Teach Behavior

BEHAVIOR… YOU HAVE TO TEACH IT...
“If a child doesn’t know how to read, we teach.”
“If a child doesn’t know how to swim, we teach.”
“If a child doesn’t know how to drive, we teach.”
“If a child doesn’t know how to behave, we …teach? …punish?”
John Herner, Counterpoint (1998)

Help misbehaving children to learn new and better ways

-Interact respectfully with misbehaving youngsters.  Treat them as you would like
    to be treated.  Help them to do better.  Be a guide, not a boss.  Be the type of
    teacher you remember fondly from your school days.
        -Talk TO them, not AT them
        -Keep your voice at a conversational level, even when you're perturbed
        -Avoid giving lectures about life
        -Exhibit the self control you wish for them to show
        -Never do anything to them that you wouldn't want done to you
        -Separate the behavior from the kid.  Like the child, dislike the behavior.
-In an incident, don't just find fault, identify what was OK and what wasn't (some %
    of positive).  For example: "Fran, it was noble of you to stand up for your friend.
    Being a loyal friend is important.  However, I can't allow you to hit others.  How
    else could you have handled the situation?"
-Seek win-win solutions.  Look for solutions to problems that don't find blame or punish.
-Help the youngster to display more acceptable behavior:
    -teach it, role-play it, remind him/her to demonstrate it, reward it, and encourage more of it.

Secret Student

Secret Student (from 'Dr. Mac's Amazing Behavior Management Advice Site' )

This technique is a great way to motivate kids to do their best (behaviorally and academically).  Before a class, an activity, a walk back to the room, whatever... draw a name from a pile of paper scraps containing all the student's names.  Keep this name a secret.  The students know (from you having told them) that this selected person will be watched to determine if they have behaved well and are deserving of the reward.  All students in your line or class hope that they have been selected, and then try their best to behave well.  Upon completion of the task, the name of the student is revealed and a prize given if deserved.  Be sure to compliment others who did really well (in comparison with their typical behavior).  A variation: If one of your "more difficult" kids does really well, you might pretend that the drawn name was his/hers (even though you drew another name).  It will help to promote more of this positive behavior in the future.

"Secret Student" procedure:

Clearly state a behavior that one would want to see or change.  For example, "I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for on-task behavior...working hard on the assignments that I give." Or, “I’m looking for quiet behavior...keeping our lips closed unless we have permission to talk.”
1.   State a time frame.  For example, “From now until the end of Morning Meeting”.
2.   Choose a popsicle stick at random from a jar.  Each student has his or her name written on a popsicle stick in that jar.  Place the stick in your pocket.
3.   Share the name of the “secret student” with the class after that given period of time.
4.   Ask the student if he/she displayed the behavior for the whole time period. 
5.   If that student demonstrated the targeted behavior the whole time period, say "Thank you" and everyone in the class receives a reward.  If the student did not follow through with the targeted behavior, give an encouraging statement like, “I know next time you’ll try a little harder!”  You might want to consider rewarding (or failing to reward) only the secret student.  You might also select three secret students, and award a point for each of the students who displayed the behavior consistently.  This variation takes the spotlight off any one particular pupil.  Each point contributes to the number of points needed for a whole-class reward, privilege, or trip.  
6.   The one thing that a teacher must be sensitive to is analyzing whether or not all the students are able to handle the peer pressure put upon them as the “Secret Student”.  If the name of a particularly sensitive student is in one's pocket, and that student does not meet the targeted behavior, you might change the name called to prevent damaging his/her self esteem or causing an avoidable disruption.  Select the name of a student who was on task.  Call the sensitive student's name when he/she has been successful.
7.   Finally, in order for this experiment to work well, the teacher must have a positive rapport with the students and needs to have at least the beginnings of a strong classroom community. 
Ideas for rewards- group games, extra recess, fun day (go shoeless day, backward shirt day etc.) chew gum.

Behavior Monitoring Graphs

Behavior Monitoring Graphs

Last week we sent you charts to monitor targeted behaviors.  This week we want to follow up with graphs to record the data you collect.  They are a wonderful tool to visually display your student’s progress.  Students and parents respond to seeing the behavior graphed.  They can also be invaluable in the SIT process to show the effectiveness of a plan.  One graph is to show percentages; the other is to show frequency.  Both graphs will display a “trend line”.  This shows the average increase or decrease in the behavior. 
Using Behavior Monitoring Graphs

1.     Type the observation data for the target student in ROW #1 at the top of the page.
2.      Column A = Observation #1; Column B = Observation #2, etc...
3.     The data will automatically appear on the graph when you enter the numbers
4.  Row #2 will collect data for a comparison student, if you want to choose a random student to compare the targeted student with.  This is very helpful to determine if the target student's behavior is significantly different than the class on average.

Before printing the graph, CLICK ONCE ON THE BODY OF THE GRAPH. This tells the computer you only want the graph printed off and not the spreadsheet. (printing the spreadsheet causes A LOT of pages to print)

GRAPHS:
Frequency graph
Frequency graph example
Percentage graph
Percentage graph example

Data Collection

Behavior Charts

Considering that everything is data driven, we thought we would give you a few examples of charts that can be used to monitor targeted behaviors.  The data that you receive is good to share with parents, students, administrators, and SIT teams. 

Important considerations:

     *Limit number of targeted behaviors
     *Start with the behavior that is driving you "crazy"
     *Define the behavior in measurable terms: instead of saying "on task", say "eyes on    work, followed along in book, eyes on speaker, produced work"
     *Collect a count of targeted behavior prior to intervention (baseline)
     *Determine meaningful rewards that will shape the desired behavior
     *Explain the chart to the student, parents, and all involved staff
     *Consistently collect data for at least 3-4 weeks

We tried to include at least 1 appropriate chart for each level (elementary, middle, high). All but two of these can be saved and modified to suit your specific needs...

CHARTS:
Intermediate tally chart
Quarterly data collection chart
Primary daily behavior chart
Scatterplot
Self-monitoring work completion chart
Work completion form (daily)
Work completion form (weekly)
Tally chart
Focus chart
Focus chart 2
Paying attention chart
Behavior chart, all grades
Organizing check list
Behavior chart, Star Wars