School safety, security, and violence prevention resource

Always a good thing to know how to put out a fire, I say.  Preventing one in the  first place is cool, too.   Probably even cooler.  Although there is no magic bullet to keeping our classrooms violence-free, I like to think that it would help if teachers knew how to build a Firebreak in their classrooms to prevent a minor brushfire from raging into an inferno.

 

I was born and reared in the city, but spent much of my youth in rural parts and from time to time I would gaze up into the Adirondacks and see expansive gaps in the rolling hills.  “Firebreaks.” Bo, one of the farmhands, told me, without me ever asking.  “Them is firebreaks, son, what you’re lookin’ at.   Built into the woods so if a fire ever comes, she caint hardly jump from where she is to where she wants to go.”

 

So, thanks to good ole’ Bo, what follows are some great concepts, principles, strategies and statements that will become a great Firebreak in your classroom.  Matter of fact, these reductive techniques or de-escalation strategies will work in almost any personal or professional situation I can think of.

 

General Firebreaks.

• Treat everyone with the 4-Fingers of Control.  Everyone wants to be treated with Equality, Fairly, Consistency and with Honesty.  No student likes to be treated one way and watch while others are treated like they are special.  All students respect a teacher who is honest.  Lying is a trigger.
• Respect.  Whatever you might feel for a student, or a group of students, it is important that you show respect.  Showing Disrespect for a student, especially in front of others (as in embarrassing, humiliating, belittling, physically manhandling) can trigger a conflagration quicker than damn near anything.
• Time and Space Continuum.  Teachers/Authority Figures who crowd a student often unwittingly trigger predatory instincts.  Fact:  The more violence-prone the student, the more violent will be his/her reaction to a teacher closing distance.  Not only that, while most students won’t be triggered until the teacher is within 2-3 feet (Personal safe Zone), the violence prone student will trigger at about 6 feet, maybe even 7.  The easy conclusion, then, is to create a firebreak, give the student his or her space and enhance space with time.  Meaning—

Ø     Time almost always will salve anger, fear, confusion, etc.  Be aware that rage lasts for a finite amount of time.  Even in a physical confrontation, if security and/or the teacher can simply contain a violent student for 30 seconds to maybe 90 seconds, the student will transition from Sympathetic Nervous System Activation to Parasympathetic Nervous System (translation:  From rage to exhaustion).

Ø     Time, augmented by the teacher Mirroring Calm and Reassuring the irate student that “everything is still cool, Dude,” with positive body language and (soothing) words, gives the aggressive student the ability to think, to move away from the Primitive Brain and get in touch with the Neo Cortex (Smart Brain),  More often than not, even the violence-prone gangbanger will realize, when faced with a Sea Of Calm, that he is acting the fool and it is in his best interest to go along with the program.

 

• Active Listening.  Many people only listen so they can know when they can interject their authoritative thoughts, ideas and demands.  Instead listen actively to what the Bad Boy or Girl is really saying and what he or she is not saying.  Listen to what it is he or she thinks is the problem and what he or she believes is needed to resolve the issue.  Often, paraphrasing back to the student the content of his/her words, meanings and/or feelings will create a great firebreak.
• You Can Always Find the Solution In the Angry Student’s Own Words.  A dynamite reward re Active Listening is the ability to use the student’s own words to solve the problem.  I have found that the person who verbally attacks or threatens another person will give away what is weighing on his/her mind, what the key issues might be.  Then again, even if that is not true, a teacher who listens and remains calm can take some key words out of the rant and use them to Redirect the student’s anger away from its target (in this case, the teacher).  Using a few of my favorite mental tricks, like:

Ø     Strip Phrases.  Deflect and weaken the verbal attack, stripping the attack of all power, and follow up the word But with professional language.   More about this in a future post, but, in short, the student screams a profanity and an insult and the class holds its collective breath, expecting the teacher to react naturally, angrily, redoubling the Cycle Of Violence.  Instead, the teacher deflects the verbal attack calmly, saying something like:  “I hear you, Billy Bob, but I still need you to take your seat.  You and I can chat about this a little later on.  What do you say?”

Ø     Distraction Technique.  The key here is to fracture the angry student’s focus, to weaken his or her rage.  Like the kid is railing at the teacher, saying first someone hits my car, then I get hassled in the hallway, now, you accuse me of cheating, blah, blah.  The teacher can use the car or the hassle to refocus the student.  Like, “What kind of car you drive, Ace?”  is a good distraction, even if he says, “Who gives a crap, Teach?”  Whatever.  He has changed his focus.

