Classroom Management: Theories & Strategies

Classroom Management Notes

You can expect challenges, tensions and even conflict as new knowledge can disrupt taken for granted beliefs and attitudes.  

Chapter 1 – Modelling Classroom Management

The Lyford Model – Is a pectoral presentation which brings together various theories and practices of classroom management. This conceptualisation creates a scaffolding which facilitates a better comparison between the Praxis and Nexus of various theoretical combinations.

It includes the use of Classroom Management Plan, The Four Positive Practices, Intervention Practice, and Cycle of Reflexivity & Plan Implement Review Cycle.

Praxis – Models which bring together theory and practice.

Nexus – The relationship between theory and practice and where it meets.

Informed / effective professionals engaged in informed praxis.

Evidence-based best classroom management practice is informed by educational research.

Elements of the Lyford Model

Inputs; Knowledge of and understanding of classroom management and pedagogy.

Classroom Management Plan.

Filters; The knowledge filter and interpretive filter equates to one’s world view and how it effects the interpretation of situations.

Outputs; A successful and satisfied teacher.

Classroom Management Plan include elements of;

·         Ecological Perspective – This is the overarching perspective which that encapsulates all the parts we integrate into the Lyford model.

These next two perspectives act as core elements to explain why you do what you do in the classroom.

·         Sociocultural Perspective- Provide explanations for the interactions of each of us with others within a social group.

·         Psychoeducational Perspective – Provide explanations about individual beliefs, thought feelings and behaviours.

The Four Positive Practices  

All four are required to create a positive learning environment. The key concept is to cultivate a feeling of belonging. The behaviour needs of most student can be met by developing interesting engaging programs pitched at levels where students feel that they are successful learners.  

·         Relationships and communication – Chapter 3

·         Curriculum, assessment and pedagogy

·         Classroom organisation

·         Professional Reflexivity

Intervention Practices

Cycle of Reflexivity & Plan Implement Review Cycle

Generally speaking reflexivity means referring back to self or referring back to actions taken. So practice may be refined through informed and thinking to implement new strategies. The Plan Implement review emphasises that classroom management practices are an integral part of addressing curriculum requirements and echo the process of developing curriculum programs and plans. 

The Key Principles Underlining the Lyford Model.

Humanist Theory

Knowledge Acquisition Theory

Ecological Systems Theory

Sociological Theory

Psychoeducational Theory

Cognitive Behavioural Theory

Chapter 2 – Classroom Management Theory

Choosing a Theoretical Approach to Classroom Management  

An Atheoretical Approach – Belief that theory is irrelevant and esoteric in practice.

There are three possibilities when choosing a theoretical approach;

Simple – Aligning to only one theory

Hybrid - developing an individual approach drawing together element of different theories.

Pragmatic – Shifting between different theories depending on situation.

3 Classifications for Classroom Management

Psychoeducational – eg: Goal Centered & Choice Theory - Students have needs and their misbehaviour is an attempt to meet these needs. Teachers should strive to create environments which meet these needs.  It understands student behaviour as a reflection of their needs.

Cognitive Behavioural – eg: Kaplan & Carters Cognitive Behavioural Theory - Advocate the proactive involvement of the students in negotiating improved behaviour.

Behavioural – eg: Applied Behavioural Analysis & Assertive Discipline Theory - Are highly procedural and focus singularly on observed behaviours.

5 Key Classroom Management Theories

Goal Centered Theory or [Also known as GCT or Democratic Discipline] (Rudolf Dreikurs) p23 – Based on the psychological principles put forward by Alfred Adler, requires teachers to seek out needs based explanations for why their students are misbehaving and then negotiate alternative means of meeting these needs. Teachers who build positive classroom environments by promoting democratic teaching and learning, align with goal-centred theory.

Choice Theory (William Glasser) p25 – A Psychoeducational theory, is a neo-Adlerian Psychoeducational Theory based on the notion that all behaviours are an individual’s attempt to fulfil present and future needs. It is primarily a preventative approach. The teachers try to create ‘quality worlds’ through memories of past people, places and events which combine together to make the most ‘ideal life’. Glasser emphasised the need for teachers to lead students toward needs satisfaction outcomes through appropriate behaviour rather than coercing them to comply with the rules. If you believe that the locus of problem behaviour lies within the school setting and in the teacher-student relationship, you are likely to build an intervention based on choice theory.

Cognitive Behavioural Theory (CBT) eg Kaplan & Carters Cognitive Behavioural Theory p26 – Influenced by Psychoeducational and Behaviourist Theory, seeks to develop students self-management skills to the point of independence. CBT is largely used for students with more challenging behaviours. A key principle of cognitive-behaviour theory states that classroom discipline is gained through internal and external means. Lacks the understanding of student emotions.

Assertive Discipline (Lee & Marlene Canter) p28 – Involves establishing a Discipline Plan to maintain order. Compliance is rewarded with formal recognition and incentives. Non-compliance invokes enforcement of sanctions with a hierarchy of options. The Teacher owns the classroom - students do not. Teachers need to assertively define and enforce behavioural expectations according to this theory.

Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) - eg: Alberto & Troutman p29 – Based on work by Skinner ABA proposes that behaviours are simply controlled by their antecedent conditions (the environment) and the consequences. Reinforcing consequences increases that behaviour. Punishing consequences decrease behaviour. It is strictly authoritarian.  

Analysing Classroom Management Theories

Taxonomies – An order arrangement or system of classifications or arrangements of classifications of related elements. They are used in this case to help compare and contrast the interrelationships between theories and to better understand the metalanguage used in the field.

There is a need to congruence between your professional philosophy, principles and theories which underpin them.

Some Taxonomies of Classroom Management Theories

Gordon Lyons, Margot Ford & Michael Arthur-Kelly (2011) p34 - classroom management theories are best classified in three overlapping groups; Psychoeducational, cognitive behavioural and behavioural.

The implied input here is theory as part of professional philosophy.

The implied output is good classroom management in the form of a positive learning environment.

Ramon Lewis (2008) p34 – Classroom discipline is best achieved by maximising student self-responsibility. The responsibility of self can be realised through developing three philosophical perspectives.

1.       By setting clear behavioural expectations

2.       By encouraging self-regulation rather than by using external coercion.

3.       Emphasising collaborative, whole class decision making and the development of shared group responsibility.

The implied input is a congruent philosophical perspective

The implied output is good classroom discipline through student responsibility.

Deslea Konza, Jessica Granger & Keith Bradshaw (2004) p35 – Proposed that ‘models of behaviour management’ belong in five groups.

1.       Group Management Model – developing the teacher’s skills in organising the classroom and systematically responding to misbehaviours.

2.       Behaviourist Model – refers to Skinners classic behaviourist model. This is regarded as one of the most influential models of behaviour management especially when dealing with more challenging children.

3.       Cognitive Behavioural Model – Advocated a more thoughtful involvement of students. Also known as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. To change the way students think and therefor behave.

4.       Psychoeducational or Needs Based Communication Models – Primarily contend that everyone has needs and that their behaviours, appropriate or not are an attempt to meet these needs.

5.       Eclectic Model (Bill Rodgers Decisive Discipline) p36 – Put together elements from across the model groups.

The implied input is a congruent Behavioural Management Model.

The output is good classroom management.

Louise Porter (2007) p36 – Suggests strategies which are primarily preventative, student self-discipline, as opposed to interventionist. All theories are mixed. Power share to teacher centred, all theories etc…

The input is discipline theories and educational theories.

The output good student behaviour.

 Peter Miles (2003) p38 – Emphasised the value of sound philosophical foundation, grounded in behavioural management theories to underpin a teachers ‘grab bag’ of classroom management strategies. Though most teachers do tend to develop this grab bag eclectically. He gives no specific taxonomy, preferring for teachers to come up with their own relational.

Input here is guiding philosophical foundations.

Output is change as successful behavioural management. 

Chapter 3 - Relationships and Communication

The first of the ‘positive practices’, your ability to build strong relationships will be influenced by your ecological, sociocultural and Psychoeducational perspectives which is reflected in ones worldview. Toward this end communication is a fundamental component.

The way information is communicated between those in a class is the primary determinate of classroom atmosphere. As a result it is of critical importance to build strong interpersonal relationships between all members of the school community. 

Dialogic Teaching / Scaffolded Dialogue – a process by which both teacher and student contribute to the learning process. This uses carefully structured extended exchanges to build understanding through accumulation.

Simple Communication p45

The sender – Transmits information by firstly; formulating ideas, encodes them, then transmits.

The Receiver – Perceives the transition, decodes then interprets it. Then may supply feedback. 

