DK came to class every day, and every day this bad-acting third grader would look around, shove, yell, and misbehave. One morning, the assistant principal in this rural school went to take him home (everybody was fed up with his behavior). They came back 45 minutes later.

"What happened?" the teacher asked. "I took him home. There are 11 people living in a two-room trailer. I couldn't leave him there." The teacher began to think. DK spent a lot of time in detention. In detention, he was fine!

The teacher asked him what was the difference was in detention. DK said, "I don't like having all those people around me. I can't stretch my arms out in your class. They don't got as many desks in detention and I can stretch myself out. Sometimes I can even sleep."

The trauma-informed response? To allow DK to start his day by spending 15 minutes voluntarily in detention and then coming to class--without getting marked late. Children can't and don't behave well when they are tired, stressed, and maxed out emotionally.

Their behavior is almost always their best effort to solve a problem. Behavior improvement for DK? Major. Improvement in the classroom environment? Big, for the teacher and everyone else.

Change the frame, change your expectation-- and see what happens.

Yeah, you need TI Teaching training. Shift happens.