Insights

Michelle Roundy of the Elephant and the Teacher Podcast, and 2026 Wyoming Teacher of the Year,  talks with Hallie Carpenter, a school psychologist, CPS trainer, and implementation leader at Think:Kids, about Collaborative Problem Solving^® (CPS) and the mindset shift required to move beyond rewards, punishments, and compliance-based discipline.

Hallie shares how a failing behavior plan with a first-grade student forced her to confront the limits of traditional behaviorism and ultimately led her to CPS. Together, they explore why behavior is best understood as skill-based rather than willful, and how this reframe changes everything from how teachers regulate themselves to how students learn to problem-solve independently.

This conversation covers:

• What Collaborative Problem Solving actually is (and what it’s not)
• The five skill areas that drive behavior
• Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C—and when each matters
• Why regulation must come before problem-solving
• How CPS builds trust, communication, and long-term independence

Michelle weaves in her own experiences as a teacher and parent, illustrating how CPS provides language and structure for approaches that many educators intuitively feel but struggle to articulate or defend in systems driven by compliance.

This episode is for educators, parents, and leaders who are ready to stop asking “Why won’t they?” and start asking “What skills are missing—and how can we build them?”