Communication with Interference p46 -Gets in the way of messages being clearly sent and or understood.

Internal Interferences

·         Familiarity

·         Self-esteem

·         Emotional State

·         Opinion of other

·         Assertiveness

·         Experience

·         Expectations

External Interferences

·         Context (time, manner, place)

·         Dictates of setting

·         Noise

·         Distractions

Sociocultural Interferences

·         Gender

·         Age

·         Status

·         Ethnic and racial background

·         Family beliefs, attitudes and values.

Communicative Processes  

Sending Messages - When creating a message we attempt to create a match between what we need to convey and the audience. When receiving a message we meaning occurs through our interpretive filters.

Receiving Messages - Words and phrases have denotative meaning, as defined in the dictionary as well as conative meaning.

Conative meanings are highly dependent on an individual’s experience, cultural background etc….  

Providing Feedback - A receiver of messages communicates there understanding and judgment of messages through feedback.

Non-Verbal Communication p49 - refers to any non-verbal form of communication including;

·         Facial expression and eye contact

·         Gesture, posturing and positioning

·         Proximity, touch and setting. (Proximity refers to the physical distance between two people)

Interpreting non-verbal communication p51 – Is important because;

·         It is less consciously controlled and therefore less likely to be deceptive.

·         It often clarifies verbal communication

·         It helps to inform subtext of humour, irony, sarcasm etc…

·         We often don’t speak in well-formed sentences, so non-verbals often help to form meaningful boundaries.

·         Non-verbal communications are more effective in communicating emotions.

·         We rely heavily on non-verbal communication to regulate the flow of conversation.

Strategies for More Effective Communication p51

Active listening – also known as reflective listening, empathetic responding and active empathy or responsive listening. 

Hearing – involves sound being received and translated by the brain

Listening – involves the use of the attention system in order to translate sounds and other signals into language

Hearing is passive listening is active. Active listening is signalled by verbal and non-verbal responses.  Dinkmeyer and Mackay (1982) recommend sentence stems such as;

·         It must be …..  When...

·         You feel… because…

·         You’re saying that…

·         You’re …. Because …?

·         Sounds like….?

·         It seems as though… and you feel…?

·         I guess you feel… when..?

The more accurate the phrasing the more understood the student will feel.

Open Questioning – require an open ended response. A closed question can be answered with yes or no.

Asserting – Communication that recognises the rights of a speaker without infringing on the rights of the listener is considered assertive. A key principle of assertive communication is that people often send messages in ways that ignore or deny either the rights of the speaker (through submissive messages) or those of the listener (through aggressive messages). Asserting is one of many approaches to assertive communication.

I-messaging (Gordon 1974) – is using statements that assert your position by describing a problem you have observed, how you feel about it and why you feel that way. I-messages are a particular type of assertive statement that asserts the speakers wishes and gives clear reasons why the speaker’s desires are important. The focus is on the speaker’s needs rather than the listener’s behaviour, while at the same time avoiding the more accusatory use of ‘you’. I-messages should be spoken in a calm matter of fact tone and represent your experience without exaggeration.

Formula for constructing an I-message;

1.       When I….

2.       I feel….

3.       Because….

Eg; When I get interrupted during a lesson I feel frustrated because I have to keep stopping. 

Negotiating – Active listening and asserting and using I-messages can contribute to problem solving through negotiating. Active listening assists students to clarify problems, address problems without emotional interferences, and to negotiate workable solutions.

Negotiating – Based on the Reflective Thinking Model developed by John Dewey, relies on the principles of mutual respect and the removal of interference caused by emotion and message contamination.

The negotiating process incorporates all the above listening and asserting components. The following 6 step process (p57) was developed by Gordon (1974), Dinkmeyer and Mackay (1982).

1.       Identify the problem

2.       Identify possible options

3.       Identify outcomes of each option

4.       Delete unacceptable options

5.       Apply the agreed solution

6.       Identify a time for review

Chapter 4 Curriculum, assessment and pedagogy

Curriculum in a more broad sense represents all activities a school provides to support the development of academic, social and personal abilities. In order to optimise learner outcomes – including on task behaviour, academic achievement and positive attitudes to learning – There needs to be a close relationship between curriculum, assessment, pedagogy and classroom management.

Your ability to develop and apply appropriate, motivating synchronous curriculum, assessment and pedagogy will be influenced by your ecological, sociocultural and Psychoeducational perspectives; which are consistent with your world view.

Curriculum, assessment and pedagogy are essential parts of your classroom management plan. And should be subject to your cycle of reflection and your plan-implement-review-cycle.    

A First Consideration: Teaching and learning in the early years p63 – needs to maintain a balanced approach that not only addresses proscribed learning outcomes, but also individual differences.

Time taken to support children in learning appropriate social skills in the early years can provide a sound foundation for continuing social and emotion development.

Practiced example;

The American Incredible Years Teacher and Child Training program, for kids enrolled in head start kindergarten and first grade classrooms. (Webster-Stratton, Jamila Reid Stoolmiller 2008)

Young children within daily learning activities need explicit instruction in specific skills as well as clear explanation of social expectations rather than long explanations delivered after the event.

We advocate a child centred approach to learning in the early years.

Briggs and Potter 1999; Characteristics of a child centred approach.

·         A dynamic place of learning where children learn almost without being aware of it.

·         A classroom where activities are both an implicit part of curriculum and extends teaching to challenge students at different levels.

·         A place where diversity is acknowledged and used to enrich the learning environment.

·         A place where time is not wasted because children can move from one task to another checking their own work as they go.    

Curriculum p64 – is what your students are taught; the content of their lessons and courses.

·         Lessons are single sessions with small groups or whole classes.

·         Activities are done in a lesson.

·         Learning sequences are a series of lessons within a learning area

·         An integrated unit of work combines outcomes from several curriculum areas.

·         Curriculum Frameworks. Australian education authorities proscribe an outcomes based curricula.

In some states like NSW, outcomes are structured within the frameworks of Key Learning Areas (KLA).

In Queensland They have a New Basics Curriculum (NBC).

In the NT they use KLA’s and EsseNTail Learnings. Of which there are four groups;

1.       The Inner Learner (Who am I and where am I going?)

2.       Creative Learner (What is possible?)

3.       Collaborative Learner (How do I connect with and relate to others?)

4.       Constructive Learner (How can I make a useful difference?)

Teachers are required to consult curriculum documents and draw on stated outcomes to develop lessons.

Curriculum, Classroom Management and Positive Behaviour p65

A core challenge in developing a classroom management plan is creating an effective classroom community, to instil beliefs and values appropriate for becoming a valuable member of Australian society, and to improve student welfare and behaviour.  We argue that the most effective way to do this is to look to the relevant curriculum frame works and learning outcomes for ways to integrate your classroom management plan with your explicit teaching.

In settings where students remain with the same teacher for a good part of the day this is easier to accomplish. It is more difficult otherwise for two reasons.

1.       The fragmented curriculum into different KLA’s

2.       Teachers only see students in 1 to 2 hour blocks. It is therefore more difficult to make personal relationships let alone a positive one.

Schools today take on a whole school approach. In Australian whole school approaches have been used for the past 20 years (Rigby 2002).

Daunic (2000) Whole School Approach introduced a peer mentoring program to address conflict resolution. They trained a core group of students in peer mediation strategies. They managed a 95% success rate between parties to ‘get along’ rather than to ‘avoid each other’ or ‘Stop the offending Behaviour’.

Restorative Justice is a philosophy and set of practices which extols a balance between a high degree of discipline, which encompasses clear expectations, limits and consequences, and a high degree of support and nurturance (Harrison 2006).   

Harney’s (2005) study to determine the effectiveness of Restorative Justice Programs, found that over an 18 month period negative behaviours like absenteeism, detentions and school suspensions were significantly reduced.

The Plan-implement-review (PIR) Cycle p67

Once a set or sequence of outcomes is selected, the PIR cycle is engaged. The Queensland Guidelines for Curriculum Planning are as follows;

·         What do we want children to learn

·         How will students demonstrate what they know and can do?

·         What evidence of learning is needed?

·         How will it be taught to maximise the learning for each student?

·         How well have students learned?

·         What do we need to do to improve learning?

Beginning the PIR cycle p68

It is important from the outset that you motivate your students to take part in activities by clearly stating outcomes and goals, indicating the purpose and relevance of the lesson, and establishing the expectation of success. Tasks need to be explained so that your students understand what is expected of them. Where possible present them with open ended tasks which can be interpreted in different ways.

