Sei sulla pagina 1di 6

Intervention in School and Clinic http://isc.sagepub.

com/

Stephen W. Smith : Strategies for Building a Positive Classroom Environment by Preventing Behavior
Problems
Mary T. Brownell and Chriss Walthe-Thomas
Intervention in School and Clinic 2001 37: 31
DOI: 10.1177/105345120103700106

The online version of this article can be found at:


http://isc.sagepub.com/content/37/1/31.citation

Published by:
Hammill Institute on Disabilities

and

http://www.sagepublications.com

Additional services and information for Intervention in School and Clinic can be found at:

Email Alerts: http://isc.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts

Subscriptions: http://isc.sagepub.com/subscriptions

Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav

Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

>> Version of Record - Sep 1, 2001

What is This?

Downloaded from isc.sagepub.com by Hana Pop on October 30, 2011


Stephen W. Smith:
for
Strategies Building Positive Classroom a
Environment by Preventing Behavior Problems

Dr Stephen W. Smith is professor in the Department of


a

Special Education at the University of Florida. He re-


ceived his doctorate in special education at the University
of Kansas, with an emphasis on behavior disorders. Prior
to his doctoral work, Or. Smith taught special education
in elementary and high school settings in Springfield,
Missouri.
Dr. Smith became interested in special education while
working on an undergraduate degree in speech and lan-
guage pathology and psychology As part of a practicum
requirement, he was asked to provide speech services to
several students with severe and profound mental retar-
dation. Working with these students intrigued him, and
as a result, he wanted to become more involved in spe-
cial education. Thus, he went on to complete a master’s
degree in special education at Southwest Missouri State
University in Springfield, Missouri. After completing his
degree, Dr. Smith took his first job in an elementary class-
room for students with mild mental retardation and be-
havior disorders. He found that he was challenged in
multiple ways when managing problem behaviors and re-
alized that many teachers did not have the knowledge to
manage students with behavior problems. After 5 years,
he took a second job in a high school setting working
with similar students, and again he was faced with be-
havior problems. This time, however, the problems were
a little more challenging to handle. After facing and suc-

cessfully dealing with many of his students’ behavioral is-


sues, he decided to return to school for a doctorate in ~~
What are some preventative strategies

special education with a specialization in behavior disor- t~ * techniques


or that individual teachers
ders because he wanted to find better ways to deal with ~&dquo;~&dquo;’ can use to prevent behavior problems
problem behaviors and help teachers in the process. in their classrooms?
Presently, Dr. Smith teaches classroom management
strategies to undergraduate students in elementary edu- Prevention of behavior problems is the most important
cation while focusing his research efforts on cognitive- intervention step. In fact, the’ best way to eliminate be-
behavioral interventions to reduce student aggression havior problems in the classroom is to take a proactive
and chronic classroom disruption. He also investigates rather than a reactive stance. Having said that, I want to
the nature of student social conflict and the use of con- say that prevention is not easily accomplished. There are
structive conflict-resolution strategies. a wide variety of techniques and things for teachers to

31

Downloaded from isc.sagepub.com by Hana Pop on October 30, 2011


think about as they work to manage behavior in their
~
kid-proofing the environment so potential problems
classrooms, and it often requires that teachers rethink are out of reach and under teacher control,
their beliefs about discipline. One of the biggest hurdles ~
establishing rules and consequences,
to eliminating behavior problems is the culture of pun-
~
ignoring inconsequential negative behaviors and
ishment that pervades our schools and homes. When stu- refocusing on the positive,
dents misbehave, we are sometimes quick to think about ~
redirecting rather than reprimanding students, and
time out, removal of privileges, or in-school or out-of- ~
allowing students a variety of choices to reach an
school suspension. What many teachers and adminis- agreed-upon instructional goal.
trators fail to consider is that punishment is only a
limited strategy that does not, by itself, help students At the most basic level, teachers need to kid-proof the
learn more appropriate behaviors. So the first step to environment. Specifically, they have to pay attention to
the curriculum and its appropriateness for the child. Many
being proactive is reconsidering views about punish- students misbehave to avoid a task that is too difficult for
ment and considering ways to build more positive, pro-
active environments where the opportunity to misbehave them. With this in mind, behavioral difficulties can be
is reduced. prevented by ensuring that each student can participate
All classrooms have to have a positive culture that re- fully and successfully in the lesson. Teachers must re-
inforces certain values, such as respect and fairness, and member to provide students with a variety of choices to
makes students feel welcome and successful. Although reach an agreed-upon instructional goal. That is one of
the important things for teachers to remember-that all
creating a positive culture sounds simple, it is a lot more instruction should have a goal, and students may be able
challenging than just being nice to students. Today, stu- to achieve that goal in a variety of ways. If students sense
dents bring many complicated issues to school. There
some control of what they are doing, it can prevent
are manvstudents coming from
home environments where they problems from occurring. For
are not receiving adequate sup- instance, the instructional goal
of learningabout how volca-
port to develop the social skills teachers need to make
for interacting appropriately in
...
noes are formed can be achieved
school. Additionally, students creating a positive classroom by interviewing a volcano expert
from the local university, fol-
are exposed to an increasingly
violent and unpredictable societv community a daily priority. lowing a research team at an ac-
tlve voicano on tne internet, or
that causes stress. There are also
the typical problems that stu- doing book report. Asking
a

