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Reducing Aggressive Behaviors and Reinforcing Appropriate Replacement Behaviors 

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Reducing Aggressive Behaviors and Reinforcing Appropriate Replacement Behaviors 

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Reducing Aggressive Behaviors and Reinforcing Appropriate Replacement Behaviors

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Working in the world of special education and behavior, one of the easiest and most influential ways kids tend to get their needs met is through aggression. Many times, a student's behavior will build up to the idea of aggression since it is a really hard behavior to ignore and one that can more likely be reinforced in a way we don't necessarily know we are reinforcing it.

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There are links to 51 Classroom Activities in this article. 

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There are links to 51 Classroom Activities in this article. 

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Mindfulness Exercises for Kids in the Classroom - Waterford.org

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Use these 51 mindfulness activities to help children recognize and manage their thoughts, emotions, and actions—all important SEL skills.

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51 Mindfulness Exercises for Kids in the Classroom

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Ideas for what to put in your Calm Down Corner

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Ideas for what to put in your Calm Down Corner

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Second-grader James is having a rough day. He overslept and was late to school, missing out on breakfast. His best friend is out sick today. At recess, he fell and skinned his knee, and other kids made fun of him for crying a little. Now, it's time for reading, his most challenging subject. After the third time he makes a mistake and is gently corrected by his teacher, Ms. Hernandez, he's simply had enough. He throws the book on the floor and shouts that everyone hates him, and he hates them too. Ms. Hernandez asks the rest of the reading group to read silently, then quietly leads James to the classroom calm-down corner.

Calm-down corners are a popular tool in classrooms these days and with good reason. Teachers recognize that kids, like adults, have a lot of feelings and emotions to process throughout the day. Sometimes, it's all too much, and the result can be bad behavior. A calm-down corner, sometimes known as a peace corner or even Antarctica (a place far away from everyone else), gives kids a place to recenter and refocus so they can join the learning again. Here's how to build and effectively use one in your classroom.
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1. Create a safe and cozy space

The best calm-down corners feel a little separated from the rest of the classroom. If you have space, set yours up with a physical barrier of some kind. Low bookshelves work well since teachers can easily see over them, but kids still feel like they've got distance from everyone else.

Make your calm-down corner a space that feels safe and cozy, the kind of place where a kid can just relax for a few minutes. Throw pillows, floor cushions, and a stuffed animal or two can create just the peaceful atmosphere you're looking for.

If you don't have a lot of space in your classroom, think creatively. Give kids the illusion of separation by letting them turn their back to the rest of the classroom. Have them sit on the floor under a desk or table, and provide noise-canceling headphones so they can block out what's around them. The point is to find a space where kids can tune out the rest of the world for a few minutes and focus on processing their feelings.

2. Provide guides to calm down

Sending kids to a safe space is a good start, but they'll need help to calm down and refocus once they're there. If you have the wall space, hang posters and signs to guide them. This kit from Natalie Lynn Kindergarten has terrific resources for helping students identify how they're feeling and find ways to regain their calm.

No room for signs, or want the ability to take your calm tools with you? Try a binder instead. This one from Pre-K Printable Fun has a nice selection of exercises kids can use anywhere when they need to find a sense of peace.

Here's another option we really like: the Calm Down Cloud pack from Oriental Trading. The cheerful colors and truly helpful ideas are bound to be popular with students.

3. Offer calming books

There are so many amazing books focused on helping kids with social emotional learning . Add a few to your classroom library to use for read-alouds, and keep them in your calm-down corner for kids to look at when they need them most. Here are a few of our favorites.

Find Your Calm (Garcia/Pineda): The narrator in this book does a great job describing what anxiety can feel like ("My body feels like it's moving in every different direction. I'm overwhelmed.") It acknowledges those big feelings, and provides thoughtful suggestions for overcoming them.

When I Am Angry (Gordon): Anger is a powerful emotion. This rhyming book for young readers helps them understand that anger is natural, but we need to find safe ways to handle it.

Mindful Kids: 50 Mindfulness Activities: Not a book, but a set of 50 cards containing mindfulness and meditation activities. Kids can sort through to find one that works for them.

