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Adjust Your Lens: Student Behavior is Information

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Adjust Your Lens: Student Behavior is Information

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In This Post:

The importance of removing your personal feelings from student behavior issues.

Behavior is information, use it to help provide a better learning experience!

Ways to adjust your thinking to better meet the needs of your students and colleagues.

"I had a hard day today."

Anytime that I've said this as an educator, the translation really should be, " My students had a hard day today and I am frustrated that I don't feel I could do enough to help them." As educators, our work is personal. We root for people and hope to be a part of their journey to be the best versions of themselves. When we hit a time where we don't feel we are making the progress that we want to see, we may let our reflective nature slip and look for other places to lay blame. The best way to combat this and refocus on what we can do to give ourselves and our students the best day possible is to switch the conversation in our heads. Adjust your lens! Are your students giving you a hard time or having a hard time?

All student behavior is information. What we do with that information is what determines our path. Let's agree that information is neutral until we label and/or react to it. Let's practice using this information-neutral lens.

All student behavior is information. What we do with that information is what determines our path. Click To Tweet

If your mind says, "Why are you giving me such a hard time?" adjust your lens. What might be the reasons that you are having a hard time?

Taking out our feelings that a student's behavior is directed at us personally allows the space necessary to begin identifying ways to support and move the student to a more productive activity. When we let go of feeling defensive, we can clearly view the situation and seek ways to offer strategies to our students.

If your mind says, "Why are you off-task?" adjust your lens. Do you understand the directions? Is this task too difficult or too easy for you?

It may be that the student doesn't want to admit that they don't have a writing utensil or a charged device to do the work. Off-task behaviors are a signal that the educator may want to lean in and seek the why behind the behavior. Simply repeating that the student should get back to work won't be successful if we never identify the why behind what is happening.

[scroll down to keep reading]

Sounds good, but how do I maintain this throughout the year?

To find and keep the clarity that behavior is information and information is neutral until we react, you must commit to self-care. You and your students deserve to have the best chance to achieve all that is possible together. Caring about your work and taking behavior personally can be a very fine line. Feeling guilty about putting yourself high on your list? Adjust your lens! When you are at your best, you have your best chance to seek the why behind challenging behaviors.

I won't pretend that as a classroom teacher or now as an administrator that I am always able to maintain this neutral stance, but I will promise my teachers that it is always my goal. I know that my service is to them and not my own ego or point of view.

What self-care will you commit to in order to stay at your best? You and your students will benefit from your efforts! Keep it up if you already have ways to lift yourself up, and if you don't, seek some strategies for maintaining your positive outlook. Don't wait until you're overwhelmed or annoyed to start-you deserve it now!

ABOUT JACQUELINE GOODBURN

Jacqueline is currently the Director of Staff Development at Burgettstown Area School District. We are a "Small town with a Big Heart!" I earned degrees and credentials from Penn State University, Robert Morris University, and Duquesne University. I spent ten years working in social services before transitioning to education. My belief is in servant leadership, and I strive to support our teachers through professional development that offers choice in timing, topic, and delivery as well as opportunities for teacher to teacher training. In order for our teachers to shine, they must be at their best, so I also run Mindful Moments groups and other wellness activities that keep us connected. I believe that our teachers are the most important component in learning, and my role is to offer strategies and support so our students have the very best practitioners working with them.

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Adjust Your Lens: Student Behavior is Information

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The importance of removing your personal feelings from student behavior issues. Behavior is information, use it to help provide a better learning experience! Ways to adjust your thinking to better meet the needs of your students and colleagues. "I had a hard day today."

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New teachers-and experienced ones too-can find ideas here on how to stop disruptive behavior before it begins.

In the 1950s, psychologists Jacob Kounin and Paul Gump discovered a curious side effect of discipline: If a student was being disruptive and the teacher responded with strict disciplinary measures, the student might stop-but other students would start exhibiting the same misbehavior. Kounin and Gump called this the " ripple effect," and it demonstrated that efforts to control a classroom can backfire.

"The teacher who is interested in controlling ripple effects can generally do so best by giving clear instructions to the child rather than by exerting pressure on him," Kounin and Gump wrote.

Decades later, classroom management is still a thorny issue for teachers. Nearly half of new teachers report that they feel "not at all prepared" or "only somewhat prepared" to handle disruptive students, in part because the average teacher training program devotes just eight hours to the topic, according to a 2014 report from the National Council on Teacher Quality. This lack of training comes with a cost, as teachers report losing 144 minutes of instructional time on average to behavioral disruptions every week, which comes out to roughly three weeks over the course of a year.

Recent research confirms what Kounin and Gump discovered decades ago. A 2016 study found that while negative attention-reprimands like "Stop chitchatting!"-may temporarily stop misbehavior, students eventually became more likely to engage in disruptive behavior. Students in the study felt disengaged, had difficulty concentrating, and weren't able to effectively regulate their thoughts and emotions-a vicious cycle that "actually amplifies students' inappropriate behavior," the study authors explain.

8 Proactive Classroom Management Strategies

Instead of handling disruptions after they've happened, it can be more effective to set up conditions in which they are less likely to occur. Here are eight classroom strategies that teachers have shared with Edutopia, all backed by research.

1. Greet students at the door: At Van Ness Elementary School in Washington, DC, Falon Turner starts the day by giving each of her students a high-five, handshake, or hug. "During that time, I'm just trying to connect with them.... It's kind of like a pulse check to see where they are," she says.

In a study published last year, greeting students at the door helped teachers set a positive tone for the rest of the day, boosting academic engagement by 20 percentage points while reducing disruptive behavior by 9 percentage points-adding roughly an hour of engagement over the course of the school day.

For older students, give plenty of warning if you need them to follow instructions. Reminders and cues are helpful ways to encourage students to follow instructions without being overtly controlling or forceful. For example, if you can anticipate a disruption-such as students getting out of their seats if they finish an assignment early-give a short reminder of what they should do instead.

Reminders are commonly verbal, but can also be visual (flicking the lights to signal that it's time to be quiet), auditory (ringing a small bell to let students know they should pay attention to the teacher), or physical (using a hand signal to let students know to get back in their seats).
Courtesy of Emily Polak
But that doesn't mean choice is always bad. Giving students a sense of ownership in the room, paired with clear expectations for behavior, can have surprisingly positive effects. A welcoming space can reduce anxiety and boost academic performance. Emily Polak, a ninth-grade teacher in Madison, Alabama, gave her room a cozier feel by adding a couch, a loveseat, rugs, a coffee table, and posters. Her students decide where to sit-but if they can't get their work done, they get moved back to a desk. "Discipline issues have significantly decreased. My students seem to feel more relaxed and more motivated in a setting that honors their choices," Polak says.

It's also helpful to avoid using the word don't, suggests Alyssa Nucaro, a sixth-grade English teacher in Memphis. Students are more likely to listen to instructions that include clear reasons.

6. Set clear expectations: Instead of just displaying rules for behavior, have a discussion with your students about why those rules matter. Bobby Shaddox, a seventh-grade social studies teacher in Portland, Maine, works with his students to create a list of norms-words such as inclusive, focused, and considerate -to build a sense of community. "It helps us own the behavior in the classroom," Shaddox says. "Instead of a top-down list of rules that a teacher gives a class, these are words that we generated together. These are words that we believe in."

A 2017 study found that a teacher's nonverbal cues-such as smiling and making eye contact-can "reduce physical and/or psychological distance" with their students, boosting students' positive feelings toward the teacher and the course material while improving behavior.

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New teachers-and experienced ones too-can find ideas here on how to stop disruptive behavior before it begins.

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How Teachers Can Help 'Quiet Kids' Tap Their Superpowers

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How Teachers Can Help 'Quiet Kids' Tap Their Superpowers

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When Lily Shum was little, she dreaded speaking up in class. It wasn't because she didn't have anything interesting to say, or because she wasn't paying attention or didn't know the answer. She was just quiet.

"Every single report card that I ever had says, 'Lily needs to talk more. She is too quiet,' " recalls Shum, now an assistant director at Trevor Day School in Manhattan.

She doesn't want her students to feel the pressure to speak up that she felt.

That's why she joined more than 60 educators in New York City recently at the Quiet Summer Institute. The professional development workshop was based on Susan Cain's best-seller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.

The book has been a national phenomenon, and it's the inspiration behind a curriculum developed by Heidi Kasevich for teachers.

"It was a lens through which I could view my entire life, and really feel the license to be myself," says Kasevich, a teacher for more than 20 years who now works for the company Cain co-founded to promote the book's message about introverts.

This training workshop uses this book - and Cain's latest book written for middle-schoolers - to help teachers notice, and serve, those quiet kids.

"There are expectations on our kids to ... be a charismatic extrovert," says Kasevich. Even if it's unconsciously, she says, teachers tend to give more attention to the louder students.

Kasevich admits she did it too: calling on the kids who raised their hands first.

The two-day course started with reimagining class participation, which in some schools can count for a big portion of students' grades. Kasevich would prefer it be called classroom engagement.

"Being present and connecting doesn't have to take place through lots of speech," she says. Why not try drawing, writing or working in pairs?

Or, Kasevich suggests, have students walk around the room, writing ideas on tacked-up pieces of paper. They can respond to each other's ideas - like a sort of silent dialogue.

Educators at the summit heard from Cain herself and also Amy Cuddy andPriscilla Gilman - writers who've touched on the subject of introverts.

Principals and administrators mixed with school psychologists, guidance counselors and teachers. They met in small groups to discuss ideas and tips.

At one session, Erica Corbin, the director of community life and diversity at a private girls' school in Manhattan, told her team that focusing on introverts also means reining in the extroverts.

She offered up this tip for handling students who dominate the discussion: W-A-I-T. Sure, it means wait. But, Corbin explains, it also stands for: "Why Am I Talking?"
Below The Surface
With shy kids, says Corbin, it's not just about paying attention to them. Teachers need to think about why they're quiet.

"Personality might be some of it," she explains, "and we also might have kids who are quiet because they have been shut down. We might have kids that are quiet because they anticipate being shut down whether they have been or not."

Shutting down for all kinds of reasons, she adds. Stereotypes. Biases. Trouble at home: "When we're thinking about students who are quiet, how does that also connect with their race ... their gender ... their sexuality?"

By understanding how to reach introverts, she said, teachers can get at those other issues. Because if they don't start to look past the students with their hands up, "we're all gonna miss out on a lot of brilliant ideas."

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How Teachers Can Help 'Quiet Kids' Tap Their Superpowers

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When Lily Shum was little, she dreaded speaking up in class. It wasn't because she didn't have anything interesting to say, or because she wasn't paying attention or didn't know the answer. She was just quiet. "Every single report card that I ever had says, 'Lily needs to talk more.

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How to Set Consistent Expectations to Improve Student Behavior

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How to Set Consistent Expectations to Improve Student Behavior

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Establishing Classroom Ground Rules: To promote an environment of inclusion and respect for all contributions

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Establishing Classroom Ground Rules: To promote an environment of inclusion and respect for all contributions

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To promote an environment of inclusion and respect for all contributions
Developed in collaboration with the Washington University Standing Committee on Facilitating Inclusive Classrooms
Establishing ground rules for classroom interactions and discussions can help to promote an inclusive learning environment for all participants. Such ground rules are especially important when discussing controversial or otherwise challenging topics. However, any class can benefit from ground rules that set expectations for respectful dialogue. Establishing such ground rules at the start of the semester provides a common framework that will be very helpful if it becomes necessary to talk with the class, or with individual students, about any conduct that could be negatively affecting the learning environment.

If you have a small class (e.g. 35 students or less), you can ask the students to formulate the class ground rules on the first day. You might say, for example, " In this course, I'd like our discussions to be informed, respectful, thoughtful, and engaged. What are the ground rules we should follow to make this happen?" Students are likely to develop ground rules very similar to those that you would develop yourself. However, if they have a hand in developing these ground rules, students will be more motivated to stick to them throughout the semester.

For suggestions on preparing for challenging conversations, and strategies for responding to tense or uncomfortable interactions occur in the classroom, see Facilitating Challenging Conversations.
Sample Classroom Groundrules
(may be adapted for different courses, levels, topics etc.)

