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Behaviour management#

See also: teaching

Strategies#

Causes#

Bru (2006) surveyed 3000+ Year 6&9 Norwegian students finding that factors increasing the likelihood and incidence of off-task behaviour/opposition towards teachers include:

  • low perceived cognitive competence;
  • perceived low relevance of schoolwork;
  • belief that norm-breaking behaviour elicits peer approval

Lambert and Miller (2010) identify class factors contributing to poor behaviour

  • Too much classwork or homework.
  • Classwork is too difficult or boring.
  • Good work is not noticed or recognised fairly.
  • Teaching spending significant time outside the classroom.

Surveying teachers, Mavropoulou and Padeliadu (2002) found:

  • class size;
  • clarity and repetition of classroom rules;
  • teacher's attitude;
  • persistent academic failure.

Behaviour specific praise (Simpson et al, 2020)#

Specifically acknowledge appropriate behaviour.

Before instruction

  1. Identify times and settings in which challenging behaviors occur
  2. Determine specific and positive behaviors to target and collect baseline data

During instruction

  1. Discuss expectations and model desired behaviors with students
  2. Provide explicit and timely behavior-specific praise to students when displayed

After instruction

  1. Continue data collection and providing behavior specific praise to increase rates of target behaviors
  2. When data show increase in target behavior, return to Step 1 and repeat process with new target behavior

The 10 Essential Skills for Classroom Management (ECSM)#

Source

  1. Establishing expectations - making rules.
  2. Giving instructions - telling students what to do.
  3. Waiting and scanning - Stopping to assess what is happening.
  4. Cueing with parallel acknowledgement - Praising a particular student to prompt others.
  5. Body language encouraging - Smiling, nodding, gesturing and moving near.
  6. Descriptive encouraging - Praise describing behaviour.
  7. Selective attending - Not obviously reacting to certain behaviours.
  8. Redirecting to learning - Prompting on-task behaviour.
  9. Giving a choice - Describing the student's options and likely consequences of their behaviour.
  10. Following through - Doing what you said you would.

Good Behaviour Game (Simpson et al, 2020)#

Before instruction

  1. Identify times and settings in which challenging behaviors occur
  2. Divide students into teams and name teams
  3. Determine rewards for winning team (preference assessment)
  4. Define appropriate and inappropriate behaviors and post as rules
  5. Determine winning requirements
  6. Explain rules to students how points will be earned or taken away
  7. Explicitly model appropriate behaviors

During instruction

  1. Award and remove points based on rules determined in Step 4
  2. Provide prompts and feedback to inappropriate behaviors

After instruction

  1. Winning team receives previously determined reward
  2. 11 Return to Step 1 and begin process again

Opportunities to respond (Simpson et al, 2020)#

Using various methods (verbal, technology, physical, body language) to response - reference base

What is it

A plan for schools to

  • be a positive place to learn
  • teach students how to behave at school
  • tell students when they do the right thing
  • help students when they make mistakes
  • work together with parents

Frameworks#

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L/PBL)#

Ed Queensland

Other resources#

References#

Bru, E. (2006). Factors Associated with Disruptive Behaviour in the Classroom. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 50(1), 23--43. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313830500372000

Simpson, J. N., Hopkins, S., Eakle, C. D., & Rose, C. A. (2020). Implement Today! Behavior Management Strategies to Increase Engagement and Reduce Challenging Behaviors in the Classroom. Beyond Behavior, 29(2), 119--128. https://doi.org/10.1177/1074295620909448