The Secret to Clara's Calm (Levitt/Bondy): Clara is cheerful and fun, popular with the other kids. But she also has a nasty temper when things go wrong. Fortunately, a bird named Brodhi is on hand to teach her the secret to finding her calm.

Little Monkey Calms Down (Dahl): This cute book is ideal for the pre-K set. Little Monkey is having a rough day, but he uses simple coping strategies to feel better again.

The Magic of Me: My Magical Choices (Cummings/Svoboda): This book reminds kids that they can make choices about their behavior, and gives helpful suggestions for making good ones.

4. Add fidget toys and other tools

Stock your calm-down corner with a few meaningful toys and tools. A pair of noise-canceling headphones will help overstimulated kids find a little quiet, while fidget toys are an ideal way to work off some nervous energy. Small puzzles or simple building toys give kids something concrete to focus on as they process emotions, and creative outlets like coloring books or handicrafts can be soothing too. Find all of our favorite options for your calm-down kit here.

Calm-down jars are a popular tool, too. Kids will be mesmerized as they shake these jars and watch the colors mix, then magically separate again. Add a little glitter for an even better show! Learn how to make the jars here.

5. Take it digital

Virtual classrooms have become the new norm in a lot of places right now, so calm-down corners are going digital too! You can use these in an online school environment, or in a traditional classroom. The well-reviewed Digital Calm Down Corner from The Counseling Teacher Brandy has a mood check-in and a nice selection of calming videos and activities. It also pairs well with Google Classroom.

Mindfulness and meditation apps are really useful too. One of our favorites is Do Nothing For Two Minutes. Start the app, then spend two minutes doing nothing but listening to waves as you stare at the ocean. If you move the cursor, the time starts over again. Find more apps to combat anxiety and stress here.

The web is full of wonderful mindfulness and meditation videos for kids too. Keep a playlist handy on a tablet or in your Google Classroom tools for kids to view when they need a few minutes of calm.

6. Teach kids how to use the space

It's really important that a calm-down corner be a useful tool for kids, rather than something they view as a punishment or playtime. That means you'll need to spend some time introducing the space and helping students understand how to make it work for them. Work some social emotional learning lessons into your curriculum over the first few days of school, and then open the corner when you feel kids are ready to make good use of it.

Set rules for the corner. Will students need to ask you before going there, or can they simply take a few minutes there as needed? Unless you have a lot of space, limit the corner to one student at a time so it doesn't become a place to chat or play. A time limit is a good idea too; have a student set the timer for 5 minutes when they first enter the corner. At the end of 5 minutes, they should feel calm enough to return to class. If not, they can ask you for an extension.
Do you use a calm-down corner in your classroom? Share your tips and ask questions on the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. Plus, 10 Ways to Help Students With Anxiety.

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How to Create and Use a Calm Down Corner in Any Learning Environment

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Provide a safe space for students to deal with emotions and refocus their attention. Here's how to create a meaningful calm down corner in your classroom.

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How to Create a Calm Down Corner in 5 Easy Steps - The Art of Education University

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Do you have students who have a hard time controlling their emotions? Are you unsure of the best approach to help meet your students’ social and emotional needs? One strategy to try is called a calm down corner. A calm down corner, sometimes referred to as a mindfulness corner, is a designated space…

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Mindfulness in Schools: Mindfulness and the Brain for Children

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Mindfulness in Schools: Introducing Children to Chime Meditation

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3-Minute Compassion Meditation for Children and Families

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Truth For Teachers - The World's Easiest Token System for Behavior Management

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The token system was the first behavior management plan I designed for primary grade students, and the popularity of this system continues to astound me! I posted it on my website many years ago and had no idea just how well it would resonate with other educators.

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What Are The Best Alternatives To Behavior Charts?

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Last week, I shared my experience with behavior charts. The shame, the anxiety and perhaps, most frustrating of all, the fact that they really don’t work. Time and time again, it has been shown that children having the most issues will not only not be helped by a behavior chart, it often actually causes an increase…

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Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

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Inspirational Video- Be a Mr. Jensen- MUST WATCH!!

