Explain to students that the brain relies on chemical messengers called neurotransmitters to send messages to other parts of the body and enables us to express our emotions.  Insufficient or out-of-balance neurotransmitters can produce mood swings, anxiety, and depression. Drugs and alcohol can play a major role in the imbalance of these important chemical messengers.

It is important for young people to understand that, when a drug is taken, it acts as an artificial neurotransmitter.  When alcohol is consumed, for example, it substitutes for endorphins, the neurotransmitters that significantly affect mood, causing the brain to produce less of its own natural endorphins.  Like alcohol, all drugs that replace neurotransmitters cause the brain to produce less of its own natural chemical messengers.  This can have lasting effects on mood and other important brain processes long after the drug is used.

Talk with students about what kind of affects commonly-used drugs can have on their brains and their ability to control their anger and other emotions:

1. Marijuana: Marijuana replaces the natural receptor for serotonin, a neurotransmitter responsible for aggressive behavior, sleep, and hunger, therefore causing an imbalance in the brain.  The brain signals that it has too much serotonin and stops producing it.  When the drug wears off, the brain does not have enough serotonin, which consequently causes withdrawal symptoms, such as insomnia, fatigue, depression, and mood swings.  All of these could affect a young person’s ability to control their anger.
2. Alcohol: Alcohol also alters serotonin levels and substitutes for endorphins, therefore causing an imbalance in the brain.  The brain signals that it has excess endorphins and slows down its natural production of them.  When alcohol wears off, the brain does not have enough endorphins to relieve normal, everyday pain.  Students are less likely to deal with their anger responsibly when in pain or feeling sick.
3. Cocaine: Cocaine releases excess dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for controlling moods and feelings of pleasure, into the brain.  This  blocks the gates where natural dopamine would enter a cell for up to 72 hours and causes some of the natural dopamine to be lost, thus damaging a person’s ability to feel pleasure.  When the drug wears off, users are often unable to feel pleasure, happiness, or other emotions, and become severely depressed.  This can significantly alter someone’s ability to control and express their emotions, including anger.

By teaching students about the ways that drugs and alcohol affect their ability to manage anger, we are equipping them with the knowledge they need to understand the chemical processes behind their emotions and the ways that artificial substances can affect them.  And, most importantly, we give them one more reason to stay away from harmful drugs in the first place.

Click HERE for more information on Susan Fitzell’s Anger Management Curriculum for Teens!

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If you have never really understood inner city or gang violence, read this book. If you live in the inner city or must deal with gang violence, read this book. If you are prone to pass judgment on inner city youth, read this book. If you want your eyes opened about violence in America and contributing factors to that violence, read this book. If you want to read about a program that works, …yes, read this book.

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If you have never really understood inner city or gang violence, read this book. If you live in the inner city or must deal with gang violence, read this book. If you are prone to pass judgment on inner city youth, read this book. If you want your eyes opened about violence in America and contributing factors to that violence, read this book. If you want to read about a program that works, …yes, read this book.

The post Books Worth Reading – Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

I quickly grow tired of sitting down when working long days.  Therefore, I can appreciate and understand where a student is coming from when they express the same feeling while studying, doing homework, or even doing work in the classroom. To me there is no reason that I, or a student, should have to remain sitting when working or studying.  Sitting when uncomfortable, or when just plain tired of sitting, could actually be more distracting to your student, and those around her, than moving around.  In fact, motion is a very useful study tool!  Movement oxygenates the brain and involves a deeper part of your brain in the memory process. While some may doubt the motion-memory connection, consider this; when was the last time you sang The Itsy-Bisty Spider?  Unless you have sung it with children, it probably wasn’t recently.  But can you still sing and act out the song? Of course you can! So, maybe motion does help with memory.

Ways to Incorporate Motion into Studying

1. Act out vocabulary words with your student
2. Have your student come up with a (nice) gesture to represent key people, places, or things
3. Use sign language
4. Use basketball memorization: If you have a hoop in your driveway or local gym, help your student to make a game out of stating a fact and then shooting a basket.  It does not matter what rules you make up.  The movement, fun, and challenge in the activity are what are important.  Your student can do this with a friend or classmate and take turns helping each   other.  If your student likes football, soccer, or any other sport better, use that sport as the foundation.  Help your student make their own rules.  As long as memorizing information is part of the game rules, it will be effective.

Watch this Video! Don’t Wait Another Moment! Perform Better On The Test Now!

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For more on Motivating Students, Get the book today! Bring Susan to your campus! How Can School & Home Develop Motivation and Success for Youth? Give your students the priceless gifts of empowerment, accountability, and motivation to tackle any learning challenge. Learn practical strategies today and implement them in your curriculum tomorrow. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – How Can School & Home Develop Motivation and Success for Youth?

