Ross Woods, 2019
This little e-boook contains some of the basic tenets of promoting positive student behavior in the elementary school. Hopefully in time, future editions will contain more information, and a follow-up volume will contain responses to unsatisfactory behaviour.
In its purest form, behaviorism is the idea that learning is simply the acquisition of new behaviors. Acquisition of new behaviors depends on conditioning, that is, a certain stimulus will produce a specific response. To control and reinforce behavior, you should reinforce good responses with rewards. In behaviorism, "reinforcement" means that a positive stimulus is applied to make a particular behavior more habitual and automatic:
Behavior → Positive response → Reinforced behavior
The opposite is also true. If a negative stimulus is applied, such as disapproval, the particular behavior is reduced or discontinued.
Reinforcement is more powerful when:
It it more effective to tell students what to do than to tell them "Don’t." Try to issue at least three positives to each negative comment or reprimand. For example, recognise three students doing the right thing before redirecting a student who is not.
Use the principle of "decreasing frequency." For example, if students learn something new this morning, it will stick better if you give a reinforcement later today, then again tomorrow, next week, next month, and next semester. But if students don’t get a reinforcement until next month or next semester, the new behavior is probably lost and will have to learned again from scratch.
Remember – People tend to cease a behaviour if it is not reinforced in some way.
FPBC
Facts | Strategies |
---|---|
Behaviour is learned. | When students regularly misbehave, the teacher’s role is to help those students learn more productive and responsible behaviour. |
Context influences behaviour. | Change the student’s behaviour by altering some aspects of the classroom context. |
Misbehaviour serves a purpose for each student. | Enable students to find more socially acceptable ways of belonging. |
MSB
Feedback is often either descriptive or evaluative. Descriptive feedback is preferable because it gives specific information on what behaviour is desirable or undesirable.
Some characteristics of helpful, non-threatening feedback are as follows:
FPBC, Module 4.
Rewards can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic rewards come directly from the task, such as satisfaction or enjoyment. Extrinsic rewards comes from somewhere else, and might take the form of peer approval or getting a prize. Both kind of rewards reinforce behaviors, but intrinsic rewards are stronger.
Intrinsic rewards are best for small victories where something is learnt quickly and easily, or when students have been doing the task for a long period and have gained confidence. Extrinsic rewards work better for students who are struggling with a task and see it as unpleasant.
This is analogous to the idea of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the students’ personal satisfaction or enjoyment in the task. An extrinsic motivation is a desire to get something (a prize or approval) that is not related to the task itself.
FPBC, Module 4.
If possible, use intrinsic or social reinforcements by preference. ‘By pairing the tangible reinforcer with praise, the praise eventually takes on reinforcing qualities. When praise becomes a reinforcer, the teacher may begin to switch from tangible to social reinforcers.’ (Sprick:1981, p.6.)
FPBC, Module 4.
Rewards don' t have to cost anything, but they need to be age-appropriate and viewed as valable by your students.
* Start collecting items such as date books from stationery stores, balloons, pencils, key chains, etc. Look for these items at teacher conventions, new store or bank openings, etc.
FPBC, Module 4.
For some aspects managing student behavior, the law will set limits on what you may do.
The first is duty of care, that is, your responsibilites to keep students safe while they are in your care. These laws set standards for your responsibilities, and define what you can be sued for.
The second is assault. Some forms of physical discipline can be classified as assault in certain circumstances. The current trend is to consider emotional and sexual abuse. However, physical contact with a student is not sufficient by itself to be an assault; many schools allow teachers to have some physical contact with students and most schools have rules about how much they may have.
The board (or perhaps the school district) sets the overall policy for the school's behavior management. Policy is a set broad parameters of what must and must not be done. Policies always seek to ensure that the school and its employees comply with legal requirements. Policy might take the form of overall principles or of specific procedures on what to do in specific kinds of cases.
The school principal oversees the implementation of policy and is responsible for setting the tone of the whole school. This includes establishing a positive school culture, and supervising teachers, ensuring that each one has an effective plan in place and coaching them in skills. Teachers can refer the most difficult cases to the principal.
In larger secondary schools, the principal sets the tone and culture of the school, Heads of Department oversee their teachers, while the Deputy Principal has overall responsibiity for discipline. Teachers might be able to refer the most difficult cases to the Deputy Principal.
Teachers' meetings normally decide on the specific implementation throughout the school and ensure that each teacher knows what they are supposed to be doing. If they make policy, it is usually quite procedural and implementational.