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@perry_teaching_kinders
Fully vaccinated and ready to party! #classroommanagement #kindergartenteacher #edmajor #studentteacher #newteachertips #fullyvaccinated
♬ original sound - Amy Perry

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10 Tips to Introduce Positive Language in the Classroom - Classful

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Checkout these 10 tips to introduce positive language in the classroom to quickly and easily modify the way you speak to your students.

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Deescalation Strategies/ Phrases for the Classroom!

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Deescalation Strategies/ Phrases for the Classroom!

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Some easy deescalation strategies you can use on kids in your classroom! #kindergartenteacher #teachertok #classroommanagement #teachersoftiktok

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@mykindclassroom
Some easy deescalation strategies you can use on kids in your classroom! #kindergartenteacher #teachertok #classroommanagement #teachersoftiktok
♬ original sound - Alexa

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6 Reasons To Question Using Classroom Behavior Charts

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6 Reasons To Question Using Classroom Behavior Charts

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http://www.changekidslives.org/thoughts-9

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Public discipline systems-like Class Dojo, stoplights, moving clothespins along a colored card, writing names on the board-can certainly be appealing. Some days can feel as if they're spent just disciplining, and public discipline systems promise to turn that around by decreasing misbehavior and increasing motivation through the use of visual feedback. The phrase often heard during a conversation about public discipline systems is that "children know exactly where they stand."

And these systems do work, but only in the short-term. At first, students are in awe of the novelty. They initially like the idea of being able to earn points or have their clothespin on the blue card, and they're eager to please their teacher by demonstrating their absolute best behavior; they want to be good even if they are unclear about what that means.

However, public discipline systems quickly lose their novelty and cease working. Children who continuously lose points, are placed on red, or have their name written on the board are publicly humiliated, and for many that experience increases the negative behavior. Some children who are consistently on green or blue do not enjoy being pointed out and are embarrassed when their good behavior is publicly recognized. Other students find it difficult to maintain the illusive standard of good behavior and will lie or cheat to keep their points or stay on green.

Teachers who use public discipline systems do so because they want to recognize positive behavior and respond to misbehavior. They want to effectively manage their classroom so that all children will be able to learn. But there are ways to do this without causing the problems associated with public discipline systems.

For example, the three "Rs" of Teacher Language:

Use reinforcing language when a student behaves positively. For example, when a student who usually argues during Four Square plays one round argument free, her teacher might say, "Sabrina, when someone called you out you went to the back of the line right away." The words, along with the teacher's friendly and encouraging demeanor, tell Sabrina exactly what she did that was helpful and what she should keep doing.

Use reminding language when you notice a student just starting to go off course. For example, when a student is beginning to struggle with listening, you can say quietly and matter-of-factly, "Remember what we said about being a respectful partner."

Use nonverbal cues when a child behaves in a problematic way. For example, put your finger to your lips as a silent reminder to listen or shake your head to signal a student to wait until you're finished giving directions before reaching for the supplies. Even simply moving to stand next to a child who's misbehaving will often restore positive behavior quickly.

Use redirecting language when nonverbal cues aren't enough (or you sense the student is beyond being able to take in such cues). For example, Jed is running across the classroom with a pair of scissors. You say, kindly but very firmly, "Jed, stop now. Put the scissors down." Once the unsafe behavior has stopped and you and Jed are both calm, you discuss the unsafe behavior he chose and the safe behavior you expect.

Sometimes students need more than a cue or a redirection to correct their behavior. In that case, logical consequences can do the job. Unlike punishments or public demerits, logical consequences help children connect their behavior to its effects and repair any damage that behavior may have caused. Logical consequences are also respectful of the child. Examples: If a student fools around and spills water all over the bathroom, a logical consequence might be that he cleans up the water. Or if a child accidentally deletes her partner's computer work, she needs to find a way to help her partner recreate the work. If a student is losing self-control during group work, you may direct her to take a positive time-out, a break from the action so she can regroup mentally and emotionally.

Logical consequences need to be introduced carefully and used skillfully if they're to remain non-punitive. When they are used non-punitively, they're a powerful way to restore children to positive behavior and help them learn from their mistakes-all while preserving their dignity and maintaining calm and order in the classroom.