Implementing the Cycle

To maximise learning students need to interact with the lesson content and receive appropriate intellectual support in the learning process. Your role in this process is to ensure such opportunities exist within an orderly management framework using prompts, guided practice or demonstrations to make sure your students are interacting. Further it is important to use intensive instruction, including modelling, expectations and scaffolded practice to support them as they develop their understanding. 

Monitoring the PIR Cycle

Activities students can complete without your assistance are important for consolidating learning and developing fluency and automaticity of responses. Opportunities of independent practice can be provided through strategies such as peer tutoring, cooperative learning, instructional games and computer-assisted programs. Frequent checks of their learning can eliminate the practicing of errors and establish deeper levels of understanding.

Reviewing the PIR cycle and giving feedback p68

Evaluation in terms of the specific nature of the lesson content is necessary so that feedback is proactive in continuing the learning process. New goals or outcomes can be established so that learning continues within the context of appropriate instructional match.

The concept of mastery is explicit, as is the need for you to be constantly directing the learning of the academic content, focusing attention to the task, preventing and practicing errors and providing feedback that allows your students to realise that their individual efforts in the learning process are valued.

Assessment p69

How can we make constructive assessment as well as making clear what has been done wrong?

Pre- or ‘Baseline’ Assessment

Determining assessment tasks is a critical part of the learning stage in the PIR cycle;

The Assessment Product eg; written report, worksheet, poster, pamphlet, explanation, demonstration or performance. 

The Assessment Tool eg; Rubric, checklist or test. It could be an observational tool but we advise caution because it is difficult to administer.

Outcomes Based Assessment – levels are usually recorded against outcomes whereby students can achieve or not achieve an outcome or whereby a student is deemed to have an emerging solid or comprehensive understanding of an outcome.

It is critical in a pre-assessment activity to establish what is already known about a topic. Teachers can use a Mind Map or Concept Map (brainstorming) in order to discover these.

Formative Assessment p70 – is assessment carried out during lessons with the primary aim of determining if the student is making reasonable progress. Having done this there are three possible steps to then take;

1.       Students who have demonstrated progress but not proficiency in learning may require further opportunities to gain fluency

2.       Students who display expertise can more to enrichment activities. Eg; class games tutoring other students.

3.       Correction procedures can be used for students who have not demonstrated proficiency and for whom the assessment process has highlighted errors in learning.

Summative Assessment – Is used primarily at the completion of a unit of work. In outcomes based assessment, summative assessment should provide quantitative and qualitative data relating to each outcome stipulated in the planning page.

Summative assessment concerns itself with a longer period, usually weeks, of time evaluating all learning outcomes.

Quality assessment is a prerequisite to quality teaching.

Pedagogy p72 – Is the art and science of teaching. Pedagogy is a multilayered concept. Hayes (2006) … pedagogy in all its forms is an expression of humanity and what it means to be human.

Zukas and Malcolm (2000) define five pedagogical Identifiers;

·         Critical Practitioner

·         Psycho-diagnostician and facilitator of learning

·         Reflective practitioner

·         Situated learner within a community of practice.

·         Assure of organisational quality and efficiency, deliverer of services opposed or agreed standards.

Examples of Models and Frameworks of Pedagogy;

Authentic Pedagogy, Newman (1993)

Productive Pedagogy

NSW Quality Teaching model

Accommodating different levels of learning

Good teaching must take into account different levels of learner proficiency. One of the most complex challenges for teachers is to effectively address the range of skills, interests and knowledge in the classroom.

One of the most effective dictums to follow here is to ‘know your students’. Knowing their likes and dislikes can help to choose topics, organise groups and make adjustments for individual needs.

Many schools operate Buddy systems where older students work with younger students.

Once a topic has been introduced, in order for the student to achieve fluency it is necessary that he or she has opportunities to practice. Practice can be in the form of practical application or verbal rehearsal or both.

Skills learned in the classroom are intended to find generalised application in the real life settings.

The way work is assessed and feedback given will also contribute to the class atmosphere and the ways students see themselves as valued members of the class.  

Quality Teaching and learning p73

Queensland uses New Basics developed from the Queensland Longitudinal Study.

Nsw uses the NSW Quality Teaching Model of which there are three dimensions

1.       Intellectual Quality

2.       Significance

3.       Quality Learning Environments – includes elements of engagement, high expectation student direction and social support. 

Each of these have six elements

Ladwig comments (2009) p73

Task Relevance, achievability and success

Students need to see the relationship between what is introduced to them in a classroom setting and their real life settings in order to view activities as meaningful.

Students need to be provided with opportunities to learn, practice and apply information and skills that are meaningful, interesting and directly related to the achievement of learning outcomes.

Tasks need to be achievable so that students experience success. If tasks are too difficult a student may exhibit negative behaviour, likewise if the task is not challenging enough.

Schumm, Vaughn and Leavell (1994) put forward a model which supports flexible and interactive planning around themes or topics and provides a framework within which task relevance achievability and success can be individually assessed.

This model is represented in a three level pyramid process. At the;

First, base level – planning addresses the objectives to be achieved. By all students in the group.

Second - objectives for most but not all students

Third – Objectives for some students. 

Feedback, Values and Expectations

Practice without feedback will not result in effective learning (Greenwood, Arreaga-Mayer & Carta 1994). Feedback can take on the form of monitoring student responses and maintaining a focus on attaining specified goals.

Feedback in the form of incomplete response can be effective in encouraging further participation in the learning process.

Feedback communicates to the students that their teacher is recognising their efforts and progress.

Feedback that provides information about individual competencies and progress greatly influence the long-term motivation to participate in the learning process, whereas feedback that serves only to compare one student’s responses with those of others has not been found to have the same motivating effect (Good & Brophy 2008).

Students who believe they are respected feel comfortable in taking risks without fear of being criticised for making mistakes.

Teacher Modelled behaviours demonstrate a positive expectation. Such behaviours could include;

Sufficient pause time for answers, giving prompts and rephrasing questions, encouraging students to try without discouraging inappropriate answers and providing academic work that is increasingly challenging.

Self-efficacy and motivation- Is the belief that he or she has the competence to succeed and that success is related to their own efforts. Further such students do not fear failure and develop a secure belief in their self-worth.

Ryan (2008) Student wellbeing and their capacity to maintain personal emotional equilibrium and resilience have been identified as prerequisites for personal achievement.

Bernard (2006) developed the You Can Do It Program.  

Content Enhancement strategies to assist learning – are instructional adaptations that assist students to focus on and retain critical information.

Advance Organises help prepare students for the lesson. They consist of verbal or written information prepared by the teacher and presented to the students at the start of the lesson to indicate the content being presented.

EG; a list of steps to be taken in the lesson, background information, key vocabulary, and or a statement of intended learning outcomes.

Study guides emphasis important aspects of content.

Mnemonic devices are metacognitive strategies that prompt students to think about what they need to do to solve a problem. Mnemonic Devices typically consist of using the first letters key words to make up an easily remembered single word.  P78

Associated work; (1986 Hudson, Lignugaris-Kraft and Miller 1993) (Keel, Dangel and Owens 1999)

Story Maps typically guide student’s attention to relevant parts of a story (Keel, Dangel and Owens 1999)

Student Strategies to Assist Learning

Individual Rehearsal Strategies p78 – (although negatively associated with children reciting times tables) are very effective. Teachers often need to explicitly train students in the use of task approach strategies. Through clear demonstration and verbal rehearsal of the steps required. To complete the set tasks.

Elaboration Strategies p78 – involve students forming a mental image of a concept by establishing a common link to information already known. Examples are when students explain new information in their own words.

Organisational Strategies p78 – help students develop their own processes for organising information. A typical example would be to have students develop a diagram which shows relationships, or developing a summary of materials.

Self-Questioning p78

Cooperative Learning

A strong research base supports cooperative learning as valuable and efficacious organisation strategy for teaching social skills and responsibility while at the same time focusing on academic content (Jenkins 2003 Johnson & Johnson 2003).

The quality of interaction in small groups can be enhanced when students are provided with specific training in strategies that help learning such as how to ask questions, give feedback, correct errors and give explanations at a level that supports increased understanding (Good & Brophy 2008)  

Cooperative learning Models

The Think Pair Share Model (Davidson and O’Leary 1990) p80

The Co-op Model (Davidson and O’Leary 1990) p80

The Jigsaw Model (Aronson, Stephen, Lides, Blaney & Snapp 1978) p80

The Johnson Model (Johnson & Johnson 2003) p80

Developing Social Skills – helps students develop behaviours that are acceptable in a group situation. Hill and Hill (1990) recommend a skill which asks the students to describe what the skill ‘looks and sounds like’. This allows students to describe the skill in their own words and to be taught in the context of an interactive group.

