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Need Behaviour Assignments for Consequences
Discussion in ' Behavior Management Archives ' started by dannyteach , Dec 6, 2010 .
dannyteach New Member
Dec 6, 2010
I'm looking for some help! I am in my 7th year of teaching and have a little guy in my grade 7 class this year. I taught him last year and was blessed with his sweet return to my class list this year. He is the most disruptive, disrespectful, high energy child I have yet to come across. am usually the teacher who invites challenges like this into my class...however this littleguy has got me, my principal, the admin beat! I am looking for support and help in ways to deal with him when he gets into his distructive states. I would like to come up with assignments for him to do that address his poor behaviour choices in class / on the playground. For example, if he swears at a teacher or pretends to shoot his classmates consistantly, having him write a journal entry from his teacher's perspective or classmates on what they may be feeling. Having him do a behavioural report when sent out of the classroom to reflect on his behaviours. I would like to come up with 10 or so behavior related assignments for him to do in the office when he is not ready to be in class. These can be kept with the principal and he must complete one before being permitted to return to class. Any ideas for assignments? reports? projects? readings? etc. It would be very much appreciated! I need to somehow survive this child this year and it is only December!!! Thanks! Danielle
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StellatheSub Rookie
Dec 8, 2010
Age 7 or grade 7?
Aliceacc Multitudinous
Hi Danielle, and welcome! I'm guessing 7th grade. And I've got to be honest and admit that I'm in a bit over my head; my typical "not bad enough for detention" assignment is to multiply your phone number by your zip code. The next time you stay after, you have to check it by long division. I tend not to have too many repeat offenders. How about an essay on the meaning of "respect", starting with a dictionary definition? Likewise "Civility" and "Cooperation"???
Cerek Aficionado
The writing assignments sound like a good idea, because it will force him to actually THINK about what he is doing and how it affects other people. Having him describe his actions from the other person's POV might make him think about the impact his actions are having. I also like Alice's idea of writing a short paper on respect, civility, cooperation, etc by beginning with the dictionary definition. Other ideas for writing assignments could be: 1) Describe a typical school day from the time you wake up till you go to bed that night. Write about the things that happen on a normal day for you. (This might provide some insight from HIS POV about why he is so out of control. What is triggering all of that anger and disruption?) 2) List the name of 10 classmates and write one good quality or positive comment about each one. How does the person display this quality? What is unique about him/her? What affect (if any) does this quality or attribute have on other classmates? (Perhaps if he lists positive qualities of others and how it affects the classroom environment, he will begin to think about how some of those qualities or behaviors would work for him. You could also do this assignment several times, making him list 10 different classmates each time until he has eventually written one positive comment about each of them). 3) What do you want to do when you are grown and out of school? What kind of job do you think you would like to have? (hopefully, this will make him think about future goals and help him start focusing on what he needs to do to reach them). 4) If you had 1 day to do whatever you wanted, what would you do? (if he writes something like "play video games all day" or "sit around the house", then future assignments can focus more on describing a favorite hobby or activity OTHER than video games. Try to make him think of something that requires some energy and thought and describe what he enjoys most about that activity) 5) Imagine YOU are a middle school teacher. Describe what you think a normal day of school would be like for you then. What subject would you teach? What kind of lessons would you do? How would you make the lessons interesting for all the students? How much time do you think it would take to grade all the papers from every class you have? Those are some ideas off the top of my head. I'm not sure how much success you will actually have getting him to do any of these, but once he is removed from the situation that is upsetting him and has some time to calm down, maybe he will begin to reflect on these ideas and how he can use them to change his behavior. If he DOES complete the assignments, he will have been forced to think about his actions (and their impact) a little more deeply and will also provide insight to you about what is triggering these reactions and things he wishes were different about his environment.
teacher12345 Cohort
Some other assignment ideas: 1. Writing a letter of apology to the teacher stating what he did, why it was not acceptable, how his actions impacted others, others point of view and what others think of him when he acts this way, how it makes his teacher feel when he acts this way, and what he could do next time instead. 2. Comparing and Contrasting his behavior with that of other students in his grade or class: IE: Other 7th graders treat their teachers with respect and use respectful words when talking with them, and I sweared at my teacher and then stating what other people may think of him if he keeps doing this behavior, ie: dissruptive, obnoxious, rude, don't want to be around him, direspectful, disobedient, defient, weird, goofs off alot, can't listen and follow directions, annoying to be around etc. 3. Write the following words and their defenitions from the dictionary 3 times each and use them in a sentence; cooperative/cooperate/cooperating, respectful, responsible, polite, curtious, rude, defient, and obnoxious. 4. Make a list of why his behavior was not appropriate: EX: it was disruptive, rude, not respecting teacher or peers trying to learn/teach, spoke out of turn, bad language, others were mad, etc. 5. Cause and Effect note cards: given a situation or behavior he will write down the effect 6. he will write a poem about how his behavior effected others/other people's point of view, teacher's point of view 7. He will write a diary entry as if he was the teacher and had a disrespectful, rude, uncooperative student in his classroom, stating why it was annoying, what the student did, why it made it hard for him to teach etc. 8. Write a diary entry as if he was a classmate of a student who acted like he did, disrespectful, rude, etc.