Ø     Other Distraction Techniques:

1.      Redirection Distraction:  The student is charging you.  Looks like he might throw a punch.  These have worked for me to stop the kid (in my case, we are talking violent criminals):

Ø      Cough and Point:  start coughing “uncontrollably” and point at the kid while backing away.

Ø      “Looky Looky!”  Works every frigging time.  The kid;s face is screwed up in rage, his fists are balled, and I point at something he is wearing and say “Looky, Looky, Max, (what follows is irrelevant), what the heck is that logo on your shirt saying?”  Or, Looky, Looky, Chad, where the heck did you get those boots, man?”

Ø      Refocus Backwards.  Works every time, also.  The kid’s rage is focused on you or another student.  The goal is to fracture the student’s rage away from its intended target.  If it is me, I can break the Bad Guy down every time with:

# LOOKY, LOOKY 2:  “Holy crap, Leo, look at your arms, You’re all pumped up.  What the heck is up, man?”

#STOP!  This only works once, but it does stop the charging student in his or her tracks, trust me.  Stand your ground, hold out your hand like a traffic cop and yell, “Stop!” Be ready to either disengage or use a follow-up technique because the student will only be startled into inaction for about 3 seconds.

 

Next Post:  More Firebreaks and Triggers of Violence.

Until Then.  Stay Safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

Always a good thing to know how to put out a fire, I say.  Preventing one in the  first place is cool, too.   Probably even cooler.  Although there is no magic bullet to keeping our classrooms violence-free, I like to think that it would help if teachers knew how to build a Firebreak in their classrooms to prevent a minor brushfire from raging into infernos.

 

I was born and reared in the city, but spent much of my youth in rural parts and, from time to time, I would gaze up into the Adirondacks and see expansive gaps in the rolling hills.  “Firebreaks, Bo, one of the farmhands told me, without me ever asking.  “Them is firebreaks, son, what you’re lookin’ at.   Built into the woods so if a fire ever comes, she caint hardly jump from where she is to where she wants to go.”

 

So, thanks to good ole’ Bo, what follows are some great concepts, principles, strategies and statements that will become a great Firebreak in your classroom.  Matter of fact, these reductive techniques or de-escalation strategies will work in almost any personal or professional situation I can think of.

 

General Firebreaks.

• Treat everyone with the 4-Fingers of Control.  Everyone wants to be treated with Equality, Fairly, Consistency and with Honesty.  No student likes to be treated one way and watch while others are treated like they are special.  All students respect a teacher who is honest.  Lying is a trigger.
• Respect.  Whatever you might feel for a student, or a group of students, it is important that you show respect.  Showing Disrespect for a student, especially in front of others (as in embarrassing, humiliating, belittling, physically manhandling) can trigger a conflagration quicker than damn near anything.
• Time and Space Continuum.  Teachers/Authority Figures who crowd a student often unwittingly trigger predatory instincts that child may have.  Fact:  The more violence-prone the student, the more violent will be his/her reaction to a teacher closing distance.  Not only that, while most students won’t be triggered until the teacher is within 2-3 feet (Personal safe Zone), the violence prone student will trigger at about 6 feet, maybe even 7.  The easy conclusion, then, is to create a firebreak, give the student his or her space and enhance space with time.  Meaning—

Ø     Time almost always will salve anger, fear, confusion, etc.  Be aware that rage lasts for a finite amount of time.  Even in a physical confrontation, if security and/or the teacher can simply contain a violent student for 30 seconds to maybe 90 seconds, the student will transition from Sympathetic Nervous System Activation to Parasympathetic Nervous System (translation:  From rage to exhaustion).

Ø     Time, augmented by the teacher Mirroring Calm and Reassuring the irate student that “everything is still cool, Dude,” with positive body language and (soothing) words, gives the aggressive student the ability to think, to move away from the Primitive Brain and get in touch with the Neo Cortex (Smart Brain),  More often than not, even the violence-prone gangbanger will realize, when faced with a Sea Of Calm, that he is acting the fool and it is in his best interest to go along with the program.

