Behavior Management: Lesson 3

Students spend a majority of the school day working in groups. It is important for paraeducators to have some useful strategies for successfully managing behavior of students during these times. Developing a set of strategies helps you respond quickly if and when problems do arise. This lesson discusses several useful methods which can be used to manage behavior while students are in groups. These involve short, routine measures that redirect off-task behavior, don't disrupt instruction and refocus attention on the classroom teacher or paraeducator.

The strategies are most effective at the beginning stages of misbehavior and with minor problems. The strategies should be used in conjunction with established classroom rules and procedures.

Planned Ignoring

Sometimes the most effective way to deal with student misbehavior is to ignore it.

Pointers for When to Ignore Behavior:

When the inappropriate behavior is unintentional or not likely to reoccur.
When the goal of a misbehavior is to gain teacher or paraeducator attention.
When you want a behavior to decrease.
Do not intervene when there is nothing you can do.

Pointers for When to Intervene:

When there is physical danger or harm to yourself, others or the child.
When a student disrupts the classroom.
When there are violations of classroom rules or school policy.
When there is interference with learning.
When the inappropriate behavior will spread to other students.

**Example**
Jimmy comes into the classroom from recess all excited and extremely active. The result of ignoring his initial antics is that he soon gets seated and begins working.

Providing Cues to Students

An important aspect of behavior management is developing ways to communicate with students that provide reminders that support your expectations. Remember that look your mother would give you when you were young? She didn't have to say even a word but it would immediately stop you in your tracks? It's simply a way to let the student know that you want their attention, or you're aware of the behavior, and that you want it changed. These cues can also be used to reinforce positive behavior patterns as well (i.e., reminders to continue the quality of interaction during an activity). These techniques may be non-verbal, including eye contact, physical gestures (i.e., raising your hand in silence), tapping or snapping of your fingers, coughing or clearing your throat, facial expressions (i.e., smile), or body postures (i.e., tilting your head). One caution, avoid doing things that may embarrass students.

**Example**
When a student begins to misbehave, simply establishing eye contact with him or her will often times stop the behavior immediately.

There are also more formal procedures, that we teach students during the first week of school, for example the dimming or shutting the lights off within the classroom as the signal to be silent. They can be verbal as well, for example reminding the entire class or group of students what procedures to follow.

**Example**
During a group activity the volume of the classroom is rapidly increasing. You raise your hand and the entire class does the same while remaining quiet. You review the classroom rule with them regarding the noise level and continue with the activity.

Proximity Control

A fancy term, but you've probably used the technique quite frequently. You're aware how effective it is to stand near a student who's experiencing difficulty. Simply moving around the classroom can assist students in staying on task because of your "proximity" to them. This works well because the students know you're aware of what's going on, and allows the classroom teacher to continue without interrupting the lesson or the flow of the activity. As a caution, it's important not to reinforce the inappropriate behavior or call attention to the student.

**Example**
A student is teasing one of his/her classmates, while you're presenting an activity to a small group of students. While continuing to speak, you look directly at the offending student. However, the teasing persists, so you simply move toward the student, or even stand next to him or her for a few minutes. Finally you resort to putting your hand on his/her desk. This, often times, can even go unnoticed by the rest of the peers or the entire class. The end result, is that the student is not embarrassed or given unnecessary negative attention, and the behavior will cease.

Ways to Increase Student Motivation

Motivation is a key to academic success for most students. There are a number of ways to increase the motivational level of students with which you work.

Relate the material to their life experience/s, in other words, make it relevant to them personally, thereby stimulating their interest.
Demonstrate an active interest in that child.
Demonstrate an active interest in the child's work or the activity.
Use lots of praise both verbally and nonverbally.

**Example**
Julie easily becomes bored and states certain tasks are "too easy" or "the same old stuff". When this happens she will daydream and/or not complete assigned tasks. Her class has been given a work sheet of simple measurement problems involving recipes and individual ingredients. While monitoring this practice activity you notice that Julie is off task. You quietly approach her and ask about her personal experiences using measuring devices. She then shares how she assisted her father with baking a pumpkin pie this past weekend. She discusses the use of a measuring cup, teaspoon and tablespoon. You take a few minutes to explain how this directly applies to the measurement problems that they're working on, thank her for sharing and redirect her to the assigned task, and ask if she'd be willing to share with the class her personal experience with measurement. She quickly finishes the worksheet and appears much more interested in the activity.

