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TRANSCRIPT
How can you interpret and pre-empt behaviour?
Win, Manage or Survive? Peel back the layers of behaviour, like an onion. The outer, tougher skins will belie the softer and sweeter layers beneath. Winning isn’t the ultimate prize ….. In my experience, most people lack the ability to discern what is truly important and what is not. In fact I’ll take it a stage further and say that most people are so weak at this that they deal with anything and everyone at random.
Pre-empting is an easily learnt skill When you learn what the triggers are, behaviour issues are easier to reduce. Make some changes to set a different tone.
Your Report Card
You’ve got checklists to fill in and you have to sign yourself off when the deeds have been done. (If you need a hand finding out where to get help on specific topics, or you can’t find what you’re looking for, send an email.)
Behaviour Expert Academy Circular (for teachers, teaching assistants and LSAs who are serious about becoming super-successful behaviour managers)
Inside this month:
The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again. B. F. Skinner
Interpreting behaviour
Sometimes it’s just not clear why some behaviours present themselves in the
classroom (or elsewhere, for that matter). Certainly, if you are faced with new
scenarios on a regular basis, you will be building up a catalogue of experiences
on which to draw. It might seem easy, then, to assume that you’ll be able to
interpret – understand – more about the behaviour than you believe.
For example, somebody new to teaching or supporting would perhaps find it
challenging if a student refused to comply with a request. They may have an
empty toolkit at that point because it’s not a set of circumstances which they
may have encountered before.
On the other hand, if you are an experienced teacher or mentor, you will have
‘seen it all before’ and this is where your interpretation of the situation will
come into play. But understanding why the behaviour is taking place, and how
to change it, will become part of a process that you can implement easily.
You’ll ask yourself these questions:
Why are they refusing?
Is it that they won’t do what I ask?
o Do I need to win this battle?
o Does the student need to win this battle?
Is it that they can’t do what I ask?
o Is the work too hard?
o Does the student have a pen?
Sometimes the answers to these questions aren’t clear. But rather than assume anything, give yourself a moment to take stock. (I have met students who would rather be punished for not doing their work than be ‘ranted at’ for not bringing a pen again.)
Your next step can set a pattern of future
behaviour that you may not like.
Skinner – Operant Conditioning
In 1938 a behavioural psychologist B.F. Skinner coined the term operant
conditioning; it means roughly changing behaviour by the use of
‘reinforcement’, to increase the probability of a behaviour being repeated.
When you have the desired response, you reinforce it. This is broken into
several sub-classes, including positive reinforcement and negative
reinforcement.
Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement works by providing a
motivating incentive to the person after they
behave in the way you’d like them to, which
makes the behaviour more likely to happen in
the future.
For example:
A mother gives her son praise (positive incentive) for doing homework
The boy receives £5.00 (positive incentive) for every good report at
parents evening
So you’ll often hear of teachers ‘ignoring the negative behaviour and praising
the positive behaviour’.
If you look back over your own experiences you might be able to recall a time
when you tried out some behaviours and learnt whether they ended well (or
not!).
An example in one of the articles from Skinner: “...... if when you were younger
you tried smoking at school, and the consequence was that you got in with the
crowd you always wanted to hang out with, you would have been positively
reinforced (i.e. rewarded) and would be likely to repeat the behaviour (ie carry
on smoking). If, however, the main consequence was that you were caught,
caned, suspended from school and your parents became involved you would
most certainly have been punished, and you would consequently be much less
likely to smoke now.”
So, reinforcement strengthens the behaviour and makes it likely that a person
will behave that way again. Another example in the article says:
“Positive reinforcement strengthens a behaviour by providing a consequence
which an individual will find rewarding. For example, if your teacher gives you
£5 each time you complete your homework (i.e. a reward) you are more likely
to continue to complete your homework in the future.”
Negative reinforcement
Similarly, behaviour can also be improved (or strengthened)
by removing an unpleasant experience. This is what Skinner
described as Negative Reinforcement.
Negative reinforcement means that something already existing is taken away
as a result of a particular behaviour. It is said that the behaviour which led to
the removal will increase in the future, particularly if it created a favourable
outcome! It should not be seen as punishment.
For example:
The teenager washes the dishes (behaviour) in order to avoid his mother
nagging (negative stimulus).
In the morning, the student leaves home early in order to avoid getting
stuck in traffic and being late for class.
An example of negative reinforcement: if you do not complete your homework
you give your teacher £5 (the bad experience). So you will be more inclined to
complete your homework to avoid the bad experience (paying £5), thus
strengthening the behaviour of completing your homework.
Negative punishment is different: this is where a young person might be
‘grounded’ or banned from attending a popular party (for example).
