Classroom Interventions

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Classroom Interventions

• Major portions of the following material were
  developed by George Sugai and Rob Horner OSEP
  Funded Technical Assistance Center
• www.pbis.org
• In conjunction with
• The Iowa Behavioral Alliance (An Initiative of
  the Iowa Dept. of Education)
• www.rc4alliance.org
• Suzann Wilson and Joy Wiebers, Des Moines CSD

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Overview

• The intended audience is teachers, family
  members, staff, administrators and others
• Attention will be given to classroom practices
  that promote academic gains as well as those
  practices that promote behavioral gains

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Objectives

• Identify the classroom management variables that
  are most likely to improve the classroom as a
  learning environment
• Identify at least one thing you will do in your
  own classroom next week
• Identify actions for a school-wide team to
  improve the quality of classroom management
  throughout the school

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• Link classroom to school-wide
• School-wide expectations
• Classroom v. office managed rule violations
• Focus on classroom systems if
• More than 50 of referrals are from classroom
  settings

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Focusing on Classroom Behavior will. . .

• Improve general classroom and school climate
• Decrease dependence on reactive disciplinary
  practices (ODRs)
• Maximize impact of instruction to affect academic
  achievement
• Improve behavioral supports for students with
  emotional and behavioral challenges

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Classroom Setting Systems

• Classroom-wide positive expectations taught
  encouraged
• Teaching classroom routines cues taught
  encouraged
• Ratio of 6-8 positive to 1 negative adult-student
  interaction
• Active supervision
• Redirections for minor, infrequent behavior
  errors
• Frequent precorrections for chronic errors
• Effective academic instruction curriculum

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Guiding Principles

• Remember that good teaching is one of our best
  behavior management tools
• Active engagement
• Positive reinforcement
• Pre-correction

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Guiding Principles, cont.

• Apply the tiered prevention logic to classroom
  setting
• Primary for all
• Secondary for some
• Tertiary for a few

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Designing School-Wide Systems for Student Success
1-5
1-5
5-10
5-10
80-90
80-90
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Prevention / Pre-Correction

• Correction procedures are designed to stop
  inappropriate behavior
• Teachers should always pre-correct when problem
  behavior is likely
• Remember
• Minor behaviors can lead to more serious behavior
• Lots of minor behaviors can be as destructive to
  a building as the less occurring major behavior

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Invest in Appropriate Behavior

• Define and teach 3-5 expectations for your
  classroom early in the year.
• Positively stated expectations
• Easy to remember
• Posted in the classroom
• Consistent with School-wide rules/expectations
• Taught Directly
• Positive and negative examples
• Examples
• Be safe, Be responsible, Be respectful
• Respect others, Respect property, Respect self

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Establish a Predictable Environment

• Define and teach classroom routines
• How to enter class and begin to work
• How to predict the schedule for the day
• Establish a signal for obtaining class attention
• Teach effective transitions

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Designing Classroom Routines
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Teach Students to Self-Manage

• Once students know the routines, allow routine
  initiation to be prompted by normal events (the
  bell completion of an assignment) rather than
  teacher prompts
• Teach self-management
• The target behavior
• The self-management behavior
• Prompts
• Consequences

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Establish a positive environment

• Five instances of praise for every correction
• Begin each class period with a celebration
• Your first comment to a child establishes
  behavioral momentum
• Engelmann, Mace, interspersed requests
• Provide multiple paths to success/praise
• Group contingencies, personal contingencies, etc.

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Design a Functional Physical Layout for the
Classroom

• Different areas of classroom defined for
  different activities
• Define how to determine what happens where
• Traffic patterns
• Groups versus separate work stations
• Visual access
• Teacher access to students at all times
• Student access to relevant instructional
  materials
• Density
• Your desk

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Maximize Engaged Time

• Efficient transitions
• Self-management
• Active supervision
• Move
• Monitor
• Communication/Contact/Acknowledge

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Match Curriculum to Student Skills

• Failure as a discriminative stimulus for problem
  behavior.
• 70 success rate.
• Young learners versus experienced learners
• How can we teach with success and still teach the
  required curriculum?
• Monitor and adapt
• Maintain instructional objective, but adjust the
  curriculum/instruction
• The art of curricular adaptation (strategies)
• Have fun

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Instruction Influences Behavior

• Pacing
• Opportunities for student responses
• Acquisition vs Practice/Performance
• Joe Wehby
• Phil Gunter
• Student feedback from teacher
• Vary modes of instruction
• Group
• Lecture
• Independent assignment

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Teacher has System to Request Assistance

• Teachers should be able to identify need for
  assistance and request help easily
• Teacher request for assistance form

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Classroom and School-Wide Rules

• Be clear about what behaviors are to be dealt
  with in the classroom vs. those that should be
  sent to the office
• Balance need of individual student with problem
  behavior against needs of other students
• Maintain academic engagement
• Plan ahead

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Responding to Problem BehaviorsImmediate
Responses

• Control yourself first
• Do not try to control students through your
  emotions
• Avoid injury, destruction
• Redirect to desired behavior
• Reward correct behavior in others
• Provide function-based responses
• Isolate attention-maintained behavior to minimize
  escalation
• Lab el and redirect escape-maintained behavior
• Define behavioral options (choice)
• Think time (an example) Ron Nelson et al.,
• Avoid the coercive dance
• Define what you expect, and leave

