Behavior Management in Middle & Secondary Schools

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

Prof Readings

MEMBERS

2 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

Professional Readings Chatboard

Behavior Management in Middle & Secondary Schools

by Dale

Feb 6, 2011

I just finished reading an article entitled "Behavior Management: Making it Work in Middle and Secondary Schools" from a professional education journal in which the authors draw attention to the mistakes that teachers often make that unwittingly strengthen students' negative behaviors.

The author states that for the use of extinction to decrease or eliminate the behavior, the teacher must completely withhold the reinforcement. If a student is screaming to be recognized without raising his/her hand, then this can be a very difficult road to take. In your experience, how often does extinction work?

Many times a student will display disruptive behavior in order to escape from a work assignment, teacher, etc. The easy solution is to remove the disruptive student from the classroom; however,the author states that this can create more problems in the future since the action of removing the student actually reinforces the disruptive behavior. Has this been your experience? <...See More

Comment

(4)

report post

Jan We just had this discussion a week or so ago on the main board. This is what I posted about it....I think it will answer your questions. if not, post back.

POST FROM LAST WEEK I wanted to clarify about ignoring inappropriate behavior. This strategy is called 'extinction' and it is powerful....like all reinforcement strategies. And, extinc...See MoreWe just had this discussion a week or so ago on the main board. This is what I posted about it....I think it will answer your questions. if not, post back.

POST FROM LAST WEEK I wanted to clarify about ignoring inappropriate behavior. This strategy is called 'extinction' and it is powerful....like all reinforcement strategies. And, extinction means absolutely ignoring the behavior you want to extinguish. But, like the 3 principles of reinforcement theory, positive, negative and extinction, it needs to be used appropriately. You have to know what it does and what it does not do, in order to know which situation it will be effective for and which it will not.

1. It is the BEST strategy for a NEW behavior. The FIRST time the kid says an inappropriate word, the FIRST time he falls out of his chair, etc. are best ignored. If you don't and you make a big fuss, you will reinforce it for that student and probably for the others. They will immediately say, "Oh, teacher, gets really upset about X...now we know how to drive her crazy."

2. If the behavior is a habit....kid has said inappropriate word several times.....then it can be extinguished by ignoring BUT, know that it will get worse before it gets better. The reason is that the habit is a habit because its been reinforced. So when child doesn;t get a reaction from you , he thinks you must not have heard him. So he will say the word louder or more frequently. The question you have to ask is how much escalation can you stand before the behavior is extinguished? If you can manage it, it will work in a few days. If you can't, then don't use extinction.

3. You don't know who in the room is reinforcing the misbehavior. You may be ignoring it, but the kids may not be. Many kids (especially older ones) do things to get the attention of peers. They don't care what the teacher thinks about it so your ignoring or not has no effect. But, if he wants attention from peers and they are giving it to him, your ignoring him will have no effect. You can sometimes get kids to also ignore and, if you can, then it will be a powerful tool to extinguish behavior.

4, Extinction can work as effectively on good behavior as on bad. We often inadvertently forget to reinforce good behavior and then, over time, that good behavior goes away. Extinction is very powerful so you have to be sure you use it on behavior you don't want but not on behavior you do want. If an old inappropriate behavior for an individual or a class returns after a time, the chances are you have inadvertently extinguished it by not offering feedback. I tried to keep a list of behaviors that had been corrected and then remember to reinforce them, at least once a week....more often with younger kids. You know, if the kids are finally walking in line to the library the way you want them to, remember to notice now and then," People are remembering how to walk to the library...everyone is right behind the other, arms are at your sides and everyone is walking slowly. Good for you.!" If you notice that the behavior is starting to slip, reinforce more often until it's back in place. By reinforce, I do NOT mean any stars, M&Ms or prizes. I mean just positive and specific feedback. Repeat what the criteria for appropriate behavior is because it refreshes their memory. If you reinforce often enough, you will not have to reteach.

You don't have to worry that your ignoring of behavior signals your approval of it. Just pretend like you neither heard nor saw it. Which is very easy to do. Teachers often comment on every little accidental misbehavior they see...and, first thing you know, all those misbehaviors are reinforced and in use!

On 2/06/11, Dale wrote: > I just finished reading an article entitled "Behavior > Management: Making it Work in Middle and Secondary Schools" > from a professional education journal in which the authors > draw attention to the mistakes that teachers often make that > unwittingly strengthen students' negative behaviors. > > The author states that for the use of extinction to decrease > or eliminate the behavior, the teacher must completely > withhold the reinforcement. If a student is screaming to be > recognized without raising his/her hand, then this can be a > very difficult road to take. In your experience, how often > does extinction work? > > Many times a student will display disruptive behavior in > order to escape from a work assignment, teacher, etc. The > easy solution is to remove the disruptive student from the > classroom; however,the author states that this can create > more problems in the future since the action of removing the > student actually reinforces the disruptive behavior. Has > this been your experience? > > > My reason for posting the note is to get some insight from > others on the success/failure rate of using these techniques > to correct disruptive behavior.

Feb 6, 2011

report post

Jan again The author of the book you read is pretty much right on. Who is it? It is very true that we very often reinforce negative behaviors because WE think they are punishments. Rewards and consequences are in the eye of the beholder. For some, staying in at recess is a consequence, or many others it is a reward. So those teachers using it as a consequenc...See More

Feb 6, 2011

report post

Dale The authors of the article ("Behavior Management Making It Work in Middle and Secondary Schools") are Katheryn M. Oberchain and Shanon S. Taylor. It's a great article....thank you for sharing your experiences.

On 2/06/11, Jan again wrote: > > The author of the book you read is pretty much right on. Who > is it? It is very true tha...See More

Feb 6, 2011

report post

Jan On 2/06/11, Dale wrote: > The authors of the article ("Behavior Management Making It Work in > Middle and Secondary Schools") are Katheryn M. Oberchain and > Shanon S. Taylor. It's a great article....thank you for sharing > your experiences. > Here's a book I can personally recommend :)

Feb 6, 2011

report post