Show respect for others as individuals by learning and using their preferred names and pronouns. (Preferred Name Policy, Tips for Faculty)

Respect the speaker, even when you do not agree with or respect the point the speaker is making.

Listen carefully; do not interrupt-even when you are excited to respond.

Try not to generalize about groups (even groups with which you identify) and do not ask another person to speak as a representative of a group.

Keep an open mind-enter the classroom dialogue with the expectation of learning something new. Look forward to learning about-and being challenged by-ideas, questions, and points of view that are different than your own.

Do not "monopolize" the conversation; give others a chance to contribute to the discussion.

Support an atmosphere of learning and growth. Approach discussion as a means to "think out loud." Allow others (as well as yourself) to revise and clarify ideas and positions in response to new information and insights.

Bring out ideas, perspectives, or solutions that you think are not yet represented or haven't yet been adequately discussed.

Support your arguments with evidence. Be honest when you are not sure if you have enough evidence to make a strong argument or when your thoughts about a topic are still speculative or exploratory.

Try not to make assumptions; ask questions to learn more about other perspectives, especially those that are different from your own.

Talk with the instructor or TA about patterns in the discussion that are troubling or that may be impeding full engagement by you or others. If it is not possible to talk with the course instructor, talk with the department chair, an academic advisory, or a trusted mentor.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. © 2009, Washington University.

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To promote an environment of inclusion and respect for all contributions Developed in collaboration with the Washington University Standing Committee on Facilitating Inclusive Classrooms Establishing ground rules for classroom interactions and discussions can help to promote an inclusive learning environment for all participants. Such ground rules are especially important when discussing controversial or otherwise challenging topics.

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Establishing Classroom Rules: Professional Development Resources, Recommended Reading, and Classroom Activities

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Establishing Classroom Rules: Professional Development Resources, Recommended Reading, and Classroom Activities

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Boundaries Are More Effective Than Rules

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Boundaries Are More Effective Than Rules

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EducationWorld is pleased to present this professional development resource shared by Dr. Jane Bluestein, an expert in relationship-building, positive school climate and effective instruction.
Rules certainly are familiar in a classroom setting. But there are simply too many places where the methods and dynamics of rule-making and enforcing just don't fit in with my idea of win-win.

So what's the alternative? Is there a way for teachers to truly get what they want from their students without creating additional conflicts, resorting to traditional authoritarian power dynamics, or somehow compromising the emotional climate of the classroom?

I've discovered that the promise of positive outcomes is less destructive than the threat of negative consequences. And I've found that the most successful teachers are those able to ask for what they want with clarity, assertiveness, and great respect for the needs, preferences, and dignity of their students.

In many classrooms, the rules are invariably negative. Often the rule itself is stated negatively: "No hitting," "Don't call out," "Eating in class is prohibited." However, even when the rule is stated positively ("Turn in work on time," "Speak respectfully," "Raise your hand to speak"), the result of an infraction is typically negative. In some instances, the punishments- often called "consequences"-are listed right along with the rules.

Rules and penalties depend on the students' fear of the negative consequences. If the child is afraid of a bad grade, missing recess, or having her name written on the board (which for most kids, simply reinforces attention-getting behavior), she may do what you want, often at a cost to her emotional safety and to the general stress level in the class.

In contrast, boundaries do not depend on fear or power, other than the teacher's power to allow a positive consequence to occur when the students have done their part. This positivity represents an important characteristic of a boundary, as well as a significant difference between boundaries and rules. As a management tool in a win-win setting, boundaries are always stated positively, as promises rather than threats. Likewise, boundaries offer a refreshing change from punishment-oriented strategies to a reward-oriented approach to behavior management. Boundaries allow us to think of consequences as the good things students get (or get to do) as a result of their cooperation, changing the prevailing connotation of the word "consequence" from negative to positive.

In addition to being positive, boundaries support win-win power dynamics because they are themselves win-win. Even the most reasonable rules are oriented to the power needs of the adult, providing information for the students how not to "lose." Rarely do rules communicate how students can "win" in any other, more positive way. Boundaries, on the other hand, take into consideration to the desires and needs of the students they attempt to motivate.

Additionally, boundaries are proactive, attempting to prevent problems in positive ways. Rules typically focus on the negative or punitive reaction of the teacher (or the system) when a student gets caught. Both rules and boundaries can prevent misbehavior, but because with rules the payoff to students for compliance is simply avoiding a negative consequence, the process of enforcement becomes unavoidably reactive. (This is why simply posting a bunch of rules, penalties, or punishments before kids misbehave is proactive only in forewarning of impending reactivity!)

With a boundary, a positive outcome simply does not happen unless the desired behavior occurs. The absence of the positive outcome- pending the student's cooperation- is, in most cases, the only "teacher reaction" necessary.

The subtlety of the differences between boundaries and rules makes it easy to discount the impact each can have on the emotional climate in a classroom and the quality of the relationship between teachers and students. However, teachers who endeavor to shift from the win-lose familiarity of rules to the win-win prospects of boundaries report a significant decrease in conflicts and power struggles in their classes, and far greater success in reaching kids previously deemed difficult, unmotivated or, in some instances, even dangerous, than with any strategy previously attempted.
This information was adapted from The Win-Win Classroom (2008) by Jane Bluestein, Ph.D. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Publishing.
Related resources

Also from Dr. Bluestein:
Is Your School Emotionally Safe?
Accommodating Student Sensory Differences
Tips for Positive Teacher-Parent Interaction
The Art of Setting Boundaries
The Beauty of Losing Control, Part 1
The Beauty of Losing Control, Part 2
Stressful Student Experiences: What Not to Do

About Dr. Bluestein

Dr. Jane Bluestein is a speaker, trainer and specialist in programs and resources related to relationship building, effective instruction and personal development.

She is an award-winning author whose books include Creating Emotionally Safe Schools, High School's Not Forever, 21st Century Discipline, The Win-Win Classroom and many others. In addition, she has appeared on CNN, National Public Radio and "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Dr. Bluestein, formerly a classroom teacher, crisis-intervention counselor and teacher training program coordinator, currently heads Instructional Support Services, Inc., a consulting and resource firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Visit her Web site to access free resources, order books, read her blog and more.

Education World®
Copyright © 2013 Education World

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Set Boundaries, Not Rules | Education World

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EducationWorld is pleased to present this professional development resource shared by Dr. Jane Bluestein, an expert in relationship-building, positive school climate and effective instruction. Rules certainly are familiar in a classroom setting. But there are simply too many places where the methods and dynamics of rule-making and enforcing just don't fit in with my idea of win-win.

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What Teachers Must Consider When Moving to Flexible Seating

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What Teachers Must Consider When Moving to Flexible Seating

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- Ms Melis (@MelisBrand) October 26, 2017

"For the most part my classroom is a lot more positive," Fox said. "My students are learning to interact with each other by using the flexible seating." Sometimes two students want the same chair and Fox said they have learned valuable conflict resolution skills in those moments. Students know if they get into an argument about where to sit Fox will choose for them, and students don't want to lose the privilege of free choice, so they've learned to peacefully resolve their problems.
WHO ELSE IS AFFECTED?
When thinking about moving to a flexible classroom design, the most important person to consult with may be the custodian. Getting buy-in from administrators is important, but the janitorial staff will be directly impacted by these physical changes, so making sure they are on board is both respectful and crucial to the project's success. They also might know about unused furniture in storage that could be repurposed inexpensively.

pic.twitter.com/9PgbYyoYkr
- Heather Caldwell (@hnicole12) October 26, 2017

Students are also great consultants. "No matter if you have money or you don't have money, I learned this the hard way, you have to get the kids involved," said Brian Seymour, the director of instructional technology for Pickerington Local Schools in Ohio. He works in a district lucky enough to have some resources, so they put the question to students in a Shark Tank-like competition on classroom redesign.

It all started when the district went one-to-one with devices and no longer needed a computer lab. Administrators wanted to turn that room into a "learning lab," collaborative space teachers could use when they needed a more flexible space for a project or activity. The experiment was such a success that teachers wanted to implement aspects of the learning lab design in their own classrooms. Seymour and his team turned the momentum into a project-based learning activity for students.

Finally have windows after years of teaching without-kids love them,teacher loves them & the flexible seating is perfect #happyteach pic.twitter.com/mxsSFihujS

- jonann ellner (@jaellner) November 3, 2017

They researched the active learning movement, priced out different furniture options, crafted budgets and put together plans that they presented to school officials. "Almost every group got rid of the teacher desk," Seymour said. Students even used 3-D modeling software to make sure their choices would fit in the rooms. The team that won is now helping the district rethink classrooms in several other buildings.

"We're working with that group of four kids to try to redesign one or two classrooms in all of our middle school buildings," Seymour said. He thinks the biggest mistake a district can make is to hop on the active learning space bandwagon, buy expensive furniture, and then find out the kids don't like it. "The biggest thing I can say about working with children is: get them involved."

Challenges: school rules abt classrm design & custodian. Pros: Ss LOVED it! Grt for fidgeters. Ss shcked thy had choice. #flexibleseating

- Dana Conn (@ProseAndConns) October 26, 2017

Fox also asked her students to give input on her space, but she didn't have a budget for fancy furniture. Instead, she brings in items from home, looks for cheap furniture in thrift stores, and buys exercise balls and yoga mats at the Five Below. Her advice for teachers on a budget is to start with what they've got and ask for donations from friends and local businesses. She has velcro "sit spots" on the floor where her kids sit when she needs to do some direct instruction. Otherwise they work wherever is most comfortable for them around the room.
OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER
Some districts have policies that require desks in the classroom. April DeGennaro teaches advanced kids in a Georgia district with that policy. Her students are all different ages who get pulled out of their general education class for more advanced work, but aren't all working on the same thing at the same time. The traditional classroom with desks in rows facing forward makes very little sense for DeGennaro's teaching environment. She has pushed the desks to the perimeter of the room so they form a border facing the wall. Some students sit there when they want to work quietly on something alone.

#iteach9th and they love it. pic.twitter.com/pPpForkc45

- Amy Causey (@causeya) October 26, 2017

Storage is another consideration. In a traditional classroom with desks, especially in elementary school, students store many of their supplies in their desks. When teachers remove the desks they come up with creative ways to deal with storage. Fox uses bookshelves for students' notebooks and has each student store their markers, scissors and other supplies in bath totes that she repurposed. Storage and organization systems could be another fun challenge to put in the hands of students.

Fox also spends time laying out the expectations for how students should behave with the new class setup. Exercise balls may be a great way for fidgety kids to stay focused, but they're also fun to bounce and throw at one another. Fox finds she has to continually remind her students about appropriate behavior and remain flexible herself.

"It doesn't work if you go in and change your learning space, but you're super rigid about it," Fox said.

We have a lot at @MCCS_Leobreds! Take a look at a few of our classrooms pic.twitter.com/W0z66zILM5

- Middleburg Charter (@MCCS_Leobreds) October 26, 2017

When thinking about different spaces in the classroom, it may be helpful to think about David Thornberg's framework for the learning spaces humans have always used: the campfire, the watering hole and the cave. The campfire is a place for storytelling, the direct flow of information from one person to another. The watering hole is a social place where peers can learn from one another. And the cave is solitary, a space for personal reflection and individual work. Teachers who have successfully moved to flexible learning spaces don't just ditch desks. They provide all three of these learning spaces to kids.

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What Teachers Must Consider When Moving to Flexible Seating

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Ms Melis (@MelisBrand) October 26, 2017 "For the most part my classroom is a lot more positive," Fox said. "My students are learning to interact with each other by using the flexible seating." Sometimes two students want the same chair and Fox said they have learned valuable conflict resolution skills in those moments.

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12 Clever Teacher Sayings to Help Kids Mind Their Own Business

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12 Clever Teacher Sayings to Help Kids Mind Their Own Business

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Recently, WeAreTeachers HELPLINE reader SM wrote in with this comment: "I see my students picking at each other all the time, yelling and not being nice when their peers aren't following expectations, but the ones who are doing the picking aren't exactly doing their best either. I am looking for some good character education quotes or tricks to teach them the importance of worrying about THEMSELVES instead of everybody else. I use the phrase, 'it is your job to worry about you, not others,' but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick. Any suggestions?"

