Dr. Ross Greene
144 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★ - 28 ratingsAlong with four school principals, Dr. Ross Greene -- originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving approach (now called Collaborative & Proactive Solutions) and author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School -- helps teachers and parents better handle behaviorally challenging kids in the classroom and at home through implementation of his approach to solving problems collaboratively. This program airs on the first Monday of each month (September through May) at 3:30 pm Eastern time.
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Episodes
April Educators Panel: CPS and Bullying
April 04, 2011 19:30 - 45 minutes - 10.2 MBOur Educators Panel tackled the problem of bullying today. This may not be surprising, but they concluded that bullies are lacking important skills and have unsolved problems...and the bullied are, too.
Understanding and Helping Behaviorally Challenging Students
March 28, 2011 19:30 - 40 minutes - 9.13 MBIf things aren't going so well with the students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in your school, you're not alone! Helping challenging kids in a classroom...while attending to the diverse needs of the other students...and trying to make sure they all do well on high-stakes testing...can be a daunting challenge. In this program, Dr. Ross Greene -- author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach -- helps you ...
Anytown High School, Session #4
March 14, 2011 19:30 - 47 minutes - 10.6 MBIn this program, the staff at Anytown High School learned about the Empathy step of Plan B, and plan to take things for a trial run before the next program.
Response to Intervention, Rubrics, and More: March Educators Panel
March 07, 2011 20:30 - 46 minutes - 10.4 MBOur school principal, Tom, came very close to using Plan A with one of his challenging students. But then, at the precipice, he went back to Plan B...and lived to tell the tale.
Anytown High School, Session #3
February 28, 2011 20:30 - 46 minutes - 10.4 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene will continue helping the staff at Anytown High use the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems to understand one of their most challenging students and identify the unsolved problems that are contributing to her challenging episodes.
Anytown High School, Session #2
February 18, 2011 13:00 - 1 hour - 13.8 MBIn this program, the staff at Anytown High School got some practice using the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems to view the difficulties of a challenging student through new lenses and identify specific problems that need to be solved. To be continued...
February Educators Panel
February 07, 2011 20:30 - 46 minutes - 10.4 MB"The foundation of understanding is the willingness to listen." We don't know who said this, but it's what we discussed today on the Educators Panel.
Anytown High School, Session #1
January 31, 2011 20:30 - 46 minutes - 10.4 MBA new feature for Collaborative Problem Solving at School! Listen in as Dr. Greene helps the staff at Anytown High School (a real high school in the U.S., location undisclosed) implement the CPS model in their school...with real discussions that may help you implement the CPS model in your school.
Rewarding Kids for Collaborating on Solving Problems?
January 10, 2011 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBWell, the title pretty much says it all. But you'll have to listen to hear the answer.
January Educators' Panel
January 03, 2011 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBWhat's the best way to respond when colleagues say a student is "choosing" to behave inappropriately or is being "manipulative"? That's what the Educators Panel tackled during today's program.
Why Kids Don't Talk (and other topics)
December 13, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.2 MBThe title pretty much says it all...do listen!
December Educators' Panel
December 06, 2010 20:30 - 46 minutes - 10.3 MBIt's that time again...time for us to hear from four educators who've been implementing Collaborative Problem Solving in the schools and classrooms...and all the hurdles and successes they've experienced along the way. Don't worry...you can still call in to ask questions or comment!
Your Definition of the F Word
November 29, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.2 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene discusses the difference between a popular school intervention -- Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) -- and Collaborative Problem Solving. The biggest difference begins with your definition of the "function" of challenging behavior, and that definition has tremendous implications for how you go about trying to help.
What Problems Can Be Solved Collaboratively?
November 22, 2010 20:30 - 44 minutes - 9.91 MBFor the first half of this program, Dr. Greene focused on a common question: to what problems can Collaborative Problem Solving be productively applied? (Hint: it would be easier to identify the unsolved problems to which CPS can't be applied.) Then he focused on an email he received from a teacher trying hard to help his/her colleagues embrace the CPS model, and had some suggestions for how to move things forward.