paperheart Groupie
Dec 11, 2010
Name 50 careers that require a college education. Name 50 reasons that explain why you are bright, beautiful and just plain awesome. Imagine you are a superhero. Name 50 super powers you would like to have. Now describe 10 qualities you do have that can lead to good.
Dec 12, 2010
Some of these sound downright fun! Detention in my school involves copying, word for word, a page of typed print. The last time I had detention duty, it concerned Brown vs the Board of Education. It used to be copying a page from the dictionay. Saturday detention is copying the Constitution. As you decide on the assignments, keep in mind: the point is that it's NOT fun. It's something to be avoided.
Pisces_Fish Fanatic
Aliceacc said: ↑ Some of these sound downright fun! Detention in my school involves copying, word for word, a page of typed print. The last time I had detention duty, it concerned Brown vs the Board of Education. It used to be copying a page from the dictionay. Saturday detention is copying the Constitution. As you decide on the assignments, keep in mind: the point is that it's NOT fun. It's something to be avoided. Click to expand...
swansong1 Virtuoso
Here's my opinion as an ESE teacher: The children that Alice gives detention to are normal children with normal behaviors that have transgressed a little. Therefore, her punishment is absolutely acceptable. This 7th grader exhibits unusual and abnormal behavior ( as in a child with behavioral disabilities). He needs to have behavioral modification strategies to help him learn more acceptable behaviors in school. So, the writing assignments you all have suggested would act as behavioral modification strategies and would be be a good start for him to begin learning ways to change his behavior. I'm guessing he will not find these writing assignments easy. As a matter of fact, the fact that he will have to sit quietly and give some thought to his actions and then compose a response will give him difficulty because he has shown that those types of activities are not something he can handle easily..
Excellent point swan!
Teacherella Habitué
Jan 10, 2011
Whatever consequence you decide on, I would make sure that it won't make him hate writing. It would be a shame for him to associate writing as a punishment. I like the idea of him listing 50 positive traits about himself and maybe have him choose one to write about. I'm a firm believer in giving students logical consequences so I think it should directly relate to whatever reason he was send down to the office.
MamaFisch New Member
Mar 7, 2011
I have several specially selected sections from our student code of conduct. Students have to copy it. If it is a short selection, I have them copy it several times and then I send home the page, with a note from me, to be signed by their parent. On our campus, three minor offenses that are documented and addressed result in a referral, so this also provides documentation and proof of parent notification. I also have students who make messes stay to clean up. Writing on desks and walls means erasing marks in the hallway. Students who run in the hall have to do 20 walking laps from one end of the hallway to the other, etc.
sidhewing Rookie
Mar 11, 2011
Personal Responsibility Grade I believe in the "personal responsibility grade." I would suggest to give this to the whole class. It's a form that grades students on their behavior and is generally 15-20% of their overall grade. Each week you grades students on tardiness, absences, participation and respectful behavior. Allow yourself 2-3 sentences if they did something really disrespectful like curse, hurt a student etc. AND then allow them a space to "agree" or "disagree" with your grade and a space that allows them to answer: What could I do in the future to improve my grade? I've found that it is surprisingly effective and students sometimes are chillingly honest. If you don't want to do that have you considered a Behavior plan? Where you sit down with the students and together your brain storm was is disruptive/ productive and what the consequences/ rewards are? Or what about a progress chart where it's just between you and the student? So, that the students won't be embarrassed in front of his friends? Good luck!!
