De-escalating Challenging Behavior

Online Seminars for CTLE

A Beginner’s Guide to Implementing Restorative Practices (5 hours) – Restorative practices are evidence-based interventions that have proven successful when implemented correctly as the ultimate goal in mediation rather than punishment. They are used to resolve conflicts by proactively building school community and forming a foundation for healing work when harm has been done. In this seminar, you will explore what restorative practices are, how they tie to social emotional learning, how to differentiate for diverse learners, and how to begin to implement with students.

Classroom Management Procedures (8 hours) – This seminar explores seamless integration of transitions, routines for handling materials and supplies, and performance of noninstructional duties. Participants will explore how to encourage students to assume responsibility for ensuring efficient procedures in a well-managed classroom.

Reducing Stress, Cultivating Calm (5 hours) - Education is one of the more stressful fields and stress among educators is directly related to absenteeism, burnout, turnover, and early retirement. The effects of stress on educators negatively affect the school climate and lead to poor student outcomes, both academically and behaviorally, and become a barrier to learning for students. In this seminar, participants will explore how to effectively manage the increasing demands and stress in their roles as well as how to support students in coping with the stress they are experiencing.

Student Behavior Part I (7 hours) - This seminar examines the foundations for managing student behavior. Participants will explore how to uncover causes for behavioral issues, learn about their students, and set expectations for learning and behavior. Participants will also analyze how and when to create, enforce, and revise standards of conduct.

Student Behavior Part 2 (5 hours) - Participants will explore subtle and preventative behavior monitoring. This seminar covers the strategies and skills that teachers and students need in order to monitor behavior, offer respectful corrections, utilize appropriate verbal and nonverbal responses, and acknowledge appropriate behavior.

Student Behavior Part 3 (5 hours) - Participants must take these seminars in order as they are building blocks where each seminar relies on knowledge and application of the previous seminar.

Transforming the Lives of Students with Trauma-Informed Schools (5 hours) - Designed for K-12 educators and school-related professionals, this 5-hour online seminar addresses how trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact students’ abilities to form trusting relationships, learn new concepts and self-regulate their behaviors in and out of school. The impact of early trauma on brain development and early attachment will be explored.

SRP Seminar: Dealing with Difficult Behaviors (3 hours) - This seminar will offer you strategies for dealing with students who exhibit chronic and extreme misbehavior, including violence. You will learn to understand the motivation behind this behavior and intervention techniques to use when it occurs. We will discuss early warning signs of school violence and ways to defuse confrontation so it does not escalate. You will also learn ways to reinforce the positive behaviors the students need to learn.

Online and Remote Courses for Graduate Credit

Applied Behavior Analysis (UNY 807) - The course takes the research to the next level for students who do not respond to basic prevention through effective classroom management and provides teachers and support staff with the information, tools, and skills they need to prevent a great deal of antisocial behavior and/or to manage much of this behavior when it arises.

Behavior Management and Intervention (SPED 6045) – This course teaches universal and targeted behavior management assessments, techniques, and interventions for special educators within school-wide, classroom, and individual settings. Specific emphasis will be on understanding the characteristics and interventions that work with the most challenging students, and assessment and intervention techniques for students with intensive behavioral needs will be emphasized.

Classroom Management: Orchestrating a Community of Learners (UNY703) – Participants explore classroom climate, physical environment, rules and procedures, momentum and flow, positive behavior, responses to misbehavior, parental involvement, and personal resilience.

Creating the Dynamic Classroom Environment (CURI 6560) – Participants investigate their curriculum and instruction to find ways to engage students in learning, which will virtually eliminate classroom management issues. Since preventive measures are not a failsafe, participants will explore some minor, escalating, and major behavior problems to better prepare you to address these situations as they arise. 

VESi-Advanced Classroom Management: Children as Change Agents (EDV 511) – This course is primarily for professionals (e.g., regular or special educators, instructional assistants, school psychologist, counselors) serving children and youths presenting behavior problems the school or community. It focuses on cognitive and cognitive-behavioral interventions (often lumped together under the rubric "social skills") with an emphasis on teaching students how to change and manage their own behavior.

VESi-Advanced Classroom Management: Children as Change Agents undergraduate - (EDV 411) – This course was developed as an alternative to traditional behavior modification approaches to changing student behavior. Although the course discusses and supports several behavior modification techniques, it goes beyond the boundaries of this approach. ACM teaches a social-cognitive approach to behavioral remediation.

VESi-Build School Communities: Brain Smart Classroom Management (EDV 535) - Participants will learn how to differentiate for classroom management and discipline similarly to differentiating for students’ diverse academic needs. One size does not fit all, but all sizes can fit together.

VESi-Build School Communities: Brain Smart Classroom Management undergraduate (EDV 435) - Students will learn how to differentiate for classroom management and discipline similarly to differentiating for students’ diverse academic needs. One size does not fit all, but all sizes can fit together.

