Classroom Management and PBIS

It turns out that most of the principles underlying my preferred approach to classroom management are basically the same principles advocated by PBIS and the Responsive Classroom approach. Granted, these were developed for the elementary school setting, but they’re equally appropriate (with some adaptation) for a secondary school environment.

My number one goal (priority) for classroom management is to minimize the presence of problem behaviors so that I can focus more on teaching (and so that my students can focus on learning). Using the framework outlined in the PBIS White Paper (http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/sites/ default/files/pdf_files/PBIS_whitepaper.pdf), here’s what some of these principles look like in practice:

#1 Use positive strategies:

As mentioned elsewhere on this site, a lot of my ideas about positive behavior management and training were actually inspired by dog trainer Victoria Stilwell (http://positively.com/) who is host of the TV show "It's Me or the Dog" on Animal Planet. Victoria is a dog trainer, but her ideas about positive reinforcement seem equally valid in working with troubled teenagers (after all, humans and dogs are social animals). Years ago, when I was searching for solutions for rehabilitating my rescued dog (who had a number of behavior problems in need of immediate correction), I stumbled across her show. Her philosophy emphasizes using positive training techniques, and reminded me a lot of the PBIS principles I had seen implemented in schools. While she is working with dogs, her ideas about reducing anxiety, building up self-confidence, and so forth are just as applicable to teenagers with behavior problems.

Ultimately, the point of PBIS is to use positive reinforcement as a tool to bring about desired behaviors. You are basically giving students a reason for doing the things you want them to do. This makes sense. With dogs the rewards are simple: praise, play, food, toys. Believe it or not, adolescent students actually like similar things: recognition (praise), earned free time (play), snacks/treats (food), or books/pencils/pens (toys). While this would seem to support token systems of classroom management, it actually doesn’t require anything that fancy. I personally am not that big on such overtly behaviorist approaches to discipline, but to use a metaphor from that field, the key is to keep the reward schedule intermittent: you don’t literally reward the student every time they do what you want them to do, but a pleasant surprise now and again works wonders. Let’s illustrate what this looks like in practice:

Beginning of Class Behavior

As a teacher, what you probably want is for your students to come in the room, sit down promptly, and get ready to learn. Unfortunately, students like to use this as a time for socializing and end up wasting the first few minutes of class “getting settled in”. A few minutes doesn’t sound like a big deal, but over the course of 180 days, those 3 minutes of “settling in” at the beginning of class result in 9 lost instructional hours. Yikes!

There’s two ways to get that time back: The most common way teachers do this is to yell at the students, which might speed things up a bit, but mostly results in you being annoyed with your class from the get-go, and possibly will result in a sore throat. Method two, which uses the positive reinforcement method involves training the class to do what you want in the first place (going over the expectations), practicing the new routine, and rewarding everyone when you get it consistently.

The training part takes the longest, but once you’ve communicated what you’re looking for, and practiced it a few times, it should be easy. After all, by the time they’re teenagers, they’ve had plenty of practice with this sort of routine in a school setting. Now the next step is to reward the “early adopters” (the ones who catch on quickest). If one of the early adopters happens to be a problematic student, so much the better. Make a big deal out of it—I keep a bag of candy or gum in my desk (that I use for prizes for games) and keep a few pieces handy. Without saying anything at all, the minute you spot someone doing what you’ve just trained the class to do, waltz over to that student’s desk, and say “congratulations” and give them the prize. The other students will wonder what on earth just happened, and once they figure it out, will probably outdo themselves to be “first” next time since even teenagers like free candy. At first, it helps to do this regularly, but after a while, you can let it fade out, or convert tangible rewards like candy into free time, or some other no-cost reward. It doesn’t take long for the class to figure out what kind of behavior you want, and you’ll have an entire group coming in and getting settled in without having to do a thing. Instead of trying to settle students down, you can get on with the business of teaching.