m1trLG2 Companion
Apr 17, 2011
How are mom and dad? Here are some things we did in treatment as well as somethings I have used in the classroom. 1) Have him write a letter home to his parent that gets signed about his behavior. Do this in a guided writing style. "Dear Mom and Dad I was very disrespectful today. I made the choice to _______." Get it signed and returned (more effective if mom and dad are involved though). 2) Do "SODAS" with him as part of his journaling. S- Situation O- Options D- Disadvantages A- Advantages S- Solution Here is what it would look like: S- I want to color instead of do the work I'm supposed to do. O- Do my work or chose to color. D- If I chose to color my teacher will get upset, send a letter home, mom and dad will get upset, I will spend the rest of my day arguing. If I chose to do my work I don't get to do what I want and that upsets me. A- If I chose to do my work, perhaps I will finish early and be allowed to color and have some free time. My parents won't be upset, and my teacher won't get upset. If I chose to color, I get to do what I want. S- I think I will do my work and then color later and that way I don't have to deal with the upset people. This can be something he is allowed to do if he can recognize himself "losing control" it's a "stop and think" method. However it can also be used afterwards and then the solution would be the one he picked but why it didn't work out would be made clear in disadvantages. 3) This isn't a "punishment" but can be effective for helping to change behavior. A lot of behavior kids get overwhelmed very quickly and again need to "stop and think". Have him "take a break". This is good for ALL kids but mostly get utilized by behavioral kids. If he is being crazy and hyper and defiant tell him, "I think you need to take a break, please go have a seat facing the wall in the break chair." Give him 5 minutes and then ask him to join you OR tell him, "when you think you can make better choices let me know and you can join us" but if it's over five minutes have him make up the time during recess or with an assignment or something. This way he doesn't just go back to a corner and play. Sometimes these kids just get stuck in a loop and honestly don't know how to get out. 4) Have him do "self awareness" worksheets. Now, prior to teaching I was a behavioral therapist and I am a supporter of the cognitive behavioral school of thought. So, feel free to disagree I just wanted to say this is from that standpoint. A lot of behavioral kids are unable to put themselves in another person's shoes. This kid may be able to write a great response of how it would "feel" to be a teacher dealing with a kid like him but he doesn't "feel" that. He has observed your behaviors and listened and knows what to say. Giving assignments that require introspection will be more effective at changing his behaviors. Here are a few links. http://www.box.net/shared/fp9tziylhr http://www.stressgroup.com/ABCworksheet.html http://practicegroundprojects.wetpaint.com/page/Handouts,+Protocols+&+Client+Learning+Activities These are all similar to the SODAS approach and designed to have the child look inside to assess behaviors and slow down... again Stop and Think. If you google "Behavioral Therapy Worksheets" you will find lots of things he can work on. Also, ask the school guidance counselor if she/he has anything like these worksheets that he could work on. Lots of times the behavior is impulsive and there is no reason the child did it. So, the solution is learning to recognize impulsive behavior and then be able to stop and take charge of it. Hope some of this helps!
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Classroom Management | May 21, 2015
8 ways to redirect off-task behavior without stopping your lesson
By Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
Do you continually have to stop your lessons due to a group of off-task students?
Are you frustrated because you’re losing too much class time to addressing disruptions?
Here are 8 ways to redirect off-task behavior without interrupting your lesson or allowing your entire lesson to be derailed.
1. Use fewer words and less emotion.
It’s easy to drift into lengthy lecturing, nagging, and yelling questions we don’t want to hear the answers to . So, train yourself to start using a handful of phrases that are short and to the point. I like:
- I need you to __.
- Please ___.
- Let’s stay focused.
- I don’t like that.
- Not appropriate.
- Stay with us.
For the first redirection to the class or an individual student, I usually keep it light. I’ll say, “Stay with us” with an encouraging smile that communicates: This is going to be good–don’t miss out!
For the second redirection, I’ll say, “I need you to follow along” with wide eyes, raised eyebrows, and nodding to communicate: You’re going to work with me here, people, right? Come on, you can do this!
For the third redirection, I’ll give a cold stare and a blank, expressionless face, and say in a monotone voice, “Not appropriate. We’re reading the text right now” to communicate: This behavior is not okay, and you know it.
It’s important not to show anger, as that often escalates or feeds disruptive behavior and will immediately get the attention of students who were engaged but now want to watch the drama unfold. Don’t match the intensity of students’ behavior: tone yourself down, which encourages them to tone down. Showing quiet disappointment or disapproval in your facial expression and tone is enough to communicate a strong message without distracting the students who are on-task.
2. Teach kids specific non-verbal directives, like hand signals or sign language.
Show your students the signs for please, thank you, sit down, quiet, stand up, line up, yes, no, etc. This way, you can give reminders and directives without having to stop your lesson, repeat yourself, or nag.