dents have been exhibiting for students which project they


years that interfere with a positive culture, such as teas- might want to do increases the likelihood that they will
become involved in the instruction and, consequently, be
ing and bullying. Despite the challenges, teachers need less of a behavior problem.
to make creating a positive classroom community a daily
Besides attending to the curricular demands placed on
priority. One teacher I know of has some very specific
strategies for creating a positive community in her class- students, teachers can kid-proof the environment by
room. She selects a specific quality to work on in her paying close attention to all those events or environ-
mental stimuli that are present in their classrooms that
classroom, such as responsibility. She reads student liter-
ature that highlights this quality, then on a daily basis may be a source for students’ misbehavior. Specifically,
teachers need to consider
points out those students engaging in responsible behav-
ior and describes for the class what the acknowledged ~ how well their classroom procedures are defined;
students are doing. She also encourages other students in ~
the time of day they have slotted for specific
the class to point out when a peer has done something re- activities;
sponsible. Every week, she and the class nominate a stu- ~ environmental pollutants, such as noise and
dent who has best displayed this behavior, and the class distractions; and
recognizes that student. ’ students’ interest levels.
Even though a positive community is difficult to
achieve, teachers need to ground their disciplinary inter- For example, many teachers find that behavior breaks
actions with students on a solid foundation of care and down during cooperative learning activities. If teachers
concern for each other. Then, students will perceive carefully analyze the cooperative learning task to see
their teacher’s disciplinary actions as fair and in the best what is required to make it successful, then they can pre-
interest of the entire class. The teacher is on their side vent many behavior problems. I once saw a teacher im-
rather than working against them. plement Class-wide Peer Tutoring. She spent 1 week
When the classroom culture is positive, teachers can teaching students the skills and expected behaviors they
use several proactive prevention techniques: needed to be good tutors. When students participated in

32

Downloaded from isc.sagepub.com by Hana Pop on October 30, 2011


their first tutoring session, it went surprisingly smooth,
and off-task behavior was kept to a minimum. I contend
this is largely because of the preventative strategies this
teacher used.
Teachers must also consider the setting to encourage
appropriate behavior in the classroom. What are the
rules that teachers and students are going to abide by?
Remember when you were younger, and you would play
a board game with a friend? Sometimes the game was un-
familiar to you and you had to ask, &dquo;So, what are the rules
of the game.&dquo; According to how well those rules were
spelled out and, most importantly, understood, you could
play the game without much confusion. As you played,
you might occasionally have to ask about a certain situa-
tion or get a re-explanation, but the disputes you had
with your friend were minimized when the rules were
clear, understood, and mutually agreed on. It’s the same
in a classroom. Students need to know exactly what the
rules of the classroom are; otherwise, they cannot live up
to the expectations in the classroom. When teachers sim-

ply list the rules for students and post them without class
dialogue, it violates the principles that underlie a positive
classroom community where teachers and students work
together. To make rules an integral part of building class-
room climate, teachers should consider the following:

1. Rule-making needs to be a collaborative exercise


where everyone is a participant.
2. Teachers need to involve students in making the
rules so that they can help to establish expectations
in the classroom that everyone agrees are important.
3. Students need to define the rules and understand
them.
behavior) and engage in a good habit. Students will need
Often teachers will have rules such as &dquo;Respect each continued opportunities to practice the rules and many
other.&dquo; But what does respecting each other mean? opportunities to receive positive reinforcement when
Think about how much work would need to be done to they practice them successfully. Explaining, practicing,
articulate, discuss, and get a thorough understanding of and positively reinforcing will help form the positive
&dquo;Respect each other&dquo; or &dquo;Be respectful.&dquo; That is the type habits that will result in a safe and caring community
of work that teachers and students need to do to develop where students interact more appropriately than inap-
rules that prevent problematic behavior. In this particu- propriately.
lar case, teachers would have to point out what behaviors When teachers establish a positive classroom environ-
are respectful, then notice students when they are engag- ment with clear rules and expectations, they can also use

ing in respectful behaviors and point out when they are some simple techniques to minimize behavior problems:

not and why that is a problem. Developing and explain-

ing the rules, however, is only one part of the equation. ~


Ignore negative behavior and &dquo;catch&dquo; students when
Teachers must also consider the consequences that go they are being good,
along with the rules. Oftentimes, teachers and students ~
provide students with help,
are quick to point out what happens when you don’t fol- ~
redirect their attention, and .