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Words that screamed, “I AM A VICTIM!”

The year was 1987. She was a foster child, unwanted by her natural parents, at odds with her foster mother. The deck was stacked against her. I wanted to take her shopping to buy her decent clothes. If she had a decent haircut and learned to apply a little makeup, maybe she wouldn’t draw such negative attention to herself.

But then, she’d still open her mouth. Out from her mouth came all the words that screamed, “I AM A VICTIM!” Her manner, style, and body language reinforced this image. Kennie was a scapegoat, a target for all other insecure people to taunt and use to get spare change, petty favors, and a good laugh.

One day, I watched as an older, larger aggressive girl verbally took Kennie apart and left her in pieces on the classroom floor. My directives for the verbal attack to end went unheeded. The audience was thrilled with the display the two presented. Kennie ran away. She ran out of the classroom, out of the building, and out into the street. The bell rang. Chaos ensued. I cornered her attacker. I was enraged, furious that one human being could be so cruel to another. I wanted to lay her out flat. She was twice my size.

I spoke, choosing the mildest words I could manage, given how I felt. I told her that sometimes she acted like a complete asshole! I didn’t care whether what I said was appropriate. I was angry and fed up with the abuse Kennie suffered day after day. I was at a loss as to how to help her. What I saw, however, triggered in me tremendous emotional pain, pain buried deep in my psyche, pain I could not forget.

I Was Outnumbered

It was 1972. Patched bell bottoms were the uniform. Boys’ sneakers, army jackets, and skin-tight tops were the rage. The social dress code forbade white socks. My mother, like most mothers, had set ideas on how a girl should dress. My teenage self believed that her ideas were far from fashionable. My wardrobe did not include the grungy, tie-dyed, patched clothing of the times. Some well-meaning aunts would give me bags of outdated clothes they had tired of or outgrown. Consequently, my dress was quite out of style.

One day, I was walking to the store in my 50s-style hot pink stretch pants, white socks, and girls’ sneakers. Then I saw them up ahead. Immediately, fear penetrated my soul. Pride kept me from running. They had been taunting me for weeks. There were five of them. There was an obvious ringleader. She was huge and appeared to be a few years older than I. “Hey, fag! Hey, fag with the white socks!”

The next thing I remember, I was surrounded. She was screaming something at me. She wanted to fight. I wouldn’t. I didn’t know how. There was no escape. I was outnumbered. The slap across my face stung. Angry and humiliated, I swore at her. There was no thought, just reaction. At that moment, the crowd parted. A friend and neighbor from across the street saw what was happening and summoned her older brother to help. They provided for my escape. The girls never bothered me again. I would be eternally grateful for this act of kindness.

That memory of cruelty and abuse, compounded by many, many others witnessed in the classroom over the years, compelled me to search for a deeper understanding of who I am, what I believe in, and how I could act on those beliefs. Thus emerged my philosophy.

Children are born with a wisdom waiting to unfold and manifest itself in personality. That personality, however, is directed by the environment in which the child lives. I believe that whether personality traits, strengths, and weaknesses take a positive or negative path, whether children reach their potential or not, depends on the children’s environment.

Once children have internalized the education provided by their environment, their behavior becomes set in patterns of reaction and response to that environment. This is why self-knowledge with an understanding of the origins of our attitudes, beliefs, and prejudices is necessary before we can change what isn’t working for us in relationships and consciously keep what does work.

Self-awareness and Empowerment

Only when the Kennies of the world can look at themselves, their behavior, their body language, and their appearance with insight and awareness can they begin to understand what they need to do to change from being a victim to being an empowered self.

When people are empowered, they free themselves from the victim role. They are no longer victims or oppressors. They are clear, focused, and centered in the strength of who they are.

We, as teachers of our children and our students, need an awareness of how our environment (media, culture, family values) shapes the way we think and feel. Once we have that awareness, it is our responsibility to educate our children. The alternative is to act blindly on impulses, feelings, and belief systems that have no known source or purpose.

Our culture, the media, and our individual family values have an impact on how we think.

Before they are two years old, children are aware of racial differences. By the age of three, they may attach value judgments to those differences. Between the ages of four and six, they show gender-stereotyped behaviours, and may reject children who differ from themselves in terms of race or physical disability.

How do stereotypes come about at such an early age? The first influences are the attitudes of immediate family members, often acquired unconsciously. Later, children absorb stereotypical messages from books, television, movies, magazines and newspapers.

– Susan Fountain, Education for Development

Scientific evidence presents a convincing argument that heredity and genetics play a major role in who we are. Studies also indicate, however, that our environment has an impact on how we develop. It is only when we are aware of this “conditioning” that we can act to change it.

