Episode Details

A Quick Note to Listeners:

—- The Question of the Week is supported by Summer Pops Math Workbooks.

Principals, when students practice math over the summer, math scores go up. What’s your summer math plan this year? A great way to start is by ordering FREE summer workbook samples at Summer Pops Workbooks.com. —-

Before this week’s interview, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker answer a listener question with a five minute response. 

The question is: How do you support and develop your teachers who struggle with classroom management?

Listen in to hear their response and thank you for doing what matters!

Meet Bethany Bilodeau:

Dr. Bethany Bilodeau, an expert in human behavior with a Doctorate of Arts in Leadership, has a remarkable career that began teaching high school biology in Guam. She has designed innovative programs to help students achieve academic success and holds numerous certifications in behavioral therapies. She has been recognized with multiple awards, including the 2024 Business of the Year in education and Business Excellence award for Social Equity. Her upcoming guidebook, Ease the Pain in the Classroom: A Guide for Safety and Regulation, is set to launch in 2025.

Bethany says that something listeners might be surprised to learn about is that she did not have a great educational experience for her first eight years of school. Eventually, a personal family tragedy made Bethany realize she wanted to turn her life around and opened her eyes to helping kids who are struggling. Her personal philosophy is that all kids deserve the chance to be successful. 

Who She serves:

Most of the students Bethany works with are ones who have the most challenging behaviors. Her company, the Behavior Bootcamp, provides support to school districts for students who have significant behavior problems. Dr. B states that her organization works with students who are classified as tier 3 and beyond. They primarily work with this population and reintegrate them back into the classroom within 3 months, with a 92% success rate. 

Areas Taught:

Dr. B’s organization teaches educators how to make students feel physically and emotionally safe. They emphasize areas such as establishing trust, mirroring/labeling, and illusions of control. Bethany discusses how the ability to present empathy and confidence through her body features plays a significant role in helping build trust with kids very quickly. She often teaches educators about the “stance of safety”, which was developed by working with some of the best body experts to learn to read body language and determine how to interact with a student. Some of the body language emphasized for the “stance of safety” includes: thumbs pointed up to convey confidence, head tilted left to convey empathy, and the posture of your knees and feet to convey that you are listening. Dr. Bilodeau also talks about how she always fin