As I sat on a teeny-tiny chair reading to Vivian in her kindergarten classroom, I noticed her teacher, Debbie, do something that made my jaw drop. "David called me 'liar liar pants on fire!' and he didn't stop!" one boy reported to Debbie. Debbie took David's hand and said, "Come over here and help me make sure I have enough milk for snack."

That's why Debbie is Debbie and I'm a mess. In one simple move, she removed him from the conflict, distracted him from the joy of teasing, gave him attention he obviously needed (but not the kind of negative attention he may be used to), and made him feel like a useful part of the class, rather than a fringe kid who only gets noticed when he razzes others. That would never have occurred to me.

Debbie is clearly not the only teacher who has a few brilliant tricks up her sleeve -- techniques that she's learned over the years to keep her whole class engaged, paying attention, and (for the most part) behaving for seven hours, five days a week. I knew I had a thing or 20 to learn. Following: teacher tricks you can steal to keep your guys on the straight and narrow.