Quotes from Jeffrey Benson

Because teachers' work consists of affecting their students, they are dependent on their students both for the actual success of their work and evidence of that success

The sum total of a day in school should not be an overwhelming reminder of what students cannot do. Ensure that all students have a school adult or activity that connects them to their best possible selves.

Challenging students threaten staff unity. They expose our differences, often cultural and familial, in the areas of discipline and respect for institutions and traditional authority. These challenging students become our fears of the future. They are representing us in our own dramas regarding parents, siblings, teachers, and judges. This is why a student may evoke compassion and engagement in some teachers, yet other teachers may find him irritating and disrespectful.

Katerina, do you ever watch a comedy show on TV? At the end of one of those 30-minute shows, the credits roll. About 75 people have worked on that show, and only sometimes the shows are funny. I am one man alone. Given the odds, you are lucky if you get a single chuckle out of me. You're lucky if I even make you smile.

have now made adjustments for each of the weaknesses in my plans; finally, I am going to make that imaginary bet in my favor. I am excited to teach

We want to help students maximize their strengths so they can hold jobs, pay taxes, and be happy. Watching students mature along that path is one of the great rewards of the profession.

Through the years, I have seen the records of many challenging students who tested at low levels because they were suffering from the emotional overload of their lives. It is common to see false scores at the lower end. A student cannot accidentally stumble up into the "advanced" level of an assessment, but many suffering students tumble down into the lowest percentages.

Don't stop giving sincere compliments when the student seems to be rejecting you—you are being tested to see if you can hold up to a bit of rejection. Some students will reject you before you can reject them. Don't let their attitude change your attitude of appreciation. They have to know that you believe that they can be successful in the culture.

Students have the right to know our goals—all of them. Challenging students, who have experienced adults as unpredictably dangerous creatures roaming their landscapes, have earned the right to be suspicious of us. If these students are to try again, we have to be transparent in our efforts.

Working as a team: No one effectively does the work of teaching challenging students alone for very long. Teachers and professional staff must have multiple venues to vent, ask for advice, brainstorm strategies, and celebrate successes.

Be available to cover for a teacher who is de-escalating a challenging student. It is symbolically very meaningful when an administrator offers to cover a class, for even three minutes, so that the teacher can complete a complex interaction with a challenging student. Designate other faculty that can also be tapped when the need arises.

What I offer in this book are stories of hanging in, the practice-based evidence from working with our most challenging students,

To work effectively with challenging students, teachers must spend a lot of time in lesson planning. Hidden in every typical set of class activities are trapdoors and land mines that can cause challenging students to disappear or explode.

Listening is a fundamental way to invite a child into the community. It is commonly said that listening is the cheapest concession you can make. In schools, adults listen, but mostly for the answers to our academic questions. We listen to determine what is right and wrong. We listen for opportunities to lecture.