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Combating Problem Behaviors


Course Outline


Course Description

This course provides busy educators with practical, easy-to use strategies for preventing and responding to misbehavior in ways that will build respectful, responsible and cooperative classroom communities. This course is designed to directly deal with the issues surrounding problem behaviors in a classroom. You will learn to establish a caring, stimulating and safe community for learning where democratic values are fostered, diversity is embraced, and students assume responsibility for learning. Candidates will explore instructional strategies to enhance teaching and learning for all students.

This course will focus on creating a classroom of exceptional learners who are committed to the learning process when dealing with diverse learners, including those with special needs. We will learn to promote democratic values, appreciate diversity, and create classroom communities with high expectations for all students. We will examine the causes of misbehavior, classroom disruptions and oppositional behaviors that affect student learning.

The first half of this course will focus on a proactive approach with a focus on specific techniques you can use to prevent problems from occurring in the first place. You will learn five specific phrases guaranteed to build relationships with any student as well as numerous strategies designed to make students want to behave because they care about you and each other. In addition, you will learn many practical ways to satisfy the needs that often drive students to misbehave without sacrificing precious instructional time.

The second half of the course will focus on why kids misbehave and how to intervene when one student or a small group of students disrupt the learning process for all. When students are disruptive, you will learn specific things to say and do that will enable you to maintain your authority and the student's dignity while ending the disruption quickly so you can get back to teaching and keep the student in class. You will learn two phrases that will have challenging students agreeing with the consequences given. Finally, you will learn exactly what to say and do when you must remove a student to make them want to return to your class.

Objectives

  • Analyze methods to build a strong classroom community that gets students to like, care about and influence each other in positive ways.
  • Explain and implement specific strategies that can prevent unmotivated and disruptive behavior before it happens.
  • Explain and demonstrate 5 predictable disruptive behaviors students exhibit and what to do that will prevent them.
  • Explain to a group of students why being fair means students will not be treated exactly the same way.
  • Compare and contrast a value and a rule.
  • Compare and contrast a consequence and a punishment.
  • Write good rules that involve students in the decision making process.
  • Assess five specific ways to give students choices in the classroom.
  • Distinguish the core reasons students misbehave.
  • Diagnose a specific student and assess what "need" to fill that will begin fixing the problem.
  • Illustrate what a "power struggle" is and why they happen.
  • Demonstrate specific steps to diffusing hostile students.
  • Create a definition for "cooperative learning" and devise reasons for using the strategy..
  • Demonstrate the best ways to utilize "cooperative learning" to minimize behavior problems.
  • Assess support personnel and how to best utilize them.

Curriculum Design & Time Requirements

There are a series of major classroom management concepts systematically presented by the instructor. Each concept acts as a building block to form a basic understanding that teachers can weave into their own classroom including strategies and best practices to assist teachers in creating a positive and enriching school environment where all can learn. This is a 45 hour, three credit graduate level course.

Course Materials

The required textbook for this course is Strategies for Successful Classroom Management: Helping Students Succeed Without Losing your Dignity or Sanity by Brian D. Mendler, Richard L. Curwin, and Allen N. Mendler. In this text, educators will learn dozens of strategies to improve lessons and eliminate disruptions and one secret strategy that every teacher needs for successful classroom management. You will learn to differentiate instruction without adding any work for the teacher. Finally, you will understand the three biggest classroom management mistakes and how to avoid them. A textbook and student guide will be provided for all students. Case studies, rubrics, and lesson plans are included.

Session Outline

Building a Classroom Community
Contents:
  1. Member introductions
  2. Individual and group expectations
  3. Course sessions, resources and requirements
  4. Defining a classroom community - you must assume all kids can learn
  5. Welcoming your students.
  6. Learn and practice specific strategies that will get students liking each other.
  7. Setting up and organizing a classroom community
  8. Specific Strategies -
  9. Module 1 Assignments and/or projects

Session 2: Prevent Problems Before They Happen
Contents:
  1. Reframing how we view challenging students.
  2. Reframing Activities and articles
  3. Predictability of students. 5 things we know they are going to do before they do it.
  4. Predictability activity.
  5. Why becoming a "Second to last word person" is almost always best.
  6. Changing behaviors is difficult for all people. Understand "The Change Cycle" and what to do on down days.
  7. Grades either motivate or destroy motivation. Learn to use grades to inspire effort!
  8. 5 specific strategies teachers can use that will prevent classroom problems.
  9. Prevention practice scenarios, activities, assignments and more strategies.

Session 3: Fair vs. Equal
Contents:
  1. What does it mean to be "fair"?
  2. What does it mean to be "equal"?
  3. The most important promise of the school year.
  4. Explaining this concept to the class (using analogies).
  5. Fair/Equal and consistency
  6. 18 phrases to learn, memorize, and practice.
  7. Fair/Equal and parents
  8. How the administrator can help
  9. Fair/Equal practice scenarios, activities, and assignments.