Teachers are responsible for their own classes. In some schools, teachers are left to run the class as they wish on the assumption that they are fully trained professionals. "When the door shuts, you’re the teacher."
In other schools, junior teachers (especially new teachers), have a coach who can help them to improve their skills and monitor their progress. The coach is usually a senior, more experienced teacher.
The parents are often the key to success. Managing student behavior is easier when the parents are well disciplined individuals with high educational aspirations and a supportive attitude. On the other hand, parents who have their own behavior problems can seriously impede the school’s behavior management strategy.
Consequently, school leaders and teachers need to gain parental support for the school's behaviour management strategy, which takes place in different ways. First, the principal sets the behavior management direction for the whole school. Second, teachers need to gain parents' support during parent-teacher conferences.
As a teacher, your role is to set an example as leader that gains students’ respect. The first element is to set an example in your clothes, speech and attitude.
For some students, you might might become one of the most influential role models in their lives. In other cases, you will represent their image of an educated professional and shape their aspirations. Being a role model can be even more significant if students have a difficult home life, or come from a background with low career aspirations.
It is a mistake to do things to try to get students to like you. As a teacher, your role is not to be the students’ friend. Paradoxically, if you do well in your role as a teacher and provide a positive learning environment, you will find that most students will probably like you anyway.
The biblical view is that the teacher is a person in authority and has the right to be in control of the class. The teacher is also a shepherd who guides students to do what is right and prevents them from danger.
D. Sokolowski.
If you enjoy children, being a teacher is often enjoyable for both you and your students. They can be funny, clever, curious, and cute. You’ll see them develop and their talents bloom. You’ll find a few who are extremely exasperating. Oddly enough, some teachers don’t like children, which probably makes their lives as teachers very unenjoyable.
Students enjoy an environment that is positive and welcoming, and has clear rules that are applied fairly and consistently. Lots of children actually like school even when it’s not cool to admit it. Students find safety in predictable routines in a familiar location where they know what to do and how to do it. They know which classroom is their classroom, and can socialize with other children.
For some, a most important aspect is that they feel safe. Safety might mean free of being bullied, and for some, free of the dangers of home life where they must navigate the erratic moods of their parents.
You still need to be stern. First, you will probably have some students who exasperate you, but losing your temper denigrates your role. Second, the interesting paradox is the child who does something very clever and funny, but also very naughty. If you laugh, students will view it as approval. You still need to be stern. Third, children will sometimes do something extremely embarrassing. Laughing at the student will come across as humiliation, which the student will probably remember for as long as you are their teacher.
At the beginning of the school day and after every recess, train students to line up outside the classroom. Wait until they calm down before letting them enter the classroom. This sends the message that the classroom is a place for orderly behavior.
Before the school year starts, set up your room with appropriate posters and decorations. Everything needs to have a purpose that fits the age of your students and your educational goals.
Consider:
CCS.
Based on Clay (n.d.) and CCR.
Start the school year with high standards and normalise them. It is easy to lighten up later if you need to, for example, fun activities leading up to Christmas. However, if you start with low standards, you normalise them and it is most impossible to raise them later on.
Start on the first day of year with each new class. Implement your plan. Get in first in setting high expectations, and explain them well, with concrete examples. For most topics, it’s explaining "how things work here" and the tone of the discussion can be quite positive.
Use your rules consistently, and be strict in getting compliance. At first you will need to remind students often, consider concrete examples, and give correction. This will set the tone and establish a culture within the group where every students knows what is expected of them and becomes accustomed to doing it consistently. They will learn to monitor their own behavior, and will find it easy to identify other students who are out of line. Students joining the class late will be able to identify the culture of the group and adjust.
You will find that some students will test the boundaries. They will respect you if you are fair and consistent in maintaining the boundaries. And if they know they can’t get away with it, they are less likely to repeat the behavior. The opposite is also true; they will have less respect for you if they know that they can stretch the boundaries, and it is also more likely that they will repeat the behavior.
Positive interactions with students support effective classroom management. They also tend to increase respect for the teacher and build a personal relationship. To a great extent, your ability to enjoy being with your students depends on having positive cultures in your school and your class.
You might find that some things are counter-intuitive. For example, some students might be quiet and inconspicuous, not particularly likeable, or usually badly behaved. Yet teachers should also give positive feedback to these students if they are behaving well right now.
Our self-concept is the core of our identity, the conscious perceptions we have of ourselves and how we think we are perceived. It is composed of all the beliefs and attitudes we have of ourselves. These self-pictures determine who we think we are, what we do and what we can become.
