Catch them being good

I was the lead teacher at the Center for one and half years. With the help of an assistant teacher, everyday from Monday to Friday, we taught six children with Down syndrome. The children ages range from 4 to 9 years old. Since there were “only” six children in the classroom, we pretty much have the classroom under tight behavior control. There were unwritten rules and routines to everything that went on in the classroom. Some days, things went well in the class. Other days, I spent the entire journey home from the Center wondering what I did wrong or what I could have done differently. It was tough making sure that the students behaved appropriately in class:
a) Ensuring that they did not roll around on the floor when they should be sitting on a chair,
b) Ensuring that the students were lined up properly before going to the restroom to wash their hands before and after snack time,
c) Ensuring that they did not snatch one another’s snack,
d) Ensuring that they did not push or hit one another,
e) Ensuring that they shared the toys,
f) Ensuring a multitude of other things.

Looking back, I realized I had absolutely no training in classroom management. The classroom was under control because it was relatively small. I would also liked to believe that I built up a rapport with my students. And it was this rapport that smoothed things out in the classroom. I hoped it was because I gave them plenty of attention, so that they did not have to resort to problem behaviors to gain my attention. I hoped it was because the activities in the class were fun, so they did not have to resort to problem behaviors to escape the activities.

Even so, now that I know a little more, there are many things I could have done differently. However, if there is one intervention that I wish I had put in place at the Center, it is school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS).

SWPBS emphasizes a proactive approach to school discipline and supporting students in schools. The SWPBS practices that I would have liked to implement at the Center are:

1) Define schoolwide behavioral expectations

I never explicitly taught my students what the expected behaviors were in the classroom. When they misbehaved, I would tell them what they did wrong. When they behaved appropriately, I may occasionally praise them. My expectations were for them behave appropriately in class. I just assumed that they knew my expectations, but I never told them what the appropriate behaviors were.

SWPBS recommends that behavioral expectations be written and posted throughout the school. The behavioral expectations should also be written in the positively. For example, Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible. The children are then taught these three expectations and to memorized them.

2) Teach the behavioral expectations

In terms of teaching appropriate social skills, I failed miserably. It is probably because I had no idea how to teach social skills. It always seemed to me that children learn social skills by observing the adults around them. This may be true, but some children require more concrete instruction and practice to learn these skills.

With the three behavioral expectations, the children are then taught the behavioral expectations in different settings in the school. For example, Be Responsible in the classroom may be putting shoes and bags in the proper place, while Be Responsible in the restroom may be turning off the tap.

3) Monitor and encourage performance of expected behaviors

As for praising my students for behaving appropriately, I doubt I did enough of that. Just like most teachers, I probably paid more attention to inappropriate behavior, and did not catch my students behaving appropriately.

After teaching the students the behavioral expectations and modeling to them what each expectation looked like in different setting, I would also liked to implement a chart on the wall to monitor the students’ behaviors. For example, a student will earn a sticker for putting his/her shoes away. There will be a list of appropriate behaviors that will earn stickers. At the end of the day, the stickers will be added up for a bigger reward (e.g., snacks, extra play time, good behavior certificates, etc).

There is a lot of work involved in implementing SWPBS, but once it is in placed, the school environment is much more positive and pleasant. In many ways, it is the teachers’ behaviors that change in SWPBS. Teachers are required to start noticing and praising students being good. This may be harder to do then one might think. Often times it is easier to criticize then to praise.

Buzzword for this intervention:
Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS)