CLASSROOM
INTERVENTIONS
FOR
CHRONIC PROBLEMS
Ø Principles of Classsroom Management
1. When
dealing with students who pose chronic discipline problems, teachers should
employ strategies to resolve the problem within the classroom before seeking
outside assistance.
2. When
teacher employ effective communication skills in private conferences with
students who pose chronic discipline problems, such conferences are more likely
to be productive in resolving the problem.
3. Techniques
requiring students to recognize their own inappropriate behavior and its effect
on themselves and others maximize the likelihood of appropriate behavior.
4. Techniques
that require students to be accountable for controlling their own behavior on a
daily basis maximize the likelihood of appropriate behavior.
5. Management
techniques that call for gradual but consistent behavioral improvement by
students who pose chronic discipline problems maximize the likelihood of long –
term improvement.
Ø Introduction
The
vast majority of the discipline problems teachers face are surface – level
disruptions such as short, infrequent periods of talking. Most of these surface
– level disruptions can be handled quickly and painlessly by the use of a
preplanned hierarchy of nonverbal and verbal interventions. In fact, research,
as well as our own experience, indicates that the overwhelming majority of
discipline problems can either be prevented or redirected to positive behavior
by the use of the varios techniques.
Unfortunately,
some students pose classroom discipline problems of a more chronic nature.
These students continually misbehave even after all the preventive and coping
techniques have been appropriately employed. They distrupt learning, interfere
with the work of others, challenge teacher authority, and often try to entice
others to misbehave on a fairly consistent basis. These are the students who
prompt teachers to make such remarks as “If I could only get rid of
that---Sammy, third period would be a pleasure to teach.””Every time I look at
that smirk on Jody’s face, I’d like to wring her little neck.””If that---Greg
weren’t in this class, I would certainly have a lot more time to spend on
helping the other students learn.” The student described in Case 9.1 is a good
example.
Case
9.1 “I Just Dropped My Book”
Jodi entered Mr. Voman’s guidance
office hesitatingly, sat down, and looked at Mr. Voman with a blank look on her
face.
Mr.
Voman : “Well, Jodi, what are you doing here?”
Jodi :
“Ms. Kozin sent me out of class and told me not to ever come back. She told me
to come see you.”
Mr. Voman : “Why did she send you out of
class?”
Jodi : “I don’t know. I just dropped my book on
the floor accidentally!”
Mr. Voman : “ Now, come on, Jodi. Ms.
Kozin wouldn’t put you out of class just for that. Come on now. What did you
do?
Jodi : “Honest, Mr. Voman, you can ask the other
kids. All I did was drop my book.”
Mr. Voman : “Jodi, I’m going to go and
talk to Ms. Kozin about this. Wait here until I get back.
Jodi
: “O.K., Mr. Voman, I’ll wait here and you’ll see that I’m not lying.”
Mr. Voman did talk to Ms. Kozin and found out that
Jodi was telling the truth. All Jodi had done on this particular day was drop
her large textbook on the floor with a resounding thud during the lecture.
However, the book – dropping incident was simply the straw that broke the
camel’s back. Jodi had been a constant nuisance to Ms. Kozin for the past
month. She continually talked during lectures; forgot to bring pencils, books,
and paper; refused to complete homework; didn’t even attempt quizzes or tests;
and reacted rudely whenever Ms. Kozin approached her. Ms. Kozin had tried
nonverbal and verbal interventions, time out, detention, and notes to parents.
By this point, she was totally fed up with Jodi and the dropped book was more
than she could take.
Many students like Jodi, though not all, have
problems that extend beyond school. Some have very poor home lives with few, if
any, positive adult role models. Some have no one who really cares about them
or expresses an interest in what they are doing. Lastly, some simply view
themselves as losers who couldn’t succeed in school even they tried. As a
result, these students act out their frustrations in class and make life
miserable for teachers and for the other students as well.
No matter how understandable these students’
problems might be, the bottom line is that these students must learn to control
their own behavior. Otherwise, they are at risk of continued failure and
unhappiness. Notwithstanding our great concern for the future of the disruptive
student, there is another factor, perhaps even more important, that must be
considered. The classroom teacher has a major responsibility to the other
students in the class. Chronic misbehavior must not be allowed to continue
because it deprives the other students of their right to learn.
