Real Talk For Real Teachers By Conscious Discipline

At its core, Conscious Discipline is a relationship program. Our brain is a social brain that develops through relationships. To change the brain for optimal learning, we must create optimal relationships. No matter how you choose to weave Conscious Discipline into your classroom, school or district, remember: As we improve relationships, we improve learning. In this podcast, you’ll hear from J.C....

As a child, DJ Batiste didn’t have the skills he needed to behave or succeed in school. He was expelled from preschool and often kicked out of classrooms before becoming involved with gangs and increasingly serious trouble. During his senior year of high school, DJ’s life changed when he walked into the classroom of Donna Porter, a teacher implementing Conscious Discipline. For the first time, DJ...

Episode Summary I Love You Rituals are playful, one-on-one interactions that build loving connections while increasing attention span, decreasing power struggles and promoting language and literacy at school or at home. These brain-building interactions facilitate optimal development for young children and create lifelong bonds between children and adults. If you’re interested in incorporating I L...

In any classroom, conflict happens. And that’s an understatement—conflict occurs every day, all day long. Research shows that in Pre-K classrooms, 60 acts of intrusion occur per hour. If you want to save time for learning and connection, teaching conflict resolution to young children is essential. With Conscious Discipline, we foster a willingness to resolve conflicts by building a School Family....

Conscious Discipline is both trauma-based and trauma-informed. It emphasizes optimal brain development for all children and adults, regardless of life experiences like chronic stress and trauma. There are three types of trauma: acute, chronic and complex. Acute trauma results from a singular instance, like a natural disaster. Alabama Pre-K teachers April Carr and Hillary Spratlin were faced with r...

Effective consequences, rather than ineffective punishments, are embedded in Conscious Discipline. Unlike punishment, consequences teach children to solve problems, learn from mistakes, take responsibility and focus on learning a new skill. Understanding the logic behind choosing consequences instead of punishment is easy when we’re dealing with younger children. With older children, it becomes fa...

Since Dr. Becky Bailey started Conscious Discipline more than 20 years ago, it has played an integral role in supporting the development of children with special needs. Core tenets like safety, connection, self-regulation and social skills development are vital for all children, but they are especially helpful for children with special needs. In this episode, Katie Keller, a school social worker i...

Migrant farmworkers in the United States face many unique challenges. They earn an average total income of $15,000-$17,500 while working 10-12 hours a day for six days a week. Due to these long hours, parents have little quality time to spend with their children. They are exposed to toxic pesticides and often exploited. Migrant farmworkers are also transient, moving from place to place and often l...

After learning about Conscious Discipline at a workshop, teachers at Grove Hill Elementary knew that they wanted to implement it at their school. Principal Kathy Spidle saw their enthusiasm and quickly agreed. At the start of the following year, a four-year-old child in Julie Hoven and Miranda Richardson’s class was diagnosed with leukemia. Although Keith was only in their class for 1.5 days befor...

Charter schools, or independently run public schools, have increased flexibility over operations. While this additional freedom is exciting, it often comes with its own unique challenges. In this episode, Certified Instructor and charter school administrator Lindsey Merrick talks to Master Instructor Jill Molli about her Conscious Discipline journey. Currently in its fifth year as a school (and fi...

Eighth and ninth grade English teacher Afton Schleiff fell in love with Conscious Discipline the first time she attended a training. She immediately launched a book study at her school and began working internally on the Powers. Next, she brought Conscious Discipline into her classroom of teenagers. When people ask Afton, “Aren’t those kids too old for Conscious Discipline?” she responds, “Well, I...

In this episode, you’ll hear from district leaders Toni Stevenson and Lynlie Schoene. Toni and Lynlie are the Chief Academic Officer and Chief Innovation Officer of Franklin Township Community School Corporation in Indianapolis, Indiana. They work with counselors, administrators, teachers, and instructional coaches. Listen in as Toni and Lynlie share their tips for leading at the district level wi...