Ah yes! Kids seem to have the uncanny ability to know exactly what their classmates are or are not doing regardless of what's going on in their little corner of the classroom. My mama would have responded to that sort of thing with "Mind your own beeswax!" Here are some playful suggestions from other teachers (and okay, one from Hank Williams.)

1. Focus on the road.

Credit: Anna S.

2. Check yourself.

credit: Karen G. (and Kid President)

3. MYOB.

Credit: Suzanne H. (and Kacey Musgraves)

4. Cultivate your own learning.

Credit: Nancy C.

5. Sage advice at any age.

Credit: Sara W.

6. Busy is good.

Credit: Hank Williams

7. You never know when you'll get a nibble.

Credit: Amy J.

8. Dip, dip and swing.

Credit: Elaine F.

9. Navigate wisely.

Credit: Theresa B.

10. Follow your own current.

Credit: Kat K.

11. Keep your lips zipped.

Credit: Donia M.

12. Lol!

Credit: Meridith M.
What do you say teachers? Do you have any MYOB sayings to add to the list?

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12 Clever Teacher Sayings to Help Kids Mind Their Own Business

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Recently, WeAreTeachers HELPLINE reader SM wrote in with this comment: "I see my students picking at each other all the time, yelling and not being nice when their peers aren't following expectations, but the ones who are doing the picking aren't exactly doing their best either.

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From Phyllis Fagell and AMLE

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AMLE - Association for Middle Level Education

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Aiden, an eighth grader, wanted to vent about his latest group project. He had to work with classmates to design an environmentally sustainable home in Vietnam. This involved sourcing local palm thatching and bamboo, understanding the local culture, and calculating measurements. "I'm sure I'll do the whole thing," he told me, sounding both exasperated and a little proud. "I'm the only one who gets stuff done." I knew Aiden was missing the point of collaboration, and I challenged him to come up with three reasons to loosen control. He looked confused. "Why would I want to do that?" he asked. "I'll get a bad grade."

We worry about students who don't pull their weight, but kids who dominate groups lose out too. They don't develop the skills they'll need for a workforce that increasingly values diversity of thought. Companies such as Google know that the loudest voice in the room can impede innovation, and they've been outspoken about their desire to attract people with intellectual humility. The employees who focus on success at all costs often struggle to embrace others' ideas when they're better. As schools incorporate more inquiry-based learning and group work, we can take advantage of opportunities to bolster students' ability to read cues and accept feedback, take risks, and exchange ideas.

"The job of schooling isn't just preparing kids for college," says Scott Murphy, a director of secondary curriculum and districtwide programs for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. "It's preparing them to have a vibrant career, to work with people from diverse backgrounds, and to communicate and collaborate." "These soft skills can't be 'taught' in the traditional sense," says Tyler Gehrking, a teacher and host of the DisruptED Podcast. "It's chaotic sometimes, and while my natural urge as a teacher is to save them, it's the one thing I can't do," he says. "When you rob students of the struggle, you rob them of the learning." As Murphy adds, "problem-based learning is not the teacher at the front of the room sharing their brilliance-it's teacher as facilitator." Here are four ways educators can help students collaborate productively.

Teach Them to Use Language Differently

Kids are being thrown together without being taught to communicate, says Jeanine Esposito, the managing director and founder of Innovation Builders in Connecticut, an innovation firm for learning institutions. "There's a language," she explains. Teach them to avoid responding to peers' thoughts with a binary yes or no, and to embrace all ideas by saying "yes, and" instead of "yes, but." "When you say 'yes, but,' you've already decided there's something wrong with what the person has already said," Esposito explains. Show them how to ask provocative questions that prompt deeper thinking about a problem. "A magic question is, 'what would have to be true?'" she says. "We're always guessing at what people need by asking what's wrong." For Aiden's group, the question might be, "What would have to be true for us to convince families in Vietnam that we've designed the perfect sustainable home?"

To further spur creativity, use sentence starters, such as, "Wouldn't it be amazing if," or "I wish." You also can try the worst idea exercise. Prompt kids to throw out the worst ideas they can think of, then ask them how they could make them work. The more impossible and absurd the suggestion, the better. "Once you have the worst idea for whatever it is you're trying to solve, take a fresh sheet of paper and come up with two good things about that worst possible solution," Esposito says. Use sticky notes to make it fun, and use anonymity to make risk-taking safe. Students can scrawl dozens of ideas on stickies, tack them to a wall as they brainstorm, then sift through them for workable and inspired ideas.

Focus on Process, not Product

If you want to teach collaboration, emphasize process over product. Otherwise, kids will be driven by the desire for a good grade. Start by administering a strengths and weaknesses analysis such as the Compass Points Activity (see link in Resources at the end of this article). Ask students to discuss what different personality types bring to the table, and what they might need in a group member to balance themselves out. Then have them pair with people who aren't just like them. "Teachers need to be thoughtful about the composition of groups and assign roles thoughtfully," says Susan Cain, author and founder of Quiet Revolution. "It's putting structures in place so it doesn't become 'Lord of the Flies.' Make kids conscious of dynamics and tell them when they need to make adjustments," she adds.

As the project gets underway, use informal peer evaluations to ensure kids notice and shift gears when they're acting too domineering or too hands-off. Make fairly evaluating each other part of the grading process. "If you want me to give my teammates more autonomy, I need to know I won't be penalized if they do something wrong," says Roxanne Moore, a professor at Georgia Tech who has written engineering curriculum for middle school students. "A lot of that is in the grading. If we grade the product and not the process, then our incentives aren't aligned. If we're grading the process more heavily, that changes the incentives entirely. Then the high-achieving kid realizes, 'I have to work with my teammates, and if I don't do the poster myself, it's not going to sink my grade.'"

Build in Time for Feedback and Reflection

Have kids journal throughout the group project. What bugged them? When and why did they clash with teammates? What strengths and weaknesses did the other students bring to the project? What tendencies did they identify in themselves? Where did they fail? How did they regroup after a setback? Were they attentive to the cues around them, or did they have no idea they were turning people off until they saw the written comments? How did working in a group help the end result?

Teach kids the habit of mind of being curious about other people and listening to what they have to say nonjudgmentally, Cain says. "Teach them to ask the question 'why.' 'Why do you feel that way? Where are you coming from?'" Build in time along the way for self-reflection and self-awareness in the context of the group collaboration. You can have students share their observations with the class or keep them private. Either way, the idea is to learn from their self-assessment and others' feedback, and to apply those findings to future group experiences.

"We have to model that none of us have all the answers, and draw from other people's input to become smarter, wiser, and more adaptive than we would have been on our own," says Dr. Ken Ginsburg, a pediatrician and founder of the Center for Parent and Teen Communication at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "The example I give is, I think red, and I'd never think purple by myself. But if I'm with someone who thinks blue, together we can think purple. That's how innovation occurs, when we can really take constructive criticism."

Define Leadership as Doing What Needs to be Done, Not Taking Charge

Children (and many adults) tend to think of leadership in the conventional sense, as the soccer team captain or the student body president. Make a point of reframing leadership as making an impact or shaping the lives around you, Cain says. "When you define it that way, you leave a lot more room for broader forms of leadership."

On teams, both alpha and more introverted kids can make real contributions, but non-alpha kids often need to be told their way of being is equally potent. Use real-life examples. As Cain notes, "Ghandi was not sociable, but we see him as a transformational leader because of his conviction and dedication, which attracts others to his cause and becomes very powerful in its own right. You can see him handling conflict in a roundabout way-he wasn't bull by the horns. He instinctively looked for less overly conflictual ways of handling things." Underscore that effective teams are comprised of individuals with different temperaments.

Keep in mind that group projects aren't a cure-all, and there can be a downside. "Extroverts need to learn the skill of deliberate practice, of sitting and working on something themselves. Introverts need freedom-they're hungry to do their own thing," Cain explains. One way to address this limitation is by taking a hybrid approach. Before students start collaborating, build in time for individual brainstorming. "One of my favorite teaching methods is 'think, pair, share,'" she says. "Teachers throw out a question, kids first think privately themselves, then discuss with a partner, then the pairs share out with a group. These little tweaks can go a long way." With creativity and intentionality, we can ensure that all group members are engaged and working on their individual growth edges.

Resources

Compass Points Activity: https://www.nsrfharmony.org/sites/all/themes/
NSRFtheme/assets/ProtocolsA-Z/C/CompassPoints-N.pdf

Quiet Revolution Resources: www.quietrev.com

Phyllis L. Fagell, LCPC is the counselor at Sheridan School in Washington, DC, a therapist at Chrysalis Group in Bethesda, MD, and the author ofMiddle School Matters, (Da Capo Press, forthcoming 2019). She regularly contributes articles on education, parenting, and counseling to The Washington Post.
@pfagell
phyllisfagell.com Published inAMLE Magazine, August 2018.

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Aiden, an eighth grader, wanted to vent about his latest group project. He had to work with classmates to design an environmentally sustainable home in Vietnam. This involved sourcing local palm thatching and bamboo, understanding the local culture, and calculating measurements. "I'm sure I'll do the whole thing," he told me, sounding both exasperated and a little proud.

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19 Big and Small Classroom Management Strategies

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19 Big and Small Classroom Management Strategies

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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How Parents And Teachers Can Nurture The 'Quiet Power' Of Introverts

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How Parents And Teachers Can Nurture The 'Quiet Power' Of Introverts

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When Susan Cain wrote Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking in 2012, it was a big success. The book made the cover of Time magazine, spent weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list and was the subject of one of the most-watched TED Talks, with more than 13 million views.

From that grew The Quiet Revolution, a company Cain co-founded that continues to produce and share content about, and for, introverts. The site offers an online training course for parents and stories submitted by readers about being introverted. There's even a podcast.

Kids, Cain says, "are at the heart and center of it."

"Introverts often are really amazing, talented, gifted, loving children, and they feel like there's something wrong with them," she says. "And our mission is to make it so that the next generation of kids does not grow up feeling that way."

In her latest book, Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts, she'staking her message about introverts to teenagers.Though thebook is written for young adults, it's also a tool for teachers and parents.

I talked with Cain about her mission of supporting introverts, and asked her advice on how to teach them.
So what does it mean to be an introverted child?
It's really not different for a child than for an adult. It's a person who feels at their best and at their most alive when they're in quieter, more mellow environments. And it stems from a neurobiological difference between introverts and extroverts. Literally, different nervous systems. Introverts have nervous systems that simply react more to everything that's going on around them, and that means they feel more in their sweet spot when there's less stuff happening. And extroverts have nervous systems that react less, which means that they don't get to their sweet spot until there's more stuff happening. And so this is why you see these different behavioral preferences. An introverted kid would rather draw quietly or would rather play their favorite sport with one or two other kids. A more extroverted child would rather be part of a big gang and a big noisy birthday party, and not only not be fazed by it but seem to really relish all that stimulation.
And it's different from being shy?
It is different. Shyness is much more about the fear of being judged. It's a kind of self-consciousness and not wanting people to look at you and feeling easily embarrassed or easily shamed. These are all the feelings that a shy child would have. And in practice, many introverted children are also shy, but many are not, and you can also have children that are quite extroverted but who are shy, and as soon as they overcome their shyness, you see them being in the middle of the big gang. So it's really important when you're working with children to understand what is actually happening inside them so that you make sure that you're responding to the right thing.
So let's talk about schools. Where do they come in?
You know, lots of schools are really hungry for information on how they can do a better job of working with these kids.

