Lower the intensity before repeating the direction. Change the audience, wording, timing, choice, or amount of processing time while keeping the expectation clear.
Read the answer → How do I keep a correction from becoming a power struggle?Hold the boundary without turning the moment into a contest. Reduce the audience, slow the exchange, and choose the next step before adding more words.
Read the answer → What does restorative practice look like after something goes wrong?Start with what happened, who was affected, and what needs to happen next. Repair and accountability should still leave a workable path back to learning.
Read the answer → How do PBIS and restorative practice fit together?PBIS and restorative practice do different jobs. This page shows where they overlap and where their purposes and methods stay distinct.
Read the answer → What changes when I use a trauma-informed lens?A trauma-informed lens changes what an educator notices about safety, trust, regulation, access, and choice. It does not require guessing a student’s trauma history.
Read the answer → What can I say instead?Starting points for phones, refusal, repair, reentry, conflict, and other moments where the first words can change the direction of the interaction.
Read the answer → A student will not put the phone away. What do I do?Keep the correction brief and as private as possible. Hold the school expectation, give a clear next step, and avoid turning the phone into a public contest.
Read the answer → How do I welcome a student back after removal or suspension?A brief welcome and one manageable first step can make the return clearer. Reentry does not erase accountability; it ends unnecessary continued exclusion.
Read the answer → A student will not start the work. What should I try first?Check access and understanding first. Then reduce the size of the first step, offer a workable choice, and look for what is making it hard to begin.
Read the answer →Start with the framework
Every answer here sits inside the same five phases — Prevent, Pause, Pivot, Repair, Return — and the same Five Principles: the Audience Effect, the Dignity Principle, the Escalation Ladder, the Reentry Principle, and the Relationship Bank Account.
These answers are adapted from the Teach It Better Educator Handbook. Sources for the practices and claims are collected in Sources and Notes.