of the situation.  Students pick up on everything.  They see, hear, and watch everything.  They react to how we interact.



I take my coffee with me everywhere in the building all day long.  I've actually used it in situations like this before too.  Now there's no scientific proof it works, but the idea behind it is brilliant.  Change perception to create a more inviting and positive environment.

Many of you might never have to deal with these situations, but for many this is a weekly occurrence.    And one of the most important elements is de-escalating the situation so students can cope and use strategies to be successful.

So have a cup of coffee. It can be good for everyone.

Thanks so much for stopping by to check out this Bright Idea.  There are over 100 other wonderful ideas that you should continue to check out, so make sure you see all the links below.  


If you've enjoyed this post (even a little bit) feel free to follow me on FacebookTPT, or even here.  Here at Digital: Divide & Conquer you'll find a mix of everything educational from tech to SpEd to pop culture and 80's movie references.  It's a little of everything, kind of like me.




How to RELAX. Coping Strategies for Frustration

Self-regulation rules in elementary-land.  One of the key components to being a successful student is knowing how to RELAX when frustrated and making sound decisions.  This isn't just a special education initiative--this is every student (at just about every level too).  

We work really hard on teaching strategies so students can begin to understand their feelings and emotions...and then make positive choices.  This can be such a difficult skill for students (and teachers--ha!) to master.  These are strategies/skills are always worth reviewing.

Here's a set of posters giving five strategies/coping skills using my RELAX method.  
It's even green, for those of you that teach Zones of Regulation.


I've got them up in my room and now you can too.



This is how I want to relax.

How To Be a FRIEND

More and more I've found myself working with students on social/emotional strategies across all settings.  One of the most important skills is learning how to be a good friend...and this can be a little tough sometimes. Being a good friend is such a crucial life skill that will carry them all of school and into the real-world.

But it's not always easy, which is why I wanted to create visuals for my students. It can be hard to remember how to act, how to respond to peer pressure, and always making the smartest decision.  When we do see kids using those strategies and being successful in their own friendships, it is pretty great.  

I've put together a set of classroom posters on HOW to be a FRIEND.  You can grab yourself a copy at my TPT store, and hopefully it can make a positive impact on you students (or school). The poster set is entirely FREE.

 The free poster set is here:  HOW TO BE A FRIEND

I've also completed a fuller version that is accompanied with worksheets, an interactive  journal/booklet, bookmarks, and class cards.  There includes two versions (primary and intermediate) of each printable version.  Personally, I use each letter as a min-lesson for students.  We give examples, model behaviors, and talk about times when it really matter to be a friend.




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If you're looking for more posters like this, I'd suggest checking out some of my other sets I have in my Social/Emotional section of my TPT Store. Many of these are free as well. Grab the RESPECT set and RELAX set.










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Classroom Safety With Paper Blinds And Magnetic Strips


The absolute last thing a teacher wants to worry about is classroom safety related to lockdown drills, intruder alerts, and violence within the school.  But we do and we have to be AWARE of school surroundings at all times whether we're in or out of our own classroom.

My Bright Idea revolves around two Classroom Safety Measures you can take to speed up the process in case of a school emergency which include magnetic strips and paper blinds.
I'll also be the first to tell you that each school, district, county, and state have varying rules regarding these safety measures, so double check with your administration to make sure it's okay.
The Magnetic Strip
About a year ago our school began using magnetic strips on our doors. These magnets slide over the door's strike plate (where the door wouldn't normally shut) and allow us to quickly lock the doors when removed.  



The magnetic strips block the door from latching but also allows you to always keep your door locked all the time (without locking yourself out).  If a time comes when you need to lock the door just remove the magnet.  No keys are needed, just remove the strip and close your door.

This has worked very well at my school and worked out great during our lockdown drills and even a couple of other times.  It will take you a bit of time to become accustomed to opening your doors by pulling rather than turning the knob (since you always keep them locked, but after a while it becomes second nature.

Paper Blinds For Indoor Windows
During lockdown-type drills we're asked to move our students away from windows and out of line-of-sight.  Some classes can do that, others can't.  Many teachers have curtains by their door windows.  I'm not a curtain guy, so I invested five dollars to buy paper blinds.  



Normally I always want to be able to see out of my window since it faces a main hallway, but during emergencies outside of class and/or situations inside my room I just unclip the blinds for immediate privacy/security.  I love the speed of this too--it's done in literally a second.

Overall it took about 5 minutes from start to finish to put up the blinds.  You can even use a paper cutter to make them fit to size.  I picked mine up at Home Depot, but you can find them at just about any hardware store.


Thanks so much for stopping by to check out this Bright Idea.  There are almost 150 other wonderful ideas that you should continue to check out, so make sure you see all the links below.  School is just beginning so I can only imagine all the excellent ideas I'm going to find and try!


