The Beauty of Losing Control

By Dr. Jane BluesteinApril 26, 2022April 26, 2022 Avoiding burnout, Avoiding power struggles, Beginning Teachers, Behavior Management, Behavior Management, Building responsibility, Classroom management, Culture and Community, Discipline, Increasing Positivity, Intervening negative behavior, Modeling positive behavior, Motivating cooperation, Recognition and reinforcement, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Uncategorized, Win-win authority Leave a comment

An effective way to “be in charge”! Note: This is one of the very first articles I wrote for publication—in this case, for Instructor Magazine, back in 1985. The language and approach I currently use in my work has changed significantly over the years. For example, I rarely ever use the term “obedience” anymore because I have found…

Book: The Beginning Teacher’s Survival Guide

By Dr. Jane BluesteinAugust 13, 2021April 27, 2023 Assessment and Testing, Avoiding burnout, Avoiding power struggles, Beginning Teachers, Behavior Management, Behavior Management, Body and Brain, Books, Building responsibility, Classroom management, Creating community, Cultural Changes, Culture and Community, Discipline, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Feedback and encouragement, Health and Safety, Homework, Increasing Positivity, Intervening negative behavior, Leadership, Learning, Learning styles, Life Management, Mentorship, Modeling positive behavior, Motivating cooperation, Non-traditional learners, Parent-Teacher relationships, Problem solving, Professional growth, Recognition and reinforcement, Relationships, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Schools in Society, Self-care and Inspiration, Social and Emotional Growth, Special Needs, Taking care of yourself, Teacher Appreciation, Teacher retention, Teaching, Teaching, Tolerance and Respect, Win-win authority avoiding power struggles, beginning teachers, boundaries, challenges for new teachers, creating community, difficult students, discipline, emotional safety, emotionally safe classroom, learning differences, parent-teacher relationships, positive consequences, professional development feedback, professional growth, professional identity, school culture, self-care, student behavior, student self-management, teacher retention, teaching

Win-Win Strategies for Success by Dr. Jane Bluestein At the start or your career or at the end of your rope… Get your teaching career off to a winning start—or recharge your passion for your work! The new & revised edition of Dr. Jane Bluestein’s pivotal guide for your teaching career! A great gift for new…

“Constructive Differencing” Notes and Highlights

By Dr. Jane BluesteinAugust 29, 2016April 30, 2022 Counselors, Creating community, Cultural Changes, Culture and Community, Educators, General Interest, Parents, Problem solving, Relationships, School climate, Social and Emotional Growth, Tolerance and Respect Leave a comment

How to disagree and still maintain contact The following offers additional resource material related to the conversation with Dr. Jared Scherz, (audio file/podcast). The main points include: One of the most stress-producing obstacles in any relationship is the need to be right when it requires others to be wrong. Differences in school systems occur on…

Presentation: Motivating the Unmotivated

By Dr. Jane BluesteinJune 25, 2016June 1, 2022 Avoiding power struggles, Building responsibility, Classroom management, Counselors, Creating community, Differentiating Instruction, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Feedback and encouragement, Increasing Positivity, Learning styles, Motivating cooperation, Motivating your kids, Non-traditional learners, Parents, Recognition and reinforcement, School climate, Social and Emotional Growth, Win-win authority classroom climate, consequences, difficult students, effective instruction, motivating students, reduce indifference, student engagement, student success, unmotivated students Leave a comment

Getting past defenses, disinterest, and disengagement Presentation by Dr. Jane Bluestein Of all the challenges teachers face, the one mentioned most consistently over the years has been, “How do I engage kids who aren’t motivated and just don’t care?” Few things are more frustrated that having your planning and enthusiasm met with groans, shrugs, or eye…

Bouncing Back

By Dr. Jane BluesteinJune 4, 2016June 9, 2022 Creating community, Culture and Community, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Health and Safety, Increasing Positivity, Problem solving, School climate, Schools in Society, Social and Emotional Growth, Tolerance and Respect asset-building, bouncing back, emotional safety, emotional support, emotionally safe classroom, prevention, protective factors, resilience, resiliency, response to stress, risk factors, school failure, school success Leave a comment

