The top question we get at our busy Live Expert Help area of our web site (http://www.youthchg.com) where we answer youth professionals' queries on almost any topic, is "How do I get kids-- especially hard-to-manage ones-- to behave?" Teachers and other educators are especially troubled that their training has not even begun to prepare them to manage the severe misbehavior that they see more and more every year. But, we hear from youth professionals and para-professionals from all disciplines, that their training has not "kept up" with the changes in the kids. Those of you in the trenches consistently tell us your training prepared you to work with Beaver Cleaver, but Beavis and Butthead continue to show up.
Here at Youth Change, we have spent the last 13 years attempting to prepare youth professionals for Beavis and Butthead-- or whoever is assigned to your classroom or case load. Through our general session, on-site and video classes, we attempt to update youth professionals' skills to fit contemporary youth. This internet magazine is part of that effort, and we want to see how we-- and you-- are doing. So, get ready, here is a pop quiz to see if you have been paying attention to this ezine the past couple years. Let's find out if you have the updated skills youth professionals need to best work with contemporary youth.
This is not an open book quiz so you can't go and try to find the information somewhere. When that fist is heading towards your face, you will need these answers ready-to-go, so let's simulate some of the surprise and pressure you face every day, and have you take this quiz right now. To maximize the pressure, allow yourself just 3 minutes. To make this quiz work best, we want you to feel some of the stress and pressure you face each day, and see if the information you need, will be there when you need it.
1. Often, discipline doesn't seem to work. What are the 3 areas that you must teach before discipline can work?
2. Counselors have a special mental health term to describe your most severely misbehaved kid. You must work with this child differently than all others. Name the term and one way you must work differently. Hint: This answer is all over our web site and workshops. Do you know it?
3. What are the only 3 ways kids can respond to an adult direction, and which is the only one that works? Hint: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink...
4. If you work in a school setting, you may see a lot of sour, negative attitudes. One way to begin to chip away at the attitudes is to show students the importance of school. So, how much more does a high school grad earn than a dropout in their lifetime? Hint: Look at the posters on our web site for the answer. It's a 6 digit number.
5. School shootings are among the scariest possibilities that school staff face. Three types of kids may be at highest risk of such serious behavior and must be offered the highest degree of supervision. Remembering this information is critical. Name the 3 types of kids. Hint: Our "Hot Topics" article on our site delivers the answer.
6. Teachers often want ways to provide conflict resolution but we offer something better. Name it.
7. Name the youngster that you must never give second chances to, and describe why it could be dangerous. Hint: See Question #2.
If you don't know the answers, that may give you one explanation for why your classroom or group poses serious management problems. Your training didn't give you real-world methods for today's youth. The answers are below, but visit our site for details and to update your skills to fit contemporary students. Working with difficult students doesn't have to be so difficult with our updated answers:
1. Skills, motivation and attitude 2. Conduct disorder 3. Be oppositional, capitulate or comply (acceptance) 4. Get the answer (and some great interventions) by looking at these awesome motivation posters: http://www.youthchg.com/postersmotivation.html#motivation 5. Conduct disorder, thought disorder, extreme agitated depressed 6. Conflict prevention 7. Conduct disorder-- read our Hot Topics article at our site (link above) to find out why this is so dangerous-- a short sentence can't do this serious safety issue justice.
Our staff training workshop can come to your school and provide all the answers you need. Get free sample materials, 100s of free, dynamic interventions, and our free Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine at our site, http://www.youthchg.com. Plus, you can find your solution to your worst student problems. We also have surprisingly different, must-see posters, books, instant ebooks, audio books, workshops and free Live Expert Help. For further information on this article or Youth Change's top-rated resources, call 1-800-545-5736.
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on Friday, January 20, 2006 View other articles written by Ruth Herman Wells(2,475)
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