Classroom Management Strategies and Behavior Interventions-- Some of Our Best

Here are some of our best, new classroom management strategies and behavior interventions for problem students

It''s Our 18th Birthday,
But You Get the Present--
Some Brand New Interventions</H3>

To celebrate our 18th birthday providing books, posters and training to youth professionals, here are some brand new strategies that all relate to birthdays.

A Blast From the Future

Ask students to read these headlines from
their future birthdays, then discuss if they''ll be ready. If you wish, you
can use a computer graphics program like Photoshop to alter your local newspaper to
actually contain the new date and headline. Include headlines
like these:

2011 Mandatory New Test Detects All Substance Use in Job Seekers
2017 Total Automation of Homes Nears Those With Poor Computer Skills Locked Out
2020 All Jobs Now Require Diploma
2028 Good Bye Cars Excellent Science Skills Needed for Replacement Vehicles
2033 Job Market Dismal Near Perfect Attendance Required
2037 Speak Just One Language? Can You Say "No Job"?
Just ''Cuz You Breathe

Have students make posters to illustrate this catch
phrase "Just ''cuz you breathe, doesn''t mean you''ll receive," then post the posters on the wall
and discuss them. If you preface this activity by giving a few stats on the value of a diploma, this activity
can focus on graduation. For example, you can tell students that dropouts often earn too little
to pay for a new car, an entire house or apartment, utilities, medical care,
and transportation. Or, you can just provide the phrase and let students each choose their own
focus. Help students discover that just because you have a pulse and a birthday doesn''t mean you''ll be happy,
you may need education to achieve that.

20 Birthdays Later

Ask each students to write you an
email as though it was 20 birthdays later. Ask them to describe their lives
2 decades worth of birthdays from today. You may be amazed at the profound
content you receive as students describe their imagined lives 20 years away. You
may wish to save the letters to return to students years later. The long forgotten
letters can become a blast from the past that transforms students in the future, but
be sure to also use the letters now to discern the hopes and dreams of youngsters
who appear to have no hopes and no dreams. You may want to discuss the emails
one-to-one or in groups, and include in the discussion
how your site can assist the students to make
their hoped-for futures actually happen. You can also save these emails to use whenever a student
needs a boost of inspiration.

Can You Read Your Birthday Greetings?

To show students the increasing importance of education in the future, create birthday greetings
that might come by email, then ask students to explain the email and say what they would do.
To best implement this intervention, create actual emails that you email to students
or print out for students to read. Here are two examples to start you off. Although students may not
spot it, both of these sample birthday emails are actually scams that could infect their computers, steal
their identities, or otherwise do great harm. If students don''t spot the scams, you might mention that education
could help.


Happy Birthday. Your friends at electostuff.com have a free birthday gift of the latest game console
system for you. It''s valued at $239 in stores but free for you. Just click here
and input your name, home address,
phone number and answer a few more questions,
and we will have your free game system to you in no time.

You''ve received birthday greetings from a friend or family member. Click here to
open your personalized birthday card and see what your friend or family member has to
say on your special day.

Get much more information on this topic by clicking here
, or
here. or here.
Trainer/author Ruth
Herman Wells MS is the director of Youth Change (click here),

Sign up for her free Problem-Kid Problem-Solver magazine at the site and
see hundreds more of her innovative methods. Ruth