Welcome to Course 1:
Transforming Student Behavior
Are you looking for effective ways to transform student behavior?
We’re excited to offer a new and exclusive online course designed to help educators manage and navigate student behavior with confidence. Learn immediately applicable and practical strategies to de-escalate situations, avoid power struggles, maintain calm, strengthen relationships, and build a culture of connection in your school communities.
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When we listen to students, we honor them with the dignity they deserve.
Students feel heard when we give them our undivided attention, listen first, and explicitly demonstrate that we understand them. When we truly listen to students with an open heart and mind, they share what’s on theirs.
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When kids are escalated, stop talking.
When we try to talk with students when they are still escalated, it simply doesn’t work. Resist the urge to push a child to be on your timeline - regardless of how inconvenient it is! The more you push them to be ready to talk, the longer it will take.
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Non-Verbal Communication Builds Stronger Relationships
The overwhelming majority of what we communicate is non-verbal. When we are mindful of this communication, the messages we send become tools for building Connected Relationships for Learning.
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Sometimes, we try to solve problems for students when they simply want to be heard.
When we take time to acknowledge and validate a student’s feelings, we are actually acknowledging and validating them as humans. Students who feel acknowledged and validated are open to coaching. When we can work with students to problem-solve through coaching, we can much more effectively help change behavior.
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We know you care about kids. You know you care about kids. You know who doesn’t know that? Kids.
Kids need to know we care about them. How do we make sure they know? We tell them. Out loud. We demonstrate care through our words and our actions.
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Dignity builds students sense of belonging.
Dignity is demonstrated in the way we listen to and treat our students. When we acknowledge their identity and appreciate their unique differences, we affirm their value and their worth. We affirm their dignity.
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Small talk may seem small, but it can be huge when used well.
Small talk can help a child feel comfortable chatting with you before diving into deeper topics. The more often we engage in low-stakes conversations with our students, the more comfortable and and easy the high-stakes conversation is going to be.
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Learning is an inherently risky and deeply vulnerable endeavor.
Students take risks every time they learn. Making mistakes, asking questions, and grappling with new concepts is scary, and we ask kids to do this every day. This requires both courage and resolve, and it is necessary for student growth.
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Students must trust us to learn from us.
Educators must demonstrate that they are a safe adult who is worthy of a student’s trust. Without trust, the vulnerability required for learning is simply too risky an endeavor.
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Emotions are contagious.
Educators are empathetic and caring people. This makes us even more susceptible of catching the emotions of others. When understand the science behind this and pay attention to the contagious nature of emotions, we can model the calm we want our students to demonstrate.
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A student’s behavior is what they did, not who they are.
All behaviors communicate a need or a feeling. Our job as educators is to determine what students are trying to communicate with their behaviors. If students had the words or strategies to communicate appropriately, they would use them.
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As soon as we engage in a power struggle, we have lost.
Avoiding power struggles is easier said than done. By refusing to engage using some tried and true techniques, we establish for our students (and ourselves) and that we simply aren’t willing to participate in a power struggle.
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Sentence Stems to Avoid Power Struggles
These sentence stems can help you both avoid power struggles as a student tries to engage in an argument. These sentence stems help establish for our students (and ourselves) that we simply are not willing to participate in a power struggle.
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Connecting with Caregivers
Partnering with a student's caregivers is a necessary and important part of our job. This partnership requires that we communicate well, and ensure that the caregiver knows how much we care about their child.
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Welcome to the Connected Communicator Movement!
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Meet your instructors
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Meet your instructors ✳
TIFFANY BURNS & ERIKA BARE
Erika and Tiffany are passionate about supporting educators to transform behavior and build belonging! When we create a culture of connection in schools, we increase student engagement, attendance, and achievement.
Connected Communicators become more competent and confident and find a renewed sense of joy, meaning, and connection in their daily work!
What you’ll learn
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Participants will apply the formula for building connected relationships for learning with students to transform student behavior. You’ll learn strategies to listen authentically, affirm dignity, and cultivate trust.
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Participants will apply communication strategies to build a culture of connection. You will learn to better communicate with students in a way that shows care, builds relationships, and cultivates learning.
