I wouldn’t say “Poor baby,” but this Zits comic strip is a reminder that sometimes when our students are not acting the way we’d like them to, the best thing to do is acknowledge what they’re feeling. I generally say something like, “It sounds like you’re having a bad day” or “I can see you’re pretty angry.”

In my experience, after students feel heard, they tend to be more open to looking at how to get past it. What do you think?

Zits for 1/2/2012