Lenses and Collaboration at All Ages
November 15, 2010 20:30 - 44 minutes - 10 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene answered some important questions about Collaborative Problem Solving. At what age is it appropriate to try to solve problems collaboratively with kids? Can you really solve a problem collaboratively with a student if s/he doesn't think there's a problem to solve? How do you organize the effort within a school building? A very informative program!
November Educators Panel
November 08, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.2 MBToday was the first edition of a new feature for this program: the Educators Panel, which airs the first Monday of every month. Dr. Greene was joined by two educators (two more will be joining in next month) to talk about behaviorally challenging kids, the difficulties in helping them effectively in schools, and what's going in their own schools to move things in the right direction.
No Turning Back Now
October 25, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBToday's program aired live from the Child Assessment Unit at Cambridge City Hospital...a unit that has eliminated its use of locked-door seclusion and virtually eliminated the use of physical and chemical restraint. There's a major initiative to eliminate the use of restraint and seclusion in our public schools, and the effort requires the same ingredients in a school as it does in a restrictive therapeutic facility. Restraining and secluding kids doesn't solve the problems or teach the lag...
Pointless Consequences
October 04, 2010 19:30 - 44 minutes - 7.39 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene responded to emails he'd received from parents who were running into difficulty with school discipline programs that were inconsistent with Collaborative Problem Solving. Should adult-imposed consequences still be given when problems are being solved collaboratively? What do such consequences accomplish? How are they counterproductive?
Can We Help This Student?
September 27, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 7.76 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene responded to an email he received from an educator who'd done her best to help a challenging student, against some tall odds. He also discussed how solving problems (collaboratively) teaches kids many of the skills they're lacking.
Welcome Back!
September 20, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 7.69 MBAlright, summer's over and it's time to get back to the challenge of implementing Collaborative Problem Solving at school so that we're understanding and helping kids with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges -- and their classmates and caregivers -- better than ever. Implementing the CPS model is hard work...but nowhere near as hard as NOT implementing the CPS model! In this first program of the school year, Dr. Greene answered a lot of the emailed questions that he received over t...
Understanding and Helping Behaviorally Challenging Students
May 24, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 6.39 MBIf things aren't going so well with the students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in your school, you're not alone! Helping challenging kids in a classroom...while attending to the diverse needs of the other students...and trying to make sure they all do well on high-stakes testing...can be a daunting challenge. In this program, Dr. Ross Greene -- author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach -- helps you ...
Galvanized and Mobilized in Calgary
May 17, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 9.7 MBToday's program featured an interview with System Principal Lori Pamplin from the Calgary (Alberta, Canada) public schools. Lori's been helping the assistant principals in her school system learn about Collaborative Problem Solving, and reported that folks were positive buoyant when first learning about the lagging skills and unsolved problems setting the stage for social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in students. Naturally, the challenge is to maintain the buoyancy when learning ho...
Landfill
May 10, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBToday's program featured a caller who had questions about a variety of aspects of the CPS model, including: How does working on unsolved problems teach lagging skills? What do we do about the other 28 kids in a classroom when a challenging student is shutting down/acting out? How can we justify spending that much time with one student? How can we justify giving one student exemptions for assignments or making concessions for disruptions when we need to set a precident for other students? A...
The Last Six Weeks
May 03, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 7.32 MBTeachers and students are running on fumes at the end of the school year. The weather is warmer and the finish line is in view. What should your Collaborative Problem Solving efforts look like here in the home stretch? Well, you want to start preparing for how you're going to improve your implementation of CPS next school year, and there are lots of things to focus on...all the focus of today's program. Listen to the recorded program at your convenience.
Making a Difference
April 26, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 9.78 MBThe theme for today's program was "Making a Difference"...and that's pretty much what it's all about.