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Responding to Problem Behaviors Programmatic
(Systems) Response

• Programmatic (Systems) Response
• Assume that any problem that happens once will
  happen again
• Functional assessment
• Develop plan of support
• Request assistance

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Instruction - Teach behavioral skills like you
teach academic skills

• Describe
• Model
• Role Play/Practice
• Feedback
• Transfer of Training

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Describe the skill

• Define the skill
• Give a rationale
• Discuss characteristics
• When to use
• Cues for recognizing situations
• Discuss the steps
• Give examples

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Model

• Shows what to do
• Use 2 examples
• Use relevant situations and actors
• Show positive outcomes
• Model one skill at a time

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Role Play/Practice

• Rehearsal of steps
• Student gives a situation
• Student picks a co-actor and
• describes the scene
• Skill steps are reviewed
• Student thinks aloud
• All participants have a role
• Group leader assists

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Feedback

• Provides opportunity for student to know what was
  right, what was wrong, and how to fix it
• Student listens to all comments
• Starts with partner, then observers, then leader
• Performance of steps
• How to improve
• Leader gives social reinforcement

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Transfer of Training

• Most critical and hardest
• Homework
• Cue during real situations
• Provide feedback about performance
• Practice as necessary

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The Goal

• Goal have students perform skill without having
  to think about it.
• This is a gradual process.
• It takes considerable time to match effort to
  what one wishes.
• New strategies must be over learned.

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Activity 12 minIdentify Routines

• What are 3 routines common across classrooms in
  your school?
• What is ONE example of how to establish effective
  student behavior within a routine?
• What is a PROCESS you might use with your faculty
  to define and share effective examples?
• 1-min reports.

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Increasing Positive Student Behavior

• Guidelines for Effective Praise
• State the appropriate behavior
• Provide praise immediately
• Vary statements of praise
• Avoid giving praise continuously or without
  reason
• Be consistent when praising a target behavior
• Be consistent to avoid confusion
• Use developmentally appropriate language

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Teach Students to Self-Manage

• Once students know the routines, allow routine
  initiation to be prompted by normal events (the
  bell completion of an assignment) rather than
  teacher prompts.
• Teach self-management
• The target behavior
• The self-management behavior
• Prompts
• Consequences

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Classroom and School-wide Rules

• Be clear about what behaviors are to be addressed
  in the classroom versus those that should be
  addressed in the office.
• Balance needs of individual students with problem
  behavior against needs of other students.
• Maintain academic engagement of all students
• Plan ahead with support from other teachers

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1. Minimize crowding distraction

• Design environment to elicit appropriate
  behavior
• Arrange furniture to allow easy traffic flow.
• Ensure adequate supervision of all areas.
• Designate staff student areas.
• Seating arrangements (classrooms, cafeteria, etc.)

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2. Maximize structure predictability

• Teacher routines volunteers, communications,
  movement, planning, grading, etc.
• Student routines personal needs, transitions,
  working in groups, independent work, instruction,
  getting, materials, homework, etc.

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3. State, teach, review reinforce positively
stated expectations

• Establish behavioral expectations/rules.
• Teach rules in context of routines.
• Prompt or remind students of rule prior to
  entering natural context.
• Monitor students behavior in natural context
  provide specific feedback.
• Evaluate effect of instruction - review data,
  make decisions, follow up.

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4. Provide more acknowledgements for appropriate
than inappropriate behavior

• Maintain at least 4 to 1
• Interact positively once every 5 minutes
• Follow correction for rule violation with
  positive reinforcer for rule following

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5. Maximize varied opportunities to respond

• Vary individual v. group responding
• Vary response type
• Oral, written, gestural
• Increase participatory instruction
• Questioning, materials

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6. Maximize Active Engagement

• Vary format
• Written, choral, gestures
• Specify observable engagements
• Link engagement with outcome objectives

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7. Actively Continuously Supervise

• Move
• Scan
• Interact
• Remind/precorrect
• Positively acknowledge

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8. Respond to Inappropriate Behavior Quickly,
Positively, Directly

• Respond efficiently
• Attend to students who are displaying appropriate
  behavior
• Follow school procedures for major problem
  behaviors objectively anticipate next
  occurrence

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9. Establish Multiple Strategies for
Acknowledging Appropriate Behavior

• Social, tangible, activity, etc.
• Frequent v. infrequent
• Predictably v. unpredictably
• Immediate v. delayed

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10. Generally Provide Specific Feedback for
Errors Corrects

• Provide contingency
• Always indicate correct behaviors
• Link to context

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Self-Assessment

• Review classroom self-assessment checklist
• Consider option of using classroom
  self-assessment with your whole faculty
• Smallest change that will produce largest effect
• Strategy that will be most helpful to the most
  people

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Think-pair-share

• What is one thing you will do differently next
  week to improve academics or behavior in your
  classroom?

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Summary

• Establish classroom expectations and routines
• Match curriculum to skill level
• Solicit student responses at a high rate
• Praise early, praise often
• Do not ignore problem behaviors
• Consistent, planned consequences
• Individualize based on function of problem
  behavior
• Monitor student behavior continuously
• Vary modes of instruction

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Thank you

• Appreciation to Dr. Rob Horner, University of
  Oregon.
• Appreciation to George Sugai, University of
  Connecticut.
• For more information please contact
  www.rc4alliance.org