Students come to high school with many educational experiences. Unfortunately, some of these experiences have lasting negative impacts. Join Lisa and Jamie for a conversation with high school math teacher, Melissa Hough. Melissa strongly emphasizes the importance of creating a safe environment for students to actively engage in classroom activities leading to improved thinking skills and creating connections to other learning. From the beginning of her courses, Melissa encourages students to ...

Educators, mark your calendars for June 9 and 10, when the 20th, yes 20th MO SW-PBS Summer Institute 2026 will be held at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, Missouri! So much is happening at this year's institute that you will need to listen to featured podcast guest, Jody Baker, district coach and Summer Institute Coordinator, as she outlines many institute features including the keynote speaker, breakout sessions, poster sessions, and karaoke, of course. Breakout sessions include something fo...

As educators, we've all had experience with some version of Check-In, Check-Out (CICO) as an intervention for at-risk students. What has CICO looked like for you? Is it an intervention that can be easily used for ALL students? Most importantly, has the use of CICO been impactful for your students and provided a path to graduation? Listen in as Lisa and Sara Estrapala discuss some very promising preliminary results of a 5-year study focusing on a simplified, standardized, formalized vers...

As a general educator, if you are wondering if function-based support should be part of your behavior management focus, wonder no more. As we have learned, especially in the previous two podcasts, questioning and understanding the "why" of behavior is key to preventing as well as de-escalating challenging behaviors. Join Lisa and Jamie for a conversation with our first high school guest for the Classroom Series, Shelby Kurtz, 9th grade social studies teacher. This is not a how to (click on th...

Understanding and having tools to work through the phases of behavioral escalation and de-escalation are such significant aspects of teaching. They're so important that we're devoting another episode to this topic! Listen in as Hannah Hergenrother, a 3rd grade teacher, emphasizes building strong relationships as well as explicitly teaching and practicing co-regulation/self-regulation skills. She also stresses the role that neuroscience plays in behavior and one's ability to accept interventio...

Effectively managing escalating behaviors while maintaining safety for all is always a challenge regardless of the classroom setting. Listen in on this conversation with Nicole Daigle, an experienced special education teacher currently working in a middle school setting. She will walk you through the escalation/de-escalation phases and provide examples from her vast experience. Nicole emphasizes the importance of establishing strong, positive relationships with your students. Learn to a...

We're getting specific with our precorrects, positive praise, and corrective feedback. Join us for a conversation with Carigan Allie, a 5th grade middle school teacher in Westbrook Public Schools--Maine. Carigan emphasizes that specifically teaching, modeling, practicing, and reinforcing positive behaviors is not just about students doing what is expected to earn tangible rewards. It IS about using these opportunities to build positive relationships with students. When other colleagues buy in...

Sounds like TGIF, but it's not! TFI or Tiered Fidelity Inventory 3.0 is an updated tool that guides schools as they reflect on the implementation of the core features of PBIS for all tiers. Listen in on this conversation with Karen Robbie of the University of Connecticut and Maine PBIS. Karen emphasizes that TFI 3.0 is not about hitting a benchmark or checking a box on a list. It is about progress monitoring, implementation, data-based decision making, and, most importantly, continuous school...

Preventing and de-escalating problem behavior has always been a challenge for teachers at all levels. Listen in as Kathy Gagnepain, a 4th grade teacher in the Rockwood School District in St. Louis, discusses her proactive planned approach. She emphasizes the importance of truly knowing your students, finding the “why” of the behavior, and, above all else, maintaining a student’s dignity throughout the process. Although this is a longer listening commitment than our other Classroom Series podc...

Listen in to a quick, practical conversation with Darcy Pratt, Dean of Students in the Southbridge Public School System in Massachusetts. This discussion focuses on her current work with teachers and coaches to improve student engagement and time on task. Explicitly teaching expectations and providing positive specific praise around those expectations requires time to build proficiency but can make all the difference in your classroom. Resources Supporting and Responding to Students' Needs Na...