What made you decide to go into teaching?
When I was younger, I was hyperactive myself – I have an ADHD diagnosis. So when I was in school, the teachers would pair me up with students in classes, kids who had disabilities, and I would serve as a peer mentor for them. I developed friendships with those students, and I really liked being with them. So when it came time to decide what I was going to do with my life, I thought, why don’t I do something to make a difference? That’s what made me want to be a teacher.

What is a Strives classroom?
My classroom is for kids who struggle with behaviors. Some people have a sense of animosity when they hear “behavior classroom,” but I don’t like to look at it that way. Strive means to strive to be your best.

On a daily basis, we track and monitor behaviors for students. We try to focus on the behaviors they are doing well on and build on that. We track it through a model called the Boys Town Model, which is a token economy that focuses on behaviors. Students are earning points for positive behaviors, and they lose points for negative behaviors.

Each student has three things they’re working on – for example, a kid might be working on accepting ‘no’ for an answer, following instructions, and time management. When they’re doing well on those three, they get a lot of points. Another thing we work with them on is social behaviors. If I have a student come in, and they greet me in the morning, they get points. If I see them interacting with others in a productive way, we give them points.

I have some students who spend most of the day in my classroom, but others I’ll see once a day or once a week. If they’re behind in classes, we’ll do independent studies, and then we will work on getting them to earn credits. I’ll go around the school, pull a kid out of class, talk to them, and tell them I’ve heard from their teacher that there’s some things they need to work on in class. And we talk about it, we make a plan, and go from there.

I have to make a lot of quick decisions throughout the day, and I’m fine with that. It works for me.

What’s the best part of teaching?
The progress you get to see students make. When students come to a behavior classroom, it’s not always on the best terms. Seeing them grow as people is the best thing I see. Being there to see them achieve, watching them develop goals and success for themselves, and build that confidence – that’s great to see.

What’s the most challenging part of teaching?
If there’s resistance to the plans we make, and to helping the kid, sometimes certain things hinder success for a student. Anything that would prevent kids from seeing those successes can make it hard.

What’s the most useful advice you can give a new teacher who’s just starting out?
For teachers who are younger, I’d say to be authentic. If you try to be someone else, they’re going to read right through it, and you’re not going to be successful. You have to be someone they can trust, and that starts with being who you are.

Also, let yourself be humorous. Have fun with them. Being able to have fun with the students, and bringing a sense of humor, can make it easier for everyone.

It’s important to let every day be a new day – you can’t come into the job holding grudges. I think we have to let them have their bad days, and not let it get to us.

Do you have any, “it’s weird but it works” teaching strategies?
I’ll use humor for certain things. I wouldn’t recommend that if you don’t have a good relationship with the kids, but once you build that, and there’s trust, it works. Sometimes they see things as being the end of the world, and if you can relieve that with humor, that can help them release that thought process.

What is one thing about teaching that people who are not teachers don’t know?
How much we really care about successes. We want what’s best for kids and families. We want to see kids succeed in big and small things. It’s so rewarding to work with them.

We spend a lot of time with other people’s children – we might as well make the best of that time to inspire them. With that mindset, it’s not that hard to inspire someone to be their best.

Do you have anything to add?
It wouldn’t be possible without the kids, and them working hard. My ultimate message is that we’re here for the kids, making them successful.