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Proactive Intervention Skills

❖ Change the pace of classroom activity: Read your audience for signs such as rubbing eyes, yawning, stretching and staring out the window.

❖ Removing seductive objects: Intercept items such as toys, magazines, games, and combs and don’t miss a beat with teaching your lesson.

❖ Interest boosting of a student who shows signs of off-task behavior: Walk towards a student and ask a probing question about progress on a task. Do this in a matter-of-fact, supportive manner.

❖ Redirecting the behavior of off-task students: If an off-task student answers a question correctly, give positive feedback. If student answers incorrectly, reformulate the question or call on someone else. “I’ll come back to you with another question,” will often boost attention. Don’t embarrass or ridicule.

❖ Non-punitive time out: Offer the student an opportunity for a small break such as getting a drink of water, running an errand, or doing a classroom chore when you see signs of frustration or the beginnings of an eruption.

❖ Encouraging the appropriate behavior of other students: Remind students of expectations by providing a positive phrase for appropriate behavior that is evident.

❖ Providing cues for expected behavior: Cues can be quite effective in obtaining the desired behavior, but the teacher must make sure the cue is understood by all. Using the same cues consistently usually results in quick student response. (ex: sign language gesture, clapping, ringing a bell)

Levin, J. & Nolan, J. (2007) Principles of Classroom Management: A Professional Decision-Making Model. Boston, Massachusetts. Allyn and Bacon, Inc.

COMPARISON OF ASSERTIVE AND AGGRESSIVE RESPONSE STYLES

| |Assertive |Aggressive |

|Audience |Private only to student |Public to entire class |

|How student is addressed |Student’s name |“You” or “Hey you” |

|Voice |Firm, neutral, soft, slow |Tense, loud, fast |

|Eyes |Eye contact only |Narrowed, frowning eyes |

|Stance |Close to student without violating personal space |Hands on hips, violating personal space |

|Hands |Gently touch student or student’s desk (Be careful|Sharp, abrupt gestures |

| |here) | |

Levin, J. & Nolan, J. (2007) Principles of Classroom Management: A Professional Decision-Making Model. Boston, Massachusetts. Allyn and Bacon, Inc.

Tips for Transitions

School staff experience their most difficult time with student behavior during transitions. As students change from one activity to another, return from recess or a special event, or move from one part of the room to another, successful teachers report the necessity of using a number of strategies.

Consider the following:

|[pic]|As you announce an upcoming transition, remind students of the kind of behavior you're looking for. |

| |Restate your expectation of moving quietly and slowly without bumping, shoving, or touching others with hands or feet. |

|[pic]|Publicly compliment those groups of students complying with your transition expectations. |

| |Say such things as, "I like the way John, Sue, and Paul are moving quietly to their seats. Some of you, I see, are already sitting, ready to begin. |

| |OK, now I see more of you are ready to work." (adapt for secondary) |

|[pic]|As students re-enter the classroom, have the next activity waiting for them. |

| |Put a message on the overhead projector about how to get ready for the next lesson, or have an assignment or the seatwork for a lesson already |

| |distributed on their desks. |

|[pic]|After all students have re-entered the room, give a signal that you are ready to begin. |

| |Say, "Let's get started," "We have so much to do," or "The sooner we can begin, the sooner we can finish," or turn off the lights, count backwards |

| |from five, or ring a small bell. Then look at the clock, set a timer, or raise fingers on your hand with the prearranged understanding that lost |

| |minutes of instruction will be made up by the whole class (or a few individuals) before leaving for recess or lunch. |



Pairing and Grouping: Avoid cliques by using innovative grouping strategies

A Little Logic: It's “funny” how that happens

Cut apart several comic strips and pass them out to students -- one pane to a student. Have students walk around the room to find the rest of their comic strips. Each completed comic strip creates a team.

Boxed Pairs: Make sure everyone works together

If students frequently work in pairs, create a chart listing students' names across the top and along one side. When two students work together, have them initial the box at which their names intersect. Explain to students that all boxes must be initialed by the end of the year.

