Behaviour Management

Behaviour management deserves a section of its own because it deals specifically with the behaviours (both desired and undesired) of students, which can serve as a big challenge for educators everywhere. Even the brightest and strongest students can act out and "misbehave" during class time, for a number of reasons. Apart from understanding what are the root causes of this misconduct, teachers must use a plethora of skills and strategies to prevent, minimize and react to undesired behaviors in the classroom. There are many different approaches to take, and deciding which one to follow through with depends on what kind of learning environment the teacher wants to reach.

Guidelines for Effective Behavior Management

Behavior management is a little bit like a game of Jenga: each piece is important and necessary for maintaining a positive classroom environment that allows learning to take place . Remove one piece and the entire system falls apart. Here are some general guidelines that can assist teachers in managing behavior for the entire class (bottom part of the behaviour management triangle to the right).

General Approach

Individual Approach - Difficult Cases

Additional Help - Very Tough Cases

The Process

Apart from the general approach, there will always be students in particular who display behaviors that are a little more difficult to deal with. In order to help these students grow, teachers can follow an individualized approach tailored to said student. Below is the overview of this individualized approach, with the different steps involved (middle section of the behaviour management triangle).

Students who display disruptive behaviors may have many emotions that they are trying to deal with and sort out, perhaps unsuccessfully. In fact, this might be the root cause of their negative behaviors because they don't know how to properly express their needs and emotions. I see this initial state of mind as a knot of frustrating and confusing emotions. By the end of the behaviour managament approach (seen to the right and below), students will hopefully have sorted out these emotions and will metaphorically untangle this knot of emotions to smoothly grow and learn.

Example of Individualized Approach

Profile: Attention-Seeking

Identify behavior: Student demonstrates disruptive behaviors by asking unrelentless questions that are unrelated to the lesson/activity in progress. When other students ask permission to get up/go to the bathroom/hand out papers, or when students complain of an illness/problem, this particular student immediately makes the same requests or complains about the same problems.
Desist behavior: Teacher asks the student to stop copying others and to only make requests to get up or leave the classroom when they are real needs for it. Desisting only puts a temporary stop to the disruptions, showing that the student’s behavior is recurring and might come from a deeper problem.
Finding root cause: Speaking to the student, finding out about home life, and speaking with the school psychologist might enlighten the teacher about the student's deeper problems. Getting to the root causes of disruptive behaviors also requires a trusting relationship between student and teacher. The student might not have much attention at home, which is why he/she needs it from the teacher. Or, the student might not have many friends or much attention from other students.
Change tactics: Consider putting into place longer lasting limitations and guidelines for this particular student. Perhaps test them out on a trial basis in order to see which strategies are most effective.
Decode student message: Consider that the student might be trying to express a more meaningful message to the teacher and only knows how to do so by acting out. This student might feel unnoticed and need external validation from the teacher in order to feel recognized and good about him/herself. Recurring behaviors usually have a coded message that the student wishes to express.
Enact a proactive plan: Discuss a plan of action with the student in order to help him/her grow as a learner and as a person. For attention seeking students, possibly implement limitations as to how many times a student can go the bathroom/get a drink of water. For example, a student can ask to leave class 3 times a day. Sticky stars can be placed on the student’s desk and each time he/she requests to leave, a star is given to the teacher. In order to give the student more meaningful attention, give him/her responsibilities in the classroom (ex: washing the board, handing out sheets, emptying the recycling, etc.) Student is recognized for doing something positive and helpful, which allows them to receive the attention he/she is seeking, but for positive actions instead of negative ones.

Strategies for the General Approach

The Jenga metaphor above represents the general set of strategies and procedures that can be used to manage student behaviour, but here's a closer look into some more specific strategies. I use these with the entire class, as they work for different types of learners.

