CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

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CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

• Trudie Hughes

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Teachers Reflection

• Is this behavior developmentally appropriate?
• Do I focus on a behavioral excess or a
  deficiency?
• Will resolution of the problem solve anything
  else?

• Could this problem be a result of inappropriate
  curriculum or teaching strategies?
• What do I demand and prohibit?
• Why do certain behaviors bother me?

Kauffman, J. M. , Hallahan, D. P., Mostert, M.P.,
Trent, S.C., Nuttycombe, D.G. (1993). Managing
Classroom Behavior. Boston Allyn Bacon
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Good Teaching

• Instructional goals are clear
• Knowledgeable of content and strategies for
  teaching it
• Student expectations are clearly described
• Provide practice that enrich and clarify content
• Teach metacognitive strategies

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Good Teaching

• Knowledgeable about students abilities, adapt
  instruction according to their needs
• Monitor student progress
• Provide feedback
• Accept responsibility for student outcomes
• Are thoughtful and reflective about their
  practice

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Teacher Behaviors

• Provide frequent positive praise and
  reinforcement
• Ignore minor misbehaviors
• Reward positive behaviors
• Avoid power struggles with students
• Do students like being in the classroom?
• Students are achieving academic and social gain
• Provide clear expectations

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Teacher Behaviors Cont.

• Provide clear behavioral expectations - rules
  should state what students should do
• Teacher expectations should be high for all
  students
• Signal controlaudible or body language to cue
  student
• Blocking teacher moves between two students to
  interfere

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Selecting Rules

• Allow students to give input
• Base rules on acceptable behavior
• State rules positively
• Select 5 or 6 rules
• Select rules for academic and social behaviors
• Change rules when necessary
• Relate rules to IEP goals
• Consider cultural differences

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ABCs to Behavior Management

• Antecedent
• Behavior
• Consequences

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Defining Behavior

• Describe behavior objectively and precisely (not
  he irritates me)
• Can you observe the behavior when it begins and
  when it stops
• can you count the number of occurrences each day
• can you measure the duration of the behavior
• Can you observe what happens just before and just
  after it occurs

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Identifying Antecedents

• What are the events or conditions that
  immediately precede the problem behavior?
• Can you manipulate the antecedents to avoid the
  behavior? (e.g. providing choices for activities)

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Reading Antecedents

• Facial Expressions tight thin lips, clenched
  teeth, widened eyes with nostrils flared
• Body Posture head down, slumped shoulders,
  clenched hands, sucking or chewing
• Incidental Behavior rapid shallow breathing,
  sighing, kicking, mumbling, tearing paper,
  breaking pencils

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Identifying Consequences

• What does the student get out of the behavior?
• Are students getting attention, avoiding work,
  receiving stimulus, or enjoy seeing adults upset?

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Changing Behavior

• Provide instruction with simple and clear
  directions
• Gain students full attention before giving
  instructions
• Provide one instruction at a time - do not
  provide too many different instructions
• Monitor compliance - provide time limits
• Provide appropriate consequences for compliance

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Behavior Management Techniques

• Positive Reinforcement
• Negative Reinforcement
• Extinction
• Response Cost Punishment
• Proximity Control
• Decontamination

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Positive Reinforcement

• The positive reinforcement must be rewarding to
  the student
• The reinforcers must be contingent on the
  behavior you want to increase
• The reinforcers should be delivered immediately
• Provide appropriate units of rewards for the
  expected unit of behavior

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Negative Reinforcement

• Definition reinforcing a behavior by removing or
  preventing something unpleasant - allows the
  individual to escape or avoid a negative
  consequence
• Not recommended as a prominent part of classroom
  management
• negative reinforcement relies on the presence or
  threat of negative consequences
• deliberate negative reinforcement sets the stage
  for coercion/intimidation

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Extinction

• To eliminate a behavior - you eliminate its
  reinforcement, the behavior no longer produces
  the desired effect (positive or negative)
• Disadvantages slow process and when extinction
  procedures are first implemented, the behavior
  will likely become worse before better

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Response Cost

• The behavior costs something by withholding or
  withdrawing a positive reinforcer contingent on
  a specific misbehavior
• Example students receive 10 tokens at the
  beginning of class, every time a problem behavior
  occurs, the teacher gets 1 token back. The tokens
  can be exchanged at the end of the day or class
  for free time.

