https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Bully-Proof-Classroom
About James H Burns
Since 1977 Jim Burns has been working with students who have learning disabilities and behavioral problems. He has almost 40 years of experience working as an administrator, teacher, college instructor, and seminar leader. He is committed to helping administrators, parents, and teachers establish standards of excellence and help them build successful relationships with their staff, students, and children. He has written and designed The Bully Proof Classroom, a graduate course that is now offered at The College of New Jersey, and La Salle University in Pennsylvania in partnership with The Regional Training Center. This course has been endorsed by the NJEA. He has also written “Anti Bullying 101.” A book that provides teachers, administrators, support staff and parent’s 101 tips on how to achieve permanent help in dealing with unruly behavior and can be used as part of any anti-bullying program. In May of 2015 Jim was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by Gratz College in recognition of his almost forty years of work in student behavior management and anti bullying. He is available for on sight in-services and keynotes.
What Are You Paying Attention To?
The brain is a wonderful organ and it can be programmed by us and by others. The words that
people say to us and the things that are done to us can produce a private logic that can either be
believed or stricken from our conscious mind as being just or untrue. Your Reticular Activating
System (RAS) is the automatic mechanism inside your brain that brings relevant information to
your attention. The RAS is a filter between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. Let's
say you are sitting in your classroom and in the distance, you hear sirens. Your subconscious
mind may say, "police, fire, first aid." You are busy concentrating on something else, so your
conscious mind focuses on the task at hand. But, then you notice that the sirens were from a fire
truck and the truck pulls in front of the school. Your RAS immediately kicks in and those sirens
that you heard earlier are now relevant to you. If you start to smell smoke well, now it really has
your attention. A student may come to school with his/her conscious mind already programmed.
He/ she may have let so many negative thoughts in that they may have become part of his/her
belief system. The student may have been bullied at home or punished for small mistakes. His/
her siblings may have picked on him/her to the point that his RAS now allows only negative
thoughts in. But worse yet, he/ she now believes them. Negative words and treatment are the
things that get his/her attention and they begin to form his/her self-image. His thoughts become
actions. The order of the day is to create a climate in your classroom that is kind, caring,
respectful, and responsible. Think about the best teacher you've ever had, and how he/she got
your attention. Keep a smile on your face and do your best to provide an equitable distribution of
your passion and understanding to all of your students. Maybe we have to realize what gets our
attention and how good it feels when a smile comes our way.
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