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Education World: What prompted you to write "I Am So Angry, I Could Scream"?

Laura Fox: I had been thinking a lot about anger in children and in my own life. I've noticed that in my own life anger has been a motivator to creating positive change. It occurred to me that we really don't talk to children about anger being a normal emotion that can be good in that it is often a signal that something is wrong. Anger itself is not bad, it's what we do with our anger that's key. My book encourages children to sit down with an adult and figure out a plan for dealing with the things in their lives that make them angry.

EW: What factors do you think impact the number of children today who are angry and don't know how to channel their anger?

About Laura Fox Laura Fox is a training coordinator and technical writer at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Fox: I have an M.A. in educational psychology and have worked with children in day care and summer camp settings. I've noticed that often adults try to get children to push down their angry feelings because they don't know how to help children work through those feelings. I'm very critical of the amount of violence in the media, especially television and video games. Too often the lesson learned is that anger and violence are viable ways to solve problems. We cannot be teaching this to our children. The National Institute on Media and the Family is an organization that gives helpful tips to parents on controlling the amount of television their children are watching.

EW: What kind of feedback about your book do you get from teachers?

Fox: At my book signings, I've gotten positive feedback from parents and educators. In addition, Robert Gordon, creator of the Never Be a Victim program, reviewed the book and has been recommending it to schools.

EW: How can classroom teachers apply the ideas in your book?

Fox: I think the book could be very useful to teachers. They could read the book with their students or assign the book to be read and then distribute copies of the anger chart for students to use when problems arise. They could hold class discussions about anger management, asking: What happened the last time you felt angry? What did you do? What could you have done? They could encourage problem solving and peer mentoring by asking other students to help come up with solutions to problems.

This e-interview with Laura Fox is part of the Education World weekly Wire Side Chat series. Click here to see other articles in the series.

Article by Ellen R. Delisio
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