Centre TEFL Certificate

Classroom ManagementClassroom Management is an essential piece to creating a successful classroom. Without it, teaching academic content becomes very difficult. In this independent research article, I will tell you about two different types of classroom management programs, the School-Wide Positive Behavior Support Program and a Stoplight Program. One way to implement consistent management into your classroom is through a SWPBS program or, School-Wide Positive Behavior Support Program. Schools using this model track student?s behaviors and analyze when/where undesirable behavior occurs most. During the first weeks of school, all teachers model and have students practice appropriate behaviors throughout the school. This includes common areas such as the bathrooms, lunchroom, and playground. Expectations are often written on posters with pictures to remind students what is expected. students are given sheets called ?Hot Topics? or ?Mustang Moments? when they exceed the expectations. They are often then displayed in the room to reinforce the positive behavior (Horner, Robert & Sugai, George, (2002) The Evolution of Discipline Practices: School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 24 Retrieved from http://www.auburn.edu/~jec0018/8550/Sugai.pdf). Should students fail to meet the appropriate behaviors, they are issued a ?Refocus? form where the teacher and student come up with a plan to help the student exhibit appropriate behaviors. This form then goes home to parents and is kept in a school-wide data system so the school can keep track of when/where undesirable behaviors occurs most frequently. The school then has a SWPBS committee who meets monthly to review behavior issues that have been logged into the data system. As a team, they come up with a school-wide plan to help decrease the number of refocus forms being issued. For example, if teachers notice that 70% of the refocus forms were issued in the lunchroom that month, they may send a mass e-mail to the staff reminding them to plan for a time to review and practice appropriate behaviors in the lunchroom. They also try to catch students who are doing great in the lunchroom and award them with the ?Hot Topics? or ?Mustang Moments.? By providing positive attention to students who are following the rules, they hope that others will catch on and mimic their behavior. One area that can be difficult with a SWPBS program is ensuring the all teachers/ teacher aids, volunteers, and other adults in the school are consistent with the program. Without the consistency, the program is difficult to make successful. A SWPBS program usually takes about three to four years to implement as it takes a lot of reflecting from the staff on what exactly are desirable behaviors in all areas of the school (Anderson, Shonda; Freeman, Rachel; Griggs, Peter. (2009). School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS). Kansas Institute for Positive Behavior Support at the University of Kansas, Volume 1. Retrieved from http://www.swpbs.org/schoolwide/Training/files/Kansas_School-Wide_Positive_Behavior_Support_Newsletter.pdf). Another type of classroom management that many teachers enjoy is called a Stoplight Program. students come into school on a green stoplight. Throughout the day, students are asked to move their stoplight if they are not demonstrating appropriate behaviors. They then move to yellow as a ?warning.? If students reach red, this means that they need to stop and think about their behavior. Some teachers then have students write a letter home explaining why they were on red for the day. Some teachers do track students ?colors? while others simply have students put their stoplights back to green at the end of the day. While this method can be effective, some teachers lack consistency with what merits a student to move his/her stoplight (kozykornerkiddykollege, Traffic Light Behavior System, Scholastic Website, Retrieved from http://community.scholastic.com/scholastic/board/message?board.id=class_management&message.id=11). Also, some teachers make it more difficult for students to earn back their colors while other teachers do not let them earn back at all. It is also possible that the students demonstrating positive behavior become overlooked, as they are not provided attention because they never move their color. Some teachers then provide a ?Cloud Nine Day? once or twice a week to help elevate this. ?Cloud Nine Day? is a day that any student who stays on green all day receives an award such as a small prize or extra recess. Overall, there are many types of classroom management strategies that one can implement into their classroom. SWPBS and the Stoplight Program are two ideas. I hope you have learned more about classroom management techniques and have a better understanding of a SWPBS and Stoplight Program.