Teachers often mistake control for being firm and stern and when that doesn't work, they become firmer and, more stern. Frustrated, they ask for help from administrators or counselors, who often tell them to do the exact same thing they were doing before.
What's a teacher to do then?
Enter the solution focused approach to classroom management, where teachers share their concerns and personal feelings about wanting to teach their students WITH their students. This podcast will assist you, your teachers or administrators with a dramatically different approach that calls upon students for help in achieving a classroom where learning is possible.
For more information on Solution Focused Schools Unlimited, visit https://solutionfocusedschool.com where you will find many free resources and upcoming trainings that can take you directly into solution focused land! If you are interested in more on the book, Counseling Toward Solutions, 3rd printing, you can purchase the book here: https://www.routledge.com/Counseling-Toward-Solutions-A-Practical-Solution-Focused-Program-for-Working/Metcalf/p/book/9780367640903
Join Linda Metcalf in her free bi-monthly SF Connection live webinars and meet school counselors and social workers from around the world who are learning the approach and using it every day.
In this first podcast of a new series, "The Solution Focused Teacher," learn about a new approach that can help you get your power back in your classroom. Whether you teach kindergarten or twelfth grade, whether you are an academic coach, administrator or special education teacher, the ideas in this podcast are aimed at one goal...to help you get your power back. Once you grow your power, your classroom will transform into a more respectful, motivating climate.
This podcast series will introduce a very different approach that is part of a "solution focused mindset." This initial podcast describes that mindset by describing how a twelfth grade teacher dealt with a disruptive student who tried everything to upset her. Listen as the teacher comes up with new ways of dealing with the student that did not include consequences! Listen as I describe how she created her own solution, which she then tried successfullly.
I would love to hear from you! Email me at lmetcalf62@gmail.com with situations or topics for future podcasts. This podcast series is yours and to make it yours, I want to cover what you need. May the solution force be with you.
Linda Metcalf, M.Ed., Ph.D.
Solution Focused Schools Unlimited, LLC
email: lmetcalf62@gmail.com
website: https://solutionfocusedschool.com
The school year has started and so have the requests. This podcast introduces the solution focused approach as a mindset, not just strategies to try out. Listen to how the author recognized the importance of engaging students differently, as a teacher, and then later as a school counselor. The podcast will share the three steps of the solution focused approach and bring to life what those steps do for the school client (student, teacher or parent). From there, each step is explained and examples given. You will leave this podcast with steps to try out that will restore hope in your job as a school counselor and leave you less stressed and more excited than you have been in a while. Listen, enjoy and practice!
Get the book, Counseling Toward Solutions at Routledge: https://www.routledge.com/Counseling-Toward-Solutions-A-Practical-Solution-Focused-Program-for-Working/Metcalf/p/book/9780367640903
Check out the Solution Focused Schools Unlimited website: https://solutionfocusedschool.com
This episode takes a different approach in conceptualizing how to keep students safe in a world of uncertainties. You will learn three ways that do not cost money, do not require a change of school policy and yet, incorporate every single staff member and students into a process that anyone can learn. Listen, as I share how the solution focused mindset can engage the "scary" student and pave the way for that student to feel important to the school. Learn how to re-engage students once they return from a suspension, conjuring up strategies together with an administrator to NOT be suspended in the future. From simple words that every teacher can use to de-escalate a situation to ideas that share the responsibility of safety, this podcast is unique and offers a glimpse into finding the miracle we are all looking for.
For free resources and a view of upcoming events from Solution Focused Schools Unlimited go to: https://solutionfocusedschool.com
To email Linda Metcalf: lmetcalf62@gmail.com
This podcast will cover 3 constructs that contribute to the solution focused mindset. The ripple effect, the ideas that resistance can be conquered through a mindset and ways to talk to frustrated teachers are just some of the ideas covered in this podcast. Whether your job is as a school counselor, administrator or teacher, in this podcast, you will hear stories that bring to life what it is like to be an educator who sees past problems and into the eyes of experts in front of you. Website for more free resources and events: https://solutionfocusedschool.com Professional Development inquiries: lmetcalf62@gmail.com Routledge.com
This podcast will share how to create a Miracle Worker team, (MW)composed of teachers who learn the solution focused process and work as consultants to fellow teachers and their students together to build solutions. It is ideal for school counselors and administrators who have students constantly referred to them for misbehavior or disrespect. The MW team takes those referrals instead, talking for 20 minutes to both teacher and student, creating a "preferred future" where they both describe what each person would be doing. Since it involves both teacher and student, it is more efficient and the chances of a return referral decreases dramatically.
For information on more free resources, visit https://solutionfocusedschool.com
Every day, in schools around the world, educators construct strategies for student problems with the purpose of helping their students to succeed. It is an admirable task that sometimes ends with frustration, when the strategies, created in isolation from the student, fail to work. Yet, by simply including the students in all of the meetings that affect them, the student has an opportunity to share what might be helpful to increase success. Whether it is a team meeting, RTI or parent conference, including students in the conversation can serve several purposes:
1. The students' voice becomes a source of information for strategies that are more likely to succeed.
2. The student and teachers engage and are focused on the same goal.
3. Relationships change between the student and teacher, resulting in different interactions.
After many years of going to home campuses to meet with her private clients at school, Dr. Metcalf reports a 98% success rate for student improvements, academic and behavioral when students were with her in meetings with all of the student's teachers. This podcast with share how it is done. Get ready to alter your meetings for Fall 2021!
Link for new copy of Counseling Toward Solutions: https://www.routledge.com/Counseling-Toward-Solutions-A-Practical-Solution-Focused-Program-for-Working/Metcalf/p/book/9780367640903
Parents often come in upset about their child/teen and have concerns and complaints that can veer you toward problem focused land. By inquiring about their child/teen’s wonderfulnesses the conversation will get you on the path to solutions and improve the parent-child relationship in the process. This podcast will provide steps for you, too, so you discover the wonderfulnesses that you possess as well. This podcast was inspired by the book, Narrative Therapy in Wonderland: Connecting with Children’s Imaginative Know How- Norton Publishers (2016) Epston, Marsten and Markham. Visit solutionfocusedschool.com for more resources on becoming a solution focused educator!