They're asking good questions: What indeed are the right ways to think about class participation? And are we over-evaluating as an educational culture? We overvalue the person who raises their hand all the time. Why is that important? Do we overvalue in quantity, as opposed to quality, of participation? Are there ways to think about class participation differently? Like we [at Quiet Revolution] have been encouraging schools to think in terms of classroom engagement rather than participation. Take a more holistic way of looking at how a child is engaging with this material or with their classmates.
One of the anecdotes I loved in the book was when the teacher had her students think for a minute before answering. What other kind of good ideas or tips can teachers use like that?
Another idea is the think/pair/share technique, which I think many teachers are familiar with already, but may not realize the power of it within a population of students. This is a technique where the teacher asks the students a question; asks them to think about the answer. They pair up with another student to talk about their reflections. And then, once they're paired, once they've articulated it with that partner, then you ask each pair to share their thoughts with the room as a whole. And this does a lot of great things for introverted kids. No. 1, it gives them the time to process. No. 2, it allows them to get the experience of articulating their thoughts out loud. But in front of only one other student, they don't have to do it in front of the whole class. And then, often, once they have had that warmup period with one other student, they're then much more likely to want to share with the whole class.

So this is a technique that works, it works equally well for introverts and extroverts. It's great for the extroverts, too, but it just happens to work well with the more reticent kids.
What do you think about using social media or technology in the classroom? Helpful for introverts? Harmful?
Helpful. Well, of course social media is such a big thing, so for introverts, there are pros and cons. But my first impulse is to say helpful, and there are teachers now who are starting to incorporate social media into their classrooms and report that the more reticent children are much more likely to participate when their means of expression is through their screens. They can type their answer into a screen, the other students then see what they have written or typed or whatever, and then "real life" dialogue begins based on the initial ideas that were contributed through the screen.

So in general I'm a big fan of social media. I think incorporating it creatively into the class can work. If we're talking about it as an educational technique, then I am all for it.
This brings me to another school-related trauma: the public speech. Should teachers kind of push introverts along, out of their comfort zone?
Yeah, so I think that it's important, of course. The key, if we're talking about public speaking or really anything that kids are fearful of, is to think of anxiety levels on a scale of 1 to 10, and to make sure you're pushing kids within a zone of 4 to 6.

If you have a kid who is really freaking out, they're really in that 7-to-10 zone, it's just too dangerous to push them at that point. They might succeed, they might, you know, do well and feel this is great. But there's too big a risk of it backfiring and the experience going poorly and the fear being further codified in their brain.

So you're much better off meeting a fear in small steps. The answer is not: 'OK, you never have to do ... ' The Answer is: "OK. You're afraid of public speaking. Why don't you prepare your speech and work on it first with your best friend?"

Give the speech to your friend. And then, when you've done that, maybe you can give it to another, smaller group. From there, you work up in stages, to finally giving the all out speech. You look for ways to make the experience less anxiety producing.
In the book, you mention that loving the topic can help kids get into their speech.
Making sure that the child is speaking about a subject that they're truly passionate about and excited to speak about is important. Because again, this is ... biochemical. If you tap into your body's behavioral activation system by speaking about something you're excited about, then that overcomes the body's behavioral inhibition system. Which is the system in your body telling you, stop. Slow down. Get the heck off the stage. So it does require extra work on the part of the teacher and an extra degree of thought and care, which I recognize is not always easy, you know, for overburdened teachers. But it goes a long way.
What about group work? Is that good for introverts?
In my experience, it depends a lot on how the group is structured. How carefully it's structured. Because I've seen group work where it works really well, you've got kids who work well together, everybody knows their role. That can be a really positive experience. And then I've seen big free-for-all groups where it's Lord of The Flies and you've got the most dominant kids taking over. Everyone else is checked out. So it can really go both ways.

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When Susan Cain wrote Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking in 2012, it was a big success. The book made the cover of Time magazine, spent weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list and was the subject of one of the most-watched TED Talks, with more than 13 million views.

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While increasing participation is an obvious goal in courses that include frequent discussions and small-group work, it is also important in a lecture course. In short, if only a few students participate by volunteering answers, asking questions, or contributing to discussions, class sessions become to some extent a lost opportunity to assess and promote learning. You can improve student participation in your course by devoting time and thought to shaping the environment and planning each class session. Furthermore, the way in which you interact, both verbally and non-verbally, communicates to students your attitude about participation.

Ideally, the goal of increasing participation is not to have every student participate in the same way or at the same rate. Instead, it is to create an environment in which all participants have the opportunity to learn and in which the class explores issues and ideas in depth, from a variety of viewpoints. Some students will raise their voices more than others; this variation is a result of differences in learning preferences as well as differences in personalities. For example, some students who do not speak often in class are reflective learners, who typically develop ideas and questions in their minds before speaking; others are shy students who feel uncomfortable speaking in front of groups (at least initially). Many students who frequently volunteer to contribute are active learners, who typically think while they speak. The instructor's goal is to create conditions that enable students of various learning preferences and personalities to contribute. To reach this goal, you will need to take extra steps to encourage quiet students to speak up and, occasionally, ask the more verbose students to hold back from commenting in order to give others a chance.

This handout is divided into the following sections:

Shaping the Environment
Planning
Listening and Responding
Links and References for Increasing Student Participation

Reserve a classroom that will accommodate the kind of participation you have in mind. Starting on the first day of class, arrange the room in a way that encourages active engagement. When it is time to reserve a classroom, keep in mind not only the number of student chairs you will need, but also whether these chairs should be moveable. If you lead frequent discussions, consider moving the chairs into a circle or "U" to ensure that students can see, and speak to, one another. If you are teaching in a large lecture hall, consider asking students to move so that they are concentrated near the front of the room. Move the chairs back to their standard configuration at the end of class (in University-managed classrooms, see the diagram posted near the door).

Make clear from the beginning your expectation that students will participate. On the first day of class, explain what you see as valuable about class participation. Indicate that you want to do all you can to ensure that the classroom dynamics and activities support full participation, including calling on students who do not raise their hands and sometimes asking frequent contributors to allow others to have a chance. Ask students to inform you if you can make any changes to improve the classroom dynamics and rates of participation.

On the first day of class, give students a clear idea of what to expect regarding participation. If you plan to lecture each day with pauses for questions and discussion, do so on the first day; if you plan to lead more extended discussions, then do so on the first day.

Consider whether you will assign a grade to students' performance in discussions so that they understand the importance of participating. If you do plan to grade participation, inform students of the specific criteria that you will use. For example, will you evaluate the frequency and quality of their contributions, as well as how effectively they each respond to others' comments? Will you include in each participation grade the student's performance on informal writing, online discussions, minor group projects, or other work? Grading student participation is especially important, and usually essential, in discussion courses (see Teaching with Discussions).

Learn and use students' names. Students will be more engaged if they believe that you perceive them as individuals, rather than as anonymous members of a group. Encourage students to learn one another's names, as well; this strategy will increase the possibility that they will address one another by name and direct their comments to one another, not just to you.

In a discussion course, assign to your students some of the responsibility for increasing participation by all. For example, on the first day of class, you might tell students your goals for class participation (e.g., informed and lively discussions in which everyone participates) and ask them to come up with a list of guidelines that will help the class reach this goal. Typically, they will generate excellent guidelines such as "do not interrupt others when they are talking" and "critique the ideas; don't criticize the person." Post this list on the course Web site and hand it out in class. Students who feel invested from the beginning in making the discussions successful will be more likely to work together to increase participation.

Consider requiring students to lead discussions or to submit discussion questions before class. Provide guidance and assess student performance on these tasks (assigning a score, for example, that forms a part of the class participation grade.)

In discussion courses in which you are having trouble getting students to participate, consider asking students to submit anonymous comments on class participation as well as suggestions on how to get more people involved; often, they will let you know that there are problems with the classroom dynamics that you may not see yourself (such as that some students resent the "domination" of discussion by one or two others) or that the structure of the discussions has become too predictable or formulaic.

Use a variety of teaching methods, including lectures, discussions, and small-group work. If you are teaching a lecture course, set aside time during each lecture to ask and answer questions, to ask students to solve a problem, or to discuss an issue. Pause every 15-20 minutes for this purpose. When students learn to expect these opportunities for discussion or questioning, they will listen more actively to the lecture. If you lecture for 45 minutes before you pause for questions or discussion, your students will have been taking notes for so long that they may find it difficult to switch modes quickly. Furthermore, they may well have forgotten questions, comments, or unclear concepts from the earlier parts of class (see Teaching with Lectures).

If you are teaching a discussion course, integrate short lectures into the lesson plan in order to introduce concepts, clarify and order ideas, and help students make connections. Use small-group discussions, informal writing assignments, and online discussions before or at the start of class to prompt student thinking about the discussion topic. These strategies can be effective ways to provide reflective learners and shy students a means of developing ideas that they can then contribute to the class discussion. Commenting on the insights that quieter students contribute in small-group discussions and on informal writing assignments and online discussions can encourage them to speak up in the larger group; you might comment on a student's written work, for example, "this analysis is insightful; the entire class would benefit from hearing your ideas more often" (see Teaching with Discussions).

Organize each class session to include opportunities throughout to ask and answer questions; prepare initial and follow-up questions ahead of time. Use questions to assess student learning, to signal to students which material is the most important, and to help students advance their knowledge and thinking. (For a discussion of strategies for formulating questions, see Asking Questions to Improve Learning). Encourage students to ask questions throughout the class (approximately every 15 minutes), not just at the end.

If grading student participation, plan to give students a preliminary participation grade, as well as a brief written evaluation of their performance. If you will grade class participation, give students preliminary grades as early as 3-4 weeks into the semester and at midterm so that they will know where they stand. Your written evaluation can be designed to encourage the quiet students to talk more often and the verbose students to hold their comments to give others a chance to participate).

Use verbal and non-verbal cues to encourage participation. Do not rely on the same volunteers to answer every question. Respond to frequent volunteers in a way that indicates that you appreciate their responses, but want to hear from others as well. Move to a part of the room where quiet students are sitting; smile at and make eye contact with these students to encourage them to speak up. By the same token, when frequent volunteers speak, look around the room rather than only at them to encourage others to respond (see below).

Reduce students' anxieties by creating an atmosphere in which they feel comfortable "thinking out-loud," taking intellectual risks, asking questions, and admitting when they do not know something; one of the best ways to do this is to model these behaviors yourself.

Give students time to think before they respond to your questions. Do not be afraid of silence. Give students 5-10 seconds to think and formulate a response. If 10-15 seconds pass without anyone volunteering an answer and the students are giving you puzzled looks, rephrase your question. Do not give in to the temptation to answer your own questions, which will condition students to hesitate before answering to see if you will supply "the answer." Patience is key; do not be afraid of silence. The longer you wait for students to respond, the more thoughtful and complex those responses are likely to be.

Often, there is at least one student in every class who will quickly raise her or his hand to answer nearly every question. If you consistently call on this student, those who require more time to formulate answers will simply learn to wait for this student to answer. (See Asking Questions to Improve Learning.)

Listen fully to your students' questions and answers; avoid interrupting. Resist the urge to interrupt when you think you know what the student is going to say or ask. Often, well-meaning and enthusiastic instructors make incorrect assumptions and leave their students' actual questions unanswered or misrepresent what the students had planned to say.

Provide specific, encouraging, varied responses. Point out what is helpful or interesting about student contributions. Pick up on comments that were made but not discussed. Do not use the same, standard praise to respond to every comment. When students hear "good point" again and again, they start to lose motivation. Ask follow-up questions to prompt students to clarify, refine, and support their ideas. When a student gives an incorrect or ill-conceived answer, respond in way that challenges the student to think more deeply or to reconsider the evidence. The best way to shut down participation, and learning, is to embarrass a student.

Repeat student responses to summarize or clarify ideas. Use this strategy when a student's comments are vague or "all over the map," but do not over-use it, leading students to rely on you to "translate" or validate their ideas.

Redirect comments and questions to other students. Encourage students to respond to one another, rather than merely to you. When a student is speaking, look around the room, not just at the student who is speaking; making eye contact with other students lets them know that you expect them to be listening and formulating responses. Provide students with a model of civil discourse by demonstrating respect for, and interest in, the views of others. Learn to limit your own comments. Particularly when facilitating a discussion, hold back from responding to every comment; otherwise, students will learn to wait for you to respond rather than formulating their own responses.