Punitive vs. Positive Discipline

Conflict resolution/Problem solving

Positive

Enhances teacher-student relationsips
Teaches students what to do
Slowly stops the behaviour but in a more permanent way
Teaches students to recognize the positive first
Increases positive attitudes towards school and work
Does not provide immediate relief to the teacher

Punitive

Harms teacher student relationships
Teaches students what not to do
Rapidly puts a stop to the behaviour, but maybe only temporarily
Teaches students to recognize the negative first
Decreases positive attitudes towards school and work
Provides immediate relief to the teacher

In order for any classroom to be successful, interactions between students as well as between the teacher and the students should be positive as much as possible. Negative or punitive interactions should be minimized because they can sometimes encourage students act out and behave poorly. Here are some differences between pisitive and punitive measures.

As another way of managing behaviour, students should be given the skills to deal with problems and conflicts as they arise. If students do have such skills, they cannot be expected to know how to resolve social or emotional issues they may be having with other students. Below are some ways teachers can improve conflict resolution among students.

Create posters like the one to the left that can be used to remind students of the strategies they can use to solve problems. Display these posters in the classroom.
Name conflict managers in the class and playground (change students each month) who have the responsibility of acting as mediators between students, helping others to deal with problems, reporting back to the teacher, etc.
Hold conflict resolution workshops during which students act out possible scenarios, learn what to say during conflicts, learn about the reasons behind conflict resolution and understand exactly what strategis to employ.

Teaching Social Skills

Strategies for the Individual Approach

As all teachers should know, school is not only a place for students to learn academic skills, but also social skills. Hopefully, students learn social skills at home as well, but interacting with other students is what really introduces them to the social world. Students can benefit from extended instuction on social skills in order to learn about acceptable behaviours and to develop some of the life-long skills they are expected to acquire. Here are examples of such skills:

Taking turns
Using appropriate language
Respecting personal space
Sharing
Asking permission
Inviting others to participate
Identifying emotions in self and others and expressing emotions
Displaying control
Caring for physical appearance

Here is a general model that can be followed to teach social skills to the entire class or to smaller groups of students.

2. Teach, review, reteach

3. Model and role-play

4. Provide feedback/reminders

5. Transfer and generalize

1. Identify skill to focus on

Often, teachers must employ specific strategies to deal with different behaviour issues in the classroom. Here is a quick look at six possible behaviour issues and some suggested strategies that I've tried in my classroom.

Reducing Stimulation

Create a low- distraction seating area
Keep the student’s desk uncluttered
Adapt the classroom to reduce stimulation (ex: use velcro covers for bulletin boards)
Use earphones with relaxing music

Reinforcing Routines

Make the student aware of his or her timetable
Post timetables (with pictures) to show daily routines
Use a “buddy system” for travelling from class to class
Establish a routine for everything

Dealing with Overactivity

Provide squeeze balls to students
Send the student on a walk in the hallway
Use a rocking chair or floor cushions
Employ movement before and after activities
Build breaks into the schedule

Handling Outbursts

Anticipate and identify warning signs
Remove students from the classroom
Debrief the student after the incident
Teach a routine for preventing an outburst
Invite the student to help solve future problems
Avoid power struggles and put-downs
Determine the cause of the outburst

Dealing with Peer Problems

Teach disability awareness and bullying prevention to all children
Teach students how to make and keep friends
Ensure that staff members model acceptance and accept differences
Set up recess and noon-hour activities
Involve students in a social skills workshop

Addressing Recess Problems

Structure recess activities
Consider alternatives to recess (ex: use of computer room)
Ask a student to act as a buddy or helper during recess
Prepare students for recess by reviewing expectations
Develop a plan for handling emergency situations that occur on the playground

Reflections

This is yet another aspect of teaching that requires a lot of awareness on the teacher's part because if behavioural issues are not dealt with swiftly, they can impede learning as well as student progress. Behaviour issues, either big or small, will always arise in classrooms, since no child is always perfectly happy and pleasant. Therefore, I know that I need to put strategies in place to deal with these problems. I've also realized that I have to be knowledgeable about different behaviour disorders in children, because there are specific ways of handling problems, depending on the child's disorder. Of course, not all children who "act out" have behaviour disorders, but the more extreme cases may sometimes require specialized strategies.