3 Things You Should Be Tracking with All Behavior

KARMA: 4 Lessons Learned from ISS/OSS

After garnering a job as a teacher, I was walking through the hallways of my alma maters. There were still teachers working whom I had when I was a student. I respected those teachers, but in reflection, I sure was a handful while in school. In fact, I was suspended several times between junior and…

8 Questions for Proactive Reflection

How often as educators do we reflect? I mean truly sit down and reflect on the decisions we have made for the day, the week, or for the past year. As our lives get busier, it seems we get into a “reactive” state. We only have time to react to what is coming at us.…

13 Manners My Mom Taught Me That Affect Behavior

My mom, Pat Konen, helped me to understand that manners are essential. Being a classroom teacher for over 30 years (Kindergarten, second grade, fourth grade, and a traveling science teacher) she understood that weaving manners into her instruction supported her classroom management and even more importantly, she understood it was a proactive way to get…

The Best Teaming Rubric Out There: How Would You Score Your Team?

What does teaming look like in your school? Making this concrete for teacher teams may be difficult, but let’s put it into a rubric. Defining what good “teaming” looks like as a staff is powerful. Mix these criteria with high expectations from administration and you have the tools for a high octane “teaming” engine! The…

The Best LIVE PD, EVER: 7 People Who Supported My Elucidation of Education

It’s funny that in the business world when you steal other company’s ideas, you may see yourself in a lawsuit. In education, we encourage our people to beg, borrow, and steal successful ideas in order to implement them in our own schools. Since I started in education back in the late 90’s, I have always…

8 Steps to Start a Power of Praise Program

Do you spend more time calling parents on a student’s bad behavior or good behavior? If I could give one piece of advice for new teachers, new administrators, or other educators wanting to change the culture of their school or classroom, it would be to start a Power of Praise Program. You can start small…

5 Components to a Great Weekly Lesson Plan

What are the five most important components that should be in every lesson plan? Can you make your list with just five components? I think it can be done, even though Madeline Hunter may tell you there are more. In fact, a Madeline Hunter lesson plan includes these seven components¹: Materials/Resources Needed: Anticipatory Set (In…

9 Reasons Culture Trumps Strategy

Back to the main Bully Prevention Guide. This last summer one of the most profound speakers I have ever heard was Dr. Bill Daggett from the International Center for Leadership in Education. His words of “Culture Trumps Strategy” have given me a resurgence and confidence into education and changed what I have since implemented with my…

9 Ideas You Can Use Without Taking Away Recess

Missing recesses has come under fire recently and rightly so! All the latest brain research in the past decade proclaims increases of academic success are directly related to a student’s physical activity level. Some schools are even going to four recesses per day. In my school most students receive three recesses totaling about 50 minutes.…