Virtual Teacher

1)     Adopt a middle ground. Be firm in enforcing rules, but do it in a way that you balance it with warmth, praise, understanding, fairness, responsiveness, and acceptance of the troubled student’s needs. 2)     Increase your tolerance for angry feelings and acting-out behaviors by identifying positive attributes in the feelings or behavior; for example, independence, leadership qualities, or strong character. 3)     Change your teaching style from stationary to circulating so that you can walk by the troubled, anger-prone, or acting-out student every five-to-six minutes. 4)     Use proximity control , such as walking towards the student, putting one hand on the child’s shoulder or desk, and/or   (without saying a word) removing any object that is distracting the child. 5)     Model calmness, gentleness, and respect. Address children using “Thank you,” “I’m sorry,” or “I apologize.” Teachers...

Anger-prone students may exhibit some, most, or all of the characteristics listed next. 1. Anger-prone students have habitual anger outbursts that seem out of proportion to the situation. 2. Habitually angry children think negatively most of the time about themselves, other people, or situations. 3. When dealing with difficult events, troubled and anger-prone students display catastrophic thinking , a thinking pattern that assumes that the worst thing that can happen is what is going to happen. 4. Anger can be identity or role-congruent for these children; that is, feeling angry all the time matches their self-image (e.g., “I cannot help myself. That’s the way I am”). Their perception of being an angry individual becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy , validated by frequent outbursts of anger and acting-out behaviors. 5. Troubled and anger-prone students show low frustration tolerance , and they demand that what they want or need is satisfied immediately. 6. Anger-prone stude...