Hugging Porcupines: Month-by-Month Strategies to Support Our Most Challenging Students

Insightful strategies for reaching and teaching our "porcupines"—those students who struggle in school and challenge us most.

We've all known students who disrupt class, break the rules, and try our patience. Deep down, we know they’re the ones who actually need extra love and support instead of time-outs or trips to the principal’s office. In Hugging Porcupines, veteran educator Mike Anderson offers practical strategies for supporting these porcupines so they can be as successful as possible, both in school and beyond.

Anderson walks readers month-by-month through the school year, sharing strategies for setting up routines at the start of school, getting back on track after holiday breaks, and finishing strong. He addresses how to

• Develop relationships slowly early on, strengthen them throughout the year, and bring them to a positive conclusion in the spring.
• Maintain, and even build, relationships through effective discipline.
• Connect with porcupines' families.
• Foster porcupines' interpersonal skills.
• Facilitate effective problem-solving conferences.
• Support new students when they arrive mid-year.
• Support students' transition to the next year.

Hugging Porcupines will deepen K–12 teachers' understanding of why porcupines struggle academically and behaviorally in school and equip them to provide more appropriate support.

Mike Anderson has been an educator for many years. A classroom teacher for 15 years, he has also coached swim teams, worked in preschools, and taught university graduate-level classes. In 2004, Anderson was awarded a national Milken Educator Award, and in 2005, he was a finalist for New Hampshire Teacher of the Year.

Now an independent education consultant, Anderson works with schools in rural, urban, and suburban settings throughout the United States and beyond. In 2020, he was awarded the Outstanding Educational Leader Award by NHASCD for his work as a consultant. Anderson is the author of many books about great teaching and learning, including Hugging Porcupines and the bestseller What We Say and How We Say It Matter.