What is the term for when a learner is engaging in disruptive behaviors and is offered something preferred to stop?

• Module
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• Initial Thoughts
• Perspectives & Resources
• Wrap Up
• Assessment

What should teachers understand about effective classroom behavior management?

Be prepared! Before school begins, teachers should plan how they will manage student behavior. Those who do so tend to encounter fewer behavior problems throughout the school year. Take some time to identify situations, events, and even specific actions that might prompt disruptive behaviors and strategize ways to anticipate and address them. For example, Ms. Rollison believes that her students might be energetic and disruptive as they enter the classroom. To address this issue, she posts an activity on the board for her students to complete before class begins. This not only prevents potential disruptive behavior but it also helps the students get ready for instruction.

Listen as Melissa Patterson discusses the benefits of early planning.

Melissa Patterson
High School Teacher

(time: 1:00)

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Transcript: Melissa Patterson

As a veteran teacher, going in every year with an idea of how I want my classroom to run or the plan that I have to regulate behavior in the classroom helps me feel more comfortable starting off the year. As a new teacher, I went in very nervous and uncomfortable, but not just the experience, but knowing that it has worked in the past, knowing that going in with that strong foot and how that affects the classroom, the learning environment, the students’ comfortability, not just mine, makes me confident no matter what I’m going into teach. And I think that it sets up a classroom that students are more competent. I teach 9th- and 10th-graders, and they’re coming in scared. They don’t know what to expect. And so if they walk into a classroom that already has a plan made that the teacher already knows can be successful, I think it gives them that level of comfortability to be able to go in and actually learn.

Keep in Mind

It’s important for all relevant stakeholders (e.g., paraprofessionals, related service providers, family members) to be aware of the comprehensive behavior management system implemented in the classroom. Students who receive a consistent message regardless of who is delivering it and where in the school environment it is delivered are more likely to understand the expectations and consequences of their behavior.

Many students have experienced inconsistent and unpredictable responses from adults when exhibiting both appropriate and inappropriate behaviors. For this reason, students often see behavioral consequences as random and not connected to their actions. By responding to student behavior in a clear, consistent, and timely manner, teachers can make explicit and predictable connections between student behavior and teacher responses. This helps students become more responsible for their actions, which in turn results in fewer instances of disruptive behavior.

Listen as Michael Rosenberg discusses the importance of being consistent in the classroom.

Michael Rosenberg, PhD
Professor, Special Education, SUNY New Paltz
Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University

(time: 2:00)

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Transcript: Michael Rosenberg, PhD

Consistency in classrooms is important for a number of reasons, but one of the major reasons is that it helps create that caring, trustworthy classroom that students respond to. And in a sense, it’s where students can rely upon teachers who do what they say they are going to do. And building that sort of trust creates that positive classroom environment in which students succeed best. A second reason for consistency deals with locus of control. There are people who have an internal locus of control, and there are other people who have an external locus of control. By an internal locus of control, we mean that things that we do have an effect upon the environment. We believe that we make things happen. Unfortunately, there are a number of our students who have that external locus of control—and these are students that often have learning and behavioral issues—who believe that no matter what they do, there is unpredictability in terms of the responses that happen within the environment. So, whether they behave appropriately or inappropriately, they don’t know whether they’re going to get a positive response or a negative response. They will just choose to behave randomly or behave in ways that they can get the most out of things. By being consistent, we help those students develop a more internal locus of control because they can link their behaviors to things that happen to them within the classroom. So it’s not only just a nice thing to be consistent but it really helps in the development of appropriate behavior.

Did You Know?

Students of color experience disproportionately higher rates of disciplinary referrals and harsher penalties than their white peers. This inequity is believed to be related to a lack of culturally responsive or culturally sustaining behavior management practices.

To learn more about equitable behavior management from the Center on Positive Behavior and Intervention Supports (PBIS), click here.

Effective teachers focus on promoting desired classroom behaviors rather than reacting to disruptive or undesired behaviors as they occur. They do this by using positive behavior management strategies (e.g., consistent reinforcement of rules and procedures, behavior-specific praise, and supports during transitions) rather than negative responses (e.g., reprimands). By increasing appropriate student behaviors, the teacher automatically decreases the instances of inappropriate behavior.

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behavior-specific praise

A positive statement directed toward a student or group of students that describes a desirable behavior in specific, observable, and measurable terms. Review this IRIS Fundamental Skill Sheet for more information:

• Behavior-Specific Praise

Tip

Strive to create at least five positive interactions for every one negative interaction.

Listen as Michael Rosenberg describes how implementing the “I Caught You Being Good” strategy during the transition period between classes had a positive impact on both student and teacher behavior.

Michael Rosenberg, PhD
Professor, Special Education, SUNY New Paltz
Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University

(time: 3:03)

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Transcript: Michael Rosenberg, PhD

One of the more interesting things that we found in terms of helping schools get their behavior in line was something that happened in a middle school. Even though a number of teachers and administrators believed that the environment was basically positive, we found that the number of negative interactions among adults and kids was almost three to four times more than positive interactions. However, the adults in the building didn’t think that they were being negative. It was just the whole tumultuous nature of being in a busy middle school that teachers were unable to systemically behave positively towards kids because they had so much going on. So in this one middle school, the hallway behavior was just simply atrocious. Kids were banging lockers, banging into each other, knocking things over in between passing time from one class to the other. So we suggested that the middle school teachers implement a “Caught you being good” intervention during passing times, and simply what the teachers did is they got at the beginning of each week 10 cards that said “Caught you being good.” And let’s say there were 60 teachers and administrators in the building. That gave them six hundred specific instances where they were going to be able to see kids during the transition time and be able to recognize them for being good, and they would simply just give them this card and say “I really appreciate you doing the right thing in terms of this transition behavior.” What we found was that by having that prompt, teachers had six hundred positive interactions with kids. Hallway behavior improved greatly, and everyone attributed it to a simple behavior modification in which we were giving these cards, which eventually went into some sort of lottery type system where they would be able to go in to lunch first or some sort of appropriate school-wide recognition. But it wasn’t only a behavior modification method to improve the positive behavior of kids. It was sort of this almost insidious way of getting teachers to remember that they wanted to be positive with kids, so the cards served as a prompt of a way of getting six hundred positive interactions each week.

