Resources >> Browse Articles >> Managing Your Classroom
How to Approach Behavior Problems in Class
" Even though problem behaviors may look different, often the motives behind them are one and the same. "
Featured Author:
Kit Richert, Ph.D.
Kit joined TheApple after working as a middle school psychologist in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District in California. As a school psychologist, Kit worked extensively with Special Education students, and developed expertise in assessment, counseling, and behavior management. Kit was a clinical psychology major at Tufts University and received her Ph.D. in Education from UC Berkeley. Her doctoral research focused on children with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Kit Richert, Ph.D.
From elementary to high school, managing behavior is by far the most difficult part of being a teacher. Problem behaviors come in a variety of forms, from a young child hitting to a teenager disrupting your lesson. Children also come to school with a variety of emotional and life challenges, which may make their problem behaviors seem complex and difficult to correct. However, behavior problems and appropriate interventions can be discovered readily when the function of the behavior is explored. Follow these steps and you’ll gain a great deal of clarity on your problem and what intervention to create!
Note: Before reading these steps, pick a case example from your class of a student with behavior problems. As you read, go through the process of behavior planning with your case.
Step 1: Make a list of your student’s behavior problems. Be as concrete as possible about what the behaviors look like.
DO list things that are observable: (ex: Jenny blurts out during class).
DO NOT list things that are unobservable or emotion based: (ex: Jenny is annoying).
Step 2: Select 1 or 2 Target Behaviors (the one’s you want to correct) and the frequency (how often) they occur. Use your real life example.
Look at your list and select ONLY 1 or 2 target behaviors; the one’s that are the most problematic to the learning of the student or others in the class. Many children will have multiple problems behaviors but behavior management will only be effective with 1 or 2 at a time.
Once you have selected the behaviors, make sure you have appropriately described (1) what they look like (what you see and hear in class) and (2) and how often they occur (1x/week, 3x/day). These observables are important to document as a behavior baseline so you will be able to measure improvement.
Step 3: Brainstorm and list any and all triggers of the behavior. Use your real life example.
Where does the student’s behavior occur?
• On the playground?
• PE class?
• School bus?
• Classroom?
When does the student’s behavior occur?
• Morning?
• After Lunch?
• During all academic subjects or 1 subject only?
• During group work?
Even though problem behaviors may look different, often the motives behind them are one and the same.
• During transitions?
• Beginning seat work?
• During writing activities?
Brainstorm and list whom (if anyone) the child have difficulties with?
• Teachers?
• Classmates?
• Girls only?
• Administration?
• PE teacher?
• All authority figures?
• Weaker or younger students?
Continue reading on the next page.
bpierpont
about 1 month ago
2 comments
This is a good article, but I want to know what I should do when I'm in a room with 33 students who all take advantage of student A's misbehavior to misbehave themselves thus making a total round-robin of acting out for the entire period. What do you do with a class like this? I use PBS models in my classroom and this one is the only one that acts this way. I feel like I'm unable to teach at all during this time! Can you feel the frustration here, colleagues?!
eagrusti
about 1 month ago
2 comments
I agree with all of the suggestions above. It looks like someone attended a workshop on Applied Behavior Analysis. As for lucyar29 saying none of these suggestions work for her kids, then you are not doing it right!!! That's why people who try and fail say it doesn't work, unless you can actually figure out why the behavior is occurring, and what the student is gaining from the behavior, you can't find a way to change the behavior. Now, I am not saying that this is a magic cure-all for every behavior problem, it does take some work and can get complicated when the behavior serves many purposes, but when it works you will know how to reach that child. You also have to be aware that there is a period called an "extinction burst" when the behavior you are trying to change may get worse before it gets better. Planned ignoring is a prime example, a student may just "kick it up a few notches" to see how much you can take and still continue to ignore it.....that is when alot of teachers may give up and say that it just isn't working. You have to give positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior while ignoring inappropriate behavior for it to work.
Rosanna
about 1 month ago
70 comments
Kit - I like the systematic approach. two considerations - in the world of NCLB do teachers have the time to follow the steps as diligently as they would have to - for the system to work? Do you have cases wherein teachers are using this system and fitting it around their other work and pressures? Also, you do not mention working with parents. As a parent, I would want to be brought in to the mix - maybe I could help reinforce the strategy at home. Without parental support - would this work? I am intrigued by this set of steps - I think it would make an excellent core idea for a probelm solving workshop. With input from other educators, it could be fully developed and evolve further.
lucyar29
about 1 month ago
4 comments
omg! None of these were good suggestions. I teach middle school science and spend some class periods redirecting behavior of kids who are biopolar, add, adhd, suffer from torretts, and SLH. These kids do not respond to much. I usually seperate them, call their parents, lower their conduct grade, and split up any cliques I see in the classroom. This is not a true fix but it does help temp until I have a better solution.
Heidel1
2 months ago
36 comments
Some good information
jyzferia21
2 months ago
256 comments
nice idea
SBonilla07
3 months ago
588 comments
I actually do something like this, but this is really neat! It's good to observe the children and find the ways to make there bad behaviors go away. They do. I still have one child I'm working on, and I know this will work!!!
ktenkely
3 months ago
162 comments
Awesome! Great reminders for handling the problem children we may rather not deal with.
aprilmorrison
3 months ago
30 comments
This is a wonderful article. The sequence presented for assessing behaviors for remediation is clear and concise.
ALL BEHAVIOR IS COMMUNICATION! Finding out what the child is "really" saying is up to us.
hatesstarwars
3 months ago
8 comments
I agree with the part of this article that says the child may come to school with baggage,we are adopting a 10 year old out of foster care and most of his issues come out at school in the form of not doing his work and lying about having work. And that then causes problems at home.
c_gempz
7 months ago
412 comments
Yeah we do anecdotal recording but still we cant address solutions to all problem. We always consider Individual differences .
tolistefl65
10 months ago
146 comments
Most thorough as an approach to dealing with students. Step 1 is a must for all teachers, novices and veterans alike; it will give us a portrait of our classroom troubles (even if we do it for two ro three of our classrooms experimentally). Step 2 is the wisest; you can't deal with everything together, as sanmccarron correctly commented. Steps 3, 4 and 5 are things that we do - most of us - intuitively with more or less success. Step 6 is interesting because it allows us to see the effectiveness (or not) of our strategies. Definitely, it cannot be done for every student.
EdwardBear
10 months ago
990 comments
I like the systematic and hands on advice.
mrslater13
10 months ago
56 comments
Like other teachers have noted in the comments, this too was an area that my teacher education program did a poor job of getting me ready for. I think more attention needs to be given to instructing student teachers in how to manage their classrooms.
jawirt
10 months ago
40 comments
123