'Kid Whisperer' visits city schools

Findlay City Schools' elementary teachers are getting some field training this year in wrangling good behavior out of the grade-schoolers. Enter Scott Ervin, the "Kid Whisperer." Ervin has made a career, and eventually a business, of training teachers to become "behavior leaders" in their schools, a term he coined, as opposed to the more common terminology "behavior management." "This isn't behavior management. How do you even do that really? This is 'behavior leadership,' which is modeling by example," he said. Ervin holds a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in education, and has taught classroom management as an adjunct professor at Antioch-Midwest, Yellow Springs, and as a visiting lecturer at Ohio University, Athens. This week, the "Kid Whisperer" was at Chamberlin Hill Elementary School, working with the staff to improve student behavior in common areas like the cafeteria, in hallways or at recess. The school district has contracted with Ervin to work with its six elementary buildings, providing professional development, ongoing modeling of strategies and coaching of teachers throughout the school year. The district is using money from the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund to pay for the training. The fee is $195,200 for the school year, with an additional $9,620 for a three-day teacher workshop held in August. The "Kid Whisperer" was first introduced to the staff at the former Jacobs Primary School in the summer of 2019 at a teacher's workshop. Ervin, 47, of Dayton, is a former elementary teacher, principal and superintendent with schools in Dayton. As a new teacher, he spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to hold his students accountable. "How do I get kids to do things without making them want to explode? ... I didn't know how to do that as a young teacher," he said. "Teachers are pushed out there and told to teach when things are going well." Too often, however, he said time must be spent addressing behaviors. He needed strategies but found there really wasn't much advice on coping with student behaviors in the classroom, other than traditional forms of punishment. Punishment, he said, often doesn't work on "the tough kids," exactly the students Ervin wanted to help. Most of Ervin's experience has been spent working with extremely difficult, at-risk, disturbed, abused and neglected children, in schools where 95% of the students live in poverty. "Xenia Avenue in Dayton is known as the epicenter of the opioid crisis. Yeah, that was on our front door," he said. It was in those classrooms that Ervin developed the techniques he now teaches other educators through his consulting firm, Ervin Educational Consulting, Dayton. Strategies like the "ESPN Welcome," which is given to students as they enter the classroom. It stands for eye contact, smile, physical contact and name. "It sends the message that the kid is more important than the instruction. That kid is more important than anything else that is happening in that classroom," he said. Most of the techniques, like the ESPN Welcome, focus on prevention and relationship-building strategies. Eye contact may be enough to address a student's behavior, in some cases, he said. "It's actually one of the techniques we teach. We call it the 'Confused Eye,' when you just look at the student and give them a confused look, like 'Why are you behaving that way?' It can be enough to make them stop, and think about what they are doing. "Kids want attention, and oftentimes we ignore them until they do something wrong. Take time to notice when they're doing something right. 'I notice that you are working.' 'I notice that you are walking.' 'I notice that you are being quiet,'" he said. "There's no lectures, warnings, threats, or bribes. Give them opportunities to learn positive behavior, and to learn to solve their own problems." Ervin has also written his own manual on classroom behavior strategies he hopes will help other educators who need practical advice. The book, titled "The Classroom Behavior Manuel: How to Build Relationships, Share Control and Teach Positive Behaviors," is scheduled to be published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in December. "Findlay Schools are really the best school district I have ever worked with, just from top to bottom, a really good school district. They have done a really good job of managing these difficult times. The community is lucky to have them," he said. More information about the "Kid Whisperer" can be found at www.ervineducationalconsulting.com Grant: 419-427-8412