This course is designed for teachers in all grade levels who would like to learn how to teach difficult students more effectively. In this course, we will identify different types of difficult students and their primary needs as well as strategies to use when working with them. Also, we will create materials to use in the classroom and view video clips from leading researchers in the field. Finally, we will have several group discussions on topics such as: use of school personnel, building rapport, establishing positive relationships and various case studies.

Teachers enrolled in this course will...

Know

1. the typical causes for “difficult behavior.”
2. immediate reactions, short term solutions, and long term solutions to difficult behavior.
3. what a Behavior Intervention Plan is, the important elements that make up a BIP, and how they are used in schools.
4. the difference between reactive and proactive teachers

Understand

1. that a student isn’t “difficult”; his or her behavior is.
2. that teachers can only control their own reactions to a behavior.
3. how outside stresses and childhood experiences contribute to “difficult behavior”.
4. the nature of certain disabilities such as ADD, AD/HD, LD and ODD, and how they can cause difficult behavior.
5. a teacher’s role is in designing a BIP

and Be Able To

1. use a series of strategies designed to address certain difficult behaviors that they experience in their classrooms.
2. use immediate, short term and long term solutions to succeed with difficult behavior.
3. help design a BIP for a student who exhibits difficult behavior.
4. use techniques to develop trusting relationships with students who exhibit difficult behaviors and their families.
5. to reach out and communicate with difficult students

Visit www.nyctd.org to learn more and register.