So whenever you're tempted to turn to a public discipline system -for example, during long stretches of indoor recess, before or after holidays and vacations, or as the school year closes-remember that this quick-fix will not result in long-term behavioral changes. In contrast, using Responsive Classroom practices can give you the long-term improvement you're looking for: teacher language helps children know precisely what they're doing well and what behavior they should continue; using logical consequences helps children repair and learn from their mistakes; both of these practices help children create a repertoire of positive behaviors to call on in the future. And developing children's ability to select positive behaviors is what discipline is really all about.

Tags: Classroom Rules, Logical Consequences, Misbehavior, Responsibility, Revisiting Rules, Rewards

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Public Discipline Systems | Responsive Classroom

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Public discipline systems-like Class Dojo, stoplights, moving clothespins along a colored card, writing names on the board-can certainly be appealing. Some days can feel as if they're spent just disciplining, and public discipline systems promise to turn that around by decreasing misbehavior and increasing motivation through the use of visual feedback.

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Logical consequences are a key practice in the Responsive Classroom approach to discipline. A logical consequence is a non-punitive response to misbehavior that allows teachers to set clear limits and students to fix and learn from their mistakes while maintaining their dignity. Depending on the child and the situation, teachers might combine a logical consequence with other strategies, or they might use more than one logical consequence. There are three types of logical consequences.

Three Types of Logical Consequences

1. "You break it, you fix it"

This type of logical consequence is used in situations when something has been broken or a mess has been made-whether accidentally or intentionally. The consequence is that those responsible for the problem take responsibility for fixing it. Teachers use this type of logical consequence when they see an opportunity for a child to solve a problem he or she has caused.

Examples:
Adam jiggles the table and causes water to spill. The teacher directs Adam to clean it up.

Jana accidentally knocks Pedro down on the playing field. The teacher prompts Jana to help Pedro up, ask if he's OK, and go with him to get first aid if needed.

2. Loss of Privilege

This type of logical consequence is used when children's behavior does not meet pre-established expectations. The consequence is that the child loses the privilege of participating in an activity or using materials for a brief time, usually a class period or a day. What's taken away must be directly related to the misbehavior, and the teacher must make sure that the child truly understands and can live up to expectations. Teachers use this type of logical consequence when children defy, test, or simply forget the rules.

Dana insists on using the watercolor brush in a way that damages its bristles. The teacher tells Dana that she cannot use watercolors during choice time until she's reviewed correct use of the brush and shown the teacher that she knows how to use it without damaging it.

Garth's class job for the week is line leader, but as he leads the class to lunch, he leans into a classroom to wave hello to a friend. The teacher tells Garth that he has lost the privilege of being line leader for the day and temporarily gives that responsibility to another child. Later, she checks in with Garth to make sure he remembers and understands the expectations for walking in line.

3. Positive Time-Out

This type of logical consequence, which is known in middle school as "Space and Time," is used when a teacher believes that a child needs a way to calm down and recover self-control. The consequence is that the child moves to a pre-established place in the classroom, takes time to regroup, and then rejoins the class once he or she has calmed down. Teachers use time-out to keep minor misbehaviors-intentional and accidental-from escalating and becoming disruptive, and to give children opportunities to practice strategies they've learned for regaining self-control. Because many children have experienced punitive uses of time-out, it's important for teachers to explain that "in this class, time-out simply gives us the time and space we all sometimes need to get ourselves in check when we begin to lose our cool."

Example:
Mark disrupts a math lesson by calling out answers without raising his hand. The teacher sends him to the time-out place. In the minute or two he spends there, Mark calms down using self-calming techniques the class has learned, and then returns to his regular seat.

Goals of Logical Consequences

Stop the misbehavior

Keep everyone safe

Preserve the child's dignity

Get the child back to productive learning as soon as possible

Help children see how their behavior affects their own and their classmates' learning

When to Use a Logical Consequence

When the teacher and the student are calm

When students break the rules

When simple cues and language are not effective

Popular Articles about Logical Consequences

Further Resources

For a more comprehensive look at logical consequences, check out:

A closer look at how to use logical consequences in your classroom is also available in our core and advanced courses, as well as our workshop Responding to Misbehavior.