If you've enjoyed this post (even a little bit) feel free to follow me on FacebookTPT, or even here.  Here at Digital: Divide & Conquer you'll find a mix of everything educational from tech to SpEd to pop culture and 80's movie references.  It's a little of everything, kind of like me.




I love Projects. Geometrocity, the City Made of Math



I'm just going to throw this out there, "I love projects".  It doesn't matter if it's reading, math, science, whatever--I just love projects and project based learning.  Giving students a large scale (or long-scale) project, seeing them attack problems, deciding where to start, and/or working within a group is one of the best things we can do as teachers (I don't have any data to back that last statement up).  Yes, it takes a lot of work to make sure students are progressing and making appropriate progress--but it's what we do.

Let me clarify this a little more:  I love projects that take place in the classroom.

I don't always trust projects that go home then come back a little too perfect.  Yes, your parents can get an "A" but did the kid even do anything?

"We also need to bring back science fairs," I scream as a step of my soapbox.

Before you get mad and tell me projects are a hassle let me tell you the positives that happen when they're done correctly:
  • Collaboration and Cooperation (two completely different ideas, both equally important)
  • Stirs creativity and imagination
  • Creates problem solvers
  • Allows for immediate feedback from peers and their own self-reflection/assessment
  • It integrates technology more efficiently
  • Connections to the real-world

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I create project based learning activities for my students because I've seen the positive impact in their engagement levels and also allows for multiple modalities of their own learning to be used.  Some of these projects are shorter single day events while others may take a month.  It doesn't matter which kind I use, just that my students stretch their learning potential.


If you're looking to incorporate more project based learning opportunities in your class, might I suggest trying out Geometrocity: A City Made of Math.  This can be completed individually, within a group, or even as a class project.  Your students will literally be designing, planning, and building a city using geometry.



A great luxury of having a daughter in elementary school is that she always wants to try out what I create. She is my quality control.  So her and a friend spent an afternoon creating buildings, using nets, to design 3D models of their city.




Geometrocity is broken down into Phases (which the teacher has total control over) and students work through them with each step building on the next incorporating geometry skills to build sections of their city.  

One of my favorite aspects is you can differentiate this immediately to students whether it's choosing lower level sections (less vocabulary) or pushing kids to make it to the challenge section.


If you're interested in learning more about PROJECT BASED LEARNING check out my post on ten tips to make PBL a success in your classroom.


Still need more?  Stop by and see all the PBL's I've created.  They range from designing a zoo to surviving on deserted islands, or even creating colonies in outer space

                           

And is it really a surprise that the first building my daughter made was Target?  
Nope.  We love Target.
                       



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Tune Into Technology: ThingLink & Literacy Skills

Time for another Tune Into Technology, the perfect summer link-up because I have time to try out everyone's ideas for and then steal 'em and say I did it all myself.  Seriously Learning to the Core and iTeach 1:1 have a great thing going--so jump in this and share your tips too.

A few months ago I wrote about ThingLink (which is a pretty amazing website) that allows users to annotate images and digitally "write" on them with links, images, and quotes, and/or your own typing.  It's really easy to use and I was jazzed up when Jen at Tech With Jen  wrote about and shared some of the uses with it.  So of course, I had to go and check it out.  Then I knew I'd need to find a way to use it..and I did.
Then in April, Jeanette from Third Grade Galore (who I teach with) and I got together to figure out a culmination project  for her students after they read the book Charlette's Web.  We discussed it for a while and I share the idea of using ThingLink with her (and she ran with it).  It would be a good use of technology and reading skills intertwining with one another.

For their final project (and I hope I'm getting all the details correct) were going to create an interactive ThingLink with three of the most important parts from the book.  

Here is what a finished one looked like:


Here were the steps students took:
  1. Pick three important plot points from the book.  Students could decide which ones they picked and why.
  2. They had to draw what those scenes were (using those inference skills).
  3. Jeanette and students took photos of each set of three pictures.
  4. Upload to ThingLink.
  5. Students then typed in what was happening in each scene.
  6. BOOM!  All Done (but this actually took the kids a little more time)

Students could then access each other's work and even leave comments (which is probably the coolest part).  The chance to receive immediate feedback from your peers is awesome --just like blogging.



I love seeing the combination of art, reading, and technology all coming together (and pretty seamlessly too).  This is a project that allows students at all different learning levels to differentiate for themselves as they work.  Some kids only wrote one detail per image, while others wrote almost a paragraph and had multiple links on images.  This isn't even including the peer review where students could leave comments.
  • ThingLink is free, they also have an educator portion too.
  • It can be used on computers and mobile devices.
  • You can use images from the inter webs  or upload your own.
  • Almost all ThingLink creations are public and easy to access.
  • All can be embedded in sites (much like I've done with these)


 


In closing..if you get a chance check out ThingLink and give it a try.  
You will love it and be happier than a bear in a swimming pool.



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