 

• Active Listening.  Many people only listen so they can know when they can interject their authoritative thoughts, ideas and demands.  Instead listen actively to what the Bad Boy or Girl is really saying and what he or she is not saying.  Listen to what it is he or she thinks is the problem and what he or she believes is needed to resolve the issue.  Often, paraphrasing back to the student the content of his/her words, meanings and/or feelings will create a great firebreak.
• You Can Always Find the Solution In the Angry Student’s Own Words.  A dynamite reward re Active Listening is the ability to use the student’s own words to solve the problem.  I have found that the person who verbally attacks or threatens another person will give away what is weighing on his/her mind, what the key issues might be.  Then again, even if that is not true, a teacher who listens and remains calm can take some key words out of the rant and use them to Redirect the student’s anger away from its target (in this case, the teacher).  Using a few of my favorite mental tricks, like:

Ø     Strip Phrases.  Deflect and weaken the verbal attack, stripping the attack of all power, and follow up the word But with professional language.   More about this in a future post, but, in short, the student screams a profanity and an insult and the class holds its collective breath, expecting the teacher to react naturally, angrily, redoubling the Cycle Of Violence.  Instead, the teacher deflects the verbal attack calmly, saying something like:  “I hear you, Billy Bob, but I still need you to take your seat.  You and I can chat about this a little later on.  What do you say?”

Ø     Distraction Technique.  The key here is to fracture the angry student’s focus, to weaken his or her rage.  Like the kid is railing at the teacher, saying first someone hits my car, then I get hassled in the hallway, now, you accuse me of cheating, blah, blah.  The teacher can use the car or the hassle to refocus the student.  Like, “What kind of car you drive, Ace?”  is a good distraction, even if he says, “Who gives a crap, Teach?”  Whatever.  He has changed his focus.

Ø     Other Distraction Techniques:

1.      Redirection Distraction:  The student is charging you.  Looks like he might throw a punch.  These have worked for me to stop the kid (in my case, we are talking violent criminals):

Ø      Cough and Point:  start coughing “uncontrollably” and point at the kid while backing away.

Ø      “Looky Looky!”  Works every frigging time.  The kid;s face is screwed up in rage, his fists are balled, and I point at something he is wearing and say “Looky, Looky, Max, (what follows is irrelevant), what the heck is that logo on your shirt saying?”  Or, Looky, Looky, Chad, where the heck did you get those boots, man?”

Ø      Refocus Backwards.  Works every time, also.  The kid’s rage is focused on you or another student.  The goal is to fracture the student’s rage away from its intended target.  If it is me, I can break the Bad Guy down every time with:

# LOOKY, LOOKY 2:  “Holy crap, Leo, look at your arms, You’re all pumped up.  What the heck is up, man?”

#STOP!  This only works once, but it does stop the charging student in his or her tracks, trust me.  Stand your ground, hold out your hand like a traffic cop and yell, “Stop!” Be ready to either disengage or use a follow-up technique because the student will only be startled into inaction for about 3 seconds.

 

Next Post:  More Firebreaks and Triggers of Violence.

Until Then.  Stay Safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

Always a good thing to know how to put out a fire, I say.  Preventing one in the  first place is cool, too.   Probably even cooler.  Although there is no magic bullet to keeping our classrooms violence-free, I like to think that it would help if teachers knew how to build a Firebreak in their classrooms to prevent a minor brushfire from raging into infernos.

 

I was born and reared in the city, but spent much of my youth in rural parts and, from time to time, I would gaze up into the Adirondacks and see expansive gaps in the rolling hills.  “Firebreaks, Bo, one of the farmhands told me, without me ever asking.  “Them is firebreaks, son, what you’re lookin’ at.   Built into the woods so if a fire ever comes, she caint hardly jump from where she is to where she wants to go.”

 

So, thanks to good ole’ Bo, what follows are some great concepts, principles, strategies and statements that will become a great Firebreak in your classroom.  Matter of fact, these reductive techniques or de-escalation strategies will work in almost any personal or professional situation I can think of.

 

General Firebreaks.