Cooperative skills include communication, leadership, trust and conflict resolution. Students learn that groups function best when each person has a defend role.

These roles include (Barwick 1992) p80;

Leader; Gets the activity going and keeps it going.

Clarifier; Checks for understanding

Encourager; focuses on encouraging all to take part.

Summariser; sums up discussion into main points.

Reader; Reads instructions

Time Keeper; keeps track of time

Gopher; Collects all materials the group needs.

Reporter; Reports back to the class

Recorder; responsible for recording information if required.

These roles are defined through Group Dynamics. Teachers usually take some part in assigning the groups to minimise the potential disruption and address disruptive roles; the boss, show off and criticiser.

Chapter 5 Classroom Organising – Strategically organising the physical and temporal aspects of the classroom environment. Strategies for doing so are grouped under;

Behaviour standards, Classroom organisation and Routines procedures and transitions

Behaviour Standards – guide behaviour positive and negative. When students know what is expected of them they feel more secure because they know what is expected of them. When clear boundaries are set, anxiety associated with confusion about behavioural expectations are reduced.

Supported by (Porter 2007, Walker 2009, Zirpoli 2008)

One of the most common features of classroom managers is effective application of classroom rules. A reoccurring technique used in classroom management is the deliberate use of praise to encourage positive behaviour (Good & Brophy 2008; Manning & Butcher 2013)

Disagreement about the establishment of rules and consequences are usually to do with whether they should be negotiated with students and how concrete or abstract the rules should be.

Behavioural standards are generally contextualised using three perspectives;

Rules and consequence perspective, the rights, reasonability and consequence perspective, and the code of conduct perspective. 

Rules and consequence perspective p88– A hierarchically imposed list of acceptable behaviours are maintained.

Rules which need to be reasoned, purposeful, logical and achievable, explicitly and positively stated and measurable, taught at least initially and referred to regularly; and age appropriate.

If a rule is inconsistent with other teaching practices or natural human behaviours then the rule, prevailing pedagogy and or classroom organisation practices need to be re-examined. Rules that large numbers of students have difficulty following are a waste of time; literally, because more time and effort are needed to enforce them than would be created by problems they are supposed to solve.    

The rights, reasonability and consequence perspective p89 – presents behaviour standards as;

Rights (individual entitlements) – it is expected that students uphold the rights of others. Reasonability (mutual obligations) & Consequence (equitable due process) – are usually negotiated rather than proscribed or imposed.  

This perspective purports a more sophisticated behavioural and moral scaffold negotiated on the grounds of equity and mutual benefit.

Eg;

·         I have the right to be safe and protected, and the responsibility to keep our class safe.

·         I have the right to be respected and cared for, and the responsibility to respect and care for others.

·         I have the right to learn, and the reasonability to do my best and support others in their learning.

Rights and responsibilities are generally less specific than rules.

The code of conduct perspective – Lies philosophically between the Rules and consequence perspective, the rights, reasonability and consequence perspective.

A code of conduct usually includes an overarching values statement, a set of principles, and a set of corresponding behavioural descriptions.

The term ‘code of conduct’ is used deliberately to create more positive presuppositions.

A values Statement provides a focus to give coherence to the principles. It should be a simple statement limited to one sentence or phrase.

The term ‘rules’ should not be used if you adopt a code of conduct perspective.

Developing and implementing behaviour standards p91

Note; Research suggests that the way in which behavioural standards are met make little if any difference in the behavioural outcomes (Everston 2000, Good and Brophy 2008).

Rodgers (1998) suggests that beneficial learning outcomes are more likely when students participate if only to learn how the process of negotiated problem solving works.  

A six step approach to developing and implementing behaviour standards in a class or school wide context.  

Step 1: Adopt a theoretical approach to decision making.

Step 2: Choose an inductive or deductive approach to reasoning.

An inductive approach to reasoning is one made from the ‘bottom up’. That is, by starting with the development of grounded, explicit rules or behaviour descriptors then synthesising these into principles, rights, responsibilities and ultimately into a ‘main rule’ or value statement.

A Deductive approach is conversely, ‘top down’ wherein a values statement or main rule is chosen first, then by principles, and finally behavioural receptors or explicit, specific (observable) rules.

The inductive approach is better for younger students.

The deductive approach may be better for older students.  

Step 2a: Develop the values statement / Main rule

Step 2b: Develop the principles and behavioural descriptors/ specific rules.

The development of a list of principles and behavioural descriptors can be achieved using a process of brain storming and either an inductive or deductive approach to reasoning.

Step 3: Develop consequences

Consequences should apply when students both follow and don’t follow the rules.

The notion of ‘due process’ is highly pertinent. Systems of consequences very often involve the use of a hierarchy of negative and positive consequences. It is most important that students are most aware of how consequences will unfold.

Of course emotional cognitive and social differences are important factors to also take into account.

Older students are more able to engage productively, in collaborative, deductive problem solving.

With younger students a more prudent approach is probably to use teacher-made standards or rules, with clear explanations of their purpose. 

Step 4: Teach the standards – Should be taught and applied across all teaching / learning areas. But remember not all students have learned to behave appropriately. Positive behaviours can be used as social skills and therefor need to be taught.

This usually involves:

·         Placing the desired behaviour into a context of broader social milieu

·         Allowing for individual differences in entry skill levels and acquisition rates.

·         Breaking the behaviour into smaller steps if some students need this.

·         Demonstrating the behaviour and its relevance across the curriculum

·         Allowing the students a risk free period for practice

·         Reinforcing successive approximations to the desired behaviour

·         Delivering further instruction where areas of difficulty are noted. 

Step 5: Implement Behaviour Standards – should occur from the first day.

Step 6: Monitor and review the efficacy of the behavioural standards

It is imperative to regularly monitor (formally Assess) and review (Summatively assess and evaluate) the efficacy of your approach to your system of behavioural standards regardless of your theoretical approach to classroom management and if these have been implemented at the class, stage or school level.

Classroom Organisation – organisation of the ‘physical’ classroom environment. It sets the stage for a positive classroom ecosystem.

Considers ‘behavioural expectations’ sets social conventions. 

Weinstein and Mignano (1993) concluded that the physical classroom environment must provide a facilitate security, social contact, teacher/student interaction, group identification, task instrumentality, pleasure and growth.

Miller (1990) examined the relationship between appropriate ‘student role behaviour’ and school achievement in the early years. Miller emphasises the importance of sensitising students to behavioural expectations provided by setting cues.

Maslow (1987) explains that behavioural problems are often actions that satisfy the needs of basic human needs that other aspects of the student environment have leave unsatisfied. Basic needs must be met before students are able to devote effort to self-actualising learning.

The three key elements of Classroom Organisation;

Furniture arrangement, classroom aesthetics, and routines, procedures and transitions.

Furniture Arrangements p95

Reynolds (1992) noted that arranged furniture and spaces provided for individual and group activities, visual contact with students around the room and accommodate sociometric factors.

Everston (2000) found that students seated toward the centre front of the classroom engaged more in teaching /learning interaction. Than those seated in the periphery.

You might consider placing students with learning difficulties and or behaviour problem in areas with instructional focus.

Changers to seating arrangements are very useful if there is a need to re-establish control or more directly manage relationships and interactions in the classroom.  

The four most common seating arrangements are; Rows, Groups, U-Shapes and Workstations.

Rows – The preferred pedagogy in these classrooms are transmissionist and teacher centred, primarily with individual desk work.

Groups – Are somewhat the opposite of row arrangements. They are often found in early childhood and primary settings and to a lesser extent in secondary settings for ‘practical’ subjects.

These generally use a rectangle or L-shape. The L-shape suggests a more student focused approach to pedagogy.

U-Shapes – Single or double u-shapes attempt to deliver the advantages and minimise the disadvantages of the row and group arrangements.

U-Shapes -are essentially teacher centred.

Double U-Shapes- enhance the group function but reduce whole class discussion.

Workstations - are the proffered arrangement for activity based classrooms where students are functioning on independent levels. The potential for teacher control is much reduced however.

Access and Movement – The location and storage of students work and belongings need to be well organised, clearly labelled and easily accessible to groups of students at a time (Weinstein & Mignano 1993).

It is important to know the workplace, health and safety regulations mandate many aspects of the design of classroom and schools.

Classroom Aesthetics p98  

Variety is a key factor in establishing pleasurable environments (Weinstein & David 1987). Variations in colour space and texture helps promote on task motivation. Displays of students work, photographs etc…. assist in generating feelings of belonging to the classroom.