In a nutshell, the way this works is when you see behavior that you like, you instantly recognize it in a positive manner, and that dramatically increases the likelihood of that behavior being repeated in the future. Although punitive or assertive styles of classroom management are fairly popular, and tempting at times, most of these strategies are either unnecessary (I’m living proof that you can get the toughest kids to cooperate without having to resort to any of these methods), or are actually counterproductive and harmful.

#2 Establish a positive environment

Both PBIS and the Responsive Classroom approach focus on changing children’s environment in ways that support positive behavior and discourage negative behavior. I have written about this extensively elsewhere, so will move on to item three.

#3 Teach skills

An assumption shared by both PBIS and the Responsive Classroom approach is that when in doubt, you should be prepared to teach your students how to do everything you expect them to do. This may seem really silly if you are working with older students, but high school students need a “refresher” courses as well. Special Education teachers know this (and thus are much better at it), but all teachers should be prepared to teach ANY desired behavior necessary for the furtherance of learning. In fact, due to the magic of scheduling, you may have entire classes where it feels like all you teach IS behavior (before you throw up your arms in despair and ask, “When am I going to be able to teach math/literature/science/etc.,” realize that if they learn nothing else from you, functioning in a group setting (team work) is one of the greatest employment skills a person can ever learn in school (no kidding!). So all this time, you were laboring under the delusion that you thought you were hired to teach Social Studies, or AP Physics, but now you find you are suddenly in the position of being a social skills trainer. Here’s how to go about it with finesse:

Identify the source of the problem: What is causing the student/s not to be successful in this environment (your classroom)? You cannot deal with a behavior unless you know the root cause. Sometimes the cause is the teacher (lack of clear expectation, ambiguous/unclear directions), and other times the cause is the student (a simple acronym that explains a lot of student behaviors is “SHALT”: meaning the student is sick, hungry, angry, lonely, tired).

Once you know WHY the student is acting this way, then you can ask yourself HOW to address their problem behavior. Ask the student for insights into the problem—give them the opportunity to take ownership of their problem. Often their responses will surprise you. Students, particularly adolescent students, are often grappling with difficult situations and realities. It’s good to be aware of these, even though they should not be used as an excuse for bad behavior. Good communication is important when you are trying to solve a problem, and it never hurts to ask for input from the student/s.

If it appears necessary, you may need to do whole class social skills training. There’s a variety of curricula out there for that if you need it. On a smaller scale, when it appears apparent to me that the entire class (or maybe just certain individuals) needs to spend some time on a particular topic (e.g. effective communications, lying, disrespect, bullying), then it becomes the regular curriculum. In reading, this is easy to do because you can read about ANYTHING. There’s no reason why you can’t have students read about the very things they need to work on to become more productive members of society. Over the years, I have developed a whole series of didactic reading assignments on topics such as racism, bullying, homophobia, the “r” word, appropriate language in the work place, and so on. Whenever there’s a need for impromptu social skills training, then out they come.

Part of teaching behavior is very overt, and done direction instruction style: “Class, while we’re watching the movie, I expect everyone to stay awake, keep your feet off the desks, and take notes without talking.” Part of teaching behavior is more subtle, and happens one student at a time, where everyone watches and learns from the way you interact with individuals. What seems like a collection of minor moments in student/teacher interaction are actually my way of sending my students the message that it’s worth taking your time to do things well, it’s a good idea to be on task, and sometimes REALLY good things will come of it.

When you are teaching behavior, the key thing to keep in mind is Be Kind! Keep in mind that no matter how aggravating your students may seem, they are people who have feelings. There’s no need to yell, get sarcastic, or be rude to get your point across (save the “power moves” for big league (major situations) so your students won’t become desensitized through their overuse). Anything that needs to be addressed should be done in a way that isn’t personal—the student will only hear “I don’t like YOU” when what you’re trying to say is “I don’t like it when you talk while I’m giving directions to the class”. I have a number of really cheesy lines I use on my students that I say in kind of a comically exaggerated voice: “My dearly beloved fourth period class, I need you to stop talking and get your work done” and “Bob, you know you’re my favorite person on earth, but I need you to finish your work and stop talking to John so he can finish his work too, thanks a million.” Totally corny, but it gets me what I want with zero resentment (you would not believe how well this works…).

