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Welcome to Solutions for Working with Angry Students
Greetings!
Thank you for taking the time to complete my survey, I appreciate your opinion! According to the survey results:
81% want Anger Management Strategies
71% want Anti-Bullying Strategies
63% want Effective Counseling Strategies
Great! I can help you with all three! The Tips & Strategies Section below covers a basic overview of Reality Therapy Strategy. I also have a link to my website where you will find a helpful, easy to use reality therapy worksheet primarily for older students and adults. It can work with any issue that your client is dealing with, but we will apply it to Anger Management.
Future issues of this newsletter will alternate between older students and younger, elementary students as well as between REBT and Reality Therapy. I welcome your comments and suggestions, and yes, I read ALL my e-mails. So if you have a strategy that works, please share, because:
We are all in this together!
Cordially
Dacia
P.S. If you did not complete my survey, please take a few minutes now.
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YOUR OPINION COUNTS!!
I want to make sure that this newsletter is relevant and full of information that you want and need.
Please take about 60 seconds to respond to 10 questions.
Thank You!
This brief survey will result in more targeted and helpful information for you!
Click Here to take the survey!
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Practical Tips & Strategies
Focus: Reality Therapy
 Reality Therapy was developed by William Glasser and emanated from his Choice Theory which espouses that all people have a choice in how they behave and how they choose to see the world. Their past, their dreams nor their horrible situations do not abdicate one's ability to CHOOSE how he or she will behave in the present or future.
With that in mind, using Reality Therapy with angry students can be helpful if the student wants to change his or her behavior. Of course, there isn't much we can do, no matter what theoretical orientation we use, if a student does not want to change.
So, let's talk about students who have some motivation to change. Here is a primer on Reality Theory:
WDEP - which stands for Wants, Doing, Evaluation and Plan
Wants = what do you want to happen?
Doing = what are you doing now?
Here is where your intervention comes in. Many times a student will say "I want to graduate"
Therapist "OK, that sounds good, but what you are doing (skipping classes, staying in In School Suspension ) does not support what you say you want. So help me understand the gap between what you say you want and the reality of what you are doing.
Get it??? You could do a lot of work here, especially using REBT. Find the Irrational Belief (such as "I must be in control" or "No one can tell me what to do" or "I must not appear weak") that is supporting the self-sabotaging behavior.
Now, let's get back to Reality Therapy (these 2 work beautifully together most of the time)
E = Evaluation - let's take a closer look at what you say you want and evaluate it to determine if the want is reasonable or doable. This is another place for therapeutic intervention. Helping the student to see how realistic/unrealistic a choice is can be very difficult. For example, a student wants to pass to the 6th grade but has failed all his classes and there is absolutely no possible way he is going to pass. This may be difficult for the student to accept, but it is the REALITY of the situation. Reality Therapy is not for the faint of heart; the therapist often confronts the client with the reality of his or her situation. This form of therapy relies heavily on personal responsible and natural consequences of one's actions.
P - Plan - This means coming up with a concrete, realistic plan of action that will help the student move towards their goals. It must be specific with a time table. Take baby steps here. Don't make the plan too long or too complicated. My mantra for 2010 is ONE THING. So as it relates to this example, what is the One Thing that the student can do consistently to move towards his goal. Maybe it's getting to all his classes on time, or staying in class without exploding 4 out of 5 days or something else, you get the idea.
This is just a short primer on Reality Theory.
Click here to go to my website and print a nifty one page Reality Therapy Worksheet that you can use in your counseling sessions.
Take care!
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That's all for now!
Pass this on to a friend or colleague! They will thank you for it!!!
Contact me at www.secondwindcc.com - 816-767-9460 if you want me to come to YOUR school and facilitate a professional development workshop!.
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STOP SCHOOL VIOLENCE!
I get many calls from teachers and administrators who are looking for help on how to handle school peer to peer conflicts. Watch for my weekly newsletters that will be full of the most current best practice research as well as hands on strategies that you can immediately use! Pass this newsletter on to your friends and colleagues!
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