low the rules, and that is important. However, they for- ~


appeal to their interests.
get that there are positive consequences for following the
rules as well. It is even more important to focus on the Teachers need to determine for themselves what the
positive things that happen when you follow a rule. Addi- &dquo;mild disruptive behaviors&dquo; are and ignore them. A stu-
tionally, learning to follow the rules is really a matter of dent tapping a pencil, whispering, or not paying atten-
developing good behavior habits. Teachers need to re- tion can be easily ignored. Generally, small behaviors will
member how difficult it is to break a bad habit (or bad stop when the teacher does not attend to them. Alter-
33

Downloaded from isc.sagepub.com by Hana Pop on October 30, 2011


natively, the teacher can walk over to the student tapping off-task behavior. The teacher encourages the student to
the pencil and rather than reprimand for inappropriate identify what off-task behavior looks like and develop a
behavior, redirect the student to his or her work. A few goal for reducing the off-task behavior. The teacher then
minutes later, when the student is on task, the teacher sets up system that would allow the student to take data
a

can recognize the student for doing what is expected. In on her his own off-task behavior. When the goal is
or

far too many classrooms, I have noticed that students do reached, according to the self-collected data, the student
not receive sufficient recognition for doing the right would reinforce him- or herself.
thing. Cognitive behavior modification techniques teach stu-
dents to use self-talk to control their behavior. Essen-
When behavior problems occur, what tially, it is a way of teaching students how to think rather
~~
Q .
strategies can teachers use that will help
students learn appropriate behaviors?
than teaching what to think. For example, a teacher will
model aloud a number of steps she goes through to con-
trol her anger, such as stop, count to 10, and ask, &dquo;What
Teachers need to think carefully about how disruptive is the problem here?&dquo; The next step might be to think
the student’s behavior is. Behavioral interventions should about what the goal would be and in what ways the goal
match the intensity of the student’s behavior. If a student could be reached, eventually reaching the point where an
exhibits chronic behavior problems that are sufficiently option is selected and then evaluated. She will then use
intense (e.g., verbal aggression or physical aggression role plays with the students to help them practice using
against people or objects), the teacher and other staff need the series of steps to control anger. After students know
to try to get that behavior under control as quickly as and understand the strategy, she will prompt them to use
possible. In these cases, behavioral methods (e.g., posi- the strategy when the need arises. CBM techniques have
tive reinforcement and some punishment techniques, such been helpful in reducing impulsive and aggressive be-
as time out) can be used effectively. Often these behav- havior.
ioral methods are packaged as classroom interventions. Finally, teachers need to consider how they might be
Teachers can use token economies, in which students contributing to problem behavior. Sometimes teachers
earn points for appropriate behaviors, and then trade make the mistake of thinking that it is the student’s be-
those points for some type of tangible item or privilege havior that must change when in reality, the teacher can
either every day or at the end of the week. Teachers can be part of the problem. Behavior cannot be a problem
also use behavioral contracts, in which they help the stu- unless there is some reaction to it, so in that respect,
dent determine a goal for improving his or her behavior teachers need to understand that they are part of the be-
and then together decide on the reinforcement the stu- havioral equation in a classroom. Teachers can be an-
dent will receive when the goal is achieved. Behavioral tecedents to problem behaviors and sometimes be the
cause of it. For example, a teacher might approach a stu-
strategies are well-known by many special education
teachers, but general education teachers often lack knowl- dent who is displaying some maladaptive behavior in a
edge of these strategies. Special educators can play an provocative manner. He or she might move closer to the
important role in providing this knowledge to their gen- child, point a finger at the disruptive child, and make a
eral education colleagues by setting up reinforcement provoking comment such as, &dquo;Willard, I have just about
strategies for specific students or helping teachers design had enough; get in your seat and you had better not get
behavioral contracts. up again, and I mean it.&dquo; In this scenario, you can imag-
Although behavioral methods can be very effective in ine how the student might react. To save face, the stu-
reducing inappropriate behavior and strengthening ap- dent might get up and yell at the teacher, then began to
propriate behavior, students often have difficulty main- engage in increasingly disruptive behavior. In fact, the
taining behavioral skills they have learned or using those student may end up in time out, the principal’s office, or
skills in other settings when the behavioral methods are in-school suspension. If the teacher would have ap-
withdrawn. What teachers need is more information on proached that situation differently, the entire outcome
using self-management and cognitive approaches because might be different. For instance, the teacher could have
these procedures are student controlled and less teacher said, &dquo;Willard, I know you want to go outside for recess,
so I’ll be glad to help you with your work for a bit. Come
dependent. Thus, when the reinforcement source is re- &dquo;
moved, students have a better chance of maintaining on back to your seat and let’s get started so you can play.&dquo;