Routines and Procedures – People tend to be creatures of habit and like to know how to go about meeting their needs while complying with the requirements of different activities.

Maximising academic learning time is widely accepted as a management priority for best learning to occur. Rosenshine (1995) found that in well run yr 2 classrooms an average of almost 20% of each school day was spent on procedural activities.

Good & Brophy (2008) confirms that good classroom managers generally have well developed classroom routines and manage transitions using known procedures. Effective teachers set aside time at the beginning of the school year specifically to teach routines and procedures.

There are six main routines and procedures; gaining student attention for instruction for instruction, gaining student attention for behavioural attention for behavioural prompting and cueing, students gaining teacher attention, group and whole class movements, transitions between lesson segments, and context-specific routines and procedures.

Gaining Student Attention For Instruction – It is imperative from very early on that when you meet your students you establish a simple easy to enact cue to gain their attention; that is to attend to what you have to say or show them at the instructional focus of the classroom.

Your call to attention routine probably commences with a verbal cue. Remember the KIS principle…. Keep it simple.

In teaching this first key routine it must be clear to whom the routine applies, the desired degree of immediacy and the required response/attention behaviour.

Our advice is to ensure that you don’t start giving instruction until all the students involved are attending to you silently and without distraction.

Gaining Student Attention for behavioural prompting and cueing p100

Effective teachers seem to deliver lessons which ‘flow’ and they also seem to spend less time ‘disciplining’ their students. This is at least in part because their behavioural prompts and cues work.

Most importantly your students need to know when you want their attention so they can learn to do the right thing without major interruptions to the flow of the lesson.

Students Gaining Teacher Attention p101

‘Hands up quietly’ routine, although with older students engagements with teachers are now frequently achieved through conversational or informal means.  

Group and Whole Class Movements

Mobility within the classroom is more closely linked to teaching style.

We suggest that teachers move from more restrictive to less restrictive supervision practices, rather than attempting the reverse.

Transitions between Lesson Segments p101

These can be both teacher directed and student directed activities.

Eg ‘Picking up’ or ‘packing up’ activities as student directed.

Response ‘latency’ is a useful notion. Give students a certain period to respond and complete a transition or else the logical consequence of ‘making up lost time’ should result. 

Context specific Routines and procedures.

In Peer tutoring the training of the students and constant monitoring by the teachers is essential. Reading recovery sessions follow a very specific procedure which requires teaching and practice to the point of efficacy.

Many teachers use standard procedures for the first work of the lesson/day (eg silent reading, self-directed numeracy task, reflective writing task) and close with a review of the lesson.

 A common finding in research is that good classroom manages routinely scan the class to praise students who are on task, and identify potential causes for disruption which can be corrected early. Good teachers practice ‘withitness and overlap’ (Kounin1970)

Leinhardt, Weidman and Hammond (1987) demonstrated that when only fragments of routines are taught or when established routines are allowed to disintegrate, students did not respond quickly or consistently to cues.

Chapter 6 - Professional Reflexivity

The emphasis in out model is to develop a classroom and school community where every student feels they belong and where every teacher feels a sense of professional satisfaction and accomplishment.

We must build ‘learning communities’ wherein all those involved work together, support each other and remain focused on learning, and produce effective educational results.

Reflecting on Classroom Management.

Reflection is a process of honesty appraising your beliefs and actions (Henely 2006). Classroom management includes the teaching and learning nexus, as well as more broadly the management of the classroom environment.

Three reasons to compel you to be vigilant about your philosophy on, and practices of classroom management. These reasons are predicated on the concept of professional reflection (or critical reflection and analysis) and the notion that research and development must become an essential work practice for teachers (Kauffmann 2006, Sinclair, Munns & Woodward 2005).

Firstly professional standards are now in place across Australia. These highlight the importance of teacher commitment to a process of continual growth in daily practice.   

Second, Classroom management continues to be a major concern for teachers, and research should be relevant to these concerns. While a great deal of attention has been paid to effective teaching and learning practices and classroom management (Good & Brophy 2008; Rogers 2000)

Early career teachers frequently require support to develop skills in establishing positive learning environments and promote positive behaviours, and to design interventions to manage and improve individual student’s inappropriate behaviours (Ramsey 2000).

Zanting, Verloop and Vermut (2001) also emphasised the importance of individualised, professional peer support and teacher led initiatives such as mentoring.

Despite continuing research efforts many despair the gap between ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’ in many areas of education (Abbott 1999, Vaughn, Klingner & Hughes 2000)

Development of teacher initiated action research is an ideal means of achieving a closer link between rigours investigation and everyday classroom practice (Beauchamp 2008, Mulholland 2009).

In fact all teachers should… seek to analyse and understand their education practices in order to improve them (Groundwater-Smith 2001)

Being Thoroughly Reflexive p110

  In action research, Reflexivity (referring back to previous professional actions) takes us to another level. The reflexive cycle should focus on:

·         What is taught (curriculum)

·         How curriculum is taught (pedagogy)

·         Students Behaviour (How students approach interact and engage with their learning)

·         Assessment (evaluation and reporting – on and about student outcomes)

In action research in the classroom, the subject of the investigation is the teacher. You are investigating your own practice.  

Interventions (Chapter 7 p152)

-          Interventions are an optional part of the Lyford model

-          They are frequently required to rebuild positive learning environments and to minimise disruptive and unproductive behaviours when classroom management plans fail to do so.

-          Factors influencing your ability to develop and implement successful interventions:

1.       Ecological Perspectives

2.       Sociocultural Prespectives

3.       Psychoeducational Perspectives

-          Interventions should be subject to your cycle of reflexivity and plan-implement-review cycle

Understanding Interventions (p154)

-          The best laid plans for teaching and learning do not always eventuate – particularly in respect to classroom management plans, a wide range of contextual variables can impact negatively on their efficacy. This is where interventions come in.

-          If your classroom management plan does not bring about – or move reasonably towards – its stated outcomes (as evidenced by your plan-implement-review cycle) then an intervention is warranted.

-          If your classroom management plan has been rigorously designed and properly implemented, you may just need more perseverance, persistence and consistency in order to achieve substantial progress. Consult with mentors.

-          Designing, developing and implementing an intervention is a demanding task. The intention is to collaboratively plan and implement some change to the teaching/learning milieu to put your classroom management plan back on track.

-          Three interrelated variables needs to be considered:

1.       Locus of the problem

2.       Locus of control

3.       Locus of change

-          The locus of the problem refers to your understanding of and beliefs about the source of the problem behaviour. Eg: The source of the problem may lie within the student who is presenting with bad behaviour. It could be sourced back to the way you and/or others relate to and influence him (ecological/socio cultural/psychoeducational)

-          The locus of control is where you believe the focus of the intervention should be located. Eg: Is the focus on the student’s actions? Or might it be better focused on others who have relationships and influences on the student. Consider even yourself.

-          The locus of change refers to your understanding of who or what should change. Eg: Should the student’ change’ their behaviour, or should the focus of change be again with those who have an influence on the student.

-          While the three locus variables interrelate, they may not necessarily coincide where you expect them to.

-          Interventions frequently target challenging students or groups of students, but they are often better targeted at other influencing parties – including yourself.

-          Interventions may need to be applied systematically across broader contexts and milieus.

-          It is preferable that interventions are designed and implemented on a collaborative basis.

-          Remember, students are enrolled in a school, not a class. Therefore when approaching individual interventions the school’s involvement may be important.

Systemic to Focused Interventions (p156)

-          There is strong agreement amongst academics that student behaviour is best developed and improved on at-least a class-wide, but preferably a school-wide basis

-          Individual / Focused intervention is fine when you are trying to improve the behaviours of an individual or small group within the context of your CMP (classroom management plan) / or your whole class solely within the context of your CMP.

-          If your focus is on improving the behaviours of one or more of your students in wider contexts then a broader focus is required and a reconsidering of the locus of problem, control and change.

-          A systemic intervention can be very broadly focused, or can be as less broadly focused as being about just one teacher and one class: but in any case any plans for change put forward would need to take into account school-wide issues, practices and policies.

-          Interventions should first be considered from a psychoeducational perspective, then a cognitive behavioural perspective, then a behavioural perspective.

-          Thorough assessment is a prerequisite to any good intervention. Here are some questions to help with the assessment:

1.       Why is this student being assessed?

2.       What behaviour is being assessed?

3.       Who should be involved in the assessment?

4.       When, where and how should the assessment occur?

Interventions based on psychoeducational theories (p159)

-          Not rigidly procedural.

-          Focuses on thinking, feelings, belifs and attitudes of the individual student rather than on their observable challenging behaviours.

