Which of tAfter Eliza said her piece, it was Mrs. Ross's turn. "I hear your frustrations," she said to the Johnsons, "but I'm at my wit's end with the fighting. I don't want you to think that I'm singling Dorian out, but he's had a pretty substantial change in behavior over the last few months. His behavior isn't working in our classroom right now. He used to be an exemplary student, so I just have to assume that something is causing this shift." Dr. Jobst was curious about Mrs. Ross's insight. “When I hear about ongoing fighting in a class, I always wonder if a child is upset about something outside of school. And since this is new behavior, I wonder if something in Dorian's life might be the source of these fights. Can you tell me a little about what’s been going on in Dorian’s life outside of school? Any major changes he might be upset about?"

Dr. Jobst is gathering information by asking clarifying questions. Select the example of an open-ended question.

"How often do you talk to Dorian about his behavior?"

"Did Dorian ever get into fights when he was younger?"

"What are some reasons that you can think of that would explain Dorian's behavior?"

"Has Dorian always seemed lonely?"he following statements about photosynthesis and carbon cycling is true?

2.Right away, the Johnsons realized what might be behind their son's behavior. Stan replied, "I guess we didn't make the connection, but my father died recently. Dorian and his grandfather were very close. We haven't really known how to talk to Dorian about it, and he hasn't brought it up very much, so we've mostly been avoiding the subject."

Eliza spoke up. "I didn’t really think that his feelings about his grandpa could be connected to his acting out in school. I'd be interested to know how we could have handled Dorian's feelings differently so that we'll be better prepared next time there's a death in the family.”

"There are many ways I can try to be respectful of what Dorian’s going through," said Mrs. Ross. "It would be useful if we could decide which approach would be best for Dorian. But I still can’t let him present a risk to the other students. "

Stan jumped in. “I don’t disagree with you at all. I just want to be sure that Dorian isn’t blamed for defending himself. Even if he’s feeling bad and acting out, the fact that he’s a big kid sometimes makes people think that he’s a bully. But he really isn’t.”

“I think we all understand what’s needed by the parents and the teacher here," said Dr. Jobst. "I'm confident that we can find a way to meet all of those needs.”

The group has begun to understand the shared interests in this situation. Select an interest that is held by all parties in the conflict.

Helping Dorian deal with his feelings of grief

Training Dr. Jobst's staff to better respond to grief

Explaining to Dorian's classmates why he is upset

Punishing Dorian when he acts out