In-Person and Virtual Synchronous Seminars

5 Tips to Diffuse Difficult Behaviors in Today’s Schools (SRP) - Educators are often confronted with challenging disruptive and sometimes violent behaviors from students. These challenges can create a negative school culture that impacts teaching, student achievement as well as morale amongst students and staff. This seminar will provide opportunities for school staff to learn and practice evidence-based, proven-effective strategies to work with challenging behaviors in positive, proactive ways. (3 hours)

Addressing Aggressive Student Behavior in Schools - This seminar will focus on strategies for managing the behavior of students who demonstrate aggressive and disruptive behaviors. Participants will review a plan for ensuring they have the knowledge and skills to successfully change their behaviors, and proactive strategies for addressing specific misbehaviors. Confrontation strategies and strategies such as redirection cause and effect and overcorrection will be explored and practiced. (3 hours)

Advancing Student Success through Relationships - Participants will discuss how to build meaningful relationships with students to advance their understanding and experience success. (1 hour)

Building Community, Collaboration and Equity - Educators will discuss strategies for building a community by using the distinctive traits and talents of individuals and establish a culture of collaboration to meet individual student needs. (1.5 hour)

Collegial Collaboration & Action: Addressing Hostile and Aggressive Student Behavior - This seminar is designed to encourage conversations focused on addressing challenging student behaviors. Participants will also engage in discussions around research and explore alternative strategies that can assist with hostile and aggressive behavior. (3 hours)

Creating Safer Spaces for LGBTQ Students - This seminar encourages discussions and provides a deeper awareness of the supports needed for LGBTQ students to thrive. We will review national statistics from GLSEN’s National School Climate Survey, share resources and tools for creating an inclusive school environment, and focus on how educators can create classrooms free of bullying and harassment for LGBTQ students. (Now offered to SRPs) (3 & 4 hours)

Dealing with Challenging Students in the School Environment (SRP) - This seminar will offer strategies for dealing with students who exhibit chronic and extreme misbehavior, including violence. Participants will learn what motivates students to misbehave, intervention techniques to use at the moment of misbehavior, how to avoid and defuse confrontations, and ways to reinforce desirable behavior. (3 hours)

Dealing with Challenging Students on the Bus (SRP) - This seminar will offer strategies for dealing with students who exhibit chronic and extreme misbehavior, including violence. Participants will learn what motivates students to misbehave; intervention techniques to use at the moment of misbehavior; how to avoid and defuse confrontations, and ways to reinforce desirable behavior on the school bus. (3 hours)

Discipline Strategies - This seminar takes a comprehensive look at student-centered discipline and offers a plan of action for teachers to establish a positive classroom learning environment. Teachers learn how to set expectations and design strategies to prevent discipline problems from occurring. (2 hours) Designated for New Teachers.

Engaging the Disruptive Student - What can you do when you have students who disrupt the learning your classroom? This seminar will discuss the many strategies to enhance personal effectiveness with disruptive students and get students learning back on track. (3 hours)

Family Partnerships to Improve Classroom Behavior (SRP) - This seminar engages educators in discussing the benefits of having consistent and positive family school partnerships through frequent communication. (3 hours)

Managing Student Behavior - This seminar provides effective strategies for communicating expectations to students, creating an environment in which appropriate behaviors are more likely to occur, and helping students learn to make appropriate choices. (3 hours)

New Day, New Direction: Managing Conflict Using Resolution Strategies (SRP) - Conflicts are normal and unavoidable occurrences in our everyday lives. Most of these are minor and easily resolved. Participants will address the benefits and disadvantages of conflict, key factors to be considered in resolving conflicts, and strategies for managing and resolving conflicts. (3 hours)

Promoting Social and Emotional Competence - These sessions address the SEL needs of young children. The content of the topics is consistent with evidence-based practices identified through a thorough review of the literature. Focus on Pre-K through 2nd grade. (2 hours each)
-Designing the Physical Environment
-Controlling Anger/Impulse & Teaching
-Overview /Process of Positive Behavior
-Developing a Behavior Support Plan

Practical and Promising Classroom Management - Learn how to establish a framework for developing a personal system of classroom management that includes organizing the classroom to facilitate learning for all students. This seminar will model and investigate several conditions that are integral to an effectively managed classroom. (2 hours)

Real Life Virtual & Classroom Challenges: Strategies for Success - This seminar is designed for the new member who is working to create a classroom/virtual environment that is positive and productive. Participants will explore the potential challenges faced by educators and strategies to address them. Scenarios and strategies will be used to introduce techniques that will lead to a positive working relationship between teachers, students, and families. The seminar’s interactive activities will model how these techniques can be implemented in a teacher’s practice. The content will be mindful of the diverse learners and backgrounds present in a classroom. Participants will have an opportunity to prepare next steps needed to introduce effective approaches to establishing and maintaining a proactive teaching practice.

Restorative Practices: Promoting a Positive School Culture and Climate - This seminar provides an overview of discipline disparities, restorative practices and ways to promote positive discipline in schools. Research and reasons for using restorative practices as an alternative to suspensions and other punitive approaches to misbehavior are explored. (3 hours)

Supporting and Sustaining the Social-Emotional Needs of English Learners Who Experience Trauma - This seminar, designed for all educators who work with English language learners (ELLs), will address the multitude of trauma that many ELLs have experienced prior to and since their arrival to the US. Participants will leave this seminar with strategies to help students who have experienced trauma, tools to support ELLs’ social and emotional healing, growth and well-being, and ways to build trusting relationships with this fragile cohort. (3 and 6 hours)

Winning Over the Challenging Student - Based on the work of Kay Burke, William Glasser, Robert Marzano, and others, this program identifies reasons behind students’ lack of motivation and commitment. Participants explore classroom activities and strategies that contribute to a more positive learning environment and create lessons that encourage students to make appropriate choices regarding their learning. (15 hours)