Place the emphasis on student ideas. Encourage students to share their ideas and use those ideas (with attribution) whenever you can. Referring back to a comment made by a student in an earlier class demonstrates that you have thought about and appreciated what your students have to say.

Active student participation does not happen naturally in university courses; it must be carefully planned and encouraged. Set aside time throughout the semester to assess student participation in your course and to develop strategies for improvement; administer midterm student evaluations to help you with this process. Consider asking a colleague to observe your class; often, outside observers can discern patterns that hinder participation but that may not be apparent to participants. Take notes during and after a semester so that you have a record of what went well and what you would like to change the next time you teach the course in order to increase student participation.

Davis, Barbara Gross. Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.

"Questioning Strategies." Center for Teaching Excellence. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. http://cte.illinois.edu/resources/topics/methods/strateg.html.

"Encouraging Interaction in Science and Engineering Classes." The McGraw Center. Princeton University. https://mcgraw.princeton.edu/node/661.

"Facilitating Discussions in Humanities and Social Science." The McGraw Center. Princeton University. https://mcgraw.princeton.edu/node/656.

McKeachie, Wilbert, et al. McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. 12th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. © 2009, Washington University.

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While increasing participation is an obvious goal in courses that include frequent discussions and small-group work, it is also important in a lecture course. In short, if only a few students participate by volunteering answers, asking questions, or contributing to discussions, class sessions become

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One-on-one conferences with students are a valuable use of class time—provided the other students are able to work quietly on their own.

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One-on-one conferences with students are a valuable use of class time-provided the other students are able to work quietly on their own.

©Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images

Student conferences are a valuable way to connect with students and target our teaching to the individual needs they have when it comes to developing the skills we're trying to teach in our classrooms. But one important logistical concern often gets in the way: Since we're talking with individual students during class time, how do we ensure that the rest remain on task?

Over the years, I've developed some ways to establish norms for independent work time, and while there's still the occasional student I need to redirect, I'm able to have productive individual conversations with my kids on a daily basis.

Students Don't Start Out Knowing Our Expectations

I've learned the hard way-and don't we all?-that I cannot assume my students know my expectations when it comes to their behavior in the classroom. Early in the school year, I discuss with my classes the different modes of activity we'll use in the classroom: whole class, small group, individual, and transitions. We write and talk about the purpose of each and come to a consensus on guidelines for each type of activity.

How I structure this process: I begin the conversation with my class with a five-minute quick write on the following questions: "What are the different types of work you normally do during English class? What makes that work easier or harder?"

As we talk about students' experience with things like reading, writing, and discussing in English class, I get to know them a little better-a crucial endeavor as I'm starting to develop relationships with them at the beginning of the year. And they begin to think about the purpose of what they'll be doing in my class and how to accomplish that better.

We then turn back to the four modes of activity. For each of these modes, we talk about the purpose of it and then brainstorm specific guidelines for best accomplishing that purpose. I have students create a two-column chart with the headings: "Looks Like" and "Sounds Like." Using this framing is important because it helps make the expected behaviors concrete and thus easier to understand and practice.

If students happen to miss a guideline that I think is important, I'll add it and explain to them why it will make the activity more effective.

Building Independent Work Norms
Independent work looks like:

Electronics turned off and put away, unless being used for a specific assignment, such as research, writing, or reading an ebook. (Depending on the activity, I may allow headphones, but this requires another conversation-some students focus better with music, using headphones, and others find it distracting.)

Heads up. (It's tough to tell if students are awake if they have their heads down on their desk.)

Focusing on an assignment we're working on.

Working on alternate assignments once we're finished with current assignments.

Hands up for questions.

Independent work sounds like:

Silence, unless conferring with teacher in a whisper voice.

Walking quietly.

Not making a lot of noise with food or school supplies.

Students understand that the independent work mode is for just that: working on something by themselves. They agree that they need to be able to focus and think, and for that to happen, certain guidelines need to be in place. Of course, this varies for different students, but we usually come to an understanding about guidelines.

Practice Is Key

Practicing the different modes is crucial. We'll do short bouts of each at first-10 to 15 minutes-and then reflect on how well we followed the guidelines and if we need to alter the list to make it more effective. For example, we demonstrate and practice what a whisper voice sounds like.

This does require a few weeks of work at the beginning of the year, but it pays huge dividends for the rest of the year because students require less redirecting and are much more productive.

Troubleshooting With Debrief and Reflection

What if the norms you've created aren't working? Teachers know that every new activity we use in the classroom needs fine-tuning. We need to occasionally redirect students and reach into our classroom management toolbox to deal with the little everyday challenges that arise when a group of diverse humans work together.

One of the best ways I've learned to make any new endeavor work in my classroom is to regularly debrief and reflect with my students. After establishing our norms and practicing independent work time for a short chunk of time, I'll have the students spend about three minutes writing about how it went and how we can make it work even better.

As we discuss their insights, I'll mention what I noticed, leading with the positive, and little by little, day by day, our classroom becomes a place where we think, and talk, and work together to make wonderful things happen.

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One-on-one conferences with students are a valuable use of class time-provided the other students are able to work quietly on their own.

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10 Strategies for Teachers on How to Deal With a Disruptive Class

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10 Strategies for Teachers on How to Deal With a Disruptive Class

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Susan has been a high school teacher for 26 years. She has an BSEd in Elementary Education and a MSEd in Secondary Education and English.

Nikhita S via Unsplashed Public Domain

What Is Classroom Management?

Classroom management involves the number of techniques that teachers use to ensure that their lesson plans are executed in a smooth and productive fashion with as little distracting behavior from students as possible.

I have had many interesting experiences and have learned several classroom management strategies in my 25 years of teaching. I would like to share these important techniques with both new teachers and veteran teachers alike and all those who are dealing with a disruptive classroom.

Curbing Classroom Interruptions Before They Begin

There are two key strategies that I have developed over the years to curb disorderly behaviors in the classroom before they begin. These strategies involve developing relationships with students and arriving to class with a solid plan.

Build a Meaningful Relationships With Your Students

Teaching should not be treated as a popularity contest, but there will always be value in getting to know your students on a personal level. Here are some approaches to building relationships with your students in order to gain their support, increase engagement, and minimize disruptions in your classroom.

Listen to your students. Be open to receiving feedback in class so that they feel that they have some sort of influence on their learning experience.

Develop a genuine curiosity about their interests and what's on their minds. Find parallels in your own life to bridge the conversation.

Identify their strengths and weaknesses as quickly as possible.

Arrive With a Plan

Your classroom management plan should be well-thought-out and ready to go on the first day of class. The more front-loading you do at the beginning of the year, the more you will thank yourself later. Your set of rules should cover any sort of disruption that you can think of. Your consequences should deter students from interrupting the flow of your class.

How to Handle Disruptive Students in the Classroom

Exercising good classroom management strategies can be the difference between having a great year or a miserable year with your students. This article will feature the following techniques for regaining control in your classroom:

1. Have a sense of humor.

2. Never raise your voice.

3. Use the silent stare.

4. Learn your students' names.

5. Send the first disruptor to the hall and the second to the office.

6. Let your administrators know about your class.

7. Have administrators visit your classroom

8. Never let your class know they are getting under your skin.

9. Treat your students with respect.

10. Tell the disruptive student that you do not need his or her help.

Remain Calm
Before we begin, this is a friendly reminder that being overcome with frustration is natural. Do what you can to model an appropriate response by setting a positive tone, even if that means taking a few moments to compose yourself.

1. Have a Sense of Humor

You have to have a sense of humor in the classroom. If you do not there will be a disconnect because the kids will not like you and you will not like the kids. Using a sense of humor with your students is the best way to disarm a bad situation.

Be sure to be careful with your sense of humor. If you try to carry it too far with students who do not understand their limits, you could have a potential rowdy class who thinks you are a clown and a pushover. Dispel this notion by constantly giving the kids guidelines. Once they have the guidelines for classroom behavior, they will "get" your sense of humor.

2. Never Raise Your Voice

A disruptive class is just waiting for you to raise your voice and yell at them-they love it. It gives the students a chance to raise their voice and argue back. They love retelling stories about the teachers who "lost it," especially if they know they were the ones who caused it. Be careful that you don't show up in their Twitter feeds. Do not give them the pleasure. Staying calm, cool, and collected is the key.

3. Use the Silent Stare

When my classes are talking too much or out of their seats, I stand in front of the class and simply stare at the class. One of the students gets the hint. Then I hear, "Shhh, shhh, shhh!" all over the room. I act like I did not even recognize the loudness in the room, and I start or resume.

There have been a few times that it has taken a class too long to quiet down. On those few occasions, I say, "Obviously, you know what is going on today. The assignment is on the board. I am not wasting my time with you. You are on your own." They are all aghast. I go back to my desk, and one at a time the kids trickle back asking for help. This may seem harsh, but it works. I do eventually go back to the front of the room and ask in a humorous, sarcastic tone, "Would you like me to explain?" They usually give a resounding, "Yes!"

Even though they would like to make you think you are unimportant at times, most of them know they need you.

4. Learn Your Students' Names

I have to admit, learning their names is the hardest part for me. I start looking at rosters over the summer.

If you have a troublemaker in class, you want to be able to call that student by name on the first day of school. Unfortunately, the ones who want to cause problems are the ones easiest to remember. The kids who do not say much are the ones I need to work on most.

Remembering their names shows all your students that you care about who they are and what they do. Many times, just knowing a name will help stop a kid from creating trouble.

5. Send the First Disrupter to the Hall and the Second to the Office

In the beginning of the year, you must set the tone.

If they are going to make trouble in my class, I give the first warning, "The first one goes to the hall and the second one goes to the office." There are usually at least two pushing the buttons-many times together.

You must follow through with the threat so they know you mean business. When you show them in the beginning of the year that your objective is to teach them and not babysit them, they get the message quick.

Students love to test teachers. Not because they are "bad" but because they are kids. Try to remember your own school days so you can relate to them before it is irreparable.

When you send a kid to the hall, make time to discuss the problem clearly. Some students, even in high school, do not understand why they are being disciplined. Make it clear in a way that lets the student know you want their success.

The same goes for if you send a student to the office. Find a time to discuss what happened to lead to the discipline. If kids know you are still on their side, they will try harder to do better for you.

Nikola Jovanovic via Unsplashed Public Domain

6. Let Your Administrators Know About Your Class

This past year, I had a class full of boys who were childhood friends and loved to have fun and aggravate. They wanted the tone to be a "them against the teacher" tone and made it clear from the beginning.

I went to the administration about it. They knew the boys already, not just from having them in their office but also from knowing them in the community. These were not bad kids. They just wanted to have fun. I totally related. Letting the administrators know about the situation prepares you and them for any situation that might arise.

7. Have Administrators Visit Your Classroom

After I let my administrators know, they would periodically show up in the room either a couple of them or just one. What I loved was that they never made it seem like a visit for discipline. They would come in, ask how I was doing, ask the kids how it was going, and actually conversed with them. It gave the kids a good feeling to be recognized by the administrators in a good light rather than in the cloak of shame when they are sitting in the office.

When you have a disruptive class, the administrators can really have a positive influence by just making an appearance and showing interest. You must let them in on the situation, and tell them you want them as a preventative measure, not a last resort.

8. Never Let Your Class Know They Are Getting Under Your Skin

As soon as you let a disruptive class know that they have gotten under your skin, they have you right where they want you: angry, agitated, anxious, defensive. No, no, no! Do not allow this to happen.

Again, you have to set guidelines from the first day. You must also loosen up enough that you can find humor in something they just did that you would not otherwise find humorous. You will have a miserable year if you allow them to make you show what you are actually feeling. They love it when you "go off the deep end," especially in the beginning when they do not know you. Keep reminding yourself that their success is your success. You just need to control the type of success.

9. Treat Students With Respect

From the first day, always remember you are the adult and they are the student. You must also show them respect if you want to receive it in return.

If a kid is constantly acting up in class and nothing has worked, go out in the hall with the kid and say, "Listen, you are disrupting class which is not good for anyone. There are students in there who want to learn, and you are keeping them from it. I know you are just having a good time, and I don't think you are a bad kid. It is just that you and I each have a job to do in there. You need to be quiet and calm while I am teaching, and I need to keep my focus. There are appropriate times for this type of behavior, but in the middle of class or work time is not the time or the place. Now, let's go back in and act like decent human beings to each other."

