Managing Student n Randy Sprick and K Daniels Teachers need to know how to manage the mechanisms that promote positive student behavior. A re teachers made or born? Recently, with the awareness that teachers are the primary factors affecting student success (Rice, 2003) and the current emphasis on hiring “high-quality teachers,” this perennial discussion has resurfaced with a vengeance. Such publications as the New York Times and the New Yorker are weighing in with fascinating articles on what makes teachers effective and how they get that way. Teachers are a combination of who they are and what they’ve learned—with a bit more emphasis on what they’ve learned. It helps to be a born comedian or a motivational speaker, but it isn’t necessary. What is necessary is a great desire to teach children and knowledge of how to manage student behavior to keep students engaged academically and behaving responsibly. (Knowledge of how to effectively deliver instruction is equally important, but beyond the scope of this article.) Managing student behavior and improving student motivation involves knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. Put another way, teachers need to know how to manage the mechanisms that will have a positive impact on student behavior. Some teachers do this instinctively, without any training. They avoid power struggles, communicate high expectations, remain calm in difficult situations, and inspire and motivate even the most recalcitrant students. For those who do not come to this instinctively, however, those skills can be learned. Administrators have the responsibility of ensuring 18 z Principal Leadership z september 2010 that the teachers in their schools know about those mechanisms and have access to tools that manipulate them effectively. The Right Tool for the Job Here is a slightly silly analogy that highlights the importance of tools and strategies in teaching: You wake up suddenly, and for some bizarre reason, you are behind the wheel of a car—a car that is careening down a winding mountain road. You look down at the speedometer. The car is doing 70 mph and gaining momentum. Although you may have a split second of panic, you know you need to take control or you are going to sail right off the mountainside. You grab the steering wheel and hit the brakes. No brakes! Your palms are sweaty and your heart is racing, but you manage to keep the car on the road. What do you do next? No time to think. You try shifting down and that slows the car somewhat. You grab the emergency brake and pull it up slowly. Thankfully, the car responds. By downshifting and using the emergency brake, you are able to bring the car to a stop. Now imagine that you’ve never been in a car before. You wake up behind the wheel in the same situation. You’ve seen pictures of cars and you are vaguely familiar with the functions of steering wheel, gears, and brakes, but you’ve never had any training in how to use them. What do you think of your chance of survival? When you’re driving a car, you are managing the mechanisms that allow you to safely maneuver several thousand pounds of plastic, metal, and glass. If you know how to manipulate those Copyright National Association of Secondary School Principals, the preeminent organization for middle level and high school leadership. For information on NASSP products and service, visit www.principals.org. BEHAVIOR mechanisms, your chances of survival in a car are better than if you don’t. In addition, when you know how, you can even enjoy the complex and dangerous process of driving a car. Teaching is similar. Teachers who lack both instincts and training are likely to panic when faced with students who misbehave and are very likely to try to “control” the students, thus getting drawn into power struggles. On the other hand, the most skillful behavior managers manipulate variables to prevent misbehavior and enhance motivation. When they encounter a behavior problem, in seconds they can mentally run through a series of options that promise a solution. The option they select may not always work, but they have a much better chance of managing the situation than those teachers who have no knowledge of the mechanisms of classroom management. The more training that administrators can give teachers in the way of identifying and manipulating the mechanisms that shape student behavior and the more that teachers have the opportunity to master those mechanisms, the better able they will be to intelligently (even unconsciously) prevent problems, increase student motivation, and evaluate and address problems calmly when they do occur. Knowledge of a full and varied set of mechanisms is empowering, giving teachers the confidence to reach even the most difficult of students. A Framework for Mastery The acronym STOIC can describe the major variables that teachers can control in their classrooms: structure, teach, observe, interact, correct. Structure the classroom for success. The way the classroom is organized (e.g., physical setting, september 2010 z Principal Leadership z 19 instruction on big-picture ideas, such as behavschedule, routines and procedures, quality ing respectfully and responsibly, and also on of instruction, and so on) has a huge impact plays and patterns, such as whether students on student behavior. Therefore, effective can talk or get up to sharpen pencils during teachers carefully structure their classrooms independent work. Periodically throughout the in ways that prompt responsible student year, they go back and reteach all of the basics behavior. until the class achieves mastery. Teach behavioral expectations to Effective teachers Collect data as an intervention. Another students. Effective teachers overtly teach know the mechanisms tool relates to the O in STOIC—observing students how to behave responsibly and to manage student and using meaningful data. The most comrespectfully (in other words, to be successbehavior, motivate mon type of behavioral data that teachers can ful) in every classroom situation—teachercollect is a frequency count—the number of directed instruction, independent seat work, student achievement, times a particular behavior occurs. They can cooperative groups, tests, and all major and create safe and develop a behavior counting form to collect transitions. nurturing classroom this data, which will give them quantitative Observe and supervise. Effective climates. data