Questions from the Trenches
April 12, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 10.2 MBToday's program was broadcast from Harpswell Island Elementary in Maine, where staff are in the early phases of learning about and implementing Collaborative Problem Solving. They had some questions about how to move things further along and make CPS an integral part of their way of doing things, and you can listen in!
Continuity...and Energy!
April 05, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 10.4 MBThe theme for this program was CONTINUITY, so it's fitting that Dr. Greene spent the program interviewing Thomas Ambrose, principal at Lafayette School in Sanford, Maine. Mr. Ambrose -- who's a first-year principal -- and the staff at Lafayette have been putting lots of energy into implementing the CPS model at the school, and Mr. Ambrose talked about where that energy came from, how things have gone, and the challenges they've overcome along the way. It's an ongoing effort, and it's paying...
What's Up with This Student?
March 29, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 10.2 MBThis was a very interesting program. A special education teacher called in to try to get a better handle on the behavioral challenges being presented by one of her middle school students. After first considering whether the student needed to be evaluated for a psychiatric condition, the discussion turned in the usual direction: toward consideration of the student's lagging skills and unsolved problems. Slowly but surely, the unsolved problems that require further exploration became clarif...
Functional Assessments that Change Lives
March 22, 2010 19:30 - 45 minutes - 8.53 MBWe went with a more technical topic today, but one that comes up frequently in schools: how to incorporate the CPS model in general and the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems (ALSUP) in particular into a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and a Behavior Plan. First, you may want to reconsider your definition of "function"...it's not that the student's challenging behavior is helping him get, escape, or avoid, but rather than the behavior communicates that he's lacking the ...
Understanding and Helping Behaviorally Challenging Students
March 08, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBIf things aren't going so well with the students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in your school, you're not alone! Helping challenging kids in a classroom...while attending to the diverse needs of the other students...and trying to make sure they all do well on high-stakes testing...can be a daunting challenge. In this program, Dr. Ross Greene -- author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach -- helps you ...
The Invitation Step of Plan B (and More)...
March 01, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBThe topic of this program was the much-neglected but really-important Invitation step (these days, referred to as the "Brainstorming ingredient") of Plan B. But woven into the discussion was another topic: time. In other words, it's one thing to learn how to do Plan B, to appreciate the need to do Plan B proactively, and to become proficient at the three ingredients of Plan B. But when are you going to do all this in the ongoing stream of a school day? Probably by devoting 15 minutes a d...
the Empathy Step: Why Didn't The Student Talk?
February 22, 2010 19:00 - 45 minutes - 10.4 MBDr. Greene thought he was going to focus on the seldom-talked-about Invitation step of Plan B in this program. But -- and this is always a welcome development -- a caller shifted the agenda. So instead Dr. Greene helped a teacher who is very devoted to using Plan B -- but is just beginning to learn how -- sort through the possibilities for why a student didn't provide much information in the Empathy step of Plan B. So maybe we'll focus on the Invitation step in the next program. In the me...
Working Collaboratively with Parents
February 15, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.2 MBEducators often blame parents for students' behavior problems at school, and often feel that a student's difficulties at school can't be resolved without parental involvement. While working collaboratively with parents is certainly a goal, some unsolved problems don't require parental involvement...and some parents aren't available to help anyway. Listen to the archive of this program and lots of others at your convenience!
Getting Specific on Unsolved Problems/Using Plan B in Groups
February 08, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene initially spent some time reviewing several ALSUPs that were completed by teachers of actual students so as to examine whether the items listed in the Unsolved Problem section were too vague (and to provide suggestions for information that would be more specific). Then he spent some time with a classroom teacher who called in to inquire about doing full-class Plan B with her group of students. A very informative program! Listen to the archive (or archives of oth...
Alfie Kohn Interview
February 01, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.7 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene had the pleasure of talking with Alfie Kohn, author of Punished by Rewards, Beyond Discipline, and many other critical books. This was a fun and enlightening discussion about a variety of school-related topics, including school discipline, socially healthy classrooms, high-stakes testing...the whole gamut. Listen to the archive!