That last line usually gets a smile. I treat a disruptor with respect (when their behavior hasn't gone overboard), and in return we go back into the class and things are better. Kids need to know adults understand and respect them. Sometimes, the teacher does have to send the student to the office. Many times it can be handled one-on-one and a new respect for each other grows from those times.

There are times that you have to constantly work on that student-teacher relationship.

10. Tell the Disruptive Student You Do Not Need Their Help

It is inevitable. You will have one kid misbehaving, you tell the kid to stop talking or tapping his pencil or getting up and down out of his seat or whistling or whatever other annoying thing the kid can come up with to disrupt the class.

Once you tell the kid to stop, you have another kid mock you by saying, "Yeah, stop that. Don't you know you are annoying everyone else?" These kids are in high school. Most completely understand the dynamics of the class: good and bad.

When a kid "appears" to be "helping" you with discipline, it is probably a case of mocking you to get a laugh or to get a group to start in on their buddy to create the drama. I simply say, "I have it handled, and I don't need your help." Abrupt and to the point. They know when they have crossed the line.

A good teacher must know the rules; a good pupil, the exceptions.

- Martin H. Fischer

Classroom Management Mistakes Teachers Make

Teaching is a learning experience like anything else in life. We've already discussed some tips for the classroom, so now lets get into some things that are to be avoided.

Failing to communicate expectations.

Establishing and reviewing your expectations, rules, and consequences is essential to forming the foundational principles of your classroom. Be consistent in your doling of consequences to convey an equitable environment to your students.

Failing to triage an issue.

Most of the disruptive behavioral issues that students exhibit in classrooms are indicative of an underlying issue. What these students need is a trustworthy adult to dig beneath the surface to find out how they're doing. Sometimes the issue will be out of the scope of what a teacher can handle, so coordinating the student with a professional may be necessary.

Striking down too hard, too quickly.

Teachers should do the best job they can of implementing a progressive disciplinary approach in their classrooms. Not every issue warrants a trip to the principal's office and a suspension. Small infractions can be reprimanded with conversations and detentions. Dismissing students from your class too readily can leave you with less options going forward.

Not following through.

Students will take you less seriously if you fail to deliver on your promises. This is one of the biggest mistakes teachers can make. Things will really get out of hand when your students catch on to these tendencies. Don't give them open avenues to exploit you.

You Are Going to Be Al

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10 Strategies for Teachers on How to Deal With a Disruptive Class

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Susan has been a high school teacher for 26 years. She has an BSEd in Elementary Education and a MSEd in Secondary Education and English. Classroom management involves the number of techniques that teachers use to ensure that their lesson plans are executed in a smooth and productive fashion with as little distracting behavior from students as possible.

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Flexible Seating and Student-Centered Classroom Redesign

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Flexible Seating and Student-Centered Classroom Redesign

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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How To: Handle Common Classroom Problem Behaviors Using a Behavior Management Menu

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How To: Handle Common Classroom Problem Behaviors Using a Behavior Management Menu

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Teachers who can draw on a range of responses when dealing with common classroom misbehaviors are more likely to keep those students in the classroom, resulting in fewer disruptions to instruction, enhanced teacher authority, and better learning outcomes for struggling students (Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002). A good organizing tool for teachers is to create a classroom menu that outlines a range of response options for behavior management and discipline. Teachers are able to assert positive classroom control when they apply such a behavior management menu consistently and flexibly--choosing disciplinary responses that match each student's presenting concerns (Marzano, Marzano, & Pickering, 2003).

This document groups potential teacher responses to classroom behavior incidents into 8 'menu' categories: (1) Behavior reminder, (2) academic adjustment, (3) environmental adjustment, (4) warning, (5) time-out, (6) response cost, (7) behavior conference, and (8) defusing strategies. Teachers can use these categories as a framework for organizing their own effective strategies for managing student problem behaviors.

1, BEHAVIORAL REMINDER. A behavioral reminder is a brief, neutral prompt to help the student to remember and follow classroom behavioral expectations (Simonsen, Fairbanks, Briesch, Myers, & Sugai, 2008).

When to Use: This strategy is used when the student appears to be distracted or otherwise requires a simple reminder of expected behaviors.

Examples: Here are examples of behavioral reminders:

The teacher makes eye contact with the student who is misbehaving and points to a classroom rules chart.

The teacher approaches the off-task student to remind him/her of the specific academic task the student should be doing.

The teacher proactively provides behavioral reminders just when the student needs to use them.

2. ACADEMIC ADJUSTMENT. An academic adjustment is a change made to the student's academic task(s) to improve behaviors. Such changes could include the amount of work assigned, provision of support to the student during the work, giving additional time to complete the work, etc. (Kern, Bambara & Fogt, 2002).

When to Use: Academic adjustments can be useful when the teacher judges that the student's problem behaviors are triggered or exacerbated by the required academic task(s).

Examples: Here are examples of academic adjustments:

The teacher pre-teaches challenging vocabulary to the student prior to a large-group discussion.

The teacher adjusts the difficulty of the assigned academic work to match the student's abilities ('instructional match').

The teacher allows the student additional time to complete an academic task.

3. ENVIRONMENTAL ADJUSTMENT. An environmental adjustment is a change made to some aspect of the student's environment to improve behaviors (Kern & Clemens, 2007).
When to Use: This strategy is used when the teacher judges that an environmental element (e.g., distracting activities, proximity of another student) is contributing to the student's problem behavior.
Examples: Here are examples of environmental adjustments:

The teacher moves the student's seat away from distracting peers.

The teacher collects distracting objects from a student (e.g., small toys, paperclips) during a work session.

The student is given a schedule of the day to prepare her for upcoming academic activities.

4. WARNING. A warning is a teacher statement informing the student that continued misbehavior will be followed by a specific disciplinary consequence (Simonsen, Fairbanks, Briesch, Myers, & Sugai, 2008).
When to Use: A warning is appropriate when the teacher judges (a) that the student has control over his or her behavior and (b) that a pointed reminder of impending behavioral consequences may improve the student's behavior. Whenever possible, it is recommended that proactive strategies such as providing behavioral reminders or eliminating environmental/academic triggers be tried before using warnings.
Examples: Here are examples of warnings:

The teacher tells the student that if the problem behavior continues, the student will lose the opportunity for free time later that day.

The student is warned that continued misbehavior will result in the teacher's calling the parent.

5. TIME OUT. Time-out (from reinforcement) is a brief removal of the student from the setting due to problem behaviors (Yell, 1994).
When to Use: Time-out from reinforcement can be effective in situations when the student would prefer to be in the classroom setting rather than in the time-out setting. Time-out sessions should typically be brief (e.g., 3-10 minutes). Because time-out is a punishment procedure, the teacher should first ensure that appropriate, less intrusive efforts to improve student behavior (e.g., behavior reminders, warnings, elimination of behavioral triggers) have been attempted before using it. If a teacher finds that a student does not improve behaviors despite several repetitions of time-out, other behavior management strategies should be tried instead.
Preparation: If time-out is to occur within the classroom, the teacher should identify the time-out location in advance and ensure that students placed there can be easily observed but are sufficiently removed from the current classroom activity. If the time-out location is out of the classroom, the teacher should arrange with other adults in advance (e.g., participating teachers whose classrooms may be time-out locations) to work out details for students to enter and exit time-out and for supervising students during time-out.
Examples: Here are examples of time-out from reinforcement:

The teacher sends a student to a study carrel in the corner of the classroom for 5 minutes for misbehavior.

The teacher sends a misbehaving student to a neighboring classroom for 10 minutes, where the student is to sit alone and complete classwork.

6. RESPONSE COST. Response cost is the taking away of privileges or other valued elements ('cost') in response to student misbehavior (DuPaul & Stoner, 2002)
When to Use: Response cost can be an effective response to misbehavior, provided that the student actually values the privilege or element being taken away. Because response cost is a punishment procedure, the teacher should first ensure that appropriate, less intrusive efforts to improve student behavior (e.g., behavior reminders, warnings, elimination of behavioral triggers) have been attempted before using it.
Preparation: Prior to implementing response cost, the teacher may want to create a series of 'privileges' in the classroom that students find motivating and do not want to lose (e.g., point systems for good behavior; free time).
Examples: Here are examples of response-cost:

Because of misbehavior, a student loses access to classroom free time at the end of the day.

A student is given 5 good-behavior points at the start of class--and then has one deducted for each incident of misbehavior.

7. BEHAVIOR CONFERENCE. A behavior conference is a brief meeting between teacher and student to discuss the student's problem behavior(s) (Fields, 2004). While the structure and content of a behavior conference will vary based on circumstances, it will typically include some or all of the following elements:

1. Description of the problem behavior. The teacher describes the student's behavior and explains why it is presenting a problem in the classroom.

2. Open-ended questions and student input. The teacher asks open-ended questions to fully understand what factors are contributing to the problem behavior.

3. Problem-solving. Teacher and student discuss solutions to the problem behavior and agree to a plan.

4. Disciplinary reminder. If appropriate, the teacher concludes the conference by informing the student of the disciplinary consequence that will occur if the problem behavior continues.

When to Use: The behavior conference is a useful tool for the teacher who:

wishes to better understand reasons of the student problem behavior before acting.

wants to model that it is better for the student to communicate his or her needs to the teacher through discussion than by engaging in acting-out behaviors.

Examples: Here are examples of a behavior conference:

A teacher approaches the desk of a student who appears upset to explore what triggered that student's current emotional distress and to figure out how best to respond to the situation.

A non-compliant student is taken aside by the teacher for a brief in-class conference, in which the teacher establishes that the student is in control of her behavior, states the behavioral expectations for the classroom, and informs the student that she will be given a disciplinary referral if her behaviors do not improve immediately.

8. DEFUSING TECHNIQUES. Defusing techniques are any teacher actions taken to calm a student or otherwise defuse a situation with the potential for confrontation or emotional escalation (Daly & Sterba, 2011).
When to Use: When the teacher judges that the student's negative emotions are a significant contributor to the problem behaviors, defusing techniques are appropriate to stabilize the situation.
Examples: Here are examples of defusing techniques:

The teacher temporarily removes academic work from a student who is reacting negatively to the assignment.

The teacher encourages a student to sit in a quiet corner of the room for a few minutes to collect herself before conferencing with the teacher.

The teacher sends a student to the guidance counselor to discuss the issue(s) causing him anger.

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT MENU: MIDDLE SCHOOL EXAMPLE

A 7th-grade English teacher, Mrs. Stevenson, decides to develop a behavior management menu to help her to respond more flexibly and effectively to common student misbehaviors in her classroom. Once that menu is in place, Mrs. Stevenson is able to manage two different student situations with success:

Episode 1: Francine. A student, Francine, is in a morning section of class, whispering to two of her friends sitting nearby. Mrs. Stevenson can see that the whispering is beginning to distract students in proximity to Francine.

Behavioral Reminder. The teacher makes eye contact with Francine while teaching and puts a finger to her lips to signal that the student should stop talking and attend to instruction.

Environmental Adjustment. When Francine continues to talk to peers, the teacher moves her to a seat near the front of the room, away from her friends and close to the teacher.

Warning. Francine continues to clown at her desk, making faces and whispering comments to no one in particular. The teacher approaches her desk and tells Francine quietly that if she continues to talk and distract other students, she will need to stay after class for a teacher conference, which will probably make her late for lunch. Francine's behaviors improve immediately.

Episode 2: Jay. A student, Jay, walks into English class after lunch one day appearing visibly upset. When Mrs. Stevenson directs the class to pull out a homework assignment for review, Jay sits in his seat looking flushed and angry. He does not take out his work.

Behavioral Reminder. The teacher approaches Jay and quietly asks that he pull out his homework. She then returns to the front of the room.

Behavior Conference. The teacher sees that Jay is still not getting out his homework. She gives the class a 5-minute assignment to review their homework before submitting and uses that time to meet briefly with Jay in the hallway. She asks open-ended questions and discovers that Jay is angry about an incident that occurred at lunch.