Children are perceptive beings. If adults engage them in discussion of the conditions in their environment which affect the way they think and feel, children can learn to act rather than to react.

We adults are very aware and lament the negative influence that environmental factors such as the media and the commercial market are having on our children. It is important that we pass this awareness on to our children.

We should point out those things in the environment that condition children to accept stereotypes and bigotry, that desensitize them to violence and vulgarity, and that create in them reactive, inappropriate, emotional responses. Awareness and knowledge give them the power to make proactive decisions.

Developmentally appropriate conflict resolution solutions! Get this Book Now! A unique approach to helping ourselves and our children deal with conflict Get Susan Fitzell’s book now. Don’t waste any time Free the Children, Conflict Education for Strong, Peaceful Minds Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Bullying: Choices and Consequences

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Teaching point of view to young students

When considering  teaching peaceful classroom or conflict resolution skills to preschoolers, the most important developmental aspect to keep in mind is that they are unable to see another person’s point of view.

They are very egocentric. They have, however, a natural developmental capacity for empathy that needs to be allowed to flourish.

Have you had the experience of sharing stories in circle time with preschoolers and one child had a sad story to tell? Maybe his dog died and he started to cry. The next thing you know, several children are crying inconsolably. What happened? Empathy happened.

Preschoolers have the emotional ability to pick up on the feelings of other children and to match them to their own. If, in a given situation, they cannot do this, it is often because they do not have the vocabulary for the emotion. They cannot identify with the feeling if they cannot label it.

Therefore an excellent tool to use with preschoolers is one of those posters with all the labeled ‘emotion’ faces.  Children can spot how they’re feeling on the poster. You can give them the name for the emotion. As they develop a vocabulary for their emotions, they are able to empathize with that emotion.

You can find a Moodz Poster by clicking on the link.

Developmentally appropriate conflict resolution solutions! Get this Book Now! A unique approach to helping ourselves and our children deal with conflict Get Susan Fitzell’s book now. Don’t waste any time Free the Children, Conflict Education for Strong, Peaceful Minds Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Bullying: Choices and Consequences

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Using music to teach peace.

Use music to teach concepts of peace, cooperation, and sharing. Make music a part of every day. Preschoolers love music. It is amazing how much they can learn from the music that they listen to.

When my daughter was 18 months old, I discovered Brite Music). Brite Music has a tape called Safety Kids that teaches children safety rules, including their telephone number and what to do if they are lost in a store.

By the age of 2 ½, my daughter could sing her phone number. When we’d go to the mall, I would ask her what she should do if she got lost. She could tell me. She learned through the music. Consider how children learn their ABC’s. Look at the power of music and jingles in commercials. Music makes an impression that is remembered.

I highly recommend Brite Music. My favorite Brite Music tape is Someone Special You. This tape not only has a message for children, it has a message for all of us. Songs like “I Made A Mistake” (mistakes are for learning), “Think, Feel, Do Polka,” and “I Can Choose The Things I Think” are empowering and uplifting.

Another excellent tape is Teaching Peace by Red Grammer. Although this tape is a bit worldly for this age group, some of the songs relate to children and their feelings. Others relate to world concepts. It is positive music that introduces concepts of peace and world ‘oneness.’ Developmentally, it’s a little above preschoolers, but I think it still has value.

For more on Motivating Students, Get the book today! Bring Susan to your campus! How Can School & Home Develop Motivation and Success for Youth? Give your students the priceless gifts of empowerment, accountability, and motivation to tackle any learning challenge. Learn practical strategies today and implement them in your curriculum tomorrow. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – How Can School & Home Develop Motivation and Success for Youth?

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Ten Ideas to Help Youth Learn More About Cyberbullying

1. Have students research the problem: Ask students to spend 30 minutes online to obtain a better understanding of what cyberbullying is. Chances are, many students have been victims or perpetrators of cyberbullying without even knowing. Discuss each student’s findings as a class.

2. Interview experts: Through the class discussion, develop questions about cyberbullying that your students want answered. Find a few cyberbullying experts online and drop them an email with the class’ questions. Then, discuss their answers.

3. Create informative posters: Ask students to design and create posters about the consequences of cyberbullying and how to deal with it. Not only will making the posters be a learning experience for the students involved, they can be displayed throughout your school and help educate other students as well.

4. Develop a website or blog: If you have a website for your classroom or subject area, add some information about cyberbullying. Otherwise, create your own cyberbullying resource page for students in your classroom or school to help students who may be victims of such bullying.

5. Have students mentor younger students: Ask your students to work together to create a presentation about cyberbullying to present to younger students. Ask students to share their own experiences with cyberbullying and to include ideas about how to stay safe online. This will help not only your students, but many others as well.