Behavioral/Social Skills training may seem like it takes a little longer and requires a bit more time and patience on your part than kicking kids out of the room and writing referrals, but the positive changes you’ll see over time are totally worth it. Eventually you get to a place where you rarely have to remove anyone from the room, and almost never have to write referrals.

#4 Reinforce positive behavior

Speaking of training, an important part of training is working with a student’s natural inclinations. Find what things motivate your students and use this to your advantage. Everyone likes rewards of some kind. They don’t have to be tangible, but primary rewards (food, praise, free time) are powerful motivators. Some teachers tend to take very polarized stances about rewards either overusing them or refusing to use them at all (students should be self-motivated). My own view is that the middle ground is the best on this issue. Not everyone needs “rewards”, but some people are more extrinsically motivated than others, and even students with high levels of intrinsic motivation like being recognized for their successes at least once in a while. The best way to recognize positive behavior is to do it in the way that works best for that student. Some students like publicity and fanfare. Others would vastly prefer a private conversation when no one else is watching or listening. Honor those preferences.

My primary reward in the classroom is verbal praise. Sometimes I’ll praise the whole class (“Thanks for staying on track, we got a lot done today”), but usually it’s private matter. Most people like to be told they’re doing well, but adolescents rarely like public recognition, so I don’t usually announce these things in front of the whole class. Either I’ll go talk to the student one-on-one (“Hey Jeff, I noticed you took your time with this today, and you did really well as a result”), or write comments on their assignments or write them a little note (for instance, “Hey Bob, I appreciate the fact that you’ve been working harder this week, and not getting distracted as often.”) With trouble makers, this is especially critical because they need some positive feedback, but often aren’t publicly associated with academic achievement.

Another common reward is time for free reading (or other free choice activities): “Hey you did a really good job on finishing your assignments today, so you’re welcome to enjoy other things for a while.” On a whole class basis, a common reward is, if people are working quietly and staying on task, I’ll let students listen to music once in a while. Sometimes I go into “surprise” mode and catch people being good: If it’s been kind of a rough day and my classes seem a bit off track, but several people are still hanging in there and doing well, I’ll quietly walk around and hand out some sort of surprise treat to the people who are on task. Sometimes I’ll really up the ante, and make an “example” out of someone (in a positive way): I’ll announce in front of the whole class “Bob, since you are working really well today, you are welcome to go read outside for the next 20 minutes” (my classroom is situated so that working outside is a realistic option—and this is a much coveted privilege).

#5 Respond to inappropriate behavior

Kind of a no-brainer, but along with all this positive recognition, comes the fact that once in a while, you’re going to have to deal with inappropriate behavior as well. PBIS doesn’t necessarily eliminate all the inappropriate behavior, but it does lessen the need for students to use negative behaviors to get noticed. PBIS, with its various avenues for public recognition and various incentives for positive behavior, makes it more attractive to be recognized for positive contributions and academic achievement. However, there is still that 5-10% core group of kids who have poor social skills, psychiatric disorders (ODD/CD), or other barriers to successful participation in group-oriented environments like a school setting. These are the ones you will still have to deal with.

Most of the time, in a PBIS environment, it’s pretty easy to deal with the low-level stuff. You can use whatever teacher moves you prefer because PBIS is a whole school model, so therefore doesn’t prescribe a formula for dealing with student behavior in the classroom per se.

