I write about positive classroom management strategies a lot (see The Best Posts On Classroom Management) and I’m always learning through everyday challenges.

One student this year is a great kid who is very energetic and can get distracted and somewhat disruptive at times. We’ve talked and experimented a lot, and have found that when he reaches that point, his going outside — to get a drink, got the restroom, or just walk for a minute or two — helps him get some energy out of his system and then is focused when he returns.

Now, we’re at the point where I’d like him to develop more of his own self-control (see The Best Posts About Helping Students Develop Their Capacity For Self-Control) so that he doesn’t wait for me to send him out. Instead, he begins to see the warning signs and goes out on his own (after giving me a subtle sign that he’s headed out).

Yesterday, we started talking about it at lunchtime and, after a few seconds, an excited look of understanding came on his face and exclaimed, “Oh, I get it! If you send me out, then I’m being bad; if I send me out, then I’m being good!”

We spoke a little more about how it’s a little more nuanced than good/bad, but that basically, yes, he got it. During class a half-hour later, he was beginning to get distracted and pointed outside. I nodded, he went out, returned a minute later, and was great the rest of the class.

One day does not a solution make but, perhaps, with a daily reminder at the beginning of class, this might work…