Tough Kids: Practical Behavior Management

Tough Kids: Practical
Behavior Management
RULES: Effective Schools and
Expectation Setters for Schools
jenson@ed.utah.edu
801-581-6508
Effective and Ineffective Schools
• Effective Schools
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High Expectations
Strong Instructional Leaders
Emphasize Academic Basics-Reading
More Positive Than Negative
Students Receive Frequent Feedback
Teachers Model What They Expect
Teachers Move Around
Teacher Are Ready at the Start of the Year
Rules
Ineffective Schools
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Weak Instructional Leader
Old Guard Actually Manages the School
Relies on Punitive Behavior Interventions
Low Academic and Behavioral Expectations
Poor Feedback to Students
Not Interested in Whole School ApplicationsEach Classroom is a Fiefdom Unto Themselves
• Little Things are Amiss (Tipping Point)
• Poor Rules
Westside Preparatory School
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Marva N. Collins
Biography
Download PDF Version Marva Collins grew up in Atmore, Alabama at a time when segregation was the rule. Black people were not permitted to use the public library, and
her schools had few books, and no indoor plumbing. Nonetheless, her family instilled in her an awareness of the family’s historical excellence and helped develop her
strong desire for learning, achievement and independence. After graduating from Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia, she taught school in Alabama for two years. She
moved to Chicago and taught in Chicago’s public school system for fourteen years.
Her experiences in that system, coupled with her dissatisfaction with the quality of education that her two youngest children were receiving in prestigious private schools,
convinced her that children deserved better than what was passing for acceptable education. That conviction led to her decision to open her own school on the second
floor of her home. She took the $5,000 balance in her school pension fund and began her educational program with an enrollment of her own two children and four other
neighborhood youngsters.
Thus, Westside preparatory School was founded in 1975 in Garfield Park, a Chicago inner-city area. During the first year, Marva took in learning disabled, problem
children and even one child who had been labeled by Chicago public school authorities as borderline retarded. At the end of the first year, every child scored at least five
grades higher proving that the previous labels placed on these children were misguided. The CBS program, 60 Minutes, visited her school for the second time in 1996.
That little girl who had been labeled as border line retarded, graduated in 1976 from college Summa Cum Laude. It was documented on the 60 Minutes programs in 1996.
Marva’s graduates have entered some of the nation’s finest colleges and universities, such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, to mention just a few. And, they have become
physicians, lawyers, engineers, educators, and entered other professions.
Ms. Collins has received many accolades in recognition of her outstanding work with children. She was featured on Good Morning, America, 20/20, Fox News, and many
more programs too numerous to list. A made-for-television movie titled, The Marva Collins Story starred Cicely Tyson and Morgan Freeman first aired in1 1982, and is still
presented on television. Some of her awards include:
- The Jefferson Award for Benefiting the Disadvantaged
- The Humanitarian Award for Excellence
- Legendary Women of the World Award
- Many honorary doctoral degrees from universities such as
Amherst, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, and Clark University
- The prestigious National Humanities Medal from President Bush in 2004
She has turned the responsibilities of running her school over to her daughter, Cynthia B. Collins, who was one of the first students in the Westside Preparatory School.
Today, Marva Collins trains teachers in her educational program and methodology. Her curriculum is based on classical literature, and other subject material that contain
ideas, lofty thoughts, and abstract concepts. The purpose is to teach children the values that hold societies together and that present to students thoughts that may be
interpreted differently. Fourth graders in her school, for example, read Plato’s dialogue, The Republic. In it, Plato asks, “What is justice?” Justice has different meaning,
according to one’s viewpoint or interpretations. The students are encouraged to express their own opinion. And, as any observer of Ms. Collins classes will attest, the
children are eager to participate in classroom discussions, and their verbal skills are outstanding as are their reasoning abilities. Her students are taught to appreciate the
nuances of language, how to analyze and challenge what they read, and to express their opinions. They learn to contrast their own ideas with the differing ones as
expressed by the other students.
Ms. Collins has spoken to many major corporations including The National Girl Scouts, The National Retailers Association, The National Dairy Association, The European
Division of IBM, Xerox Corporation, The Million Dollar Roundtable, The Young President’s Organization (YPO), The National Bankers’ Association, Anheuser-Busch,
Coors, and she has trained executives of Long John Silvers. Corporations have accurately discerned that the same skills Ms. Collins develops in her students are
applicable in successful business entities.
