Verbal Interventions are great ways to interact with students. These interventions make for great opportunities for building deeper relationships with students.

1. Verbal Interventions
Brad Tamashiro

2. Classrooms are verbal environments

3. • Clear and effective verbal interventions can
have significant effects
• Angry/ overzealous responses could stress the
teacher-student relationship

4. Practical Advice
• Be concrete and specific
• Avoid judgmental terms
• Speak directly to students emphasis what is
happening in present
• Speak Calmly

5. Different Methods

6. Direct Appeal
• Respectful Requests
• Not threats
• Appealing directly to any unwanted behavior

7. Sane Message
• Insane Message?
– Ginott (1971) “ negative statements that humiliate
students”
• Absence of anger, describing why a certain
behavior is bothering
• A teacher that models this well also models an
appropriate way of expressing feelings.

8. I Message
• Taking responsibility of your emotions.
• Shows students we are humans
• Time and place
• Keeps things in perspective

9. Humor
• Breaking tension Refocusing
• Advantages:
– “Saving Face”
– Engaging
– Redirects feelings/ behaviors
– confidence
• Disadvantages
– Includes sarcasm

10. – Inside jokes (jokes that only some will understand)
– Ethnic jokes
– Ridicule
• Best type of Humor: Self-deprecating
• How can we apply humor?
– Remember stories, comments
– Pull from personal life
– Props, toys and stuff’s
– Bulletin board
– Enjoy laughing
– Activites

11. Listen
• Simply…Listen
– Trust
– Modeling important skills
– Form of data collection

12. Acknowledge Feelings
• Emotionally illiterate
• Learning how feelings play a role in life
• We can help them understand
– Except the feeling, not the behavior

13. Hypodermic Affection

14. Thoughts
• Great foundation to build relationships
• Always will use
• Not the only important skill.