Supporting Positive Behavior Strategies

Supporting Positive Behavior Strategies

Creating a positive climate and culture for all students starts with relationships and requires preventative strategies with all students . Following are some evidence- and research-based preventative strategies that can be used to support all students .

Strategy Example

Greeting Students at the Door

Mr . Smith stands at his door at the start of class . Mark is entering class and Mr . Smith says, “Good morning, Mark, I am excited to see you today. We will be doing an interesting activity on planets that I think you are going to like.” Sally is entering class next and Mr . Smith says, “Good morning, Sally. I know you really like American Idol. What did you think of last night’s episode?”

Direct Request/ I Statements

Instead of saying, “Please take a seat until the bell rings,” the teacher can say, “I need you to remain in your seat until the bell rings.”

Closing Distance

While the teacher is at the board writing definitions and talking to the class, two students in the back of the room are making noises and tapping their pencils on the desks . The teacher stops writing on the board, continues to instruct the class, and proceeds to the back of the room near the students making the noises . Once closer to the students, the teacher whispers to them to ask them to stop making noises . The teacher then goes back to the front of the class .

Repeating Requests

Allowing Time

More Start Requests than Stop Requests

Calm Requests

Descriptive Requests

Positive Reinforcement

Mr . James always repeats his requests of students to ensure that all students have heard his request . When intervention time is over, he asks all students to finish their activity, log out, and walk to the large group circle . Thirty seconds after giving his request, he repeats this request in the same tone for all students to hear again . In her classroom, Ms . Stucking always gives students one minute after she makes a behavior request before attempting any redirection strategy for those students struggling with the behavior expectation . When small group work is over, Ms . Stucking asks students to clean up their area, push in their chairs, and walk back to their desks . After making that request, she waits for one minute to directly address those students still in small groups who are not beginning to clean up . During an assessment, Charles is walking around the back of the classroom and humming out loud . Instead of telling Charles to stop goofing around or humming, the teacher instead tells Charles what he should be doing and says, “Charles, please go back to your seat, turn voices off, and work on your quiz.”

A student walks into the room with his hood up . After the teacher asks him to take his hood off, the student says something under his breath directed at the teacher . Instead of reacting, the teacher steps away from the situation and starts class . Once class is started, the teacher calmly approaches the student and has a conversation about why he asked the student to remove his hood and why the student’s response was inappropriate .

In science class, Mrs . Dunder gave the directions for the lab assignment twice and has redirected Mary multiple times on her behaviors . Mary is at her lab station reading a magazine . Instead of approaching Mary and asking her what she should be doing, Mrs . Dunder approaches Mary and specifically tells her, “Mary, I need you to put away the magazine, take out your science book and turn to page 143, and re-create the project the students are working on. If you need help on the project, please raise your hand, and I will come around and help you.”

Kevin is known to be late to class nearly every day . The teacher reminds him every day to be on time, but every day he is spotted hanging out with his friends until after the bell rings . Today, Kevin was seen in the hallway right before the bell rang, and his teacher cheered him on to get to class on time . When he was in the room before the bell rang, the teacher gave him a high five and told Kevin how much he appreciated his efforts to get to class on time and how he looks forward to Kevin being on time tomorrow .