Tags: Challenging Behaviors, Logical Consequences, Misbehavior

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Logical consequences are a key practice in the Responsive Classroom approach to discipline. A logical consequence is a non-punitive response to misbehavior that allows teachers to set clear limits and students Read More "

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006: Behaviour Clip Charts - edYou Podcast

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Managing behaviour in the classroom can be a challenge: how do you reward and recognise the good behaviour of your students? How do you record and address negative behaviour?

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Mr. Hill stops reading aloud to his 4th grade students and turns to Anisa. "Anisa, you're off task. Change your clip. I asked you once and you are still digging in your desk. Walk over and change it now."

Anisa stands and walks across the classroom. Several of her peers make condescending comments under their breath. Anisa moves her clip from green to yellow and returns to her desk and puts her head down. Her nonverbal behaviors indicate that she's angry, hurt, and frustrated.

A few minutes later, Josh raises his hand. Mr. Hill calls on him and Josh responds, "Anisa is off task again."

Mr. Hill looks at Anisa and says, "Again? Please change your clip to red. One more problem and it will be another call home. You have to learn to pay attention."

A Practice That Harms

Scenes like this are common in schools today. Pass through the halls of almost any elementary school and you are likely to at some point hear "pull a red ticket" or "you're on yellow now." Behavior charts-and their variants-are standard in elementary schools throughout the world. They represent a practice long overdue for retirement.

In thinking about this strategy for managing student behavior, we challenge you to ask yourself a question: Why are you are an educator and why do you continue to be an educator? Did you respond with, "to show students who's boss?" or "to help the students who are already doing well to succeed?" Of course not. Your response was probably some version of, "I want to make a difference" or "I want to be the teacher students need in their lives." We posed this question because we can't move forward in the argument we're about to make until we share a strong understanding of our ultimate goal as educators. Most of us are in education to make a difference in our students' lives and help them become their best selves-aspirations that, in our view, aren't compatible with behavior charts.

In working with students, we've often seen adolescents display challenging behaviors that have evolved over years. We've wondered to what extent their behavioral paths could have been corrected in early-childhood classrooms rather than exacerbated by stigmatizing practices like behavior charts. Braithwaite's shaming theory (1989) highlights the connections between stigmatizing shame and later delinquency. According to Braithwaite, "shaming means all societal processes of expressing disapproval which have the intention or effect of invoking remorse in the person being shamed and/or condemnation by others who become aware of the shaming" (p. 100). Although the relationship between shame and later behavior is complex, empirical studies provide enough evidence to compel us to stop shaming young children and instead build strong relationships and seek alternative methods to promote prosocial behaviors.

We present here three reasons to abandon behavior charts. If such charts are used in your school, we encourage you to have an open mind as you consider our reasoning. And we hope you take down those charts tomorrow and consider trying the alternatives we propose to foster positive behavior.

1. Compliance Isn't Our Long-term Goal

Behavior charts do an excellent job of teaching children that they will be punished if they don't comply with directions or rules. Although this may work in the short-term to make some students compliant, compliance shouldn't be our end game. We can shoot so much higher than that! We want students to be engaged and excited about learning, to persist when their work is hard, and to interact with others in ways that will lead to positive social and academic outcomes in the future.

Art Costa and Bena Kallick (2000) have done beautiful work organizing and describing the skills and behaviors educators should cultivate in all our students, what they term habits of mind. These lifelong skills-like persisting, managing impulsivity, and listening to others with empathy-improve students' competence, confidence, and ultimate success across the curriculum and in life. Such skills are arguably more important than the content we teach; the content is merely a vehicle for teaching them. Solidifying these habits is what teachers should aim toward. Otherwise, we run the risk of creating what William Deresiewicz (2015) called "excellent sheep"-students who play the game of school but lack true engagement and critical thinking.

2. Behavior Charts Can't Teach Self-Regulation

Teaching the whole child is our responsibility. If we are to be effective in our work, faculty at all levels must be able to teach habits of mind such as self-regulation, a key skill for shifting toward more positive behavior. Simply rewarding and punishing behaviors is not what helps students learn such habits and skills. It's particularly ineffective with self-regulation.

