The Joys of Dawdling For students, dawdling is an art form. No matter how much time you give them for a lesson transition, they will need...

The Opposite of What You Expect In our previous four segments we have examined “Meaning Business” – calmness, keeping your mouth shut...

Upping the Ante In our previous segment we became familiar with the various types of “whiny backtalk.” Familiarity reduces the element of...

Eliminating the Element of Surprise In our previous segment we learned the Cardinal Error of dealing with backtalk. The Cardinal Error of...

Upset Is Weakness In our previous segment we learned that calm is strength and upset is weakness. To put this statement into perspective,...

The Importance of Consistency Meaning business is the low-key, almost invisible way in which effective parents and effective teachers...

Packaging a Lesson As we begin a new school year, it would be helpful to review the basics of teaching a lesson. Much of that teaching...

Types of Rules Different kinds of rules serve different functions. In the classroom, there are two basic types of rules. General Rules:...

Being Consistent In last month's blog we examined consistency. We pointed out that there is no such thing as “very consistent.”...

“No Means No” How do you say “no” and make it stick? We would do well to take a lesson from my mom. My mom meant business. She had been...