In my particular case, I use “remind and redirect” for about 80% of the minor things that happen (simple off-task behaviors). Usually a pointed look or signal is enough. If it isn’t, here are some of the common lines you would probably hear in my classroom. You’ll notice the positive (and indirect) phrasing of these:

#1 (Josh is talking to a neighbor and appears to not be working) “Josh, are you finished with your work?” (as opposed to “Josh, stop talking to him!”)

#2 (A student has started whispering to a neighbor during SSR) “We’re in silent reading right now. You can tell her in 10 minutes.” (as opposed to, “Quit talking!”)

#3 (A student is staring out the window and hasn’t started working) “Do you need a pencil?” (As opposed to, “You need to get to work now!”)

#4 (a student is planning on leaving the room during the last 5 minutes of class) “You’re welcome to use the restroom in about 5 minutes.” (as opposed to, “You know you can’t go to the restroom during the last 5 minutes of class, right?”)

I basically prefer that the initial verbal encounter be subtle, indirect (so that it is nearly impossible for the student to argue about what he or she was or was not doing), and ultimately face-saving. For instance, in #1, if I had said, “Josh, stop talking to him!” you can be sure the very first thing Josh is going to do is say, “I wasn’t talking.” The purpose of this statement is to remind Josh of the big picture—he needs to get his work done. They all work the same way—the clue the student into the big picture (this is a time for a specific activity) and remind them that they need to change their behavior to be successful, without stating any assumptions about the behavior itself. This is usually enough to get the student back on track, but if not, I’m always free to use a more direct approach. It’s harder to describe the more serious or chronic situations that come up in my classroom and how I deal with them, but the main principles that apply to these scenarios are move in swiftly, remove the audience, and restore order.

One example in this category of fun, is the student who does not want to be in class, and proceeds to spend his or her time in class creating disruptions to pass the time. This may be sporadic, or it may be daily, depending on how maladjusted the individual is. The reasons for this vary, but the most common underlying cause is low self-esteem (student feels he or she is incapable of being successful in class like the other students, and rather than being perceived of as inadequate, prefers to play the role of the class rebel). These kinds of students are best viewed as long-term projects, but in the day-to-day, you have to put out their fires to keep their contagion of negativity from spreading.

What PBIS emphasizes is that it’s important to deal with the lowest-level behaviors at the lowest level, and triage the more serious stuff to an intervention team. When you have students with chronic behavior problems, you can’t expect to deal with them by yourself. At a minimum, when you recognize you have a problem student, you should get together with their other teachers and see if you are seeing the same pattern, and come up with a plan for managing that student’s behavior that’s consistent across multiple settings. If the student has an IEP, involve the SPED teacher/s he or she works with. If it’s a school-wide problem, involve other parties as well—anyone the student has contact with. Definitely involve the family, but keep in mind the dynamics that lead to the problem may come from those quarters.

Whether you work in a school that has adopted PBIS and/or use the Responsive Classroom approach, the basic ideas behind them (positive behavior is a community goal and is worthy of recognition) is the same. While both were developed with the elementary school environment in mind, I find they both work equally well (with some adaptation) in secondary school environments, and I have used aspects of both in my work with adolescents. The principles are basically common sense, but surprisingly they aren’t as widely implemented outside of elementary school environments. If you work in a school setting that has not adopted PBIS (or something similar), it’s worth implementing on your own--I highly recommend cultivating an atmosphere where positive behavior is rewarded and becomes the norm for the group because it makes discipline a lot easier, and leaves you with more time to actually teach. As unlikely as it sounds, the basic ideas behind positive reinforcement work just as well with the most difficult students as they do with everyone else. Baring serious psychiatric disturbance, anyone who can handle being in a public school setting (least restrictive environment) can benefit from this approach. I have applied these principles when working with some very troubled teenagers, and can vouch for their effectiveness. No matter who is in the room, if you create an environment geared towards reducing anxiety, building up self-confidence, and cultivating an atmosphere of acceptance, you can use PBIS approaches as an effective framework in working with teenagers with or without behavior problems.