In attempting to deal with these chronically
disruptive students, classroom teachers often fail into a two-set trap. First
they fulfill that natural, fully understandable, human urge to “get even.” They
scream, punish, and retaliate. When this retaliation does not work, since the
chronically disruptive student often loves to see the teacher explode, the
teacher feels helpless and seeks outside assistance; that is she turns the
student over to somebody else. often, these students are removed from the
classroom for a period of time by being sent to an administrator or counselor
and sentenced to some form of in-school or out-of-school suspension.
Because
outside referral removes the disruptive student from the class, obviously the
disruptive behavior ceases. However, this is usually a short – term solution
because the student soon returns and once again disrupts the classroom after a
brief period of improvement. The severity and frequency of the misbehavior
after this return to the classroom often increase. Two of the hypothesized
reasons for this increased misbehavior are that the student views the referral
either as a further punishment or as a victory over the teacher. When viewed as
a punishment, many disruptive students seek to retaliate as soon as they return
to the classroom. When viewed as a
victory, such students often feel compelled to demonstrate even more
forcefully, to both the teacher and the other students, their perceived power
over the teacher.
Porter
and Brophy (1988), in a research synthesis on effective teaching, strongly
advised dealing with chronic discipline problems within the classroom, : In a
study of teachers’ strategies for coping with students who presented sustained
problems in personal adjustment or behavior, teachers who were identified as
most effective in coping with such problems viewed them as something to be
corrected rather than merely endured. Furthermore, although they might seek
help from school administrators or mental health professionals, such teachers
would build personal relationships and work with their problem students,
relying on instruction, socialization, cognitive strategy training and other
long – term solutions. In contrast, less effective teachers would try to turn
over the responsibility to someone else.
Removing
chronically disruptive students from the classroom or seeking outside
assistance for them should be done only as a last resort. Contrary to popular
belief, chronic behavior problems often can be managed successfully within the confines of the regular classroom,
with a minimum of additional effort by the teacher. When chronic discipline
problems are dealt with the by the classroom teacher, the disruptive student,
the other student, and the teacher all benefit. The disruptive student benefits
by learning to control her behavior without loss of instructional time and
without developing negative attitudes, which are often evident in students who
have been excluded from the classroom. The teacher benefits by gaining additional
confidence in her ability to handle successfully all types of discipline
problems and by the improved behavior of the formerly disruptive students.
Finally, the other students in the class benefit by being able to concentrate
their attention once again on learning tasks.
The
purpose of this chapter is to discuss three interventions teachers can use to
deal with students who pose chronic behavior problems in the classroom;
self-monitoring, behavior contracting, and anecdotal record keeping. It is
important that teachers understand under what conditions these interventions
are appropriate. Each of them requires the teacher to hold the private
conferences with the chronically disruptive student. During these private
conferences, the teacher must use effective communication skills. Therefore,
this chapter is divided into five major parts: (1) a discussion of the
assumption underlying the use of self-monitoring, behavior contracting, and
anecdotal record keeping; (2) a discussion of communication skills, which are
essential in using these techniques effectively; (3) a descriptions of the
procedures employed in using self-monitoring; (4) a description of the
procedures employed in using behavior contracting; and (5) a description of the
procedure employed in using anecdotal record keeping.
Ø Assumption Underlying the use of
Self-Monitoring, Behavior Contracting, and Anecdotal Record Keeping
Before
a teacher begins to use any of these interventions, it is important for her to
be aware of the assumptions that underlie their ise. Lack of knowledge of these
underlying assumptions may lead a teacher to employ these interventions
ineffectively or inappropriately in a given situation. The assumptions are as
follows:
1.
The teacher’s major responsibility is
not to solve the chronically disruptive student’s underlying problems but
rather to manage the behavior of the student in the classroom. The student’s
underlying problems are often far beyond the teacher’s control and expertise
and simply may not be amenable to solution.
2.
The number of students who should be
classified as chronic discipline problems in any particular class is small.
3.
The teacher is well prepared for each
class and is able to structure and present material in a way that is
interesting and motivating for students.
4.
The teacher uses techniques teaching
based on generally accepted principles of learning and research on effective
teaching.
5.
The teacher has clear expectations for
student behavior, has communicated these expectations to students, and enforce
these expectations consistenly.
6.
The teacher controls common place, less
serious distruptions by using preplanned hierarchial system of nonverbal and
verbal intervention and by applying logical consequences to student behavior.
7.
The teacher is able to use these
techniques with a minimum of additional effort and no further training other
than reading this chapter and completing the exercises at the end.
If
these assumptions are incorrect or the teacher does not agree with them, the
use of self-monitoring, behavior contracting, and/or anecdotal keeping record s
not advised. On the other hand, if the assumptions are correct, the teacher
should consider the use of these intervensions to deal with chronically
disruptive students.
Ø Effective Communication Skills for
Private Conferences
An
important component of all three interventions is a face-toface conference
between teacher and student. If such conferences are going to be productive, it
is important that the teacheruse positive communication skills. Positive
communication skills for private conferences can be divided into two
categoriesL (1) receiving skills, which ensure that the teacher receives the
student’s message accurately, and (2) sending skills, which allow the teacher
to communicate her feelings and ideas accurately to the student. In addition to
conferences with students, receiving and sending skills are also important for
conferences with parents, counselors, administrators, and people from outside
referral agencies.
v Receiving Skills
During
private conferences, the teacher needs to be aware of the student’s perception
of the problem and point of view in order to focus the intervention on the
actual problem. For example, suppose the student’s chronic misbehavior is
motivated by the student’s belief that she doesn’t have the ability to do
assigned work. Solutions targeted solely at the misbehavior, which ignore the
student’s underlying feeling of inability to succeed, are not likely to be
successful in long run. Therefore, it is important during conferences to make
sure the teacher is receiving the message that the student is sending to ensure
that the teacher understands all facets of the problem and the student’s
perspective. The following receiving skills are very useful:
1. Use silent and nonverbal attending
cues. Allow the student sufficient time to express her
ideas and feelings and employ nonverbal cues such as eye contact, facial
expressions, head nodding, and body posture (for example, leaning toward the
student). This communicates to the student that you are interested in and
listening to what she is saying. Most important, make sure these cues are
sincere, that is, that you really are listening carefully to the student.
2. Probe.
Ask relevant and pertinent questions to elicit extended information about a
given topic, for clarification of ideas, and for justification of a given idea.
Examples are: “Can you tell me more about the problem with Jerry?” “What makes
you say that I don’t like you?” “I’m not sure I understand what you mean by
hitting on you; can you explain what that means?”
3. Check perceptions.
Paraphrase or summarize what the student ahs said using slightly different
words. This acts as a check on whether you have understood the students
correctly. This is not a simple verbatim repetition of what the student says.
It is an attempt by the teacher to capture the student’s message as accurately
as possible in the teacher’s words. Generally a perception check ends by giving
the student an opportunity to affirm or negate the teacher’s perception; for
example. “So, as I understand it, you think that I’m picking on you when I give
you detension for not completing your homework; is that right?” and “You’re
saying that you never really wanted to be in the gifted program anyway, and so
you don’t care whether you are removed from the program. Do I have that right?”
4. Check feelings.
Feeling checks refer to teacher attempts to reach student emotions through
questions and statements. In doing feeling checks, use nonverbal cues (for
example, facial expression) and
paralingual cues (voice volume, rate, and pitch) to go beyond the surface-level
statements and understand the emotions behind the words. For instance, “you are
really proud of what you’re doing in basketball aren’t you? or ”You look really
angry when ypou talk about being placed in the lower section. Are you angry?”
v Sending Skills
Using
sending skills to communicate the teacher’s thoughts and ideas clearly is a
first step toward helping the student gain that insight. Ginott (1972) and
Jones (1980) gave the following guidelines for sending accurate messages:
1. Deal in the here and now.
Don’t dwell on past problems and situations. Communicate your thoughts about
the present situation and the immediate future. It is certainly appropriateto
talk about the past behavior that has created the need for the private
conference; however, there is nothing to be ganed by reciting a litany of all
of the student’s past transgressions.
2. Make eye contact and use congruent
nonverbal behaviors. Avoiding eye contact when confronting
a students about misbehavior gives the students impression that you are
uncomfortable about the confrontation. In contrast, maintaining eye contacts
help to let the students know that you are confident and comfortable in dealing
with the problems. In addition to eye contact, other nonverbal cues should
match the verbal messages; for example, smiling when telling the student how
disappointed you are in the student’s behavior is clearly inappropriate.
research indicates that when verbal and nonverbal behavior are not congruent,
students believe the nonverbal messages.
