A resource about classroom management and behavior change methods
Hooray for US National Public Radio! In a follow-up to the segment of Talk of the Nation that aired yesterday, there are notes about “Discipline Success Stories.” According to the page, “NPR Producer Susannah George asked some additional educators and counselors to tell her a story about a child who acted out, and what they did to diffuse the situation.” The results include comments by George Sugai (PBIS) and Bev Johns (personal experience).
Link to the coverage.
Sphere: Related ContentThe recent discussions in the press and the US Congress about seclusion and restraint prompted me to draft these preliminary notes about alternatives that are available to school personnel. Generally, one does not need to resort to putting students in isolation or holding them to the ground.
Schools that employ evidence-based practices have a wealth of alternatives to physical seclusion or restraint. These methods range from plain, old good teaching to systematic analysis of the functions that misbehaviors serve. In the next few paragraphs, I present laconic descriptions of these.
Continue reading ‘Notes about reducing misbehavior’
Representatives of Democrats on the US House Education and Labor Committee provided me with a list of resources covering the hearing held 19 May 2009. These hearings were about the use and misuse of seclusion and restraint in managing students’ behavior. Here’re items from that list:
Links to some earlier posts on this topic: “Seclusion and restraint: US hearings coverage” (19 May 2009), “US House to review seclusion and restraint” (here 13 May 2009) and “Seclusion and restraint: NDRN report” (15 January 2009 on Teach Effectively)
Sphere: Related ContentReporting for US National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, Joe Shapiro covered the debate about disciplinary methods in schools. In “Discipline Methods Endanger Disabled Kids,” Mr. Shapiro presented different views ahead of hearings that were to be held later today in the US House of Representatives.
The hearings were prompted by the distressing report by the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) about seclusion and restraint in US schools. Although there’s going to be plenty of opportunity for demagoguery and people who follow the hearings will need to separate fact and opinion carefully, the topic is an important one and hearings are merited.
In some cases, the Government Accountability Office report notes, children have died or been injured when they have been tied, taped, handcuffed or pinned down by adults or locked in secluded rooms, often to be left for hours at a time.
The report looking at restraint and seclusion in schools will be released Tuesday at a hearing by the House Committee on Education and Labor. Committee Chairman George Miller, who asked for the GAO report, says it begins to give lawmakers a sense of the frequent use of those methods.
As reported here on Behavior Mod Info previously, there is virtually no need for harsh punishment, seclusion, or restraint in working with children. Mr. Shapiro’s report includes quotes about alternative methods for addressing behavior problems (e.g., functional behavior assessment).
Read Mr. Shapiro’s report. See my notes about “US House to review seclusion and restraint” (here 13 May 2009) and “Seclusion and restraint: NDRN report” (15 January 2009 on Teach Effectively).
Sphere: Related ContentPat and I have a quiet tug-o-war between management and teaching. Although both of us recognize the importance of having both classroom management and instructional skills, she contends that the management skills are required. Pollyanna-ishly, I maintain that if one’s instructional management is strong, one will not need behavior management competence.
Too be sure, my view is idealist. That’s reinforced (ahem) by an article entitled “Schools Beef Up Classroom-Management Training” from by Vaishali Honawar of Education Week. Ms. Honowar provides the following lead:
Faced with concerns that too many teachers are entering the profession unprepared to manage classrooms, some colleges of education have in recent years increased their focus on training aspiring educators to handle disruptive students.
New teachers, even if skilled in academic subjects and pedagogy, often find themselves grossly unprepared to deal with student misbehavior. Discipline issues are one of the primary reasons given for teacher attrition. In fact, a 2003 study by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a Washington-based advocacy group, found that more than 25 percent of teachers who left the profession cited student discipline.
Given that I teach a behavior management class for my school’s teacher education program, I should be encouraged. I’ll still promote the idea that the first behavior management bulwark is powerful instruction, but I know I’ll have to teach them how to deal with problems, too. Here’s hoping I the evidence-based procedures I pitch to them will register…and stick.
Link to Ms. Honowar’s article.
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