Defusing Techniques. Based on information gathered during the behavior conference, the teacher decides that Jay needs to meet with a mental health staff member to talk through and resolve his issue from lunch. She issues Jay a pass. Ultimately, he meets for 20 minutes with the school psychologist, calms down, and is able to return to class.

References

Daly, D. L., & Sterba, M. N. (2011). Working with aggressive youth: Positive strategies to teach self-control and prevent violence. Boys Town, NE: Boys Town Press.

DuPaul & Stoner, 2002 DuPaul, G.J., & Stoner, G. (2002). Interventions for attention problems. In M. Shinn, H.M. Walker, & G. Stoner (Eds.) Interventions for academic and behavioral problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp. 913-938). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

Fields, B. (2004). Breaking the cycle of office referrals and suspensions: Defensive management. Educational Psychology in Practice, 20, 103-115.

Kern, L., Bambara, L., & Fogt, J. (2002). Class-wide curricular modification to improve the behavior of students with emotional or behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 27,317-326.

Kern, L, & Clemens, N.(2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in theSchools, 44(1), 65-75.

Marzano, R. J., Marzano, J. S., & Pickering, D. J. (2003). Classroom management that works: Research-based strategies for every teacher. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Simonsen, B., Fairbanks, S., Briesch, A., Myers, D., & Sugai, G. (2008). Evidence-based practices in classroom management: Considerations for research to practice. Evaluation and Treatment of Children, 31(3), 351-380.

Sprick, R. S., Borgmeier, C., & Nolet, V. (2002). Prevention and management of behavior problems in secondary schools. In M. A. Shinn, H. M. Walker & G. Stoner (Eds.), Interventions for academic and behavior problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp.373-401). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

Yell, M.L. (1994). Timeout and students with behavior disorders: A legal analysis. Education and Treatment of Children, 17, 293-301.

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How To: Handle Common Classroom Problem Behaviors Using a Behavior Management Menu

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Teachers who can draw on a range of responses when dealing with common classroom misbehaviors are more likely to keep those students in the classroom, resulting in fewer disruptions to instruction, enhanced teacher authority, and better learning outcomes for struggling students (Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002).

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List of useful books, all available on Amazon.com (and in Kimberly's Office)

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List of useful books, all available on Amazon.com (and in Kimberly's Office)

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*The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher
*The Power of Our Words for Middle School: Teacher Language That Helps Students Learn
*How to Reach And Teach Children with ADD/ADHD: Practical techniques, strategies, and interventions
*1-2-3 Magic in the Classroom: Effective Discipline for Pre-K through Grade 8
*Teach Like a Champion 2.0: 62 techniques that put students on the path to college
*Middle and Secondary Classroom Management: Lessons from research and practice
*Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for creating a trauma-sensitive classroom

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No matter how carefully we teach positive behavior, students will still sometimes misbehave. They'll forget the rules, their impulses will win out over their self-control, or they'll just need to test where the limits are. For example:

Janna rolls her eyes and snickers as Hector shares details of his weekend visit with his cousin during Morning Meeting.

William takes a pencil from a neighbor's desk and refuses to return it when asked by his classmate.

Annie grabs the ball from two smaller children, telling them they're not allowed to play.

As they learn to negotiate social expectations, children test limits, get carried away, forget, and make mistakes. In fact, having these experiences-and seeing how adults respond to them-is one way children learn about how to behave. Just as when we teach academics, we can use students' behavioral mistakes as opportunities for learning. To do this well, however, we adults must hold on to empathy for the child who misbehaves while holding her accountable. We also need to respond to misbehavior in ways that show all of our students that we will keep them safe and see to it that classroom rules are observed.

Goals for Responding to Misbehavior

In the Responsive Classroom approach to discipline, the overarching goal is to keep the focus on learning, while maintaining a classroom that's physically and emotionally safe for all. To achieve this, responses to misbehavior should:

Stop the misbehavior and reestablish positive behavior as quickly as possible

Maintain children's dignity

Develop children's self-control and self-regulation skills

Help children recognize and fix any harm caused by their mistakes

Demonstrate that rules help make the classroom a safe place where all can learn

In classrooms where this approach is used, adults respond quickly, firmly, and respectfully when children misbehave. Minor problems are addressed before behavior gets out of control. Children are held accountable for their behavior, with adults guiding their learning so they can make better choices next time.

Strategies for Responding to Misbehavior

One of the most important things to keep in mind when responding to misbehavior is to address the behavior as quickly as possible. When children's behavior goes off track, they need immediate feedback from adults to help them break their momentum and get back on track. Although this might sound obvious, adults often let small misbehaviors go, waiting to address them until they've escalated and are much more difficult to reverse.

Three response strategies that are especially effective when used before misbehavior escalates (and that also meet the other goals named above) are visual and verbal cues, increased teacher proximity, and logical consequences.

1. Visual and Verbal Cues

Once teachers have modeled expected behaviors and given children opportunities for practice, a visual or verbal cue will often stop a misbehavior and help a child get back on track. Simply looking briefly into a child's eyes can powerfully send the message that "I know you know how to do this; now let's see you do it." Other examples of visual cues are a writing gesture for "This is writing workshop; get to work" or a finger against your lips for "Remember, silent lips when someone is sharing."

Verbal cues can be as simple as saying the child's name. Reminding language can also be highly effective: Sonya, what should you be doing right now? Dante, what do our rules say about sharing materials?

Reminding language works best when a child is just beginning to go off track-about to open a book instead of getting out math materials, or beginning to reach to take the blue crayon away from a tablemate. If, however, the child is well into the undesired behavior, reminding language loses its effectiveness. At that point, a clear redirection is needed: Sonya, put the book away now and get out your math materials. Dante, choose another color. It's Ellen's turn to use the blue crayon.

2. Increased Teacher Proximity

Sometimes all that's needed to reestablish positive behavior is for the teacher to move next to a child. For example, if children have been taught how to sit safely in chairs, and Maria has just started tipping her chair back during direct instruction, simply moving to stand by Maria can communicate "Sit safely" without drawing undue attention to Maria or disturbing other children. Once Maria sits safely, the teacher's staying nearby for a bit helps the child understand that she must continue to sit safely.

Bringing the child closer, instead of going to the child, is another option. Suppose Darren turns around and begins fiddling with items on a shelf during Morning Meeting. The class has learned meeting rules, and they also know that their teacher will sometimes direct them to change their seats if they're beginning to misbehave. A quiet "Darren, come sit next to me" brings Darren to his teacher's side in the circle and gets his attention back on his classmates, without breaking the meeting rhythm.

3. Logical Consequences

Logical consequences are another strategy that teachers can use to stop misbehavior while helping children see and take responsibility for the effects of their actions. Logical consequences differ from punishment in that, unlike punishment, logical consequences are relevant (directly related to the misbehavior), realistic (something the child can reasonably be expected to do and that the teacher can manage with a reasonable amount of effort), and respectful (communicated kindly and focused on the misbehavior, not the child's character or personality).

Suppose Jinghua scribbles on her desk. Having her clean the desk would be a relevant, realistic, and respectful logical consequence. Having her miss recess would be irrelevant. Having her clean every desk in the classroom after school would be an unrealistic amount of work, and the uncleanness of the other desks is unrelated to Jinghua's mistake. Saying "You're so rude-you just don't care about anyone but yourself!" would be a disrespectful attack on her character.

[To learn more about logical consequences and how to use them, see Teaching Self-Discipline.]

Introducing the Approach to Children

The Responsive Classroom approach to responding to misbehavior is most effective when children know in advance what to expect from their teachers. It's important for the teacher to let children know that at one point or another, everyone makes behavior mistakes and needs support to get back on track, and that's okay-just as it's okay to make mistakes when learning academic skills. It's also important for the teacher to convey the belief that students can and will learn to choose positive behaviors, and that her responses to their mistakes will help them do so. Choice of words, along with a friendly, matter-of-fact tone and a few specific examples, will help get this message across. For example, when talking about responses to misbehavior, a teacher might say:

We're all working on following our classroom rules, but we all make mistakes sometimes. In our class, when you don't follow a rule, it's my job to help you get back on track, fix any problems you caused, and learn to follow the rule next time. So, for example, if you forget our rule about staying safe and start running and knock down someone's block tower, I might tell you to help them rebuild . . .

Or, with older students:

If I see that you are about to break a rule, I may use a signal to help you realize that you are getting out of control. It's not a big deal; it just means you need to check your behavior and get back on track. For instance, I might put my finger on my lips to remind you to be quiet, or I may just say your name and give you a look if I think you know what to do. If I give you a signal like that, I'm giving you a chance to correct your mistake quickly and quietly, without disrupting anyone else's learning.

Knowing Which Strategy to Use

Knowing which strategy to use, and whether more than one strategy is needed, is a skill that comes with practice and depends upon the teacher's knowledge of the children she's teaching. One child who's talking when she shouldn't may need only a cue to correct herself. Another child may need a logical consequence for the same behavior. Or the same child may need a cue on one day and a logical consequence on another. Some questions to consider: Which strategy will stop the misbehavior and restore positive behavior as quickly, simply, and kindly as possible? Which strategy will maintain safety and order for everyone? Which one will help the child develop understanding and self-control? Whichever strategies are chosen, it's important to remember to use them early, just as misbehavior begins. Doing so will prevent problems from mushrooming or becoming entrenched.

Try, Try Again

Responding to misbehavior is one of the most challenging aspects of teaching. Even the most experienced teachers make mistakes. But just as we allow students to make mistakes, we must allow ourselves to make them, too. And then, just as we do with students, we must allow ourselves to try again without judgment, in the spirit of learning to do it better next time.

Tags: Challenging Behaviors, Classroom Rules, Misbehavior

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No matter how carefully we teach positive behavior, students will still sometimes misbehave. They'll forget the rules, their impulses will win out over their self-control, or they'll just need to test where the limits are.

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25 Sure-Fire Strategies for Handling Difficult Students

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25 Sure-Fire Strategies for Handling Difficult Students

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Here is a sampling of strategies that teachers can use either to head off or to provide consequences for low- to medium-level student misbehavior: Break student tasks into manageable 'chunks': Students may misbehave to escape activities that they find too hard or tedious.

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When students act out, why do we seek out flaws in their character? Shouldn't we instead search for the flaws in our schools and our teaching, holding us, the adults, primarily responsible? Shouldn't we find better ways to understand the problem children, the ones we label the troublemakers?

I dreaded my first-period class. It was big and early - 29 bleary-eyed 11th- and 12th-graders yawning and slurping extra-large iced coffees. My students, recent immigrants and refugees from more than 25 different countries, spoke English with varying degrees of fluency, making my task of connecting with each particularly challenging.

And then there was Joe.

He was funny, opinionated, and unceasing in his running commentary on our U.S. history class.

Sometimes it was a clarification: "It's due when?" More often it was an opinion: "Those Nazis, I mean that's messed up!"

He had one volume: loud. And he shared ideas as soon as they popped into his mind, unable to contain them a moment longer. His interjections could come at any time - during silent reading, group work, or while I was explaining an assignment. I was forever reminding him, "Please, Joe, try not to call out." "Remember to raise your hand." Sometimes I simply looked sternly in his direction.

He was always polite: "I got ya, Ms." "Sorry, Ms." "My bad, Ms." He really would try. But three minutes later...

We teachers all have our Joes. Our students who consistently call out, talk back, refuse to participate or sit down or stay on task. They throw our lessons into disarray, make our heads pound. They keep us up at night strategizing, worrying. How can I connect? What strategies might work tomorrow? When, occasionally, these students miss school, class is unusually calm. Guiltily, we sigh with relief.

How do we reach and teach our troublemakers? Most teachers have binders brimming with ideas: shuffled seat assignments, tracking systems, rewards for on-point behavior. But when these fail, what can you do when it's you alone in your class balancing 29 personalities, the clock ticking and your 40-minute-long class is almost up?