their behavior in the classroom and other settings. When The possibility that students will respond positively is
student behaviors are less chronic or less intensive (non- enhanced when teachers are sensitive to how they ap-
compliance, talking back, periodically off task), self- proach situations.
management and cognitive behavior management (CBM)
techniques can be very helpful. To use self-management How can teachers work with parents to
procedures, a teacher and the student would identify and
define the behavior that needs to be changed, such as
~&dquo;~
III III
improve the behavior of students in
their classrooms?

34

Downloaded from isc.sagepub.com by Hana Pop on October 30, 2011


No doubt employing the assistance of parents can be gree, are responsible for dealing with student behaviors,
very helpful when working with students who have signif- so everyone needs to agree to be part of the school-wide
icant behavioral problems. I would say that all teachers, effort and approach it in the same way. Individual teach-
regardless of the circumstances, should be in constant ers need to teach their students the expectations of the
contact with parents about their child’s progress. school-wide approach and provide agreed-upon rein-
Frequent contact can be maintained by creating home- forcement when students exhibit appropriate behaviors
note systems that provide parents with specific informa- and consistent consequences when they exhibit problem
tion about how well their child has followed the rules. ones. Last, teachers might end up being part of a school-
For instance, I know of a kindergarten teacher who has a wide team responsible for reviewing procedures, rules,
little checklist of about four important behaviors, and and services of the school-wide approach. As with par-
she indicates with a smiling face which behaviors the enting, providing a united front that is positive and con-
child demonstrated well that day. Additionally, try to in- sistent is the best way to create a school environment in
volve the parents in the behavior plan when you can. which students know they can count on certain things in
Because parents know their child best, they can provide the environment; then they can feel secure and trust the
insights into the behavior and conditions or reinforcers adults around them.
that best motivate the child. Work to highlight positive
actions the child is demonstrating so that parents receive What resources can you recommend
something other than negative news about their child.
Remember, no parents will feel good about constant feed-
~<~
t~* .
that would expand on some of the ideas
you mentioned during our interview?
back informing them of what a problem their child is.
Also, try not to blame parents for their child’s behavior. I have several resources that I use in my undergraduate
Although this may be difficult to do when a good deal of and graduate classes that preservice and inservice teach-
family dysfunction is present, it presents a barrier to col- ers seem to enjoy. All three of these resources are easy to
laboration with the parents. In difficult cases, teachers read and provide specific strategies for improving the
need to tap into the resources available in their school classroom climate and managing student behavior:
and community, such as social workers and mental health
counselors, to help them work with the family and pro- Chamey, R. S. (1992). 7èaching children to care: Management in the respon-
sive classroom. Greenfield, MA: Northeast Foundation for Children.
vide the teacher with support.
Kaplan, J. S., & Carter, J. (1995). Beyond behavior modification: A cogni-
tive-behavioral approach to behavior management in the school. Austin,
How can individual teacher efforts be TX: PRO-ED.
~ part of a school-wide approach to be- Nelson, J., Lott, L., & Glenn, S. (2000). Positive discipline in the class-
&reg; havior management? Why is this room : Developing mutual respect, cooperation, and responsibility in your

important? classroom (3rd ed.). Roseville, CA: Prima.

Because classrooms sit inside of a schoolhouse, a school- Persons interested in submitting material for An Inter-
wide approach is a necessary ingredient to managing the view With ... should contact either Mary T. Brownell,
problem behaviors of students. First, teachers need to Dept. of Special Education, G315 Normal Hall, Uni-
&dquo;buy in&dquo; to a school-wide approach. As in a classroom, versity of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-2053, or
school-wide rules need to be defined and agreed on by Chriss Walther-Thomas, 304 Jones Hall, College of
everyone working in the school. All adults, to some de- William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23185.

35

Downloaded from isc.sagepub.com by Hana Pop on October 30, 2011

Potrebbero piacerti anche