For Your Information

A core component of high-quality instruction is data-based decision making. Collecting data allows teachers to assess current practices and, if necessary, make strategic adjustments to facilitate desired student behavior and learning. Data collection should be completed as conveniently as possible and integrated with instruction.

Students who are bored or not appropriately challenged are more likely to engage in disruptive behavior. Likewise, students who do not feel supported or who find the curriculum too difficult are more likely to engage in disruptive behavior. Repeated failure with academic content leads to frustration, especially when a student’s academic challenges are noticed by their peers. Some students find it preferable to “act out” than appear inadequate. And these are just some of the reasons that high-quality instruction is essential to effective classroom behavior management.

When they develop high-quality instruction, teachers should consider the diverse needs of all learners and be prepared to provide supports and accommodations, as needed, to maintain their engagement. When teachers provide appropriately challenging and engaging instruction and learning activities, students are less likely to engage in disruptive behavior. To learn more about addressing students’ diverse learning needs, visit the following IRIS Modules:

• Universal Design for Learning: Creating a Learning Environment that Challenges and Engages all Students
• Differentiated Instruction: Maximizing the Learning of All Students
• Accommodations: Instructional and Testing Supports for Students with Disabilities

Keep in Mind

Just like anyone else, students have bad days. That’s okay and even natural. When bad days do happen, be sure to let the student or students start the next day with a clean slate. This is especially important for students who have experienced repeated failure and who might now feel defeated. Offering students the opportunity to make positive choices each day can motivate them to engage in more appropriate behaviors.

Students engage in challenging behaviors for a reason. In other words, the behavior serves a purpose (you’ll often hear this referred to as a “function,” as in “the function of the behavior”). In many cases, challenging behaviors are simply a way—inappropriate though it may be—for a student to either obtain something desired (e.g., attention, a tangible item) or avoid something not preferred (e.g., an unwanted task or activity). Although these behaviors can be physically and emotionally draining and negatively impact instructional time, teachers with this understanding do not take students’ behavior personally or hold it against them. Instead, they realize that students must be taught how to behave appropriately and be given positive reinforcement when they do so. They also understand that behavior change takes time and that along the way students may engage in disruptive behavior.

Listen as Michael Rosenberg discusses how to address challenging behaviors in a professional and productive manner. Next, listen as Angela Mangum emphasizes the importance of giving students a fresh start each day.

Michael Rosenberg, PhD
Professor, Special Education, SUNY New Paltz
Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University

(time: 1:13)

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Angela Mangum
High School Teacher

(time: 2:05)

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Transcript: Michael Rosenberg, PhD

One of the hallmarks of being a successful teacher is to maintain your professionalism, and that really brings up what does it mean to be a professional? Unfortunately, we’ve seen some teachers who get caught up in the anger of situations when dealing with kids and sometimes even with their parents. But a true professional understands and recognizes that their role is to be educative and not vindictive. We as professionals don’t need to get the last word in. As professionals in dealing with troubling behavior, challenging behavior, disruptive behavior, we need to recognize what the problem is, determine what the function of that behavior is, and sometimes just to sort of say to ourselves, aha, I know where this is coming from. I’m not going to respond to this. Even though this student is acting up and in my face, I’m going to keep control of my emotions, and to behave in a consistent, productive, and effective way.

Transcript: Angela Mangum

I think when you can have this relationship where you’re saying I care about you, I care about your learning, and that’s why I’m going to hold you to these standards. I’m making you do this activity because I care about you and your learning. I want you to be successful. And for that to happen, we have to do X, Y, Z. And then when behavior issues come up, you can say this behavior isn’t you or it’s not appropriate and then ask them what’s going on today and try to figure out is it a bad day, and they just need to have a bad day and you let them go, or is it something that’s going to be a consistent problem, in which case you have your system in place? You can follow those steps. But then again you can’t give up on that kid. If they are stuck on having a bad day every day, you as the teacher or the adult, you need to remember that it’s up to you to show them grace and remind yourself and remind them that every day is a fresh start. Last class we got into it. You weren’t happy with me, and I wasn’t happy with you. But today we’re going to build that relationship up again. And I’m still here to help you. I haven’t written you off. It still matters. Your learning is still important. When behaviors happen—and they will happen—you have to come in with a fresh start every day. And I think that gives students this full picture of you as a teacher. You are consistently there for helping them. You are consistently there to guide them. No matter what their behavior is, you have to be the bigger person and come back in, helpful and kind and greeting them at the door, whether you want to or not. And that’s going to help eliminate those behaviors, because if they do it over and over again you’re still treating them the same. And eventually they might realize they won’t get anywhere with that behavior.

Returning to School

For more tips, view the following resource:

Care for Caregivers: Tips for Families and Educators

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