Grade Levels: 

All grade levels.

Match: 

Students who are consistently exhibiting disruptive, disrespectful, and/or noncompliant behavior. Teacher mentors often recommend targeting your "toughest" student with 2x10.

Indicators of Success:

The goal is to see a reduction in the amount disruptive behaviors that you need to address as a teacher. One indicator of success is a reduction in minor behavior referrals (i.e., classroom managed behaviors that persisted despite efforts to get the student back on track).

How does it work?

1. Identify an at-risk student in your class to use the strategy with.

2. For 10 days in a row, spend at least 2 minutes a day talking with that student about anything they want to talk about. 

3. To accomplish this, just look for and seize natural opportunities during the school day. You're not pulling the student away from a task to corner them at your desk and force them to bond with you for exactly 120 seconds.

4. Don't overthink it. Learn by observation about what the student is interested in and also what they do NOT enjoy. Think about how their interests relate to yours. 

5. Use a mix of sharing about yourself, asking questions, and active listening. Be authentic about how much or how little you know about their interests. Once they realize that you sincerely care about them, they will open up more and more.