Learning Restraint...

I choked my principal the other day. I pulled her hair, kicked her and threw a punch. Do you believe it? Well, none of it was for real, but I wasn't nearly as nervous when I had to sit down with her for a meeting on Friday.

My principal and I and 3 others from my campus took a restraint training last week and my principal was my partner when it came time to practice the blocks and releases, so we took turns punching, kicking, choking and pulling.

It was a training I was required to take because of potential circumstances I face at school. It was the Nonviolent Crisis Invervention Training Program through the Crisis Prevention Institute. The purpose of the program is to focus on the care, welfare, safety and security of the student. It is definitely a training I would recommend to other teachers, even if you don't have a student you may potentially need to restrain. We worked to understand that restraint is a LAST RESORT option to be used only when the student is a danger to him/herself, others or destructive to property.

I don't see myself necessarily needing to use the restraint procedures, but you just never know what will happen in the classroom, so the information is handy to have. It would have been helpful to have a few years ago when I had an especially challenging student who was a runner and I found myself grabbing for her far too often because her favorite route was for the outside doors and toward the streets - she once made it as far as the street corner of a major intersection.

However, the restraint I find myself needing more often, lies within myself. I need to restrain myself because I become impatient...with people in general. I get impatient when I have to wait for people, especially when it was a set appointment; and I get impatient with my students when they are playing instead of paying attention. I need to rely on God to give me patience, to take a few deep breaths and just relax.