School safety, security, and violence prevention resource

THERE is evil genius behind almost every Verbal Attack Pattern (VAP) that creates various degrees of perplexity and misery for many of our educational professionals, hall monitors, security staff and resource officers.  Just as the name implies, VAPS are not necessarily spontaneous verbal outbursts, episodic in nature; they are meticulously thought out and executed with subtle timing by students ranging from early elementary all the way to graduating high school seniors (Yes, college students do it also, but that’s a post for another day).

 

CURSING, intimidating, embarrassing, threatening and insulting an educational professional (for the sake of brevity, let’s include all administrators, teachers, hall monitors, security staff and resource officers in this category) has a psychology of its own.  A VAP, more often than not, has at its center the purpose of eliciting a prescribed response by the educational professional.  The prescribed response, of course, is for the educational professional to lose his or her cool, to abandon his or her professionalism.  Every time a VAP is successful – or, better put – an educational professional allows a VAP to work – serious damage is done to the professional’s reputation, and by definition, his or her ability to control the classroom and/or hallway.  As a matter of fact, when you think of it, the professional who allows a VAP to evolve allows the student to be in control of the relationship.

 

IT IS IMPERATIVE for the educational professional – especially the teacher who is in constant contact with the students and is responsible for class control – to recognize and shatter VAPS as early as possible.  With that in mind, let’s look at what I envision as some Effective Counter-VAP Strategies:

 

• The Element of Surprise.  Nothing like surprise to slow down the nimrod who is trying to make a rep for him or herself by putting down a teacher. Surprise temporarily stuns the student, causing a fracture between the mind and the body (Central Nervous System), which in effect causes a temporary slowdown of the thought process.When the brain shuts down so does the student’s physical movement.  Briefly, the student expects the teacher to Bite the Bait (react spontaneously, emotionally, with an escalation in profanity, threat, etc., to the student’s string of profanity, threats, personal insults, and/or refusal to follow directions).  and we all know what happens to the sad sack fish who bites the bait in the non-metaphoric world.  Poor bastards end up in a tin can on somebody’s pantry shelf.  Teachers who do not want toend up like the dead-fish, then, must never take the bait, but, instead, should invoke The Element of Surprise by doing the following:

Ø     Always Honor Professional Face Over Personal Face.  Refuse to take the bait, and, then, respond in a measured manner to all insults, threats, etc. using Professional Language.

Ø     Show Respect.  Cycle Breathe and let your mind go to a better place.  Defuse Yourself.  Now that your mind is right, display respect to that person.  Doesn’t mean you should not discipline that child – control is essential – it just means you are not going to curse, threaten, use personal epithets or putdowns.  And another thing, Teach—-

Ø     Be Nice.  Remember this and never forget:  The student is trying to get you to take the bait, to elicit a prescribed response.  More likely than not, some, maybe all, of your students know that a VAP is being performed.  Shock The World by simply Being Nice.  In this situation, “nice” is not being too easy, either.  Get that cliché out of your head.  It is a counter-VAP Strategy that stops the VAP in its tracks.  If the student attacks you after you acted nice, I always say take care of business physically and then Be Nice Again.  Several Great Benefits To Being Nice:. 

-          Contrast – All the students and/or security who witness the interaction can easily see the stark contrast between the student, who is out of control versus you, who has been professional and calm throughout the incident and totally in control.

-          Justification – By acting professionally (being nice is, in effect, is acting professional under pressure), you have robbed the aggressive student of any and all justification for attacking you.  If you remember my recent post on why students attack teachers, justification is one of the top four factors in student violence (Justification/Alternatives/Consequences and Ability).

 

• Mirror Calm.  Despite what you might be feeling, Cycle Breathe, let your mind go to a “nice place” and model the calm that you would like the enraged student to feel.  Calm, like anger is very contagious.
• Deflect VAPS Rather Than Absorb Them.  Think of yourself as a skilled fighter.  Block and parry all incoming arrows of insult, hurt, humiliation.  Deflect them and let them fly harmlessly away.  Use Peace Phrases and other phrases which Strip the insults of any power over you. 

Ø     “Screw you, you stupid asshole!”  (Enraged Student)

Ø     “I hear that, Terry, I do make some dumb moves, but, I really need you to take your seat until the bell rings.  Maybe then we can talk about it, okay, Terry?”

 

Next Post:  More VAP-Busters.

Until then, Stay Safe.

Hammer

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