You can also work with specific students to create individual hand signals. For example, a student might want to have a hand signal she or he can give you to indicate, “I’m getting really frustrated and need a break” and you might want a signal that says, “You’re doing __ again and you’re supposed to ___, remember?” These hand signals are generally meaningless to the rest of the class–if anyone asks, just say, “That’s a special sign between me and her. She knows what it means.”
3. Stand near the off-task kids but keep eye contact with the on-task kids.
As you’re teaching, walk over to where the off-task behavior is occurring. Don’t look at the kids who are being disruptive or acknowledge them, as that will shift the gaze of the rest of the class, too. Continue looking at and talking to the kids who are on-task; just stand closer to the students who are off-task.
If a kid doesn’t get the hint, rest your hand on the edge of his or her desk while you continue to teach. When the student gets quiet again, walk away without ever making eye contact or acknowledging the misbehavior. This works very well with about 90% of students, in my experience. If needed, lean down and whisper a short instruction ( “I need you to ___”) and then walk away. Don’t wait for the child to stop acting out, because that can turn into a power struggle. Say it with confidence, and then walk away so the child has a few moments to self-correct.
4. Pair up a 3 second freeze with The Teacher Look.
Once you’ve established a strong rapport with kids, you can be confident the ice cold stare (aka the “Are you kidding me?” look) will stop most misbehavior immediately. Generally, kids who truly like and respect their teachers don’t want to be on the receiving end of the teacher’s disapproval.
My teacher look is a cross between these two, depending on how obnoxious the off-task behavior is.
I’ve heard many teachers say that The Teacher Look doesn’t work for them, because the kids who need to see it aren’t looking at the teacher. Here’s what you do: during your lesson, stop yourself dramatically mid-sentence and freeze/glare, like this:
[Talk to the class in a normal voice and look at the students who are on-task] “So, I want to hear your thoughts on…[quickly cut your eyes over to the kids having side conversations; freeze and glare at them for 3 seconds in dead silence, then look back at the on-task students]…the different strategies your group shared just now. Raise your hand if…”
Then continue on with the lesson as normal. The off-task students will usually notice that the room suddenly fell silent, and you don’t have to interrupt the rest of the class’ train of thought by saying a word. If the engaged students are furiously taking notes or otherwise involved in the activity, they often won’t even notice the freeze/look.
When the off-task behavior is really disruptive and distracting the whole class, the freeze/look is very effective at not only letting the kids who are off-task know that you notice what they’re doing, but also letting rest of the class know you’re aware of the misbehavior and you’re not going to tolerate it. If the kids don’t get back on-task, you don’t have to stop your whole lesson. You can keep right on teaching without fear of losing respect of the rest of the class, because you have acknowledged the problem. Then you can…
5. Create a natural break in the lesson to talk privately with students who are being disruptive.
Ask the class to do a quick pair/share, turn-and-talk, quick guided practice activity, or solve a sample problem independently. Then use that moment to quietly walk over to the kids who are misbehaving. You can give a quick correction (one of your go-to phrases from strategy #1, perhaps) or talk with them about their choices.
6. Ask simple questions that prompt students to self-correct.
Try asking questions that require the child to think about what she or he is doing and help the child determine a more appropriate behavior. This strategy works well because you don’t have to give command to kids which they might then rebel against, and you don’t force them into a position where they have to give in because they were never told what to do.
What should you be doing right now? is my absolute favorite question for promoting self-correction, and it works in just about any situation. You can also try replacing your teacher-direct commands with problem-solving prompts, like this:
Usually when I ask these types of questions, students will pause, think, and then self-correct without any problems. They’re effective because students determine the solution and choose a different behavior, and instead of wearing us both down with more nagging, I get to say something positive and encouraging afterward (“Thank you” or “That’s exactly right.”)
7. Involve students in the lesson to engage, not embarrass.
It’s great to call on off-task students during a lesson, but only for the purpose of drawing them back into the lesson, not for shaming them for not following along. If you ask a question you know the student won’t be able to answer, that does nothing to keep up the lesson momentum or help the child successfully participate. It creates frustration for everyone involved when the entire class is staring impatiently at someone who has no idea what’s going on.
Instead, say, “[Off-task student], I’m going to call on you in one minute to demonstrate how to solve #4. [On-task student], would you solve #3 for us right now?” That gives the student a chance to prepare and also figure out what’s going on before being put on the spot.