-          Seeks to nurture a more satisfying psychological learning environment for that individual.

-          Counselling interventions are generally preferred by teachers who value warm relationships with their students and want to focus on improving student self-esteem.

-          Focus of sessions should be exploring the student’s worldview and how they feel about themselves and their world.

-          Participating teacher needs to be self-aware and reflective of their own worldview.

-          Intervening teacher should take a person-centred approach to counselling by rebuilding a positive relationship with the student to facilitate:

1.       The re-emergence of his or her self-esteem;

2.       The rebuilding of his or her self-concept;

3.       To stimulate his or her re-engagement in the pursuit of self-actualisation.

Interventions using Dreikurs’ Goal-Centred Theory (p159)

-          Encouraging responses should be the first option for teachers

-          Rather than focusing on misbehaviour, teachers should notice and encourage students when they behave appropriately

-          This helps students feel significant without resorting to misbehaviour to achieve this end

-          Six Steps:

1.       Identify the Goal

2.       Break the cycle of the first reaction

3.       Disclose the goal

4.       Assert the social reality

5.       Give choices

6.       Logical Consequences

Step 1 – Identify the goal

-          First step is to identify the student’s goal of misbehaviour. GCT contends that this is revealed by examining the teacher’s own emotional reaction to the student’s behaviour, and then examining the response the student makes to the teacher’s normal method of correction.

Goal	Teacher’s feelings	Teacher’s reaction	Student’s response
Attention	Annoyed	Reminds and cajoles	Temporarily stops but later resumes
Power	Angry, challenged	Overpowers, fights or yields	Misbehaviour intensifies or student submits, often with passive aggression
Revenge	Hurt, personally threatened	Becomes defensive, retaliates	Behaviour intensifies or changes to a new form of attack Teachers reaction used to justify behaviour
Inadequacy	Frustration, sense of hopelessness	Keeps trying, eventually gives up	Gives up and makes no genuine attempt

Step 2 – Break the cycle of the first reaction

-          Stop doing what you normally do! The above table shows the common reaction to these kinds of behaviours, and students are actually after that exact reaction.

-          Assume that the student is aware of the consequences, yet wants that reaction from the teacher anyway

-          Choose another way to react that neither further discourages the student nor enables the goal to be achieved.

Step 3 – Disclose the goal

-          GCT contends that students are largely unaware of the goals of their misbehaviour

-          They are responding to discomfort and true purpose of their behaviour is held at a subconscious level.

-          Recognition Reflex: occurs when students are made aware of their goals.

-          Recognition Reflex: Shown by a quick, involuntary smile that occurs in most people when their hidden purposes are disclosed. This response could provide further validation of your assessment of the student’s goal.

-          GCT says that the goal should be disclosed at an appropriate time. Disclose the goal in a tentative manner:

1.       Attention-seeking: “Could it be that you want some attention? Could it be that you want me to notice you?”

2.       Power-seeking: “Are you telling me that you’ll do as you like? Are you telling me that you won’t be told what to do?”

3.       Revenge-seeking: “It sounds like you feel unfairly treated?”

4.       Inadequacy: “Maybe you just feel like giving up? Maybe you want me to think you can’t do it?”

-          Disclosing the goal helps students to become unconsciously aware of the purposes of their behaviour and lets them know the teacher is also aware of the goal.

-          It may enable the real problem, rather than the surface behaviour, to be dealt with.

Step 4 – Assert the social reality

-          Since misbehaviour is aimed at achieving a social response, a clear statement delineating the real social impact of the misbehaviour should lead the student into make a more productive choice.

-          If the student continues the misbehaviour after the goal is disclosed, an assertive statement indicating the effect of the misbehviour should be used. The I-Message format (chapter 3) is recommended. Firmly state your positoing, but do not blame or criticise. Describe the behaviour, describe your feeling or reaction, and tell why.

-          Be mutually respectful. Students may be unaware of the effect their behaviour is having on you. They may cease the behaviour because they respect you. If this doesn’t give the desired response, the teacher moves onto the next step.

Step 5 – Give choices

-          Based on principles of mutual respect and encouragement.

-          Student becomes alerted to the consequences that automatically follow further misbehaviour.

-          Student also made aware of consequences that follow cooperative behaviour, and is asked to make a choice.

-          Logical consequences – not punishments. Eg: “Briana, I have a problem with your calling out. At this point you have a choice. Either stay with the class and work quietly, or you can work by yourself where we can’t hear your interruptions”

-          The student’s behaviour is the gauge of their acceptance

-          Important for the student to see they were given a choice and the result is seen as a logical consequence and not an imposed punishment

Final Step 6 – Logical Consequences

-          Dreikurs contends that logical consequences, rather than punishments, are not imposed and so do not invite rebellion.

-          Connection between cause and effect is even clearer where consequences for inappropriate behaviour have been previously negotiated with the class through democratic group discussion.

-          Use of democratic principles also imbeds the consequences in social reality and emphasises they are non-discriminatory.

-          Examples:

1.       Not finishing set work may result in participation in another activity being delayed until the missed work is completed

2.       Fighting may result in social isolation

3.       Damage to property creates the expectation that the student repairs or replaces the items

4.       Constant interruptions result in the student being removed from the lesson

-          Logical consequences should be applied without the teacher displaying anger or other negative emotions. Otherwise they are interpreted as punishments.

-          Remember the importance of encouragement.

-          Strength of this kind of intervention is that it is deeply rooted in psychoeducational theory and provides for long-term change in beliefs, attitudes and behaviour.

-          Weakness is that they are less efficacious in the short-term, particularly for disruptive students. Can also be problematic with power-seeking students. Not as effective on younger students or those with intellectual disabilities as they require a high level of reasoning.

Interventions using Glasser’s Choice Theory (p166)

-          Widely adopted across Australian schools for developing and improving school-wide behaviour management practices.

-          Mostly applied when there are whole staff concerns over student behaviour.

-          Choice theory is not intended as a theory on which to base individual student interventions. This is because any approach that defines the problem as internal to the student is likely to lead to the application of external control psychology which makes the problems worse.

-          Choice Theory is an ideal theoretical platform on which to base interventions focusing more on teachers’ than student’s behaviours.

The Quality World

-          Glasser sees people as developing an individual sense of their quality world by retaining images of people, places and experiences that have led to needs satisfaction in the past.

-          Some images include: people’s mothers, best friends, partners, special teachers, happy images of school.

-          These images change over time, but those from younger years are most durable.

-          It is in everyone’s interests for students to hold images of school and their teachers within their quality world. Where this is the case, students will seek to achieve academic successes because they perceive these as sources of needs satisfaction. Their needs for survival, belonging, power, freedom and fun.

-          Glasser contends most students hold representations of teachers and schools in their quality worlds during their early education. During the middle years, many students remove these images because they experience school as an unsatisfying place. In high school, the dissatisfaction increases.

-          As with a broken relationship, this causes students to replace images of education with new, more satisfying relationships such as peer group. Often, the peer group chosen in unlikely to endorse school as a valuable place.

-          Glasser further reported an unfortunate conjunction between disruptive students’ personal ecologies and those of many teachers. Teachers also hold in their quality worlds images of those students who are likely to provide a sense of professional satisfaction. Therefore, naturally teachers will seek to build and nurture relationships with students represented in their quality worlds.

-          Glasser’s theory suggests that as a direct result of teachers’ different reactions to students who are / are not representing in the teachers’ quality world, the behaviour of these two groups of students (cooperative vs disruptive) diverges progressively from middle school onwards.

Become a lead teacher

-          Teachers need to change their perception of what teaching means: teachers should lead and facilitate learning, rather than directing and controlling students. (“Lead teaching” vs “Boss teaching”)

-          Lead teachers involve students in decisions about the curriculum and encourage students to determine much of the learning content.

-          In conflict: lead teachers assist students to find rational means to reach solutions and build a positive respectful relationship with each student.

Build a quality classroom

-          Glasser argues that emphasis should be placed on constructing classrooms (and schools) where choosing productive behaviour is sensible and fulfilling. When the choice is between “behaving appropriately and being condemned to daily boredom” or “misbehaving and satisfying needs” the rational choice is to misbehave.

