Positive Discipline in London, England

Jane Nelsen Visits The American School in London

by Joy Marchese

What an exciting week it has been at the American School in London.  Dr. Jane Nelsen and Teresa LaSala, Certified PD Lead Trainer, worked with parents, counselors, and teachers from all over the world, including Cairo, Hungry, Denmark, France, Austria, and the United Kingdom.

Parent workshops focused on Developing Capable Young People, Positive Discipline for Teens, and a two-day Positive Discipline in the Classroom Training for educators.  Due to Positive Discipline’s experiential teaching style, participants shared that they walked away with useful and practical tools that they will apply in their homes and in their schools beginning today.

It was an empowering experience for all and we are grateful to have welcomed Jane into the greater European community.  Jane will continued her tour of the United Kingdom by visiting the prestigious Harrow School in Middlesex, UK.

Testimonials from teachers and parents:

“The Positive Discipline in the Classroom workshop delivered a whole weekend of paradigm pushing!   A lively set of well-designed, experiential activities challenged participants to think deeply about behavioural issues in the whole-school and classroom.  The co-leaders of the course, Jane Nelsen and Theresa LaSalla, worked tirelessly to stimulate discussion and reflection about the values underpinning our educational programmes and they provided pathways for us to remodel our ideas on how best to meet the needs of our learners.  Sessions exploring the nature of encouragement, the goals of misbehaviour and the balance between kindness and firmness should become mandatory training for all who work in education.  The weekend was exceptional and ranks among the best personal and professional development courses I have ever attended.”

Sean Spurvey
Head of ICT
Westminster Under School
London

“My moment of enlightenment came when Jane Nelsen shared in her book Positive Discipline, “ Where did we ever get the crazy idea that in order to make children do better, first we have to make them feel worse”. I went over to hug Jane good-bye after her second talk at the American School in London. As I said thank you and mentioned that I wished I had come across her book earlier, tears filled my eyes mainly from regret of not having used her positive disciplining techniques with my children when they were younger. She comforted me and said, “It’s not about the guilt, it’s about applying the tools now and moving forward”. I have started using her invaluable tools to improve my parenting techniques in the hopes of becoming a better parent and a better person.  Thank you Jane. ”

Ariadne Petrucelli
The American School in London
Executive Coach and Parent

“While attending the PD in the classroom training in London, I was uniting and collaborating with adults that were willing and eager to approach things differently and positively.  I appreciated the experiential approaches, collaborating, brainstorming, and networking to start to change the ways in which we work with students and children in a variety of settings.  I now feel that our team has several "nuggets" to take back and implement in our school and share with other educators and adults.”

Amy Friedman
Copenhagen International School
Middle School Counselor

“Every day I write an appreciation about something in my life.  I could have written fifty appreciations based on this workshop, instead of the two I was kept to.  I loved the experiential aspect, as I tend to learn by doing after listening.  Not only where they fun (due to Jane and Teresa) but they were also powerful and moving.  I'm already running Positive Discipline for Parents classes with the parents of our school's Middle School and High School students, but now I'm excited about using this with teachers and administration.  I think that several activities will be particularly helpful as we explore how to best help teenagers having difficulty in our Student Services Team meetings.  I wish all teachers could have this training before they head into the classroom!”

Liane Thakur
The American School in London
High School Counselor