When an elementary school's most disruptive students were invited to write an advice column about school-related and personal problems, the students were not only genuinely helpful, but also felt better about themselves and began to solve their own problems. (CB)

Describes creative ways for teachers to handle difficult classroom discipline situations, focusing on how to deal with defiant disruptives, noncombatant noncompliers, and incessant interrupters. The article discusses potentially difficult situations and explains how best to handle them in a positive manner. (SM)

An elementary teacher discusses her methods of dealing with a fourth grader who threw temper tantrums when he could not do his work. She offered to bring her dog to school if he showed self-control for a week. He worked hard, avoided temper tantrums, and his positive behavior was rewarded. (SM)

Strategies in conflict resolution are suggested for reducing bickering and fighting in the elementary classroom. Strategies include sharpening perceptions, fair fighting techniques, direct communication, and mediation. (JD)

A teacher offers six suggestions for giving students opportunities to exercise their commonsense thinking skills. This allows the teacher to ask rather than tell, listen rather than talk, and allows the children to provide for themselves. (MT)

A teacher recounts how she dealt with a new student who was prone to tears and her peers who liked to evoke them. After discovering that the child had family problems, the teacher selected a group of peers to befriend her. (CB)

A few hints for teaching students the skills needed for taking standardized tests. (MM)

Suggestions are made for overcoming these common learning problems: (1) can't stick to a task; (2) trouble organizing time and space when starting or finishing a task; (3) trouble dealing with verbal information; (4) visual and visual-motor difficulties; (5) trouble understanding spoken language; and (6) trouble memorizing. (JD)

Describes how to handle noncompliant students in the classroom. Suggestions include eliminating excessive expectations, encouraging assertiveness, offering options and choices, giving the students specific responsibilities, taking control of homework, taking steps to avert potentially oppositional behavior, strategically rewarding compliance,…

This column discusses five children's books selected to develop math concepts involving problem solving, reasoning, and communication. The books are "Only One" (Marc Harshman); "The Librarian Who Measured the Earth" (Kathryn Lasky); "Counting Jennie" (Helena C. Pittman); "The Search for Delicious" (Natalie Babbitt); and "The Toothpaste…

A teacher recounts his work to help a troubled child (who was causing classroom disturbances) learn to make friends and gain peer acceptance. (CB)

Discusses how teachers can deal with student misbehavior by ignoring negative behavior that is motivated by a desire for attention. Practical techniques are described for pinpointing attention seekers, enlisting classmates to deal with misbehaving students, ignoring misbehavior, and distinguishing behavior that responds to this technique from…

Examples are given of how spontaneous discussions of school and home problems enabled fourth grade children to seek solutions to difficulties in an open and cooperative way. (JD)

Use of a checkbook can hook even the most reluctant mathematics students into learning mathematical and problem-solving skills. (CB)