Student Behavior

Being a teacher we make thousands of decisions within a day.  We have seconds to decide how we manage student behavior. We are inundated with different actions throughout each day by students. 

Our decision-making process determines the classroom culture.  Will our room be one of chaos or will it be one of calmness and active learning?  

How we approach student behavior will answer this question. 

Marzano (2007) explains that we need to incorporate positive and negative consequences in regards to student behavior. We need to do more than punishing a student for their misbehavior.  Catch them being good.  Catch them being on task.  Acknowledge the students when we witness self-direction and correction. 

Marzano (2007)

continues to describe to acknowledge adherence and lack of adherence to classroom rules, procedures, and expectations.  There are  action steps:

Strategies that acknowledge adherence:

Steps 1-3

1. Use Simple Verbal and Nonverbal Acknowledgment
• Can be used to a class as  whole or students individually
• "I see everyone working on their graphs"
• Great job getting to circle time quietly
• Johnny, great work on that science lab.  Well Done!
2. Use Tangible Recognition When Appropriate
• Token System
• point system
• stickers for younger students
3. Involve the Home in Recognition of Positive Student Behavior
• phone calls
• emails
• notes home 
• certificates of good behavior

Strategies that acknowledge the lack of adherence:

  

Step  4.  Be With-It "Withitness"

• be aware of potential problems
• be quick to attend to those situations

According to Marzano there are four general actions that define what it means to have withitness.

1. Be Proactive
• establish norms, rules, procedures, and expectations from the get go
• reteach, review expectations as needed throughout the year
• have cues for students when you witness low-level incidences;  a look, close proximity, finger to mouth as to say "SHHHH", gently tap on a shoulder..or simply by tapping on the test paper if student is off task.  
2. Occupy the Entire Room
• physically and/or visually
• move around the room
• be visually aware of what is going on with all students
3. Noticing Potential Problems
• Using a Series of Graduated Actions
• Looking at the suspected students.
• Moving in the direction of students.
• Stopping the class and confronting the behavior.
4. Using a Series of Graduated actions

Step 5.  Use Direct-Cost Consequences

• Direct cost involves explicit and concrete consequences for inappropriate behavior.
• applied once a negative behavior has progressed beyond a point where it can be addressed by withitness. 
• Time Out
• Overcorrection
•  employed when a student has done something to damage class property
• For example: cleaning all art tables not just the one the student dumped the paint on

Step 6.  Use Group Contingency 

• holding the class as a whole responsible for the behavior of any and all members of the class   

Step 7.  Use Home Contingency 

Step 8. Have a Strategy for High-Intensity Situations

• Recognize the student is out of control
• Step back and be calm (self control)
• Listen Actively to the Student and Plan Action
• When the Student Is Calm, Repeat Simple Verbal Request

Action Step 9. Design an Overall Plan for Disciplinary Problems

• Glasser’s (1986) suggested approach 
•  List your typical reactions to student misbehavior.
•  Analyze the list and determine which of your behaviors are effective and which are not.
• Make an attempt to improve your relationship with disruptive students.
•  Meet with students and point out the specific behaviors that need to be curtailed.
• Make sure students understand and can describe the offending behavior.
•  If the offending behavior continues, help the student develop an explicit plan to curtail it. 
• Keep refining the plan as needed.
• If the offending behavior still persists, isolate the student from class until a renewed commitment is made on the part of the student.
• If the previous steps do not work, in-school suspension is the next step.
• The student is continually invited to develop and execute a plan.
•  If the student remains out of control, parents are called, and the student goes home for the day.
•  Students who do not respond to the previous steps are removed from school and referred to another agency.

A comprehensive plan such as the one described above needs to be in place from proactive procedures to possible removal of a student from the school.  There other educators that have thrown their hat into the pool of classroom management practices and strategies.  

The one I follow and have found to be effective in my classroom management is the Time to Teach method (Dahlgren, 2007).  There are five core components that are critical to building a positive classroom culture spending less time on correcting behavior and more time teaching. 

1.  Self-Control Strategies
2.  Classroom Design Techniques
3.  Teaching to Appropriate Behaviors
4.  Accurate and Timely Consequences
5.  Student Teacher Relationships

Self-Control Strategies:

• Learning calm is contagious and silence is powerful strategies
• Dealing with challenges on student time
• Personal space awareness
• Avoiding power struggles
• Diffusing challenges

Classroom Design Techniques

• Desk arrangements
• Ecological revisions
• Use of
  • color
  • scent
  • lighting
  • music

Teaching to Appropriate Behaviors

• Teaching to classroom rules
• Teaching to classroom routines
• Teaching to common or shared area expectations
• Teaching behaviors using the I do-we do-you do method

Accurate and Timely Consequences

• Refocus™ ~ eliminating 90% of classroom challenges
• Avoiding multiple warnings and repeated requests
• Using start-up and shut-down prompts

Student Teacher Relationships

• Connecting with kids
• Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR)
• Turning challenging students into allies

The component of Accurate and Timely Consequences is key to avoiding low-level incidences turning in high-level incidences.  The technique of REFOCUS eliminates warnings and repeated requests.  There is a decision-making process to warrant REFOCUS or not and the decision tree looks like this: 

Here is an example of our decision making process: If a student has a habit of tapping his pencil on the desk during the time to complete work quietly.  We have to decide if we are going to ignore, acknowledge, or correct this behavior.  We have to ask ourselves three questions in regards to this low-level incident:  Can I still teach?  Can he still learn?  Can the other still learn?  If I can answer YES to all these questions.  I ignore and continue teaching.  If anyone of these answers is a NO, I give a prompt.  If the student corrects himself I acknowledge the correction and continue teaching.  If the student does not correct himself, Steps of Refocus takes place.  

The following decision-making tree is an example of implementing both Marzano and Dahlgren's techniques in how to manage student behavior: 

References

Dahlgren, R., & Lattimer, M. (2007). Time to teach: classroom expectations. Hyden Lake, ID: The Center for Teacher Effectiveness.

Glasser, W. (1986). Control theory in the classroom. New York: Harper & Row.

Marzano, R. J. (n.d.). The Art and Science of Teaching: A Comprehensive Framework for EffectiveInstruction.