Non-Fiction Review for Teachers: Safe Within These Walls

Safe Within These Walls by Andra Medea M.A.

Paperback: 176 pages

Publisher: Capstone Classroom (December 1, 2013)

Series: None

Genre: Non-Fiction (Adult)

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

About the Book:

In the wake of school tragedies and the growing concern about creating safe environments for children, teachers, parents, and school personnel, this resource provides practical techniques and guidelines for de-escalating aggression with insight and finesse rather than with force. Andra Medea, an instructor in conflict management and nationally recognized expert, developed the Virtual Tranquilizer, a set of non-contact de-escalation techniques used by psychiatric staff, school administrators, and even court personnel. In this readily accessible book, she explains how to manage aggression from tantrums to mental health issues and school shootings, using anecdotes, research-informed techniques, and, at times, humor. Readers will find the concrete tools they need to create a positive climate in which they recognize signs of building aggression and use practical techniques to head it off: demonstrating that the best way to handle violence is to keep it from happening in the first place.

Features:
• Strategies for de-escalating aggression and violence
• Specific techniques with anecdotes and examples that bring those techniques to life
• Research-informed practices in conflict management from an expert in the field

Ideal For:
• Teachers, administrators, counselors, security personnel, support staff
• Creating a safe climate with actions and words, not just external security
• Crafting a blueprint that sets the stage for entire schools and districts to be safe zones where all can thrive

Find the Book:

Amazon | Goodreads | Publisher Website

About the Author:

Andra Medea is the developer of the Virtual Tranquilizer®, a de-escalation system that’s been implemented for psychiatric staff, child protection workers, college staff, veterans, judges and lawyers. She has taught conflict management at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, and is the author of Conflict Unraveled. Andra was raised in a volatile part of Chicago, where she experienced school violence first hand. She translated that knowledge to a successful system of violence prevention and self-defense which was taught to over 20,000 students. She holds a M.A. with a concentration in conflict management from DePaul University.

Website

My Thoughts:

I am really glad there is a resource like this available for teachers. This book helps teachers learn how to diffuse situations at school before they get out of hand. Not only can problems be intercepted, but the methods in this book can help kids learn to keep their emotions in check. This is a very important skill, especially with all the frightening things that have happened in schools recently.

I found a lot of the methods to be very interesting. I could suddenly recognize why some teachers are effective at keeping control in their classrooms while others are not.

Although this book is intended for teachers, I found it useful as a parent as well. I applied several of the methods talked about in the book when my kids started fighting. I also used the advice to help in the Sunday School class for 5 year old kids that I teach. I was very impressed with it's effectiveness.

Some of the book is repetitive, and other things may have been a stretch, but overall I think the advice is sound. It's all about creating a safe, welcoming environment for children to learn in.

4 STARS

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.