Punishments work to reduce behaviors by immediately following a behavior we don't want to see with a consequence that the child doesn't like (Alberto & Troutman, 2002). Thus, behavior charts can reduce a student's problematic behavior if the student dislikes negative public attention-or public shaming. This is a questionable strategy to begin with since it's based on stressing out the student rather than cultivating new aptitudes. But for many students, negative attention is something they've gotten used to, or worse, something over which they feel they have no control. Their identity has become "the kid who is bad." Have you noticed that most of the time the student who is "on red" today is the same one who was "on red" yesterday and the day before? And is likely to be "on red" all year long? What does it tell us if the intervention being put in place doesn't lead to a change in students' behavior? Clearly, the strategy isn't working. Why would we continue to use any strategy that isn't working?

Decades of research have led to a body of evidence on how educators can effectively support and teach key skills like self-regulation (Heckhausen & Dweck, 2009). Nowhere in the literature do researchers recommend that we shame children into being compliant.

3. Charts Hurt Students!

The most compelling reason to abandon behavior charts is this: They risk harming our students. Lee Ann still remembers the painful effect of the color behavior chart a teacher used when her son, Spencer, was in 1st grade. Spencer was a sensitive "people pleaser" as a young child. He preferred to do what he needed to do with little public attention, but he valued personal relationships. He was kind to everyone around him and worked hard in school. One afternoon, Spencer came home from school distraught because he'd had to "move his stick." He'd gone to school without a paper signed by Lee Ann and, in front of the class, his teacher reprimanded him and asked him to move his stick from green to yellow. Spencer felt as though he had failed and let his teacher down. He was embarrassed and affected by the event for days.

Fortunately, Spencer's experience was a one-time event. But consider the inner voice of the student who is "on red" nearly every day. When we reprimand a student in front of their peers, we risk changing that student's inner voice, shifting their identity to the "bad kid," isolating the student from peers, and disrupting their relationship with their teachers. At worst, we risk making a student feel unloved. Imagine the devastating effects for a child who gets most of her or his love at school.

Instead of using charts, we could just as effectively reduce undesirable behaviors by dumping ice water on a student or inflicting corporal punishment. Did you furrow your brow at that thought? We would never do that! We would never use physical punishment on a student in an effort to shape behavior-or even want a student to learn to avoid certain behaviors out of fear of physical harm. So why don't we have the same visceral reaction to emotional punishment?

Consider who this practice harms the most. Not the student who has a handle on self-regulation and performs well in school. It's the students who need us the most who we are hurting. Behavior charts are a way to excuse ourselves from the hard work of meeting a student's self-regulation and behavior needs. The fact of the matter is, when we use behavior charts, we are sacrificing student dignity in favor of teacher convenience.

Alternative to Sticks, Clips, and Charts

Perhaps we've convinced you to stand up right now, run down the halls of the school, and tear down the behavior charts. But before you jump out of your chair, you might be asking, "What do we do instead? If I don't have consequences in place, my classroom will be chaos." As we advocate for avoiding punitive approaches within schools, we often hear rumblings that alternative disciplinary strategies are too soft and "touchy-feely." Dominique has even heard restorative practices-that is, those based on reconciliation and understanding-referred to as the "hug a thug" approach.

Rest assured, we don't recommend removing structures or accountability. We advocate for putting behavioral structures in place, just not punitive ones. We want students to be held accountable in more natural ways and to have a chance to learn the impact of their actions on others. We want them to build empathy, persistence, or whatever skills they need to behave appropriately-and for those positive behaviors to become internally driven.

There are effective, humane, growth-producing ways to teach students that their behaviors impact others. True, there may be a bit of an adjustment period when changing to a new system. But our students' self-worth and long-term success are worth any temporary disruption we may encounter. To move away from the reactive approach of behavior charts, we recommend teachers put into place three proactive strategies.

1. "Take Ten" for Each Learner

Set aside 10 minutes each day to sit with one student (focusing on each of your students in turn). Talk about something non-school-related that's of interest to that child. When educators build strong, caring relationships with their students, each student naturally wants to protect that relationship and avoid anything that might damage it. Students' behaviors and approaches to learning in the classroom are then driven by relationships, not fear.