Task 1 Here are some examples of common classroom situations: Example 1
Jake doesn’t want to do the work but his teachers keep trying to get him to pick up his pen and do it.
In the classroom, if he’s given work that he can’t do, he will disrupt and annoy others until he is sent out of class.
Example 2
Donna is a reluctant student and turns up late to class. Her teacher sends her away.
Example 3
Stephen uses his phone throughout the lesson even though he’s been asked not to.
Nobody stops him. Example 4
Bryony has completed her work and handed it in on time.
Her teacher gives her a big smile, “Well done” and a grade A. Send me an email saying whether these examples are positive or negative reinforcers, and why. What could be a better approach?
Task 2 Take five minutes to think of a scenario in your class which is negatively reinforced. Write down:
What is the behaviour How is it negatively reinforced? What could you do to positively reinforce it?
Pre-empting behaviours
Preventative measures or revenge? Here’s a short video about What Great Teachers do Differently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXCl2fMsdTU
Quick thinking turns disaster into success There will undoubtedly be times when you have to think on your feet. You’re
only human! But knowing what are the short term triggers for behaviour
issues is a great start to being able to pre-empt some episodes
Short term triggers of poor behaviour:
Boredom Lack of skills to complete a specific task
Perceptions of injustice
Not being listened to
Failure to understand
an instruction
Having personal possessions taken
or destroyed
Being shouted at Tiredness Being bullied
Extracts from DfES publications 2005: Creating conditions for learning: Unit 20: Classroom Management
1. pre-empt priˈɛmpt/ verb present participle: pre-empting take action in order to prevent (an anticipated event) happening; forestall. "the government pre-empted a coup attempt"
I’m a firm believer in pre-empting behaviour in class. Strangely, in spite of
many years as the Behaviour Lady, this does not mean that I like confrontation
or enjoy dealing with poor classroom behaviour.
So looking at some items on this list of 9 short term triggers, here are some
ways to prevent the behaviour:
Boredom
Eliminate boredom by breaking your lessons into
manageable chunks. It’s dreary for students to
arrive at class, sit down, and get on with their
assignments. Give students a pleasant surprise
with lesson openings that engage, and that they
don’t want to miss.
Mix up your activities in lesson - too much teacher talk is hard to endure for
some students – and use group work and movement at least once.
Lack of skills to complete a specific task
A common mindset is that we believe that all students know how to learn –
particularly in Key Stages 3 and 4. It’s a reasonable assumption, considering
that they’ve been in education for many years. But this is not so, some
students find it difficult to be independent learners and their thought
processes may be slow or their ability to recall a series of instructions is
limited.
As a preventative measure, create instructions or checklists for specific tasks.
Make them available to everyone. Encourage the use of them.
Perceptions of Injustice
“Why are you picking on me” or “That’s not fair” are frequently said. These
comments should be considered as a defence mechanism, borne out of
feelings of humiliation and embarrassment. This also has a similar outcome if
a student feels overlooked.
To prevent perceptions of injustice, ensure you have behavioural guidelines for
dealing with different scenarios and/or
infringements, created in a discussion with your
students. But of absolute importance is your rigid
and consistent adherence to those guidelines. If
someone can use their phone today, surely they can
also use it tomorrow.......?
There’s more to this....... I have some teacher techniques to share with you, ways to respond to low-level off-task behaviour. All will be revealed in the webinar, so don’t miss it!
Webinar During the webinar this month we will look more at positive and negative reinforcement, further tips for pre-empting the triggers for short term behaviour issues, and how to embed this in our dealings with students. You’ll receive a link which you need to click through to register your attendance. I advise doing this as soon as possible as it allows time for any software issues to be unravelled. You’ll then receive reminders of the day/time (which is useful) and then you’ll need to be ready online by 5 minutes before start time. Use headphones if you can, but obviously if you have sound/ speakers this is not an issue. Webinars should not last longer than 30 minutes.
Webinar: Live 4.30pm Weds 12 February 2014 Check Facebook and email for the link and register your place (Recording will be available)
That’s it for this month Here’s your checklist:
Attended Webinar
Checked
Read the online
article
Watched the
video
Emailed your
tasks
For any questions or queries: E: [email protected] Ph: 01737 321179
Upcoming Events
February Thursday 20 February
An Introduction to ADHD WEBINAR 12.30pm
Thursday 27 February London (Euston)
NOCN Level 2/Level 3 Meeting the Needs of Learners with ADHD in the Mainstream Classroom
March
Tuesday 11 March 2014 Thursday 13 March 2014 London (Euston)
Personal Assertiveness WEBINAR 5.00pm Behaviour Management – a Four Way Approach
Hover your mouse over the course and you can click through for more details. Alternatively, just email me for more information.