Benjamin came into my sixth grade classroom one August with a "warning label" from his fifth grade teacher-he was a potential major discipline problem, I was told, one I really needed to keep my thumb on. But when Benjamin entered my classroom on the first day of school, I saw him as a likable and pleasant young man, though not very serious about school and appearing to enjoy being at the center of everything. Having been trained in Positive Discipline, I was able to read the message on his mistaken goal hat:Give me attention, even if it's negative attention.

I decided that the best way to help Benjamin meet his goal more effectively was to give him little special jobs several times each day. I prefaced each job with the request that I needed "someone I could trust," someone who was "in control," or "a reliable helper. "Benjamin seemed to thrive on those words, and was eager to run errands, sort papers, whatever I needed at the time. At the end of the first week, I sent a "good note" home to let his parents know that I appreciated his help. (They, of course, thought I was writing with bad news, the only news they had ever received previously about Benjamin.)

After a while, Benjamin's behavior started to fall off a bit, and I noticed that I had not been involving him as much in helpful activities as I had earlier. My first thought was to step up my requests for help, but then I had another idea. I approached Benjamin and asked him if he would like to monitor his own behavior by letting me know when he felt himself getting "antsy." At those times, he could come up to my desk and ask if there was anything I needed him to do. He loved that idea, and took advantage of the opportunity often.

Benjamin's behavior was not perfect, but it was most definitely not the nightmare that I had been warned about. Occasionally I would have to remind him to settle himself, but far more often than not he would monitor his own behavior by looking for ways to be helpful. He had a much better year behavior-wise than the previous year, and his grades were up too.

At the end of the year, Benjamin came to me and said that this was the first year that he actually looked forward to parent/teacher conferences. He said that he felt good about what he had accomplished during the year. Then he asked me if I had anything else for him to do.