-          Schools / Classes need to be structures to enable students to feel a sense of:

1.       Belonging (so they feel an indentity within the class group and a respectful relationship with the teacher);

2.       Power (so they feel respected and heard and are able to influence decisions)

3.       Freedom (to choose an individual path in learning and reasonable behaviours)

4.       Fun (so they can enjoy the learning process)

-          Coopeartive-learning strategies can be used to cater to these needs (see chapter 4):

1.       “Learning teams” to solve problems as a group (belonging)  through an approach of their choosing (freedom) and use team members talents and interests (power and fun). Task performance is evaluated by team members (power) as are the decision-making and conflict resolution methods employed (power and belonging). They teacher’s role is largely that of a facilaitator, guide and supportive mentor (belonging and power)

-          Students are more likely to make good choices simply by being part of a classroom environment where it is possible for them to satisfy their needs in this way.

Build a quality school

-          Glasser contends that in early school, children find school more enjoyable because schools find more ways of teaching students that are of interest to them – however as students get older, teachers result to a more ‘boss teaching’ mentality.

-          Glasser puts a convincing argument for establishing a productive educational ecology across classrooms and whole schools to avoid the development of conditions that lead some students to become disillusioned and detached.

-          Glasser’s Choice Theory is best applied in the context of a whole-school commitment, as students may otherwise find that their experiences in one class / activity is incompatible with another.

Interventions based on Cognitive Behavioural Theories (p170)

-          Characteristics of these interventions are drawn from both psychoeducational and behavioural theories

-          These interventions are more procedural and formulaic than interventions based on psychoeducational theory, but much less so than those based on behavioural theories.

-          These approaches are designed to preserve the best of clinical behavioural interventions while recognising the inner (cognitive) experiences of the individual.

-          Effective cognitive behavioural interventions recognise and accommodate both thoughts and behaviours.

-          Focuses on restructuring aspects of the students’ worldviews which influence how they relate to others.

-          Central: The relationship between emotions (feelings), thoughts (beliefs/cognition), and behaviours (acts).

-          Negative life experiences tend to program negative thinking and feelings and these frequently lead to negative behaviours.

-          Four main processes involved in cognition: (chapter 1 & 2)

1.       Basic thinking processes (perception, memory, appraisal and reasoning);

2.       Imagery (mental visualisations of phenomena from prior experience);

3.       Inner speech (mostly conscious self-talk usually focused on rehearsal);

4.       Metacognition (thinking about thinking)

-          CBT interventions seek to reprogram the way students perceive and interpret school experiences.

-          Aim is to change an individual student’s worldview, specifically their thinking and feelings about these experiences, in order to change their behaviours.

-          Useful to bridge the gap between student reliance on external consequences  and the internal regulation of performance. Instead of waiting for somebody else to establish goals and encourage appropriate behaviour, the student may learn to self-instruct, self-monitor and reinforce his or her own actions.

-          These interventions enhance the student’s self-perception.

-          Also assist ‘generalised’ behaviour change by enabling students to generate solutions to problems under new and varying conditions.

-          CBT interventions showed an average positive-effect amongst students with disabilities.

-          Albert Ellis’ Rational Emotive (Behaviour) Therapy focuses on challenging irrational (negaitive, counterproductive, anxiety-producing) thoughts and replacing them with rational (positive and productive) thoughts.

-          CBT interventions seek to help students to restructure their thinking to enable them to self-regulate their behaviours. Key questions:

1.       What evidence do you have to support your (irrational) thoughts?

2.       What is another (productive) way to look at this experience?

3.       What can really happen if you have this experience (again)?

-          Procedure for responding:

1.       Identify specific observable misbehaviours;

2.       Identify the student’s strengths and accomplishments;

3.       Challenge irrational self-beliefs;

4.       Identify actual and potential areas for increased self-control and minimise negative self-talk;

5.       Guide the rationalisation (programming) of thinking and emotions;

6.       Set measurable behavioural objectives for the next meeting.

-          The teacher assists the student to generate and use thinking strategies to modify behaviour that remains the focus of the defined consequences.

-          The role of the teacher is to take a person-centred counselling approach, and reprogram or reconstruct some of the student’s thinking.

-          Requires great listening skills, and deep understanding of psycholeducational and behavioural theory.

Interventions using Jeffrey Wragg’s “Talk Sense to Yourself” program (p 173)

-          TSTY program (Wragg, 1989) was introduced into Austrailan schools nearly 20 years ago

-          An example of best-practice school-based intervention based in cognitive behavioural theory.

-          Works for both primary / secondary.

-          Works for groups and individuals.

-          Focuses on developing the self-control and self-management skills of children and young people who experience behaviour problems, poor concentration and hyperactivity, and includes individual, small-group and whole class activities.

-          Program is based around sets of short lessons taught to students by trained teachers variously in one-on-one, small group or sometimes classroom settings.

1.       One set of lessons focuses on development of cognitive skills.

2.       The Second focuses on developing skills in behavioural rehearsal.

3.        Third set focuses on building students’ on-task performance.

-          Other lessons are designed to provide guidelines for teachers to monitor and cue students towards developing and applying these skills and behaviours.

-          An example is the “EMOTIONAL-TEMPERATUE CHART AND DISCOMFORT SCALE”: to teach students to be aware of and monitor their emotional temperature (level of arousal / anger). The teacher introduces the emotional temperature chart which is a graduated scale from 1-10: calm through to “loss of control” (angry). Once students have shown a willingness to identify their emotional temperature using this chart (inside and outside school) the next step is to introduce strategies for avoiding the escalation of their emotional temperature and the consequences which could occur.

-          Another is the “CUE CARDS” lesson which helps students to develop and use their own annotated cue card to prompt themselves to lower their emotional temperature. Students prepare pocket-sized cue cards. One lists a few ‘calm thoughts’, one a few ‘control and confidence’ thoughts, and one a few consequences for behaving out of control.

-          Good to incorporate a rewards scheme for students keeping to their on-task performance.

Interventions based on behavioural theories (p176)

-          Very structured and procedural

-          Concerned singularly with changing observable behaviours and has no interest in the beliefs or feelings of the individual student.

-          Primary notion underpinning: All behaviour is learned and so can be replaced by another behaviour – subject to appropriate reinforcement

-          Humans generally learn behaviours that are reinforced. Challenging behaviours tend to emerge in students if they are repeatedly given inappropriate reinforcement, or if they are repeatedly reinforced for these behaviours.

-          Intervention seeks to break the negative stimulus-response-reinforcement chains.

-          Driven by teacher, little student input.

-          Recently, students’ involvement in these in increasing. Refer Chapter 1 & 2.

-          5-step procedure for conducting an individual behavioural intervention.

Step 1 – Establish the need for a behavioural intervention

-          Gather quantitative evidence that classroom management plan is not facilitating a best quality learning environment and that the behaviours of the focus student are contributory and significant.

Step 2 – Choose and ‘identify’ a target behaviour

-          This process is referred to as “behaviour analysis” and involves the systematic collection of baseline data about:

1.       The focus behaviour

2.       Its antecedents

3.       Its renforcers

-          This data gathering is also knows as ABC Analysis or a Functional Behaviour Analysis, and is done through structured and repeated observations and consultation.

-          These behaviours can be described using terms like frequency, intensity, duration and topography.

-          Behaviour analysis takes time, as does the changing of entrenched behavioural rituals. You will need to take into account school and systemic policies and practices.

Step 3 – Identify a ‘replacement’ behaviour

-          The goal is to replace the problem behaviour with one that severs the same purpose / meets the same need.

Step 4 – Decide how to change this behaviour

-          For example:

1.       Model the replacement behaviour and ensure that appropriate reinforcement is evidenced to the student;

2.       Task-analyse the replacement behaviour by teaching behaviour increments progressively and cumulatively;

3.       Negotiate a ‘behaviour contract’ with the student.

-          Primary objective is to teach the student replacement behaviours which become self-reinforcing (internally motivated) as soon as possible.

-          Need to define a ‘behavioural objective’ here – a statement outlining when the focus and/or replacement behaviour reaches a defined criterion.

-          Scheduling of reinforcement, both positive and negative, is critical and should be discussed in negotiation with the student. When reasonable learning progress I evidenced, you then move to ‘fading’ or ‘thinning’ this reinforcement to be substituted by natural reinforcers.

Final Step 5 – Review (and evaluate) the intervention

-          If behavioural objective has not been reached, review your hypothesis against the progressive efficacy of the intervention.

-          If objective has been reached, discontinue the intervention. This can be judged by comparing with the baseline data.

-          Role of teachers in these interventions is to take a directive and executive approach in developing, managing and implementing the intervention.

-          Goal is to first implement external reinforcement that eventually becomes internal motivation.

Interventions using Applied Behaviour Analysis (p180)

-          These are designed to increase and/or decrease behaviours using informal, incidental means.

-          For example, praising a student for good work is an example of the principle: the principle being that if you rewards a desired behaviour with a pleasing consequence, the behaviour is more likely to recur.