The Use of Humor

We're all aware of how a light, funny or amusing comment or statement can often times decrease tension, or frustration and afterward allows everyone to feel a bit more comfortable.

Of all the techniques discussed here, humor can be the most prone to misuse and is not easy to master, especially if it's directed toward a particular child or group of children. We've all heard the expression "laugh with, not at children". Even the practice of laughing at one's own actions can sometimes be troublesome, particularly if it's negatively directed. Don't use sarcasm and don't belittle students. Be careful, because what you think is funny may not be funny to the student involved.

**Example**
You're reviewing spelling words with the class, while your supervising teacher works with a small group of students. They view the activity as boring, and are less than excited about attending to the task. Recognizing their resistance, you ask the class to twirl their right index finger in the air and chant "Yip" and the other side "Eee". After a couple of "Yippee" you state, "I'm really pleased to see how excited you are with the spelling review". The class breaks into hysterical laughter, thereafter calm and far more receptive.

Humor can also be used constructivley to decrease levels of anxiety and thereby increase students' academic perform.

**Example**
You can feel the tension in the air, as you distribute a language arts examination to your students. As you're doing such, you explain they don't have to answer questions 21 through 30. Once each student has a copy, they hurriedly look to find items 21 through 30, only to find that there are only 20 items. There's a collective sigh of relief, and a lot of smiles.

Helping Students Through Tough Spots

All students eventually will come across a certain task, assignment or situation that causes them difficulty. Many will request assistance from teachers, staff or peers when appropriate. Others will simply stop working all together and not know what to do next. At these times, trouble can occur. We need to get them back on track. As a paraeducator, you can be most helpful in getting the student back on task by:

Doing (or solving) the problem with the student.
Reviewing the directions.
Providing another example or demonstrating.
Supplying them the correct answer as a model.

**Example**
Louise is experiencing difficulty with her work. She becomes increasingingly off task, and by providing just a bit of assistance you can get her back on task. While monitoring a classroom activity, you notice Louise is distracted and not working on her assigned task. You approach her and ask what she's to be doing, work through an example with her, and help her solve the question that's been asked.

Appeal to Student Values

Often times you can appeal to students' values when intervening in problem situations. Their desire is to be liked by others, to do the right thing, to be treated with respect, etc. You might:

Appeal to the relationship between yourself and the student. (i.e., "When you swear at me when you're upset, it makes me feel bad.")
Appeal to the natural consequences of a specific behavior. (i.e., "I know you're frustrated, but if you break your pencil, then you'll have to replace it with your own money." )
Appeal to a student's need to be liked. (i.e., "Your friends may be disappointed with you if you continue to boss them around and interrupt them when they're speaking.")
Appeal to the student's self-respect. (i.e., "I know you'll be very upset with yourself at the end of school if you rip up your daily behavior rating card.")

Removal of Nuisance Items

It is difficult for both teachers and paraeducators to compete with certain objects, either found at school or brought from home (i.e., rubber bands, combs, etc.). Often times in order to gain students' undivided attention, you may be required to deal with these types of competing items. Often times, however, the removal of such belongings will only lead to further conflict. One way to avoid such conflict is to simply state the choices:

You can either put it away immediately; or
I will put it away until the end of the day.

However, by taking a strong interest in the object and then politely asking to see and handle it. Once it is in your possession, you have the option of returning it, with a firm request that it disappear for the rest of the school day, week or year, or to keep it, with a promise to return it at the end of the day and/or week. This technique is most effective if you have established a relationship with the student.

**Example**
You observe a student twirling a streamer that's attached to the eraser of his pencil. You approach him and ask to see the brightly colored streamer. You simply remove the streamer and the straight pin that attached it to the tip of the eraser and ask him to stop by after school to pick it up so it doesn't get lost. He'll be sure to remember to take it home.

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