Troubleshooting Plan B
January 25, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.4 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene helps a group of educators -- who are trying to re-engage a student academically so he doesn't drop out of school -- figure out why they've been "going around in circles" in their efforts to resolve the student's concerns using Plan B. A few of the common ways in which Plan B can go awry -- difficulty "drilling" for information in the Empathy step, and proposing solutions before the concerns and solutions of both parties are well-understood -- were the focal point...
The Who, When, and What of Plan B
January 11, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBWho's supposed to do Plan B with a behaviorally challenging student? Should it be a person -- like the assistant principal -- who is totally removed from the unsolved problem that set a student's challenging behavior in motion? Or should it be someone with whom the student has a good relationship and/or the adult who's part of the unsolved problem? Should Plan B take place in the heat of the moment or should it be proactive? What do we need to do in our schools to ensure that Plan B takes...
Getting Buy-In
January 04, 2010 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene discusses how to help school staff who are having trouble "buying into" Collaborative Problem Solving. He describes some of the misconceptions and concerns people may have about both the conceptualization of challenging behavior as a developmental delay and the idea of solving problems collaboratively with students. Dr. Greene notes that concerns about CPS are actually a good thing: they show that people are thinking about and digesting the different facets of CP...
Collaboration Between Parents and Teachers
December 14, 2009 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.4 MBThis program focused on why interactions between teachers and parents have a high potential for going awry and what it takes to help things go better. It turns out that collaboration between parents and educators involves the same ingredients as collaboration between adults and kids: making sure that the concerns of both parties are well-clarified and understood (before generating solutions) and working toward solutions that are realistic and mutually satisfactory.
The Empathy Step
December 07, 2009 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.2 MBThis program focused extensively -- and almost exclusively -- on the Empathy step of Plan B, and on "drilling" in particular. For the unfamiliar, drilling involves probing for additional information about a particular unsolved problem so that the concern or perspective of the student is well-understood. Drilling can be quite challenging, and especially so if the adult is more focused on potential solutions than on what to ask to clarify the student's concern or perspective. Dr. Greene desc...
CPS Goes to School: The Real Deal
November 30, 2009 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene interviews Dr. Craig Murphy, school psychologist in the Newton, Massachusetts Public School system. As part of a 3-year, federally-funded project overseen by Dr. Murphy, many of the elementary schools in Newton have been implementing the Collaborative Problem Solving approach. Dr. Murphy describes the challenges and successes in helping classroom teachers understand challenging behavior as a form of developmental delay and embrace Plan B as a viable option for he...
A Vision for School Discipline
November 23, 2009 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.3 MBIn this program, Dr. Greene talks about the importance of having a "vision" for what discipline should look like in a school building. Having a vision starts with understanding that challenging behavior is a form of developmental delay...continues with using the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems (ALSUP) in a school's assessment procedures...and continues with creating mechanisms for school staff to become skilled at using Plan B. Along the way, it's also necessary to create...
Key Ingredients for Getting the CPS Ball Rolling
November 16, 2009 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.4 MBHow do you get the ball rolling on implementing Collaborative Problem Solving in your school? That depends on where your school is at in terms of recognizing that the students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges -- and their teachers and classmates -- aren't being well-served by disciplinary programs that rely heavily on rewarding and punishing. In this program, Dr. Greene describes some of the key ingredients for achieving a more accurate, compassionate, productive understand...
All Beginnings are Hard
November 09, 2009 20:30 - 45 minutes - 10.4 MBThis is Dr. Greene's first program, so be prepared for some pauses as he adjusts to new technology! But this program provides a nice overview of the Collaborative Problem Solving approach -- first articulated in Dr. Greene's book The Explosive Child and more recently in his book Lost at School -- and what it takes to implement Collaborative Problem Solving in a school.