Teachers need to know as much as possible about what makes each student unique and special-her personal interests, what excites him, what delights her, what he fears. We need to understand much more than their academic strengths and needs; we need to know the whole child-who they truly are-and allow them to know our true selves, too.

Students should feel that teachers are on their side. Imagine how differently the opening anecdote might have turned out if Anisa's teacher had built a strong relationship with her.

2. Keep It Off-Stage

Stop making discipline for poor behavior visible. Students tend to react negatively when they're called out in front of others. Instead, when a student's inappropriate behavior needs to be addressed, have a one-on-one conversation with the student, staying calm but firm. When possible, avoid publicly calling a student aside for this talk: Publicly-and perhaps angrily-telling a child to come talk with you can have the same humiliating effect as a behavior chart. Instead, after class invite that student to have a conversation with you or quietly ask them to talk with you at a time when other students are otherwise engaged.

Be calm and supportive in discussing the behavior. To maintain your relationship with the student, always conclude by ensuring the student understands that although you are unhappy with the behavior, you still care about them and are there to support them in their growth.

3. Hear Students Out

Before acting on any student behavior, try to understand why it happened. When a student needs a corrective conversation, first ask to hear his side of the story. Generally, students prefer to have a conversation with a teacher rather than having a teacher conversation happen to them.

There's always a reason why students are acting as they do. Stop asking "What's wrong with that student?" and start figuring out what happened to that student. This may mean asking questions that prompt the student to reflect on the behavior and its effects on others. Students often have a hard time knowing why they acted in a certain way. It's only once their emotion has calmed-and through a guided analysis-that they can identify the reason.

Once a learner understands the underlying reason, we can guide him or her to consider alternatives for next time and discuss any consequence that needs to follow. Even students who are caught in a pattern of disruptive or harmful behaviors-perhaps especially those students-benefit from being heard. Certainly, there are times when we must intervene and stop a behavior, such as if it is causing harm or severe disruption. We may need to remove the student from the situation immediately to restore a calm, safe environment-and later teach that student the self-regulation skills needed to prevent such behavior in the future. The key is that the subsequent conversation should be private and should be about the behavior rather than the person.

Students Deserve Better

Imagine how much better things might have turned out if, in the opening scenario, instead of scolding Anisa, Mr. Hill had tried some of the techniques described here. He might've noted that Anisa was having difficulty remaining engaged in the reading and lesson and, after finishing the group read-aloud, approached her while everyone else was gathering their things and moving to stations for the next lesson. Imagine if he'd said, "Anisa, I saw you were having trouble staying with me today. I'm worried that if you aren't paying attention to the lesson, you'll miss something important to your learning. What was going on today?" Mr. Hill might have found out that Anisa was actually looking for a pencil to write down ideas that occurred to her as he read aloud. He might then have affirmed, "That seems to be happening a lot lately-trouble finding your pencil and other materials. Let's find some time today to see if we can come up with an organization solution, OK?" With such a response, Mr. Hill would've acknowledged the need for a change in Anisa's behavior, but not stigmatized Anisa as a "bad kid;" rather, he would have helped her develop a solution.

All students deserve this kind of supportive response. We are calling out the practice of behavior charts for what it really is: public shaming of children into compliance. We have many good strategies available for teaching self-regulation; humiliation isn't one of them. Let's stop "managing behaviors" and instead guide and support engagement, persistence, and positive interactions. Let's build relationships that promote growth of the whole child-and the skills each student needs for a lifetime of positive interactions and success.

Now, go tear down some charts!

Authors' note: All teacher and student names are pseudonyms.

Guiding Questions

› How does your approach for addressing student behavior issues square with your personal answer to the question Jung and Smith propose: "Why do you continue to be an educator?" Does how you deal with "problem" students fit your central purpose?

› What challenges might you or your school face in adopting Jung and Smith's three strategies for teaching positive behavior? What steps could you take to address those challenges?

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Behavior charts and similar public shaming methods don't teach self-regulation. They mainly harm vulnerable learners.