Six members of the Eastern Oklahoma State College GEAR UP team recently attended a Love and Logic workshop at The Reed Conference Center in Midwest City. Dr. Charles Fay presented a fun-filled day of powerful, yet positive techniques for bringing the best of easygoing kids. . . and the extremely strong-willed variety.

Participates learned how to avoid getting pulled into arguments and control battles; steps for teaching kids to take personal responsibility for their decisions; a proven plan for handling, “You can’t make me!”; tips for developing intrinsic motivation; how to discipline them without losing their respect and love; to teach kids emotional self-regulation; and many more tools that work with all types of kids.

“It was great,” said GEAR UP Professional Development Coordinator John Spiegel. “We learned a lot of tools to use when engaging students in today’s classroom.”

Spiegel provides free professional development to teachers and administrators of the GEAR UP grant’s 39 partner schools. Included in his inventory of workshops are several Love and Logic topics.

“It just makes sense,” Spiegel added. “Finding ways to deal with kids that do not completely exhaust adults is priceless. Love and Logic has been a trusted and proven leader in helping parents and professional bring out the best in kids for over 40 years. I’m excited to add these techniques to my presentations.”

Representing GEAR UP at the workshop were Education Coordinators, Denise Lovell, Tara Martin and Leslie Hemphill; Professional Development Coordinator John Spiegel; Assistant Project Director Dara Self; and Project Director Linda Morgan.

In 2017, Eastern received a seven–year, $17 million federal GEAR UP grant and is in its second year of implementation. GEAR UP currently serves over 3,000 students in 39 partner schools in nine counties.