3. Make statements rather ask
questions. Asking question is very appropriate for eliciting
information that the student has and the teacher doesn’t have. However, when
the teacher has specific information or behaviors to discuss, it is preferable
to lay the specific facts out on the table rather than to try to elicit the
information from the student by playing “guess what’s on my mind.”
4. Use “I”---take responsibility for your feelings.
You have a right to your feelings. It is appropriate sometimes to be annoyed at
students and also appropriate to be proud of students. Sometimes we try to
disown our feelings and act as if we were robots. Students must know that we,
too, are people who have legitimate feelings and that our feelings must be
considered in determining the effects of the student’s behavior on others.
5. Be brief.
Get to the point quickly. Let student know what the problem is as you see it
and what you propose to do about it. Once you have done this, stop. Don’t
belabor the issue with unnecessary lectures and harangues.
6. Talk directly to the student, not
about her. Even if other people are present, talk directly to
the student rather than describing the student’s behavior to parents or
counselors. Use “you’ and specifically describe the problem to the student.
This behavior sends the students the powerful message that she, not her parents
or anyone else, si directly responsible for her own behavior.
7. Give directions to help the student
correct the problem. Don’t stop at identifying the problem
behavior. Be very specific in setting forth exactly what behaviors must be
replaced and identifying appropriate behaviors to replace them.
8. Check student understanding of your
message. Once you have communicated clearly what the
specific problem is and what steps you suggest for solving the problem, it is
important to ask a question to check whether the student has received the
message correctly. This question often takes the form of asking the student for
a summary of the discussion during the conference. If the student’s summary
indicates that she has missed the message, the teacher has an opportunity to
restate the main idea once again or to rephrase it in a slightly different wat
to make certain that the student understands it correctly this time.
Three
specific classroom interventions for dealing chronic misbehavior:
Ø Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring
of behavior is a noninterventionist approach to the management of students with
chronic behavior problems. Self-monitoring techniques are often very effective
for students that really try to behave appropriately but seem to need
assistance to do so. Self-monitoring is usually considered more appropriate for
elementary-aged students who have extremely short attention spans or who are
easily distracted by the everyday events of a busy classroom. Self-monitoring
can also be effective with some older students but the teacher must give
consideration to the age appropriateness
of the self-monitoring instrument that the student will use. The
instrument must clearly delineate the behaviors to be monitored and must be
easy for a student to use. In addition,
the duration of self-monitoring and the frequency of behavioral checks must be
clearly understood by student. Some teachers make a mistake of designing an
instrument that is too cumbersome to use or is too time consuming. Thus, using
the instrument actually interferes with on-task behavior.
In
the beginning, the student sometimes requires teacher cues to indicate when it
is time to check behavior and record it on the self-monitoring instrument.
Often these cues are private, nonverbal signals agreed upon by the teacher and
the student. Also in the beginning, it is helpful for the teacher to co-monitor
the student’s behavior using the same instrument. in this way the teacher and
student may compare their monitoring consistency. This can also serve as an
opportunity to discuss the proper use of the instrument as well as the progress
that is being made toward more appropriate classroom behavior.
The
effectiveness of this intervention relies heavily on how the use of the
instrument is explained to the student. If self-monitoring is presented as a
technique that students can use to help themselves, with the teacher’s
assistance, support, and encouragement, the likelihood of resultant improved
behavior is high. When teachers have been successful in communicating the
purpose and stressing the positive outcomes for the student, students have
actually thanked teachers for providing them with the opportunity and means to
demonstrate on-task behavior. On the other hand, of the intervention is
introduced to the students as a form of punishment, the likelihood of positive
behavioral change is greatly diminished.
Figure
9.1 is an example of a very simple self-monitoring instrument to monitor a wide
range of behaviors.
FIGURE
9.1 Am I On Task?
Yes = 1 No
= 0
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
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9
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10
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When
a teacher uses this instrument, it is imperative that she and the student
clearly understand what behaviors are defined as on task and therefore coded
“1” and which behaviors are off task and coded “0”. In addition, a workable
coding period needs to be established with each block representing a
predetermined period of time.