The art of resiliency Excerpt from “Emotional Safety: Personal and Character Development,” from chapter 15 of Creating Emotionally Safe Schools by Dr. Jane Bluestein © 2001, Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, FL. This excerpt was extracted from the manuscript for this book and may be slightly different from the actual printed copy. The entire bibliography of Creating Emotionally Safe Schools is…

Ways to Build Tolerance and Respect for Diversity

By Dr. Jane BluesteinMay 1, 2016April 30, 2022 Counselors, Creating community, Culture and Community, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Parents, Problem solving, School climate, Social and Emotional Growth, Tolerance and Respect acceptance, appreciating others, appreciation for diversity, classroom social dynamics, friendship skills, leadership skills in children, opportunities for service, respect, respect for diversity, respecting differences, social competence in children, social interaction, sociograms, status among students, student social behavior, teaching tolerance, tolerance Leave a comment

Practical strategies for positive change • Pay attention to peer-to-peer interactions. Increase awareness, advocacy, and a willingness to take immediate, positive action (regarding how kids treat one another). • Advocate for the underdog. Encourage kids to connect with children who seem isolated. Emphasize the value of inclusion. • Interrupt any instances of meanness, name calling,…

Fear, Stress, and Learning

By Dr. Jane BluesteinApril 19, 2016April 30, 2022 Body and Brain, Counselors, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Parents, School climate, Teaching anxiety and learning, brain-compatible learning, classroom climate, cortisol, downshifting, emotion and cognition, emotion and retention, emotional safety, fear and cognitive functioning, fear and learning, fight or flight, learning and survival, learning and the brain, stress and learning, stress and memory, stress and student behavior, stress hormones, survival vs. learning Leave a comment

Obstacles to the learning process Excerpt from “Learning and the Brain,” chapter 4 of Creating Emotionally Safe Schools by Dr. Jane Bluestein © 2001, Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, FL. This excerpt was extracted from the manuscript for this book and may be slightly different from the actual printed copy. The entire bibliography of Creating Emotionally Safe Schools is available on…

Checklist: Characteristics of Positive Teacher-Student Relationships

By Dr. Jane BluesteinMay 15, 2015May 2, 2022 Avoiding power struggles, Behavior Management, Behavior Management, Building responsibility, Classroom management, Counselors, Creating community, Discipline, Educators, Feedback and encouragement, Intervening negative behavior, Leadership, Modeling positive behavior, Motivating cooperation, Parent-Teacher relationships, Problem solving, Recognition and reinforcement, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Win-win authority 2 Comments

Evaluate your relationships Use this checklist to evaluate patterns in your current relationships with your students. If you have implemented a specific discipline or motivation approach, does it encourage relationships in which the following are true? (Click here for a description of each category.) Proactivity: ___ I focus on prevention–not reaction. ___ I attempt to…

The Problem with Zero Tolerance and Push Out Strategies

By Dr. Jane BluesteinMarch 16, 2015May 2, 2022 Behavior Management, Classroom management, Counselors, Creating community, Discipline, Educators, Increasing Positivity, Intervening negative behavior, Leadership, Motivating cooperation, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Schools in Society, Tolerance and Respect, Win-win authority Leave a comment

How these programs are making things worse On March 4, 2015, I had the privilege of keynoting the National Youth At Risk Conference for the second time. In meeting with many of the participants who attended the keynote and my follow-up session, as well as what I’ve observed in my visits to schools around the country and…

Book: Managing 21st Century Classrooms

By Dr. Jane BluesteinFebruary 11, 2014June 18, 2023 Avoiding power struggles, Beginning Teachers, Behavior Management, Behavior Management, Books, Bookstore, Classroom management, Counselors, Creating community, Culture and Community, Discipline, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Increasing Positivity, Intervening negative behavior, Motivating cooperation, Recognition and reinforcement, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Teaching, Win-win authority Leave a comment

How to avoid ineffective classroom management practices! by Dr. Jane Bluestein You know all those behavior management strategies we learned to use in our teacher ed classes (and many subsequent workshops)? Well guess what! Some of them are actually making things worse! It’s long past time for our approach to classroom management to catch up to…