Happy Kids Don′t Punch You in the Face: A Guide to Eliminating Aggressive Behavior in School

by Ben Springer

Take a positive approach to behavior intervention for results that work―and last!  

When there’s a nuclear meltdown happening in your classroom, this book is your trusted guide on what to do in the heat of the moment, and how you can prevent future incidents. These field-tested strategies integrate principles of behavioral intervention with the best practices of positive psychology. Inside you’ll

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published March 8, 2018

Reviews

[Vince Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good thoughts for educators in need; there are also extensive resources available for use in the latter half of the book. Favorite quote from this work reminds us that when working with students with this level of need, “Michelangelo never expected to complete a sculpture in 9 months, neither should you.”

[Tena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend this book.

[Kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Our job is not to punish kids who are acting out but to teach them, plain and simple.”
I loved that this “instruction” book addresses the compassion and dignity students deserve, especially those with “challenging” behaviors. The optimistic and hopeful manner of behavior management presented makes both my educator and mama heart grateful.

[Shonna Bexten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic principles for working w kids with behavior.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my kid who is an auditory learner and not all that great a reader for a class he is taking to get a certificate to be a paraeducator (a job he is currently doing without all this preparation).
The bottom line premise of this book is summed up in the title, and the rest of the book is dedicated to demonstrating why that might be, with some science to back it up, and how schools can influence a child's happiness and how they can help to foster good behavior.
It is an upbeat approach to a challenging problem, and it is chock full of examples that demonstrate ways to improve behavior in even the most vexing of kids. The examples feel legit, and the interventions are not always successful. The author makes mistakes that he admits to and then goes through what he did to try to change course. The back 1/3 of the book is appendixes where he gives tools to use when designing your own behavior intervention plans.
The course my son is in gave three choices for books, and we started with a different one, which was terribly written, and neither of us could answer any of the questions posed by the teacher based on the reading--so even though we were not reading it as great literature, savoring every line, we were reading it, and the content was poorly written and hard to follow. This does not suffer from that pitfall.

[Ally Hassler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great resource for people who work in schools! Definitely very simplified for behavior analysis professionals but this book is a great tool to explain behavior modification to those who aren’t trained in it!

[Makenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

So applicable to my work/job - I loved it and all of the resources included. Definitely will be referencing this often

[booksandpaiges · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really talking complete sh** about this book before I read it. . . but it actually gave me quite a few valuable resources. Worth the read at least once.