• Treat everyone with the 4-Fingers of Control.  Everyone wants to be treated with Equality, Fairly, Consistency and with Honesty.  No student likes to be treated one way and watch while others are treated like they are special.  All students respect a teacher who is honest.  Lying is a trigger.
• Respect.  Whatever you might feel for a student, or a group of students, it is important that you show respect.  Showing Disrespect for a student, especially in front of others (as in embarrassing, humiliating, belittling, physically manhandling) can trigger a conflagration quicker than damn near anything.
• Time and Space Continuum.  Teachers/Authority Figures who crowd a student often unwittingly trigger predatory instincts that child may have.  Fact:  The more violence-prone the student, the more violent will be his/her reaction to a teacher closing distance.  Not only that, while most students won’t be triggered until the teacher is within 2-3 feet (Personal safe Zone), the violence prone student will trigger at about 6 feet, maybe even 7.  The easy conclusion, then, is to create a firebreak, give the student his or her space and enhance space with time.  Meaning—

Ø     Time almost always will salve anger, fear, confusion, etc.  Be aware that rage lasts for a finite amount of time.  Even in a physical confrontation, if security and/or the teacher can simply contain a violent student for 30 seconds to maybe 90 seconds, the student will transition from Sympathetic Nervous System Activation to Parasympathetic Nervous System (translation:  From rage to exhaustion).

Ø     Time, augmented by the teacher Mirroring Calm and Reassuring the irate student that “everything is still cool, Dude,” with positive body language and (soothing) words, gives the aggressive student the ability to think, to move away from the Primitive Brain and get in touch with the Neo Cortex (Smart Brain),  More often than not, even the violence-prone gangbanger will realize, when faced with a Sea Of Calm, that he is acting the fool and it is in his best interest to go along with the program.

 

• Active Listening.  Many people only listen so they can know when they can interject their authoritative thoughts, ideas and demands.  Instead listen actively to what the Bad Boy or Girl is really saying and what he or she is not saying.  Listen to what it is he or she thinks is the problem and what he or she believes is needed to resolve the issue.  Often, paraphrasing back to the student the content of his/her words, meanings and/or feelings will create a great firebreak.
• You Can Always Find the Solution In the Angry Student’s Own Words.  A dynamite reward re Active Listening is the ability to use the student’s own words to solve the problem.  I have found that the person who verbally attacks or threatens another person will give away what is weighing on his/her mind, what the key issues might be.  Then again, even if that is not true, a teacher who listens and remains calm can take some key words out of the rant and use them to Redirect the student’s anger away from its target (in this case, the teacher).  Using a few of my favorite mental tricks, like:

Ø     Strip Phrases.  Deflect and weaken the verbal attack, stripping the attack of all power, and follow up the word But with professional language.   More about this in a future post, but, in short, the student screams a profanity and an insult and the class holds its collective breath, expecting the teacher to react naturally, angrily, redoubling the Cycle Of Violence.  Instead, the teacher deflects the verbal attack calmly, saying something like:  “I hear you, Billy Bob, but I still need you to take your seat.  You and I can chat about this a little later on.  What do you say?”

Ø     Distraction Technique.  The key here is to fracture the angry student’s focus, to weaken his or her rage.  Like the kid is railing at the teacher, saying first someone hits my car, then I get hassled in the hallway, now, you accuse me of cheating, blah, blah.  The teacher can use the car or the hassle to refocus the student.  Like, “What kind of car you drive, Ace?”  is a good distraction, even if he says, “Who gives a crap, Teach?”  Whatever.  He has changed his focus.

Ø     Other Distraction Techniques:

1.      Redirection Distraction:  The student is charging you.  Looks like he might throw a punch.  These have worked for me to stop the kid (in my case, we are talking violent criminals):

Ø      Cough and Point:  start coughing “uncontrollably” and point at the kid while backing away.

Ø      “Looky Looky!”  Works every frigging time.  The kid;s face is screwed up in rage, his fists are balled, and I point at something he is wearing and say “Looky, Looky, Max, (what follows is irrelevant), what the heck is that logo on your shirt saying?”  Or, Looky, Looky, Chad, where the heck did you get those boots, man?”

Ø      Refocus Backwards.  Works every time, also.  The kid’s rage is focused on you or another student.  The goal is to fracture the student’s rage away from its intended target.  If it is me, I can break the Bad Guy down every time with:

# LOOKY, LOOKY 2:  “Holy crap, Leo, look at your arms, You’re all pumped up.  What the heck is up, man?”

#STOP!  This only works once, but it does stop the charging student in his or her tracks, trust me.  Stand your ground, hold out your hand like a traffic cop and yell, “Stop!” Be ready to either disengage or use a follow-up technique because the student will only be startled into inaction for about 3 seconds.

 

Next Post:  More Firebreaks and Triggers of Violence.

Until Then.  Stay Safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted on November 3rd, 2008 by Harry A Widger
Filed under: Administrators, College, Fighting, High School, K-6, People Involved, School Grade Level, School Safety Issues, Students, Violence