A Teacher Eliminated These 4 Words and Behavior Problems Dropped. Try It At Home

"“I spent a lot of time researching neuroscience, development, psychology, systems theory ... just a bunch of things to help me make sense of this job,” he tells TODAY.com. “One of the things I realized is that most of the behavior in the classroom isn't really personal. It has nothing to do with me as a teacher but everything to do with the biology of the student.”"

"Instead of telling a student something like, “I need you to sit down,” Mukiibi made the request less personal by saying, “The expectation is that we're seated.” Behavior problems declined. “I decided to make my request more about the systems in the room because they're harder to argue with,” he explains. “Students don't argue with systems the way they argue with people.”"

"Mukiibi, who is a father of kids ages 3 and 4, says he stopped thinking of these adjustments as behavior management and started thinking of them as “nervous system literacy.” He says, “I've been able to apply it everywhere in my life, including translating it to my toddlers.”"

"“When I noticed that the methods I've been using in my classroom started making a meaningful difference for me and my students, I knew I needed to share them with more people,” he says of his Instagram account for educators. “How does such a small shift make such a big difference?”"

Christopher Mukiibi began teaching high school chemistry to positively impact students but spent much of his time managing behavior. He studied neuroscience, development, psychology, and systems theory and concluded that classroom behavior is often not personal and is driven by students’ biology. He changed how he spoke to students by shifting from direct personal commands to system-based expectations, such as stating that the expectation is to be seated. He found that students were less likely to argue with systems than with people. He reframed the approach as nervous system literacy and applied it beyond school, including with his toddlers. He later shared these classroom methods online after seeing meaningful results.

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