As
with any intervention that focuses on the improvement of chronic behavior,
progress may be slow and in small steps. Two steps forward and one step
backward may be the best a student can do in the beginning. We must remember
that chronic misbehavior did not develop in a day; therefore, it surely will
not be replaced with more appropriate behavior in a day. The teacher must be
patient and in the beginning focus on student effort and small improvements. It
is difficult to learn new behaviors to replace behavior patterns that have
become ingrained and habitual. Furthermore, it is best to work on one behavior
at a time. For example, if a student exhibits the behaviors of excessive
talking to neighbors and calling out, the teacher and student decide on which
behavior to work on first. If the student is successful in managing the
selected behavior, it has been authors’ experience that subsequent behaviors
are more readily corrected by self-monitoring.
As
behavior improves, the teacher starts weaning the student from the
self-monitoring. When the teacher is convinced that the student is reliably
monitoring her own behavior, the teacher might stop monitoring student, relying
solely on the student’s report. Next, as behaviors begin to improve, the
teacher lengthens the period of time between self-checks. Fially, the teacher
removes the students completely from self-monitoring. When this happens she
uses the opportunity to build self-esteem and self-control by making the
student aware that she positively changed her behavior on her own and that this
is something for her to be proud of. In addition, any corresponding
improvements in academics or peer interactions should be noted and tied to the
student’s improved behavior.
Figure
9.2 is a checklist that can be used by teachers to evaluate the self-monitoring
procedures and instrument that they design.
FIGURE
9.2 Self-Monitoring Checklist
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1. Do the teacher and student clearly
understand and agree on the
Behaviors to be monitored? ___Yes ___No
2. Is the time period for self-checks of
behavior clearly specified? ___Yes ___No
3. Does the student understand how to use the
instrument? ___Yes ___No
4. Have the teacher and student agreed on a
meeting time to discuss
The self-monitoring? ___Yes ___No
5. Is the instrument designed so that small
increments of improved
Behavior will be noted? ___Yes ___No
6. Is the instrument designed to focus on one
behavior? ___Yes ___No
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Ø Behavior Contracting
The second technique to consider is
behavior contracting. Behavior contracting is an “interventionist” strategy.
This procedure is grounded in the theoretical principles operant conditioning,
which state that a behavior that is reinforced is likely to be repeated and
that a behavior that is not reinforced will soon disappear.
A behavior contract is a written
agreement between the teacher and the students that commits the student to
behave more appropriately and provides a specified reward for meeting the
commitment. The contract details the expected behavior, a time period during
which this behavior must be exhibited by the students, and the reward that will
be provided.
The purposes of the contract are to
control behavior that is not controlled effectively by normal classroom
procedures, to encourage self-discipline on the part of the students, and to
foster the student’s sense of commitment to appropriate classroom behavior.
This is often more appropriate and
effective with elementary and middle school students. this procedure also is
used very frequently and quite effectively in special education classes.
Teachers who decide to use behavior
contracting should remember that it is unlikely that one behavior contract will
be sufficient to turn a chronically disruptive student into the epitome of
model behavior. Drastic changes in behavior usually do not occur overnight. The
normal course of events requires a series of behavior contracts, which result
in steady, gradual improvement in the student’s behavior. By using a series of
short-term behavior contracts rather than one long-term contract, the wise
teacher allows the student to see the behavior changes as manageable and to
receive small rewards after short intervals of improvement. In other words, a
series of contracts provides the students with opportunity to be successful.
Manageable changes in behavior, shorter time interval, and frequent
opportunities for success make it much more likely that the students will be
motivated to improve continuously over a longer period of time.
In designing the series of contracts, it
is necessary to keep the following three principles in mind. First, design the
contracts to require specific, gradual improvement in behavior. for example, if
a student normally disrupts learning six times in period, set the initial goal
at four disruptive or fewer per day, and
then over time increase the goal gradually until it is set eventually at zero
disruption per day. Second, gradually lengthen the time period during which the
contract must be observed in order to gain the reward. For instance, the set
time is one day for the first contract, a few day for the second contract, a
week for the third contract, and so on. Third, Move little by little from more
tangible,, extrinsic reward to less tangible, more intrinsic rewards. Thus, a
pencil or other supplies are the rewards under the first few contracts, and free
time for pleasure reading is the reward under a later contract. Using these
three principles takes advantage of the behavior modification technique called
behavior shaping and step by step moves control over the students behavior from
the teacher to the students, where it rightfully belongs.
