168 | Addressing Student Behaviors with Tools, Not Rules (Interview with Claudia Bertolone-Smith and Marlene Moyer)

What if the students who challenge us the most aren't asking us to fix their behavior — they're asking us to see past it? In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Claudia Bertolone-Smith and Marlene Moyer, authors of Tools Not Rules: Developing Self-Regulation for Improved Student Behavior in Grades K–8.

Claudia brings 24 years of elementary teaching experience and now trains pre-service teachers as an associate professor of mathematics education. Marlene has 22 years teaching grades 5–7 and now works as a mentor teacher.

We talk about the idea at the heart of their book — that behavior is a symptom, not the underlying issue — and what it actually looks like to separate a student from their behavior without letting anything slide.

Claudia and Marlene share the real classroom strategies that came out of their own team-teaching experience, including their "magic fuzzy numbers" approach to shifting a whole class's dynamic, and a star chart method built around noticing the positive things about a struggling student. We also get into a moment that hit close to home for Claudia, and how this approach helps students choose different behaviors without ever being made to feel small.

If you've got a student this year who feels defined by their hardest moments, this conversation is for you.

~Elizabeth

Mentioned in This Episode:

Learn more about Claudia and Marlene's book at toolsnotrules.com.

Grab the free RESET Roadmap that takes you through all 5 steps of the framework that leads to improved student behavior and more teacher joy!!

https://theinspiredclassroom.com/roadmap

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