6. Ask students to write a letter: As a homework assignment or in-class project, have students write a short letter to the editor of your local paper expressing their concerns about cyberbullying and asking adults to take the problem seriously.

7. Create a public service announcement: As a class, work together to write and act out a short PSA about the consequences of cyberbullying. Film the skit and post it on the school’s website or show it at an assembly.

8. Educate your students on your school’s bullying policies: Ask students if they think the policies are strict enough and if they think they do enough to protect students from cyberbullying. If students think changes should be made, encourage them to talk to school officials.

9. Design a bumper sticker: As a homework assignment, ask students to design a bumper sticker that sends an important message about cyberbullying and its effects. Choose a winning design and display it throughout the school. Depending on your resources, bumper stickers of the winning design could be made and distributed to students and parents.

10. Write your own cyberbullying handbook: Assign different topics on cyberbullying- such as its dangers and what to do if you are a victim- to each student and ask them to write a few paragraphs on the subject along with an illustration or computer clip art. Then, put each student’s piece together to create your classroom’s very own cyberbullying handbook.

(Adapted from “Activities for Teens: Ten Ideas for Youth to Educate their Communities about Cyberbullying” by Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. and Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D. at the Cyberbullying Research Center)

Developmentally appropriate conflict resolution solutions! Get this Book Now! A unique approach to helping ourselves and our children deal with conflict Get Susan Fitzell's book now. Don't waste any time Free the Children, Conflict Education for Strong, Peaceful Minds Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Bullying: Choices and Consequences

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Puppet Shows for Peace

Trying to teach young students conflict resolution can often be difficult.  At a young age, many children still do not know how to label their emotions or properly communicate how they are feeling.  This makes using techniques for conflict education used for older students, like role playing and group discussions, difficult.

One way to teach at the level of young students is to put on a puppet show.  Use puppets to act out conflict situations.  Engage the children in a discussion of how the puppets can resolve their problems peacefully.  This can be done both spontaneously, or as a planned activity.

Spontaneous Activity:

If a conflict is occurring in the classroom, choose puppets to act out the conflict.  The teacher may play one of the characters, using words the children would use in the conflict.  One of the children could control the other puppet.  The puppets “act out” the conflict.  The teacher could also use the puppets to act out two or three different ways of handling the conflict.  Ask the children to suggest what the child puppet might say in response.

Planned Activity:

The teacher and the children could make up several skits using the puppets.  They should be kept very short for young kids.  Have the skits demonstrate a peaceful way to resolve a typical conflict.  (Choose conflicts that occur within the classroom.)  Act out both a “fighting” way to resolve a conflict and an “avoiding” way to handle conflict.  After the puppet shows, talk about the puppets’ behavior.

Using puppets to act out real conflicts for the children puts the situation at a safe distance from their emotional reality.  This enables the children to be more objective and comfortable with the activity.

Excerpted from Free the Children by Susan Gingras Fitzell.

Developmentally appropriate conflict resolution solutions! Get this Book Now! A unique approach to helping ourselves and our children deal with conflict Get Susan Fitzell’s book now. Don’t waste any time Free the Children, Conflict Education for Strong, Peaceful Minds Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Bullying: Choices and Consequences

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The Conflict Tool Box

Young people often have a hard time understanding and remembering concepts without having a concrete image or representation of that concept.  One simple way to combat this problem when teaching conflict resolution is to create a “conflict tool box”.

The purpose of this tool box is to have concrete representations of concepts or skills children need to help them resolve conflicts.  The physical/tangible items will help them remember how the assigned concept is to be used.

• Assign a “tool” to each conflict resolution skill that best represents that skill.  For example, a pair of wind-up, chattering teeth could represent the need for communication.
• Place that tangible item in a Conflict Tool Box that remains in the classroom.
• Depending on the conflict resolution technique you are teaching, more items are placed into the box.  If you are teaching one technique a week, one tool per week would be place in the tool box.
• Review all the tools on a weekly basis.
• As conflicts arise, students may use the tool box to help resolve or negotiate the situation.
• It is also possible to make construction paper copies of the tools so that each child can carry a set when the class tool box is not available.

Suggested items include:

• A jar of patience
• The letter “I” for “I statements”
• Ears for listening
• A ruler for measuring the rules
• A texture block with six different expressions on its faces (how do you feel?)
• A detective glass for finding the real issues/interests

Developmentally appropriate conflict resolution solutions! Get this Book Now! A unique approach to helping ourselves and our children deal with conflict Get Susan Fitzell’s book now. Don’t waste any time Free the Children, Conflict Education for Strong, Peaceful Minds Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Bullying: Choices and Consequences

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