Session 4: Rules/Values and Consequences/Punishments
Contents:
  1. Understanding the difference between rules and values
  2. Understanding the difference between consequences and punishments
  3. Establishing effective values with your school and/or class
  4. Establishing effective rules with your school and/or class
  5. Creating a classroom or school “rules committee.”
  6. Why predetermined consequences are
  7. Why a 1-2-3-4-5 consequence system is guaranteed to fail.
  8. Create and maintain the perfect consequence list.
  9. Rule/value/consequence practice scenarios, activities, and assignments.

Session 5: Helping Students Help Each Other—Responsibility and Cooperation
Contents:
  1. What is student responsibility and how do I teach it?
  2. How do I give my students "choices" in the classroom?
  3. Learn specific strategies designed to get students making decisions.
  4. Learn and understand the difference between a "bribe" and a "reward."
  5. Specific strategies that will help create a community of learners
  6. Why are peer relationships so important and how do I get students to like each other?
  7. Learn specific strategies for building cooperative problem solving.
  8. Cooperation, responsibility, and choice scenarios, activities, and assignments.

Session 6: Why Students Misbehave in School and In Class
Contents:
  1. Getting beyond the symptoms: The root causes of misbehavior.
  2. Understanding basic human needs all people have.
  3. Learning the 8 reasons students misbehave, broken into 2 categories.
  4. Category 1: Awareness, Look Cool, feel stupid or hopeless, Attention
  5. Category 2: Lack of: Competence/Belonging and Power/Control.
  6. Diagnosing the student. Figuring out which need(s) are lacking
  7. Filling the need. Learn specific strategies to begin repairing the root.
  8. Basic human need practice scenarios, activities, and assignments.

Session 7: Power Struggles and Conflict Resolution
Contents:
  1. What is a Power Struggle and understanding why they happen.
  2. Understanding what is really at stake during a power struggle.
  3. The role of other students when a power struggle is happening.
  4. Learn and practice a specific step by step process that will get you out of the power struggle.
  5. Learn, practice, and use PEP during the early stages of a power struggle.
  6. 7 other steps to diffusing any student in any situation.
  7. When and how to remove a student so they want to return.
  8. Learn, practice, and become an expert at the 2 x 10.
  9. Power Struggle practice scenarios, activities, and assignments.

Session 8: Cooperative Learning
Contents:
  1. What is cooperative learning and how can it be an extremely valuable teaching strategy to impact problem behavior?
  2. Can I really use cooperative learning in my classroom? Specific strategies to implement immediately.
  3. Learn and practice the 10 most important tips for cooperative learning
  4. From a disorderly crowd to an effective team, the best ideas for outstanding cooperative learning.
  5. What is "Jigsaw" in the classroom and how do I use it?
  6. Strategies during the cooperative learning process - using quiet signals.
  7. A step by step guide to putting students in proper groups.
  8. How do I grade students when working in cooperative learning groups?
  9. Specific group and cooperative learning scenarios, activities, and assignments.

    10. Session 9: Using Support Personnel
    Contents:
  1. Who are my support personnel in school?
  2. What is the difference between a counselor, psychologist and social worker?
  3. Learn how to utilize each effectively to make your life easier.
  4. Specific strategies for outstanding co-teaching.
  5. What is a para professional and how do I utilize this person?
  6. Can hallway monitors, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers help me with my challenging students?How to best utilize these people.
  7. Where does the administration fit in?
  8. Support Personnel practice scenarios, activities, and assignments

Session 10: Putting it all together
Contents:
  1. The most important things to remember when building a classroom community.
  2. The top 10 prevention tools to remember.
  3. Keys to understanding and implementing the most important aspects of Fair/Equal with students and parents. 
  4. Assignment/assessment that you understand the difference between rules and values, consequences and punishments.  Top 10 things to remember.
  5. Do you know and understand how to implement at least 10 specific ways to get students to become more responsible?
  6. Do you understand the 8 underlying causes of misbehavior?  Can you explain at least 10 specific ways to fix the problem?
  7. Can you explain why a power struggle is happening, and more importantly, specific strategies to diffuse?
  8. What are the most important aspects to making cooperative learning successful?
  9. Who are my support personnel and how do I utilize them on a daily basis?
  10. What are the 10 best things you learned in this class, and what are 3 things we can do to make this course better?

Grading

    Assignment Points   Grading Scale  
  Participation   20      100 – 93 A
  Class Assignments   30       92 – 85 B
  Final Project   30       84 – 77 C
    Final Exam   20            
  Total Points  100    

Student Requirements

1. Participation: Attend all class sessions for the requisite number of hours (45) and actively participate in all class activities.
2. Reading Assignments:Complete all readings and reflection assignments.
3. Students are required to put the classroom management strategies and concepts into action and will be required to construct a portfolio during the course that will serve as a toolkit of specific ideas and protocols for their classrooms as a part of their final project which will include a final exam and be due by the end of Module 10.

Student Academic Integrity

Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary action.

Register

To register to take TEI's Combating Problem Behaviors course, go to the Course Registration page.