You can also draw the off-task student into the activity through a task that doesn’t require him or her to have been paying attention. It could be as simple as: “___, what color highlighter should I use to mark our sight words here?” That gives the child some ownership over what’s happening in the lesson and allows him or her to begin participating again. You can also ask the off-task student to hold the book up as you read, pass out materials, come up to the board and take notes for the class as you explain something, and so on.
8. Provide support until the students experience success.
Sometimes your attempts to engage kids in the lesson work only for minute or two. If you see that a student is getting off-task again right after a subtle redirection or attempt to engage, you may need to be more persistent.
Don’t lecture or nag, just walk over to the off-task students and say, “So we’re discussing #8 right now with partners. Can you two share how you got your answers?” Stay there for a few moments to make sure the students understand what they need to be doing and are experiencing success. Give a compliment before you walk away to end the exchange on a positive note: “I knew you could do it!” “That’s exactly right, thanks” or “That’s it–keep it up.”
Those are some strategies that have worked for me. How do you redirect students who are off-task without interrupting your lesson?
Angela Watson
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Hi Angela, Thank you for the tips.. 🙂 How about if I ask them to separate them from the group? Is it allowed? Is it appropriate? I teach 5th grade in one of Indonesia’s school..
Waiting for your reply.. 🙂
Hi there, yes, I do think it’s appropriate to separate disruptive students from the group sometimes. Set that up as part of your class rules, so students know if they are asked X amount of times to stop, they may need to separate themselves from the group to make sure they’re not preventing other kids from learning.
I don’t approach this as a punishment because that can turn into a power struggle: it’s just a quiet conversation I have with the individual (“Your friends can’t focus when you keep talking to them. We need you to push you desk back from the group and focus on your work for awhile. When you feel like you can be in control of your talking again, you are welcome to move your desk back. Thanks for cooperating.”)
For the kids who run into this problem a lot, you won’t need to have this conversation every time–you can give them a look or a certain hand signal that lets them know they have a warning, and if you have to give 3 warnings, then they need to move away from the group.
You may find that these kids volunteer to move away from the group sometimes: they find it empowering to be able to create their own space and regulate their own needs. Often I’ve seen disruptive students recognize that a conflict with a peer is going to escalate and they move their own desks away, and then move back when they feel like it.
Good afternoon. I usually ask the child that is disrupting his/her group to help me move their desk away for a few minutes to help he/she think of their own idea/answer related to the topic they are learning. I remain around the area. Then I ask the child, quietly, if they thought of their idea/answer to share with group. Usually the child answers, yes, then I invite the child to help me move desk back to group and share his/her idea/answer to topic learned.
Already doing some of these solutions. So glad our solutions are right on point together!
It always good when someone reaffirms what you’re already doing, isn’t it? I’m glad these ideas are effective in your classroom.
Hello! First, I am a big fan and have been using your management tips and other ideas since I found Mspowellsmanagent(something.com) …over 6 years ago:) I too use many of these techniques with students, and how found them effective, however, in recent years, I seem to always have one or two students who seem to interrupt my lesson often (they just have to make a comment, make a noise, etc) I always wonder if I haven’t earned their respect enough or if they are still (after months!) Pushing their limits. I have used a strategy for these “repeat offenders” where they have a post it “fringed” into strips, and they lose a strip every time they call out. If they keep their strips for a pre-determined amount of time, they earn something. It has worked, but is difficult to do for multiple students. Any suggestions? Does that sound like a good strategy? Thank you for your help!
Yes, I’ve done something similar with counters, though not for more than 2 kids at at time. I haven’t found it particularly hard to manage because I just kept the counters on their desks and silently took one away when they interrupted. I didn’t stop the lesson or say anything to the student at all, just kept walking past and took one and put it in my pocket. The kids were responsible for bringing me their counters at recess time so we could talk about their choices. Maybe the location of the fringed strips is what’s making it trickier for you to keep up with?
Also, my goal was always to wean the kids off this need for such a concrete reminder. It usually took only a few weeks for the kids to realize how much they were interrupting and re-train themselves to exhibit more self-control. The daily conversations about their choices and the positive affirmations were what made the real difference, I think: the counters just made the intangible concept of “being on task” more tangible.
How many counters or fringes did you begin with? I have a couple of 5th grade students who I would like to try this with, but I’m not sure how many to start with?
Hi Angela, Can you give an example of what you use for a counter and do they sit on the student’s desk? Thanks!
Hi Angela! Thank you very much for your tips. Let’s put them in action! We really need new ideas with this “new” generation oc children. Best regards from portugal.
Great! I do some these already. But kids usually get it, if it is consistent.
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