Humming Along: Groups sing a song together

To form cooperative groups, create sets of index cards with the titles of familiar songs printed on each. (The number of groups you want to form determines the number of different song titles.) Have each student draw a card and walk around the classroom humming the tune written on the card until he or she finds all the other students humming the same tune. (Let them know how many there will be.) When students have located their entire group, they stop humming and sing the song with words

Your Ideas:



Strategies for Promoting Effective Classroom Management

Once students are settled in the classroom, you'll want to continue with some of these teacher-recommended techniques for maintaining control without confrontation:

• Establish eye contact.

• Move around the room and increase proximity to restless students.

• Send a silent signal.

• Give a quiet reminder.

• Re-direct a student's attention.

• Begin a new activity.

• Offer a choice.

• Use humor.

• Provide positive reinforcement.

• Wait quietly until everyone is on task.

• Ask a directed question.



STARTING YOUR DAY: Start Off the Way You Want the Day to Go

1. Wake up! 2. Calm down. 3. Engage them quickly.

A morning greeting establishes warmth and trust. Start each day by greeting every student at the door. A warm individual welcome sets the tone for the day and gives you a chance to assess each student's mood and head off problems before they start.

Calm those who encountered early-morning chaos and conflict. Kids who arrive at school wound up or upset often calm down if classical music is playing as they arrive. Or begin each day with a brief reading -- a short poem, a famous or funny quote, a surprising fact or statistic, or an inspiring message. Some teachers have found that turning the lights down low or using some lamps and projecting the morning's bell ringer activity onto the chalkboard with an overhead projector helps focus students' attention on the day ahead.

Engage them quickly. Before the first “assigned task” of the day, provide opportunities for independent morning activities such as a few brainteasers on index cards, journal writing topics, laminated puzzles/anagrams/word searches, and extra-credit activities. Another activity involves writing the days' events in code, and have students decipher it. Provide an area in your classroom that is stocked with writing paper, pencils and pens, washable markers, puzzles, and other supplies that might be needed for independent work. Placing a Suggestion Box in that area for other morning activities would invite student input.



Cheating: Tips and Advice for Preventing and Handling (Part 2)

Tip 4

Tell students at the start of the test, "During the test, cover your answers.” You might even let students know that any student who helps another cheat also will face repercussions. By encouraging students to cover their own papers, you will probably be giving most students permission to do what they really want to do and minimizing the possibility of peer pressure to show answers.

Tip 5

Don't wait for the day of the test to tell students how you'll handle cheating. By then, it's too late to motivate students to study, rather than to try to cheat. Instead, give warnings about cheating a day or two before the test. By doing that, you might motivate a potential cheater to study instead.

Tip 6

Return test papers at the end of a class period -- not at the start of a class period. Doing that is helpful in two ways:

• Students will be more likely to listen to a review of the test answers before they get their papers back.

• If you return papers at the beginning of class, cheaters who lost points or got zeroes might vent their anger and disrupt your planned lesson. If they get back their papers at the end of the period, they can talk to you after class. Even better, they may go home to vent, and cool off by the time you see them the next day. They might even be motivated to do better in the future!

Cheating: Tips and Advice for Preventing and Handling (Part 1)

Tip 1

When you give a test, arrange students' desks in neat rows and sit in the back of the room. When students can't see you well, they are usually more nervous about trying to cheat. Those who are tempted to cheat usually will try to turn around to see where you are. That makes it easy for you to spot potential cheaters.

Tip 2

Cheating is easier when you give a short answer test -- for example, tests with true/false, fill-in-the-blank, or multiple-choice questions. Try instead to give tests that require short essay responses.

Tip 3

Don't take away the paper of a suspected cheater, or reprimand him or her in the middle of taking a test. Such an action will cause a disturbance during the test, and the disruption will give other students an opportunity to cheat. Instead, inform students before the test that, "If I suspect anyone is cheating, I won’t say anything during the test. I’ll talk to you about it after the test period is over.” A statement such as that may often make potential cheaters too nervous to cheat.



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