Too often schools' response to misbehavior is exclusion: timeouts, visits to the principal's office, suspensions, expulsions. It is the easy way out - often a form of triage when too many classes are overcrowded, understaffed, or undersupported. But, whatever the reason, exclusion damages our students' futures.

Carla Shalaby, Ed.M.'09, Ed.D.'14, a former elementary school teacher, urges us to see and teach our most challenging students differently in her new book, Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School.

Shalaby introduces us to four rambunctious first- and second-graders: Zora, Lucas, Sean, and Marcus. These four have already been labeled as problems - by both school staff and peers. Shalaby set out to see school through their eyes. She followed them into classrooms and on school field trips. She accompanied them to the park with siblings, to karate class, and back home with their families. These four children leap off the page. They are daring, charismatic, silly, curious, creative.

But at school, they are outcasts. Shalaby paints a stark, but painfully recognizable portrait of a typical American classroom. School has "good students" and "bad students." To be good is to follow teacher directions and rules, sit quietly, listen attentively, do what you're told, conform. Those who deviate, question, or rebel are often excluded. And their exclusion sends a sharp message to their peers "that belonging to the classroom community is conditional, not absolute, contingent upon their willingness and ability to be a certain kind of person."

Why is it, Shalaby asks, that when kids act out, we seek out flaws in their character? Shouldn't we instead search for flaws in our schools and teaching - holding us, the adults, primarily responsible?

It is a question all educators should be asking.

Joe and I came to a head in late April. A guest speaker was finishing a presentation. Just as we were wrapping up, Joe shouted out, "Hey, you're hot!" I regret to say I snapped. "Joe!" my voice loud and stern. "Come up here right now." The bell rang, the class streamed out, and Joe shuffled up to my desk.

Troublemakers is not a book of strategies. Shalaby is clear that we cannot support our most disruptive students with cookie-cutter "behavior management" techniques. Rather than prescribe what to do, she offers up ideas for how to be, urging teachers to act first and foremost from a place of empathy, love, and understanding for all students.

But how do we as teachers go about putting this into action? In rereading the stories of these four young people, I was struck by six important truths these students teach us.

1. Keep children in class.

When we exclude our students, we are telling them: You don't belong here. Exclusion shuts down opportunities for dialogue and understanding between us and our students. And exclusion triggers a vicious cycle. When we send students out, they miss essential academic content and skills. They return to class behind, confused, and even more likely to act out. These missed lessons add up and have long-lasting consequences. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, students who struggle to read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to drop out or to fail high school. Across the country, approximately 3.5 million children are suspended from school annually. And African American and Latino students are three times more likely to be suspended than their white peers, according to 2014 data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.

2. Let children be heard, and really listen when they speak.

To be heard is to be respected and valued. I see the importance of this simple truth whenever I speak at length with a student. They come during lunch, or linger after school, seeking advice on how to talk with friends, parents. When I see a student upset, unusually surly, or argumentative, I try my best to carve out time to check in and see if they want to talk. Being open to listen, and being aware to ask, reinforces to our students that we see them and we value them. Frustratingly, too often rigid school schedules leave little space to meaningfully connect.

* * *

Joe and I finally sat down to talk, and to listen, on that late April afternoon. He shared with me his frustrations. I shared with him mine. We examined how I might feel when he interrupted the class and we examined the same interruption from his perspective. I shared my hopes for what he could achieve in my class; he shared his hopes, but also what he needed from me to achieve them. It was not a wholly comfortable conversation for either of us, but it was a starting point.

In the following weeks and months, Joe still called out, still offered spontaneous commentary at full volume, but he did so less frequently. More often than before I intentionally asked him to lead a discussion or to share an opinion - creating space for him to be included, and to be heard.

* * *

No one wanted to work with Jenny. In groups, she argued, she was dogmatic, and she sulked when she didn't get her way.

Mostly, Jenny was unpredictable. Some days she walked in with a bounce and a smile, eagerly pulling out her binder, taking notes in a flurry, and jabbing her hand into the air to confidently answer questions. Other days she slunk into class, slouching in her back corner seat, glowering.

In groups, she was the same. She could be full of ideas, ready to work and ready to encourage others to tackle assignments - be it a PowerPoint presentation on labor unions or an op-ed for our local paper. But other days she would stubbornly talk over her peers. When they didn't comply, she refused to do any work at all.

I was at a loss about what to do.

3. Partner with families.

Teachers' most powerful partners are our students' families. They are the experts, our students' first and most important teachers, and their fiercest advocates. Our families know their children's strengths, their passions, and their struggles. Resounding research tells us that strong family partnership in schools is essential for student success, school success, and for our own success as teachers. These partnerships are perhaps most important for our troublemakers. We often only see one or two dimensions of our charges. What is more, we only see our students in a collective - as one of maybe 30 personalities vying for attention. As Shalaby shows us when we follow Zora, Lucas, Sean, and Marcus outside classroom walls and school halls, we see strikingly different sides, personalities, and strengths of these young people. As teachers, we must try to know more of these dimensions.

* * *

Early in the fall I met with Jenny's mother. Sitting together one evening I heard about Jenny's journey to America, the family she left behind, her struggle to fit in. Her mother shared her hopes for Jenny's future and some of the challenges she faced. We exchanged phone numbers and emails, and for the rest of the long year we checked in regularly.

And in the classroom, I shaped an approach from what I had learned. Every day I made a point of checking in - often in those few moments as students filtered in. "Today's a bad day, Ms. Lander," she would share with me. "I'm so sorry to hear that. Would you like to tell me why?" Often she would. Sometimes it was another class or friend that was proving frustrating; other times it was an argument with her mom. For such days we developed a pact. "What support can I give you?" I would ask. Jenny would think for a moment and then provide an idea. Maybe she needed to work solo, or maybe it would be helpful to write thoughts in her notebook. Sometimes simply sharing her mood seemed sufficient to help Jenny turn things around.

4. Seek out our students' strengths.

All students have strengths. Perhaps they are avid photographers, basketball players, coders, or poets when not in school. But when it comes to our troublemakers, it can be easy for their assets to be overshadowed by behaviors that disrupt the carefully cultivated cultures of our classrooms. We cannot lose sight of these strengths. Yet it is not enough to know that our troublemakers are budding artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs. We must also seek to reframe and better understand the qualities we find most frustrating. Zora shouts out a reaction during read-aloud; her teacher labels her impulsive. But what if, Shalaby counters, we saw Zora's expression as fearlessness? Sean is forever asking why. His teacher describes his behavior as badgering, but Sean's mother sees him as questioning and curious.

* * *

In class, Jenny was often stubborn, demanding that other students follow her ideas, growing upset when they didn't. What if I reframed her behavior? What if I saw Jenny's obstinacy as confidence, a young woman unafraid to share ideas? Jenny had a powerful skill her peers could learn. What Jenny needed were strategies to help her leverage her confidence and tools to help her become a generous leader.

At lunch one day, I shared with her some of my observations. To my surprise, her eyes grew wide. Quietly she asked, "You think so, Ms. Lander?" "Yes I do, and I think you have real potential to be a class leader." She was grinning.

And so we began, taking time in quiet moments to break down leadership skills, discussing elements she could practice. Jenny attacked each with a determined nod. She still struggled at times, still had bad days. But what I saw more and more was Jenny volunteering to lead and, slowly, succeeding.

* * *

I was worried about Henry. It was only week two, but already I could see him slipping into a pattern. He barely took notes and chattered continuously with the boys next to him. He had yet to turn in a piece of homework. But I noticed too that in discussions he was engaged, offering thoughtful comments about the growth of cities during the Industrial Revolution. I held Henry back one afternoon. I shared my observations. How could I support his learning? He looked around the empty classroom.

"I should probably move seats," he mused.

"That sounds like a strong idea. Where would be best for you to sit?" I asked. We talked through different possibilities and he settled on a spot across the room, among another, more studious, but also silly group of boys.

The next morning, Henry strode confidently to his new seat, and as the class progressed, it was as if another child had walked in that morning. He took notes, led discussions, and was quick to throw his hand to the sky with an idea about the impact of the growth in business monopolies. The new Henry showed up again the next day, and the day after.

5. Strategize with students.

We can only guess as to why a student might call out or fail to do homework. Rather than assume we know the answer, ask. From our students we can better learn what hurdles they face and in what ways we can support their success. And in doing this we demonstrate our commitment to our students.

As fall chilled to winter, Henry flourished in my class. He still forgot his homework sometimes, still had to be occasionally reminded to stay on task. But he had found a group of friends who could be goofy and yet also grapple with charting the effects of the Spanish American War. I watched excitedly as he grew in confidence, one of the first to raise his hand to answer a question or share an opinion.

A few weeks later, I learned that this was not the Henry that appeared in his other classes. He confided this to me one afternoon when he came seeking advice. In other classes, he described, he was always the troublemaker, always being sent out, always blamed for something. He didn't know what to do. Many of his teachers seemed to have such a negative opinion of him. Most importantly, he was upset because he wanted so deeply to make his father proud.

I saw an opportunity.

"I see you in my class," I told him, my voice slow, deliberate. "I see how hard you work and how well you can do." He nodded a little shyly. Together we could talk through strategies that might help in other classes. But I also had another idea, a challenge.

6. Create opportunities for students to realize their potential and be publically recognized for their academic achievements.

All students are capable of achieving remarkable things, they just might need our help to do so. In raising the stakes, but also the support, we can create opportunities for students to explore at the edge of their capabilities. And when they do succeed, celebrate these achievements. Our troublemakers are too often only publicly acknowledged for their disruptions. We can change this pattern by intentionally creating opportunities to publicly recognize their strengths.

I am a journalist as well as a teacher, and I believe it is critical that my students learn to write clear and powerful prose. Halfway through the year I had my class embark on an op-ed project, writing on issues they cared about, the very best selected for publication in the local newspaper. Sitting with Henry on that fall afternoon I proposed an idea. What if he worked toward being one of those 10 students whose op-eds were published?

* * *

These six ways of being are not enough. Shalaby argues, and rightly so, that our troublemakers are "canaries in the coal mine." These children, in their defiance, are warning us of something fundamentally destructive - in Shalaby's words, toxic - about our schools and our expectations for all young people.

School is a place that prioritizes the group at the cost of the individual. Too many schools require students to conform, to sit silently, to do without questioning. Too few schools allow time for creative student-driven exploration or provide space to form meaningful relationships with peers and adults. Such school structures hurt all our students' futures, but it is only our troublemakers who rebel forcibly enough to make us take notice.

I think of my own classes packed with close to 30 teenagers. I see them for barely 40 minutes a day. In that time I try to connect with and support this diverse collection of individuals. But I have never felt that I have succeeded - or can succeed 100 percent. This failure weighs heavy.

Shalaby urges us to reimagine the classroom. We must also reimagine schools. Top to bottom we desperately need to question the structure, the curriculum, the role of teachers, the role of students. We need a system of education that supports all types of learners, not just some learners. We need a system that will support teachers in reaching every student. And we need schools that nurture our students' curiosity and individual strengths.

* * *

A week after Henry and I talked, he came into my classroom all fired up. His father, he told me, was very excited about Henry's determination to write an op-ed. He was hoping to support him at home and might even put a down payment on a computer to help his son write. "If I get my op-ed published," Henry confided, "I'll make my father so proud."

Throughout December and January Henry doggedly worked to research, write, and edit. It was not always easy - he needed many reminders and cajoling - but we kept at it. As we approached the deadline, Henry began showing up early and staying late to edit.

In February, nine student op-eds were published in the paper. Henry's was one of them. It was one of the strongest. I couldn't have been more proud.

Jessica Lander, Ed.M.'15, is a high school teacher in the Boston area. She is also a regular contributor to Usable Knowledge and the Boston Globe.
Illustrations by Samira, Abdullah, Aisha, Ahmed, Sebastian, Zaynab, Aisha, and Ruba. Listen to an EdCast with Carla Shalaby.

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I dreaded my first-period class. It was big and early - 29 bleary-eyed 11th- and 12th-graders yawning and slurping extra-large iced coffees. My students, recent immigrants and refugees from more than 25 different countries, spoke English with varying degrees of fluency, making my task of connecting with each particularly challenging.