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Participants will examine a multitude of strategies and sentence stems to avoid power struggles. This clear and concrete moves will allow you to navigate challenging behavioral situations with increased competence and confidence .
Course FAQ
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Our course is designed to help all educators manage and navigate student behavior with confidence. You will learn immediately applicable and practical strategies to de-escalate situations, avoid power struggles, improve communication, strengthen relationships, and build a culture of connection.
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Do you talk with kids at school? If you answered yes, this course is for you! We developed this course for all educators - and everyone who talks with kids is an educator. This course is designed for teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, educational and instructional assistants, bus drivers, office staff, after school providers, camp counselors, and the list goes on!
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The virtual course consists of nearly two-hours of lessons, approximately 5 -15 minutes in length. The course can be taken at your own pace.
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The course provides a certificate of completion for two hours of professional development. Many districts have approved this for professional development for their educators. Please check with your individual district to ensure approval.
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Yes! Once you complete all the lessons in the course, you will be prompted to download a certificate of completion for two hours of professional development.
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Yes, we do! Please reach out to us directly to inquire about discounts for bulk licenses. When all the educators in your organization learn these strategies, you will build capacity and a common language. It is a powerful way to build a culture of connection in your school community!
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Absolutely not. We believe strongly that students need to be held accountable for their behavior as this is part of the learning process. What we describe in our work are techniques and strategies that will reduce unexpected (challenging) student behavior in the first place and provide productive ways to respond to student behavior when it does occur. It is in the conversation with students, along with outlining the consequences to their actions, that the learning occurs.
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No. This set of strategies works with any behavioral framework that already exists in your school, so long as it is trauma-informed and culturally responsive. These are techniques, conversational approaches, and mind frames designed to enhance the system that already exists.
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Share your successes! Give them the playbook! We love the fact that this is an approach that you can begin using on your own. Other educators will notice, and want to learn your tricks. Individual educators doing this work is awesome, and when a whole school community becomes Connected Communicators, it is transformative! Consider engaging in a staff-wide book study utilizing the book and the free study guide. Better yet, invite Erika and Tiffany to come lead the work at your school. They provide a variety of professional development options that can be tailored to your school or district’s needs.
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When a student is continually showing the same behavior, we recommend planning a Connected Conversation with them utilizing compassionate communication. Carefully complete the Connected Communicator Planning Guide described in Chapter 4 of our book, Connecting Through Conversation: A Playbook for Talking with Students , and then follow the steps within Compassionate Communication described in Chapter 14. If this conversation does not eliminate the behavior, consider completing the Connected Communicator Behavior Planning Guide found here and described in Chapter 2.
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We never give up on trying to connect with a student’s caregiver, and yet there are times when we are unable to partner as we would like. Continue to send communication to them electronically, if phone calls are not possible. Hold compassion, as we often do not know the challenges that the caregiver faces. In extreme cases, we may need to consider outside resources and agencies to help advocate on the student’s behalf. When this is necessary, work with your school team to coordinate services. Although there is much outside of our control as educators, we know we can control the 6 - 7 hours a day they are with us. Focus on what we can control and provide the best possible support during the school day.
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Start by going back through the Connected Communicator Behavior Planning Guide. Maybe you need to rethink the function of the behavior, or perhaps reconsider how the consequences were impacting the student. Sometimes we have to try this a few times before we get it right! Run your thoughts by a team of educators who are also familiar with the student and see what their thoughts are. If the situation is extreme, enlist the help of specialists in your building or district who can support. If the team is stuck, invite Erika or Tiffany to consult and provide some new ideas!
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Continue to Care Out Loud. Remind them that you care about them no matter what, and there is nothing they can do about it. Let them know that you are here when they are ready, and continue to reach out. The key is not to give up. When a student appears not to care this is often a cover for something else. We suggest planning a Connected Conversation utilizing the framework in chapter 4. Ask them to partner with you in finding a connection to the content or school in general. What ideas do they have to increase their engagement? Their success is important to you - make sure they know that by telling them explicitly.