When a student acts out, staff may not know why, but there are ways to help support the student. Several sessions during the recent Superintendent’s Conference Day provided insights, tips and instruction on how staff can help in such situations.
CPI: Crisis Development Model
Salt Point Center, Career and Technical Institute, Resilience Academy, Related Services and In-District Classroom staff all reviewed the Crisis Development Model, which identifies and approaches escalated behaviors to ensure positive outcomes.
Principal Melissa Murphy led staff in a game where they had to shake a soda can for any reason they believed could cause an issue for a student or for their behavior to escalate and then pass it on to the next person. While the game sounded silly, Murphy noted there was a deeper message behind it.
“This can of soda is a kid,” Murphy said. “This is what they come to us with … think about all of the baggage, all of the stuff that our students come to school every day to greet us with.”
Some important tips Murphy shared included staff not letting their guard down and being mindful that how they say something to a student is just as crucial as what they say.
“It’s using caring and supportive tones, keeping the volume appropriate to the situation, delivering your message at a rate the person can process and paraverbal (non-verbal) communication relates to the way you say things,” Murphy explained.
Managing Crisis Situations
This session for SPC and In-District Classroom staff focused on crisis intervention, which Murphy noted is not to punish students, but to de-escalate situations with the goal of students regaining emotional control and returning to the learning environment in the shortest amount of time.
“Crisis intervention is not part of direct classroom management and should only be part of assisting the classroom staff,” Murphy explained. “Intervening early and effectively is key.”
Murphy reminded staff about crisis management procedures, including communicating that they have exhausted all strategies, removing themselves from the room if they are the target of a student’s frustration and letting crisis staff take control of the situation once they arrive.
“Always call crisis if you need crisis … we want to make sure that you guys are empowered to support students in a consistent and collaborative way,” she said.
SPC 1:1 aide Jill Boniello found the session helpful, especially when Murphy mentioned seeing a crisis situation from a student’s point of view.
“It just helps to understand the kids’ point of view and how they perceive things,” Boniello said. “It makes you think of it in a different way.”
Trauma Centered Classrooms
During this session, Resilience Academy Principal Kiesha Tillman noted that students sitting for the majority of a school day may be leading them to develop ADHD and not being able to emotionally regulate themselves.
“We do have to think about strategic ways that we are including movement and activity in our classroom, even if it’s 10 minutes,” Tillman said. “Feel free to experiment, whatever you think works.”
Tillman has found that situations students may face, such as being homeless, are not always the same and they may handle the situation differently, adding it is important to continue to meet students where they are.
Trauma affects everyone differently. For example, Tillman said that because a student is homeless staff can’t assume certain things about them just because they are homeless.
Special education teacher Jeffrey Scalzo found the session pertinent.
“These students are great kids, but they have a lot of barriers,” Scalzo said. “We should work together to mitigate issues that come from that so that we can focus on the work.”