Chapter 7: What will I do to recognize and acknowledge adherence and lack of adherence to classroom rules and procedures?

Consequences are the other side of rules and procedures.Positive influence should be recognized and acknowledge.

Consequences should be both positive and negative.In the classroom First week students identify the consequences that would be enforced for not

following rules and procedures.Students appreciate his straightforward and consistent approach.On Fridays a brief summary is provided of the perceptions of how well students followed the rules and procedures through the week.

Research and Theory Reinforcement involves straight positive consequences, recognizing adherence to rules and procedures.Punishment involves negative consequences, recognizing and evoking sanctions for lack of adherence to rules and procedures.Interventions to reduce disruptive behavior work in public school. Effectively managed reduce disruptive behavior. Healthy balance.If you reward people for things they are already doing by their own volition, they will begin to decrease their intrinsic motivation. If students’ attention becomes focused on external rewards as opposed to task in which they are engaged, their performance begin diminish.Rewards: to call their attention; simply for engaging; tied to behavior.The effect of reinforcement depends on the nature of the reinforcement used and especially on how it is presented. When used inappropriately, they can be detrimental to learning.A negative effect size is associated with a decrease in disruptive behavior.Reward not only with high grades, but also with verbal praise, public recognition, symbolic rewards, extra privileges or activity choices, or material rewards.Token economies appear most powerful if chits are awarded for positive behavior and taken away for negative behavior.Withitness: aware of what is happening in all parts of the classroom at all times. Continuing scanning the room.Direct and concrete consequences for misbehavior. Overcorrection is used when students misbehave in such a way that destroys some physical aspect of the classroom. Fixing every book, not just his one.Group contingency: every student in the groups to meet the behavioral criterion appears to be particularly useful.Home contingency bringing parents into the management process.Notifying parents about students’ positive behaviors is typically ranked quite high by students as a reward for positive behavior.Notifying parents about negative behaviors is commonly ranked high as a powerful deterrent by students.

Actions stepsStrategies that acknowledge adherence to rules and procedures.

Action step 1. Use simple verbal and nonverbal acknowledgement.

Saying to the class as a whole or to specific students.Nonverbal: smile, nods, winks, thumbs-up sign, etc.Catching students being good: speak softly so no other student can hear.

Action step 2. Use tangible recognition when appropriate.

Nominal reward such as a certificate for free-fruit drink from the school cafeteria.Call home to the parents or guardians or a letter sent home.At the end of the class period, students tally their total points, and the teacher records their totals in a separate ledger that he keeps.

A color code for behavior.Action step 3. Involve the home in recognition of positive student behavior.

Contacting the home about their good behavior as a valued acknowledgement.Phone calls home: One phone call home per day. Do not have to take very long.E-mails: send a brief message to parents or guardians. Send a general message.Notes home and certificates of good behavior: Certificates of good behavior are less personalized but easier to administer.

Strategies that acknowledge lack of adherence to rules and procedures.Action step 4. Be with it. Teacher awareness of potential problems and quick attention to those

situations.Being proactive: The teacher tries to be aware of incidents that have happened outside of class that might affect student behavior in class. Quietly and privately talk to both students before class starts and engage in a brief conversation about expectations for the day. Prearranged signal to the student to be aware of and exert control over his current behavior.Occupying the entire room: the teacher moves to all quadrants of the room systematically and frequently, making eye contact with every student.Noticing potential problems: smack of conflict. Attending to unusual behavior by students.Using a series of graduated actions: The teacher acts in a manner to seek out and extinguish the problem behavior immediately.Looking at the suspected student: This should be done in a way that elicits the attention of the suspected students.Moving in the direction of students: Stand right next to the student or students, quietly and privately talk to the offending student. The interaction as private and positive as possible. Ensure the student in question is not embarrassed in front of the rest of the class.Stopping the class and confronting the behavior: Calm and polite manner. The confrontation here is public and direct. Explicit statement of the consequences.

Action step 5. Use direct-cost consequences.

Applied once a negative behavior has progressed beyond a point where it can be addressed by whithitness.Time-out: Asked to sit in the time-out seat, they are not permited to interact with any members of the class. Demonstrate their desire to reenter the class by attending to the academic activities that are occurring. Should not be used simply to get rid of the more difficult students. To help students understand and control their offending behavior.Overcorrection: is employed when a student has done something to damage class property. Making things better than they were before.

Action step 6. Use group contingency.

Holding the class as a whole responsible for the behavior of any and all members of the class. The message is “you’re all in this together”.Interdependent group contingency receives positive consequences only if every student in the class meets a certain behavioral standard.Dependent group contingency, positive and negative consequences are dependent on the behavior of one student or small groups of students.

Action step 7. Use home contingency.

Begin with a meeting among the parents or guardians, the teacher and the student. Discusses the student’s problem behaviors; the student has the opportunity to explain or defend the behavior. Positive and negative consequences are established.

Action step 8. Have a strategy for high-intensity situations.

The teacher should be able to contact the principal or assistant principal, who in turn might contact the appropriate legal authorities trained to address situations involving physical danger.Recognize the student is out of control: Trying to reason, only if the student is calm enough to think logically.

Step back and calm yourself: involves establishing some physical space between the teacher and the student. The teacher does not intend any harm to the student.Listen actively to the student and plan action: Listen to the student in an active manner. Reflecting back. The purpose of active listening is to communicate to students that their feelings are not discounted and that they are considered important by the teacher. Until the student calms down, provides time for the teacher to think through her next actions.When the student is calm, repeated simple verbal request: the request involve the student and teacher leaving the classroom. Repeated a number of times.

Action step 9. Design an overall plan for disciplinary problems.

Assumption that students are ultimately responsible for their own behavior.List your typical reactions, analyze, improve your relationship with disruptive students, meet with students , help the student to develop an explicit plan to curtail it, isolate the student from class, school suspension, parents are called & remove the student from the school.

Summary

What will I do to recognize and acknowledge adherence and lack of adherence to classroom rules and procedures?

Balanced approach

Acknowledge

Positive behavior Negative behavior

Non verbal and verbal acknowledgement

Tangible recognition

Involving the home

Being with it

Using direct cost

Using group and home contingency

Having a strategy for high- intensity students

Designing an overall plan for discipline