Practical Strategies for Success with Defiant, Defeated and other At-Risk Kids

Presentation by Dr. Jane Bluestein

We all know who they are: The unmotivated student who performs below his capabilities. The student with weak social skills who has a hard time getting along with her peers. The nontraditional learner who has a hard time with the academic demands of the classroom. The disruptive student whose misbehaviors and bad attitude make our work even more difficult. The quiet child who fades into the woodwork. The one who can’t stay awake in class. Suspicious kids. Defensive kids. Indifferent kids. And kids who want to do well but just can’t seem to get it together.

This program offers dozens of effective, classroom-proven strategies to help you reach a wide range of students—all the while minimizing stress in the classroom environment! Learn simple, practical ways to avoid power struggles, defuse conflict and in-your-face challenges, engage kids who have all but given up, eliminate passivity and helplessness, improve parent involvement and support, and build student responsibility, commitment and self-management.

Topics include creating win-win authority relationships, making success possible for all students, accommodating a wide range of learning behaviors and academic abilities, making a connection, increasing positivity, changing the school culture, supporting the needs of non-traditional learners and putting the fun back in teaching!

These are techniques that can work with all kids at any grade level, but are especially appropriate for students who are particularly challenging.

This seminar was good for all teachers, including those who have very few discipline problems.
—High School Math Teacher, La Cañada, CA

Participants will learn to:

  • Establish win-win authority relationships with students to reduce power-struggles, opposition, and indifference
  • Examine traditional approaches to discipline and classroom management that often create more problems than they solve, as well as more effective alternatives
  • Reduce negativity and stress in the classroom
  • Increase student success to minimize behavior problems that often emerge when kids believe they cannot be successful in school
  • Improve engagement and time on task by accommodating kids’ cognitive, physiological, and neurological needs
  • Improve school climate to minimize behavior problems based in social and emotional conflict (including reducing negative student interactions and bullying)
  • Develop simple, practical, and positive strategies for motivating student cooperation, commitment, and accountability
  • Increase time devoted to instruction and student engagement
  • Build relationships with and support from parents and colleagues

Information about related books:

Creating Emotionally Safe SchoolsA Guide for Educators and Parents
The Beginning Teacher’s Survival Guide: Win-Win Strategies for Success
The Win-Win ClassroomPositive Classroom Management
Managing 21st Century ClassroomsHow to Avoid Ineffective Classroom Management Practices

Related links:

© 2012, Dr. Jane Bluestein

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