Rage is often confused with anger, but it is not the same. Anger stems from a goal or desire not being fulfilled. Rage, on the other hand, is often rooted in trauma and may be the result of seizure-like activity in the limbic system. Because these two feelings are very different, we must manage them in two different ways. Strategies that work for children who are angry will not work for children e...

Conscious Discipline hosts the Advanced Institute, also known as CD2, each year in February. CD2 is limited to 48 participants who apply for the opportunity to attend. During this transformative week, each participant shares information about how they’re implementing Conscious Discipline and the results they’ve seen. Take a sneak peek into the Advanced Institute as you listen in on presentations f...

Every February, Conscious Discipline hosts the Advanced Institute, also known as CD2. CD2 is limited to 48 participants. During this transformative week, each participant presents a ten-minute session on how they’re implementing Conscious Discipline and the results they’ve seen. In this episode, you’ll listen in on CD2 presentations from Rachel Frasier and Alissa McGraw. Rachel is a dance speciali...

Every February, Conscious Discipline hosts the Advanced Institute, also known as CD2. CD2 is limited to 48 participants, and each participant presents a ten-minute session on how they’re implementing Conscious Discipline and the results they’ve seen. In this episode, you’ll listen in on CD2 presentations from Megan Duplain and Sarah Catherine Rhodes. Megan Duplain is the Director of Student Servic...

Although Conscious Discipline provides extensive coaching, resources, and support for schools, implementation is flexible and customizable. Practitioners shouldn’t hesitate to find creative solutions to school-wide problems through a Conscious Discipline lens. Once your staff understands the powers and skills and have mastered the basics, make it your own and customize your implementation to meet...

No matter what your job description is, you will lead and you will be led. Exhibiting leadership is an extension of your personality, upbringing, ability to self-regulate, and your mental models of how you view yourself, the world, and relationships with others. Two especially effective leadership models are transformational leadership and servant leadership. Transformational leaders lead by visio...

When Conscious Discipline is practiced both at school and at home, it becomes even more effective. Of course, limited time and busy schedules make it difficult to teach the principles, powers, and structures of Conscious Discipline to all families. In this episode, pre-K teacher Celeste Finnegan shares a brilliant way to share Conscious Discipline with families: a traveling Flat Shubert. Shubert,...

Every Conscious Discipline implementation story is different. Conscious Discipline can be customized to fit your school, your goals, and your needs. For Sandy Mummey, the best approach was to go slowly. Sandy gave her staff time to examine their values, discuss what they wanted for children, and develop agreements and commitments that reflected their beliefs. Now in the third year of implementatio...

In 1996, Dr. Bailey set out to help teachers and children from her guest bedroom. Even with no strategy and no marketing, word spread about the transformational results. One teacher found it helpful and told another teacher, who told more teachers, and the movement grew. 20 years later, Conscious Discipline has reached 47 countries and counting, inspiring more than 3.5 million educators and caregi...

People often ask, “Is Conscious Discipline culturally sensitive?” and “Will Conscious Discipline work in my country?” The answer to both questions is, “Yes.” Conscious Discipline is brain-based and rooted in neuroscience. It’s also built on the Power of Unity, the idea that we’re all in this together. In addition, Conscious Discipline is more of a practice or philosophy than a proscriptive, step-b...

Setting healthy boundaries is a vital skill that protects our identities and self-esteem. Without healthy boundaries, we open the door for others to determine our thoughts, feelings, and needs, losing a sense of self. Strong boundaries give us the confidence to make our own choices without yielding to a sense of sacrifice or obligation. Lessons about boundaries begin early in life, first with our...

From being expelled as a preschooler to joining a gang by the age of nine, DJ Batiste was a troubled child until his life was turned around his senior year of high school. The first day of his senior year, DJ walked into a class that utilized the powers and skills of Conscious Discipline. Ms. Donna Porter used the skills she had learned through Conscious Discipline to make a connection with DJ. Th...

Self-regulation programs like Conscious Discipline are most commonly used in early childhood programs and elementary schools. It makes sense to build vital skills during these foundational years. But what about the children who are never given the opportunity to learn self-regulation and other social and emotional skills? By the time these students reach high school, we assume that they should alr...