• In a 1995 book titled The Bell Curve,
Charles Murray questioned Collins’
success, saying her work would have no
lasting effect on the children. 60 Minutes
showcased the first 33 students who
attended Westside Preparatory
Marva Collins
Mrs. Mutner’s Few Rules
Good Rules and Myths
• Myths:
– Students should help set the rules (“Buy In”)
– Rules should reflect higher order values (explicit expectations
and behaviors)
– Small things don’t count -Tipping Point
• Good Rules:
– The teacher sets the rules before school starts (For Buy In,
students give input on what they earn for following the rules)
– Rule should not reflect ambiguous values. They should reflect
the Teacher’s behavioral expectations
– Rules should be explicitly descriptive (“Flash Test”-Observable
and Measurable)
– Rules should be stated in a positive way
– You only need five to six rules in a classroom
Teacher’s Expectations
• Walker• Dislike:
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Talk Outs
Out of Seat
Whining
Disrupts Others
Disrupts Class
Defies Teacher
Doesn’t Complete
Assignments
• What They Expect:
– Follows Classroom Rules
– Complies with Teacher’s
Demands
– Takes Turn
– Listens to Teacher
– Makes Assistance Known
– Produces Work of
Acceptable Quality
– Attends to Task
– Volunteers
Some of the Most Problematic Behaviors
and When They Get Into Trouble
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Sprague
Class Disruption
Noncompliance
Bullying/Harassment
Truancy
Vandalism
• Nicholas
• Talking Out
• Not Following
Directions
• Not Finishing Work
• Fighting
• Disrupting Class
• Arguing
• Out of Seat
Tough Kids Get Into Trouble: Poor Commands From and Adults & Transition Times
Examples of the Most Common and Good
Rules
• Rhode & Nicholes
• Common Rules
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Be responsible
Be Respectful
Be Safe
Be a “Good Citizen”
Do Your Best
Take Care of Materials
Be Kind
Be Polite
Maintain Appropriate
Behaviors in the Classroom
• Good Rules For Tough Kids
– Do What Your Teacher Asks
– Sit in Your Seat Unless You
Have Permission to Leave It
– Raise Your Hand and Ask
Permission to Speak
– Walk Don’t Run
– Keeps Hands and Feet to
Yourself
– Be Prepared: Books,
notebooks, homework, pencils
– Work When You are
Supposed to
For The Most Common Rules
Tough Kids Need an Explanation
– Be Responsible
• Follow Directions
• Be on Time
• Be Prepared
– Be Respectful
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Follow Directions
Raise Hand-Ask for Permission to Speak
No Put Downs
Listen to Others
– Be Safe
• Follow Directions
• Keep Hand and Feet to Yourself
• Walk and No Rough Housing
Rules for Rules
• Rules Should Be a Teacher’s Behavioral Expectations
• Positive, Number (5 to 6), and Flash Test
• Rules Management System: Consequences should be
directly tied to rules (positive and reductive)
• Rules Management System: Should use positive peer
attention (group contingency)
• Rules Management System: Should have pre-planned
consequences for chronic rule breakers
• Rules Management System: Should include a corrective
procedure for rule breakers that teaches and uses selfmanagement techniques
Rules Chart
Follow Your Teacher’s Directions (compliance
rule)
Raise Your Hand and Ask for Permission to Speak
Stay in Your Seat/ Ask Permission to Leave
Keep Hands and Feet to Yourself
Have Pencil, Paper, Books, and Homework
(preparation rule)
Be in Your Seat When the Bell Rings (transition
rules)
Walk in and Out of Class/No Rough Housing
Rules Chart
Reductive Consequences:
1.Mild
2. Inconvenience the Student
3. Hierarchy
Examples
1. Sign the Rules Log
2. Wait 30 Seconds After Every Bell
3. Wait 60 Seconds
4. Shave 5 Minutes Off Your Recess
5. Phone Home
6. Truth or Consequences Box
Rules Chart
Magic Number (Grab Bag of
Numbers)
Positive Consequences:
1.Can’t Take A lot of Time
2. Can’t Cost Too Much
3. Has to Be Fun for Everyone
Examples
1. Fifteen Minutes Free Time
2. Talk to Friends at the End of Day
3. Leave 1 Minute Early When the
Bell Rings
4. Have a Story Read
5. Time to Do Homework
6. Listen to Music
Mystery Motivator Choice
Using Self-Management to Teach Rule Following Behavior
Steps for Teaching Rules to Chronic
Rule Breakers
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If they break 3 or more rules in one
day
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Move them to the front of the room
near you. They don’t get to
participate with the other students
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Have them monitor the two most
broken rules (i.e., out of seat, talkouts) for two half days
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They circle how well they think they
did with these two rules
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If you agree, put a line through their
circle
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If you don’t agree, put an X on the
circle and give them feedback
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When they have at least two good
half days and you agree, let them
go back to their original seat and
participate with the rest of the
students