Keeping these principles in mind, the
teacher implements behavior contracting by observing the following procedures.
the first step is to identify the chronically disruptive students for whom this
technique is necessary. If this is not the case, the teacher needs to
reconsider whether her teaching behavior meets the underlying assumptions. If,
after all reconsideration, the teacher still believes that her teaching
behavior meets these assumptions but she find herself with a large number of
chronic discipline problems, it is advisable for her to select a few particular
students with the idea that the correction of these student’s behavior will
have a ripple effect, producing changes in other students as well.
When the number of chronically
disruptive students is large, two types of students are usually selected for
behavior contracting, those viewed as having the greatest potential to improve
their behavior and those who are causing the most disruption classroom.
if the most disruptive students are
chosen, the process may require an extremely long time to produce noticeable
result in classroom.
Once a student has been identified, the
teacher makes a record of both the student’s past misbehaviors and the
teacher’s manageable techniques that were used to try to ameliorate these
misbehavior. this record helps the teacher decide which specific behavior must
be changed and how much changes seems manageable for the students at one time.
After this record is compiled, the teacher
hold a private conference with the students. The teacher communicates to the
students that the student has the potential to do well and to succeed in the
classroom if she can learn to behave appropriately, thus employing the concept
of encouragement.
The teacher clearly states how the plan
works. The students commits herself to improvements in the classroom behavior
for a specified period of time, and if this commitment is kept, some positive
consequences of reward results.
Figure 9.3 is an example of a behavior
contract and a behavior contract checklist that may be used by teachers to
evaluate the quality of behavior contracts that they draw up. The sample
contract is the third in series between Jessica and her fifth grade teacher,
Ms. Jones. Before the behavior contract intervention, Jessica spent the vast
majority of each day’s 40 minutes social studies period wandering around the
room. The first two contract resulted in her being able to remain seated for
about half the period.
FIGURE 9.3 Third Contract between Jessica and Ms. Jones
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1.
Expected Behavior
Jessica remains in her seat for
the first 30 minutes of each social studies period.
2.
Time Period
Monday, February 2007, to
Friday, March 3, 1996.
3.
Reward
If Jessica remain in her seat
for the first 30 minutes of each social studies period,
a. She can choose the class’s
outdoor game on Friday afternoon, March 3.
b. Ms. Jones will telephone her
parents to tell them of the improvement in Jessica’s behavior on Friday
afternoon, March 3.
4.
Evaluation
a.
After
each social studies period, Ms. Jones records whether Jessica did or did not
get out of her seat during the first 30 minutes.
b.
Jessica
and Ms. Jones will meet on Friday, March 3, at 12.30 P.M. to determine
whether the contract has been performed and write next week’s fourth
contract.
Student________________________
Teacher________________________
Date________________________
1. Is
the expected behavior described specifically?
2. Is
the time period specified clearly?
3. Has
the reward been specified clearly?
4. Is
the reward motivating to the students?
5. Is
the evaluation procedure specified?
6. Has
a date been set to meet to review the contract?
7. Has
the student understood, agreed to, and signed the contract?
8. Has
the teacher signed the contract?
9. Do
both the teacher and student have copies?
10. Did
the student’s parents get a copy of the contract?
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Ø Anecdotal Record Keeping
If the teacher has tried self monitoring
and/or behavior contracting unsuccessfully, or has decided not to try these
techniques because of philosophical objections or the student’s refusal to make
the required commitments, she still has another classroom option, called
anecdotal record keeping, for remediating chronic behavioral problems. This
method has been used successfully by student teacher and veteran teacher alike
to handle a variety of chronic discipline problems at variety of grade levels.
Anecdotal record keeping is an interactionalist approach to controlling
classroom behaviors.
This technique can be used with a
minimum of effort and no additional training. The teacher merely records the
classroom behavior, both positive and negative, of chronically disruptive
students over a period of a few weeks. In contrast to behavior contracting,
which is often more effective at the elementary level, anecdotal record keeping
is most appropriate in dealing with middle and secondary students who are
chronic discipline problems since students at these levels have better
developed self monitoring strategies.