they can use to make decisions about teachers monitor student behavior by possible interventions. Interestingly, the act of physically circulating whenever possible counting behaviors frequently becomes an effective interand visually scanning all parts of the classroom frequently. vention in its own right. In addition, effective teachers use meaningful data to obA middle school teacher attended a training about usserve student behavior, particularly chronic misbehavior, in ing data-collecting tools as interventions. She wrote in an objective ways and to monitor trends across time. e-mail that she had a very tough student who had gotten Interact positively with students. When students are into a severe pattern of talking back to her and other teachbehaving responsibly, the teacher gives them attention and ers: “When you presented the behavior counting card at specific descriptive feedback about their behavior. Teachers your session, I knew it had to work for my student and his should focus more time, attention, and energy on acknowlbacktalking. I started last Friday and told him up front what edging responsible behavior than on responding to misbewas going on. After five days, his chart looked like this: Frihavior—in other words, teachers should have a high ratio of day-18, Monday-15, Tuesday-8, Wednesday-2, Thursday-1. positive to negative interactions with students. This worked so well that on Wednesday and Thursday he Correct fluently. Teachers should plan their responses would even stop himself and apologize!” to misbehavior to ensure that they respond in a brief, calm, Use a prop. If a teacher is having trouble getting one or and consistent manner, increasing the chances that the flow more students to follow directions, he or she can use a stopof instruction is maintained. watch as an intervention. Here’s how it works: the teacher tells students in advance that when they refuse to follow an Creating Mechanisms instruction (e.g., “You need to time out for two minutes”), Using STOIC as a guideline, the diligent teacher can idenhe or she will simply start the stopwatch and record how tify mechanisms (variables to manipulate) that will help long the students spend refusing to follow the direction. him or her establish a calm, safe, and orderly environment In many cases, this simple procedure can work like that is conducive to learning. magic—even if there are no additional consequences. Why? Here are four specific examples of procedures (mechaBecause the teacher is no longer trying to make the student nisms) that teachers can manipulate to have a positive comply, so it takes most of the fun out of noncompliance. It impact in their classrooms. sounds too good to be true, but it often works. Teach behavior like a basketball coach. Many teachBe positive. Another tool teachers should know about ers underuse the T of STOIC. Good coaches teach big relates to the I in STOIC—interact positively. This tool is concepts—such as teamwork, cooperation, and sportsmanthe “ratio of positive interactions (RPI),” which is the ratio of ship—and they also teach very specific plays and patterns. positive to negative teacher-to-student interactions. Teachers At the beginning of the season, they do this in a manner should plan to interact at least three times more often with that makes no assumptions about what the players already each student when he or she is behaving appropriately than know; they cover all the basics. Then as the season progresswhen he or she is misbehaving. RPI is one of the most essenes, they teach and practice new skills as needed. And they tial tools in a teacher’s tool kit. It fosters a caring classroom do not hesitate to go back and practice the basics. environment, creates positive relationships between teachers Effective teachers do the same thing. They provide clear 20 z Principal Leadership z september 2010 and students, and effectively changes student behavior. Not long ago, a veteran high school teacher who was extremely upset with student behavior in two of her classes decided to try to be more positive with her students: “I greeted each individual kid with a big smile. The kids smiled back and said that I seemed to be in a good mood. (Wow, if they see a difference, I have been grouchy.) I got them started on the assignment with enthusiasm and told them how this particular work will help them. I then walked around with a pad of sticky notes. When I found a student working, or asking questions, or cooperating with other students to get the process, I wrote a personal, specific note thanking him or her for that behavior. “I was amazed! They were working and happy. I was happy for the first time in a long time in those classes! Later in the day, I was chatting with an administrator, and I said, ‘Hey, did you notice? I didn’t send one kid down to your office today.’ He replied that not one of the kids in my ‘toughest’ classes had been sent to his office from any class that day!” of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching, we rely on the ‘naturals,’ the ones who somehow know how to teach” (p. 338). But the truth is that if we rely on the naturals, it is only to show the rest of us how to manipulate the mechanisms of teaching. Effective teachers know the mechanisms to manage student behavior, motivate student achievement, and create safe and nurturing classroom climates. One of the chief actions that school and district administrators can take to ensure an effective teaching cadre is to provide training, support, and coaching on how to manage those mechanisms. PL References n Drucker, P. F. (1992). The age of discontinuity: Guidelines for our changing society. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers. n Rice, J. K. (2003). Teacher quality: Understanding the effectiveness of teacher attributes. Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute. Managing the Mechanisms Randy Sprick ([email protected]) is the director of Safe & Civil Schools and the author of several books on positive behavior support, including CHAMPS: A Proactive and Positive Approach to Classroom Management. Peter Drucker (1992), the renowned business management consultant, wrote, “Teaching is the only major occupation K Daniels is a former teacher for Springfield Schools and currently works as a writer and editor for Safe & Civil Schools. september 2010 z Principal Leadership z 21
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