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Proximity Control

• Visual - visually monitor student activity from
  any position in the classroom
• Physical - teacher positions her/himself close to
  each student to inhibit antecedent

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Decontamination

• Preventive action by inspecting classroom for two
  types of objects
• Distractors entice students to engage in
  off-task behaviors (e.g. toys, slide projectors,
  hazards exposed wires, broken windows
• Potential Weapons letter openers, knives, broom
  handle, hammer and yard stick

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Informal Interventions

• Attention for compliance - verbal praise
• Use social praise consistently
• Provide praise only to students who earn it
• Ignoring only appropriate when
• the target behavior is temporarily tolerable
• the target behavior is under the influence of a
  reinforcer that you can control

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Structured Interventions

• Group Consequences
• Individual Consequences
• Individual Contracts
• Self Management

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Group Consequences

• Provide a set of behavior rules or expectations
• Determine the interval of time for the
  contingency - the longer the interval, the more
  valuable the reward
• Provide a menu of choices to avoid satiation
• Develop a record keeping system
• Determine criterion for reinforcement

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Individual Consequences

• Surprise Tokens reinforcers are delivered at
  times that are not predictable by students
• Random Drawing students place their name on a
  piece of paper and place into a jar when they
  comply to rules, at the end of the day, conduct a
  drawing for prizes

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Individual Contracts

• An agreement between the teacher and the student
  about a desirable change in behavior
• Parts of the contract
• The parties to the contract
• The target behavior
• The goal for the target behavior
• The time period for the contract
• The reward available for meeting the terms
• The penalty for failing to honor the contract

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Self Management

• Behavioral Definition help the student choose a
  behavior to monitor
• Teach the student to record behavior
• Event recording
• Permanent Product recording
• Teach the student how to plot the data
• Teach the student how to apply self-reinforcement
• Use contracts to provide structure

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Identifying Coercive Interactions

• Starts with an antecedent that is aversive and
  the student tries to escape or avoid the
  activity.
• Two parties are trying to control each other.
• How do these interactions start?
• At what point could I avoid the process by
  disengaging from it?
• How could I start a different interaction that
  does not end in a power struggle?
• How could I try to replace coercive interactions
  with ones ending in positive consequences?

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Teacher Stress

• Burnout Symptoms
• Feeling of boredom, overwork, emotional
  exhaustion, and fatigue
• Development of negative, cynical, or
  depersonalizing attitudes toward students
• Lack of sense of accomplishment from the job

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Managing Teacher Stress

• Time management
• Student behavior
• Interpersonal relationships
• Role expectations
• Personal concerns

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Poor Time Management

• Uncontrolled rushing
• Chronic vacillation between unpleasant
  alternatives
• Fatigue with many hours of unproductive activity
• Constantly missed deadlines
• Insufficient time for rest and personal
  relationships
• Sense of being overwhelmed

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Time Management Techniques

• Self-Management
• Time analysis
• Goal setting
• Prioritization
• Delegation
• Action

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Interpersonal Concerns

• Poor staff relations
• Insufficient opportunities for professional
  growth
• Administrative ineffectiveness
• Lack of recognition

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Role Expectations

• Teachers often set expectations around being
  liked, helpful, and in control
• Role ambiguity confusion of the scope and
  specific responsibilities of the job
• Role conflict discrepancy between teachers
  perception of the job and the perceptions of
  significant others

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Personal Solutions

• Relaxation
• Compartmentalized Thinking separation between
  work and personal life
• Detached Concern do not dwell on things over
  which you have no control
• Personal Time
• Cognitive Restructuring focus on strengths not
  weaknesses