As was the case for behavior
contracting, the teacher begins by documenting the behavior of the disruptive
students and the measure that have been taken to improve that behavior. Once
again, this documentation forms the basis for a private conference with the
students, which formally begins the process. As was true for behavior
contracting, the teacher employs positive receiving and sending skills during
this conference.
The important guidelines for conducting
this initial conference for anecdotal record keeping are similar to those for
behavior contracting.
1.
Teacher begins on a positive note.
2.
The teacher helps the students recognize
the past behavior and its negative impact, showing the students the record of
past behavior and discussing it if necessary.
3.
The teacher explains that this behavior
is unacceptable and must change.
4.
The teacher tells the students that she
will keep a record of the student’s behavior on a daily basis, including both
positive behavior and misbehavior, and that the students will be required to
sign the record at the end of class each day.
5.
The teacher records the student’s home
phone number on the top of the record and indicates that she will contact the
parents to inform them of either improvements in the student’s behavior or
continued unacceptable behavior. (this option may not be useful for senior high
students since parents are often not so influential at this age)
6.
The teacher is positive and emphasizes
expectation of improvement in behavior.
7.
the conference is recorded on the
anecdotal records.
8.
A verbal commitment for improved
behavior from the students is sought. This commitment, or the refusal to give
it, it is noted on the anecdotal record.
9.
The student signs the anecdotal record
at the end of the conference. If the students refuse to sign, this is recorded.
After the initial conference, the
teacher keeps the anecdotal record, each day highlighting positive behavior and
documenting the negative behavior, as well as any corrective measure taken.
Keeping this systematic record enables the teacher to focus on the behavior
(the deed) rather than on the students. The teacher reinforces the students for
improved behavior and, if possible, clarifies the connection between improved
behaviors and academic achievement. Thus, the teacher “catches the students
being good” and also demonstrates the concept of encouragement. It is important
to be consistent in recording behaviors, sharing the record with the students,
and obtaining the students signature on a daily basis. This illustrates the
concept of student accountability. If the students refuse to sign the record on
any day, this simply recorded on the record.
Figure 9.4 is an actual anecdotal record
used with one tenth-grade student over a three week period. This technique
succeeded after the management hierarchy had been utilized with little
resultant improvement in the student’s behavior. Note that the teacher
highlighted positive behavior to “catch the students being good”.
|
Student’s Name
_____________________
Home Phone _____________________
|
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In
studying the use of anecdotal record keeping, Levin, Nolan, and Hoffman (1985)
requested teacher to keep a log of their views of the effectiveness of the
procedure. Here are representative logs by secondary teacher.
|
Teacher’s
log – Eight Grade Science
Day
1
I discovered a method with which to
deal with some major discipline problems in one of my classes. It uses an
anecdotal record, which is a record of students action and students behavior.
I think it will probably work because it holds the students accountable for
her behaviors. If something must be done, the student has nobody to blame but
herself.
Day
2
Today, I set up private conference
with anecdotal record students. I wonder if they’ll show up – and if they do,
how will they respond?
Day
3
Two students (of three) showed up for
their anecdotal record conferences. The third is absent. Both students were
very cooperative and made a commitment to better behavior. One student even
made the comment that she thought this idea was a good one for her. The way
things look, this will work out fairly well. we’ll see…
Day
8
One of the students on anecdotal
record has improved in behavior so much that I informed her that if her good
behavior kept improving. I’d take her off the record next Wednesday. I think
it will be interesting to see how her behavior will be; will it keep improving
or will it backtrack again?
|
Summary
This
chapter has discussed intervention techniques that can be employed within the
regular classroom to deal with students who pose chronic discipline problem.
Three primary intervention strategies – self monitoring, behavior contracting,
and anecdotal record keeping – well described in detail. Procedure for when,
how and with which students to employ these techniques were detailed. The
advantages of resolving chronic problem within classroom were identified along
with assumptions for the effective use of behavior contracts and anecdotal
records. Communication skills for effective private conferences were
categorized into two groups, receiving skills and sending skills. Finally, the
technique of exclusion from the classroom, an interim step between in classroom
teacher management and outside referral, was presented.
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