-          Seven Step intervention:

1.       Conduct a preliminary observational analysis

2.       Modify antecedent conditions

3.       Define the target behaviour/s and establish baseline measures

4.       Establish long-term and short-term behavioural objectives

5.       Modify consequences, i.e. implement strategies to increase and/or decrease behaviours

6.       Monitor progress using accumulated data and modify if needed

7.       Evaluate

Step 1 – Conduct a preliminary observational analysis

-          Focus on demonstrative behaviours only (rather than the reports of how the actions made you feel)

-          Identifying singular target behaviours to change is required and may be difficult when a student demonatrates several misbehaviours.

-          Keep anecdotal records whenever the behaviours take place, including antecedents and other surrounding information

-          A second observational technique is the break down what happens into three specific divisions:

1.       Antecedent

2.       Behaviour

3.       Consequence

-          A third observational technique is a ‘scatter plot’. A time period (such as a day or a lesson) is broken into equal intervals. A note is made for each interval in which the target behaviour is observed or not observed.

Step 2 – Modify antecedent conditions

-          Using the three observational techniques above, this should allow teachers the chance to modify the possible antecedents. This may diminish the target behaviour to a point where is no longer requires an intervention – however it is most likely that it will, in which case you continue with the steps.

Step 3 – Define the target behaviour/s and establish baseline measures

-          Define behaviours clearly. The test is whether another person could accurately observe the target behaviours based on your description.

-          Suggestion for describing behaviours:

1.       Rate – how often per unit of time it occurs

2.       Duration – how long it lasts

3.       Force – how intense it is

4.       Topography – What it looks like

5.       Latency – how long before the behaviour occurs once a cue is given

-          Location is also important – physically, and also in terms of promximity to particular peers / peer groups.

-          Observational data (baseline data) can be collected using one or a number of the following:

1.       An event count (a tally of how many times a behaviour occurs usually within a specified time)

2.       An interval measure (observe for a specified period of time and make a judgement as to whether the behaviour of interest occurred in that interval)

3.       A duration measure (simply how long a particular behaviour lasts)

4.       Latency (how long it takes for a response ot occur once a cue has been given eg: compare how long it takes kids to line up for music class compared with how quickly they are ready when the lunch bell rings)

Step 4 – Establish long-term and short-term behavioural objectives

-          Decide on the intervention’s long-term behavioural objective and then short-term objectives.

-          ABA-based interventions can achieve significant results in a relatively short time. Not uncommon to see results in 5-10 weeks if implemented daily

-          Short-term objectives should be set daily or weekly basis.

Step 5 – Modify consequences, ie implement strategies to increase and/or decrease behaviours

-          The consequences that follow a behaviour are instrumental in determining whether that behaviour will occur again.

-          Consequences that maintain or increase the occurrence of a behaviour are commonly referred to as either positive or negative reinforcement.

-          Punishers (or aversives) in contrast are negative consequences, designed to reduce the likelihood of the behaviour occurring.

-          The reinforcer must be motivational, whether positively or negatively (eg: praise or the withdrawal of an unpleasant consequence)

-          Standard reinforcers: simple pleasant consequences that occur without any specific planning or intrusion by the recipient. These occur naturally every day and may simply be the enjoyable consequences of completing a task or phase. Their presence is not usually contingent on the demonstration of very specific target behaviours.

-          Additional reinforcers: consequences that are deliberately made available or highlighted in order to promote positive behaviour. They are part of a plan and need to be withdrawn as soon as possible to avoid students becoming dependent on them.

-          Reinforcements must be motivating, contingent and immediate. It must be considered by recipient to be desirable each and every time.

-          The phrases “If, then” and “if and only if” are very important in designing and implementing interventions.

-          Thinning: A schedule by the teacher to reduce the use of additional positive reinforcers over time.

-          In early stages, replacement behaviour should be reinforced each time (1:1) but over time it should only need to be reinforced every third time, or perhaps every third time in a specific period.

-          Thinning is critical because in the real world additional reinforcers are not always available.

-          Pairing: the use of additional and standard reinforcers to encourage maintained and independent behaviour patterns. (eg: give the student a stamp (additional) and also verbal praise (standard)

-          It means that students will still appreciate the standard reinforcement after the additional reinforcement is no longer available – and is often neglected but is critical to success of ABA interventions.

-          Behavioural Change Strategies (to increase behaviours)

1.       Token economies and positive levels systems (using points / tokens etc that are redeemable for positive consequences

2.       Contracting: written agreement that outlines behavioural expectations within a timeframe. “If… then….”

3.       Shaping: Selective reinforcement of increasingly more accurate demonstrations of a target behaviour. This means the teacher only reinforces the student when they display behaviour that is close to the target behaviour.

4.       Negative Reinforcement: when a person increases a behaviour in order to avoid what he or she considers an aversive (punishing) consequence, or to avoid the threat of this consequence. (eg: a student who works harder to avoid being kept in at lunchtime)

-          Behavioural Change Strategies (to decrease behaviours)

1.       Differential reinforcement: Where the teacher selectively reinforces alternative, incompatible or other behaviours to those targeted for reduction. (for example, a student who is constantly out of his seat will be contingently reinforced for sitting down)

2.       Extinction or Systematic Ignoring: withholding any of the reinforcer in the presence of the behaviour targeted for reduction.

3.       Overcorrection: when a student behaves inappropriately, he/she is required to either restore the situation to better than its original condition, or practise the acceptable replacement behaviour repeatedly. (eg a student drops a piece of paper and must then clean the playground. A student fails to line-up properly, so they must attend a lining-up practice session)

4.       Response Cost: The removal of a positive reinforcer, or a part of it, as a direct consequence of undesirable behaviour. (eg: loss of ‘points’ or ‘tokens’)

5.       Time-out: temporary removal of an individual or group’s opportunity to receive reinforcement. (NB Time-out in ABA is different to Glasser.) Time-out should be considered in the context of the present environment to ensure it isn’t punitive nor positive.

Step 6 – Monitor progress using accumulated data and modify strategies if required

-          Baseline data is the reference point.

-          If progress is reasonable you should continue the intervention as planned.

-          If there is no indication of improvement then you should revisit and reconsider your hypothesis and or reinforcement choice/schedule.

Step 7 – Evaluate the intervention

-          It is imperative to conduct a rigorous summative evaluation of the intervention.

-          You must judge efficacy and efficiency of the intervention.

-          Efficacy: did it work

-          Efficiency: Given the resources committed ot the intervention (time, effort, expertise, money) was the intervention worth it?

Interventions using Functional Behavioural Assessment (p190)

-          Functional Behavioural Assessment and Analysis (Simonsen et al. 2008) is very highly regarded as a development of ABA.

-          The teacher studies the contexts in which a student operates, as well as the actual behaviours that are observed in order to hypothesise / identify the possible reasons for and functions of inappropriate behaviour.

-          FBA is ‘the process of determining the intent an inappropriate behaviour serves for obtaining a desired outcome and replacing that behaviour with a more appropriate one that accomplishes the same goal’

-          Steps:

1.       Teacher first collects information about broad contextual factors that may set the scene for a behaviour problem (“setting”), the antecedents, the nature and the consequences. By analysing this data and ensuring that multiple sources are involved, hypotheses are developed and tested. This phase is referred to as “Functional Analysis”

-          FBA emphasis purpose and context as key considerations in understanding social behaviour.

-          Consistent with the themes of ecological complexity and interrelatedness discussed in chapter 2.

-          A strength of ABA is that it has a very large research base and certainly works. However, its success could be too dependent on the continued delivery of additional reinforcers.

-          Another strength of ABA is that it provides teachers with a clear framework for measuring and changing behaviour.

-          Some suggest ABA is too mechanistic and inhumane, so FBA permits that there is always a reason for the human behaviour and it should be treated along with the behaviour.

Interventions using Canters’ Assertive Disciple program (p191)

-          Pioneered in USA by Lee and Marlene Canter in the 1970s.

-          Applies to school and classroom levels.

-          Program emphasises teacher control and regulation of student behaviour in the classroom and other settings, with the underlying goal of allowing teachers to get on with teaching and students to fully engage in the learning process.

-          Teachers very clearly articulate their beliefs about what is acceptable and what is unacceptable and deliver consistent positive and negative consequences.

-          Teachers must inform students about their right to choose the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to act. This will determine the consequences the student experiences.

-          It draws heavily on Behavioural Theory and is has been criticised for taking a mechanistic unemotional approach to teacher-student engagement.

-          Unequivocally authoritarian, do not explicitly account for student thoughts, feelings and emotions.