Rather than accept every new demand, I encourage teachers to be professional and reflect on whether they have the resources to meet it and, if they don't, calmly request that their manager either take some other task away, extend the deadline or consider whether it really will benefit pupils (as opposed to impress inspectors).
If you're mad that someone is plaguing you with phone calls, calmly request that they stop calling, or report the harassment if it doesn't end.
Interact with strangers nicely and calmly, request favors patiently, respond to others promptly and remember your pleases and thank-you's.
And it's far, far more pleasant to be the adult on the other end of a calmly delivered request.
It's a great way to calmly ease them into sleep and introduce them to music we love (although Charlie has only been requesting Johnny B. Goode of late, which is getting a bit repetitive).
I held myself back, put my hand on the music and said calmly, "Your colleagues in the woodwinds requested one more time".
And maybe keep it down a bit?" Ralph returned more invective, and Linda calmly repeated her request.
"We were bound, tied up, blindfolded and beaten," she says, as calmly as her request for a latte minutes earlier.
"We were bound, tied up, blindfolded, and beaten," she says, as calmly as her request for a latte minutes earlier.
Address whiny requests calmly and firmly.
A trick to use is the "Brain Dead Approach" Don't fight, don't argue, just repeat your request calmly and with good eye contact.