Self-esteem is the way we feel about ourselves and expresses the value that we give to our self-concept. It is characterised by positive or negative feelings, and is expressed in the way we act. Our self-esteem can be either high or low, and fluctuates depending on recent experiences and interactions, and on the situations in which we find ourselves.
Teachers play a significant role is raising students’ self-esteem and building their confidence:
PDP.
You can’t learn essential listening skills by reading, but at least I can list some of them:
Give your student enough time to tell you what they want to say. Listen carefully and don’t rush in with advice; they need to feel that they are heard and that you understand. Most people find it easy to talk about themselves. Offloading their story to someone who listens carefully gives a sense of release, known as catharsis. Listening might be all you need to do; people don’t always want you to give solutions.
At first, they might avoid anything that casts them in a bad light and test whether you are a trustworthy listener. They won’t go further until they feel that they can trust you.
In other cases, you might take them further. You can ask probing questions, as long as you are gentle and keep listening. Help them to explore and unpack the topics they raise. You need to get a read on what is happening in the interaction without being judgmental. (Woods, 2:190.)When in active listening mode, you goal is to develop empathy. In this context, avoid actions that block empathy, such as criticising diagnosing, advising, moralising threatening, and reassuring. (FPBC, Module 1.)
Body language is a powerful communicator and can communicate most of your message. It is cost effective (actually free), does not take any extra time, and can be used across the class without interrupting your task.
If you are speaking, your body language needs to support your words. How? Either gain student's eye contact, or walk near them and stop at their desk. Smile. Use discrete finger signals (e.g. thumbs up), nods of approval, pat on shoulder if appropriate. Move on and scan back to class.
(Based on Clay, n.d.)
One of the most effective and constructive ways of responding to children's feeling-messages or problem-messages is the "door opener" or "invitation to say more". These are responses that do not communicate any of the listener's own ideas orjudgments or feelings, yet invite the child to share his own ideas, judgments or feelings. They open the door for the child, inviting them to talk. The simplest of these are such non-committal responses as:
These door-openers, or invitations to talk, can be springboards for another person’s communication. They encourage people to start or to continue talking. They also "keep the baIl" with the student. They don’t have the effect of you grabbing the ball away, as do messages of your own, such as asking questions, giving advice, teaching, moralizing, and so on. These door-openers keep your own feeling and thoughts out of the communication process.
The responses of children and adolescents to these simple door-openers will often surprise adults. Children feel encouraged to move in closer, open up, and pour out their feelings and ideas. Like adults, young people love to talk, and usually do when anyone extends an invitation.
These door-openers also convey acceptance of the child and respect for them as a person by telling the child, in effect:
Who doesn't react favourably to such attitudes? What adult doesn’t feel good when he is made to feel worthy, respected, significant, accepted, interesting? Children are no different.
Offer them a verbal invitation and then you’d betterjump back to get out of the way of the expressiveness and expansiveness. You might also learn something about yourself in the process.
(Based on MSB Program, n.d)
Encouragement is another form of positive behavior on your part.
What to do
(Clay, n.d.)
Points to consider
(MSB, N.d.)
(Hendrick, n.d.)
CCS. See Checklist for Classroom Setup.
CCR. See Checklist for classroom rules.
Checklist for classroom rules, Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL), Queensland Government. N.p., n.d.
Checklist for Classroom Setup. Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL), Queensland Government. N.p., n.d.
Clay, Sue. N.d. Adapted from Managing Challenging Behaviour — Module 3 (Training manual). In FPBC.
FPBC. See Fremantle Primary Behaviour Centre.
Fremantle Primary Behaviour Centre. N.d. “Behaviour Management in the Classroom: Managing Challenging Behaviour for Education Assistants: A Six Module Course.” Fremantle, WA.
Hendrick, Joanne. N.d. Cited in FPBC. Module 2.
Managing Student Behaviour—An Initiative of the Classroom-First Strategy 2008, Education Department of W.A Cited in FPBC.
MSB, Cited in FPBC.
Personal Development Program, New South Wales Department of Education. Adapted and cited in FPBC.
PDP. See "Personal Development Program."
Woods, Ross M. Recovery from Addiction: Residential care for people with Alcohol and Other Drugs Issues: A Handbook for Training Addiction Recovery Workers, Fresno, Ca. 2017.
See also
A school-wide approach to creating a safe, supportive and disciplined school
Effective teaching
(Links open new windows)
Behaviour management is intertwined with teaching in at least three ways
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