Classroom Management - Consequences Models

1.  Assertive Discipline Model

The assertive discipline model focuses on training parents and teachers on the use of assertive disciplinary techniques. Teachers insist on proper behavior from students, recognizing and supporting them when they practice such behavior and utilizing well-organized procedures for following through when they do not behave.

Assertive discipline is a system in which negative consequences are consistently meted out for rule infractions.The rules determined by the teacher or administration of that school must be obeyed and are non-negotiable.

The severity of the act will lead to a harsher consequence as well as with repeated incidents. Teachers use a system of positive reinforcements or rewards, such as praise and extra credit, to encourage good behavior. 

Assertive Discipline’s Five Basic Procedures: 

  1.     Determine negative consequence for noncompliance and positive consequence for the appropriate behavior. 

  2.     Identify your expectations. Draw a clear line between appropriate and inappropriate behavior.

  3.     Stress why a positive behavior is necessary.
  4.     Persist in reinforcing expectations, using a firm tone of voice and maintaining eye contact. Use nonverbal gestures to clearly convey intention.

  5.     Be assertive in confrontations with students over behavior, reminding them of expectations and consequences, without hostility or threats. Make sure the established consequences are constantly enforced.  

When To Use:  This model can be used at any time in order to gain or regain control of the class. 

Strengths:  This model is simple to use and straightforward. Teachers have the power which gives them confidence in their abilities to run the classroom. The involvement of parents and administrators in the discipline process allows for a team effort in directing children to conform to the norms of appropriate behaviors.

Weaknesses:  The weaknesses of this model stem from the power inequality it creates in the classroom. Students are not invited into the management process; the teacher sets the rules and the students are punished or rewarded depending on their ability to conform to these rules. The rules are non-negotiable which can lead to students feeling dis-empowered and undervalued. 

2.  Jones Model 

 According to Frederic Jones, teachers need to utilize their physical presence in the classroom to ensure that students remained on task and did not disrupt the learning process. Classroom management procedures must be positive and they must affirm students while setting limits and promoting cooperation. Discipline procedures must be practical, simple, easily mastered, and not coercive. His basic assumptions are that children need a controlled environment in order to behave properly and that teachers can attain control through nonverbal cues and movements calculated to bring them physically closer to students. Jones also believes that teachers should offer incentives, which by reinforcing good behaviors will lead to an increase in their frequency. Teachers need

to have set procedures, rules, standards, and expectations, which should be covered and practiced the first two weeks of school and then revisited periodically throughout the school year.

The following steps can be used to correct misbehavior without much-interrupting learning:

1.      Address misbehavior: Discipline comes before instruction; children aren’t on task if they’re goofing off. Effective procedures can help teachers address misbehavior with minimal loss of teaching time. Teachers should stay calm and take two relaxing breaths before any action is taken.

2.      Turn, look, names, wait, and turn: The second step requires you to slowly turn and face the misbehaving student(s), making direct eye contact. Say the name(s) of the student(s) in a non-threatening manner. 

3.      Walk: If they do not respond to your initial effort to stop their behavior, move in their direction.

Walk slowly, in a relaxed manner. Approach the biggest troublemaker first. Stand close to the student’s desk and brush it with your leg. 

4.      Prompt: Lean in slowly while giving visual prompts such as turning papers and pointing to redirect them to work. Give a verbal prompt only if necessary. Keep it simple—no more than two declarative sentences. Speak calmly; do not raise your voice. 

5.      Palms: If the response is still insufficient, place your palms flat on the desk while maintaining eye contact. This will discomfort the offender, who should cease the objectionable action. 

6.     Stand you ground: Remain near the student until he is back on task.

                  7.     Move out: When all is settled you can move away by quietly thanking the student for                            getting back to work.  

        

We can see that the major strength of the Jones model is that it specifies a set of steps to follow in dealing with discipline problems. Jones suggests that classroom discipline is thought of as a card game in which every move ups the ante. A commitment to discipline must be shown. And it will take some time. Jones advocates four basic realities of learning, which he claims his model helps achieve.

1.     We learn one step at a time.

2.     We learn by doing.    

3.     We learn by teaching.

4.     We improve through practice, practice, and practice. 

When To Use:  The Jones model can be used as a practical application to discrete incidents of misbehavior. The quintessential interventionist model, it was developed to be used when your authority as a teacher is challenging. Because its primary tool is body language, the strategy can be implemented at a moment’s notice. 

Strengths:  The strength of this model is that it provides the user with a specific, detailed approach to handling discipline problems. It has specified steps and positive approach avoids the teacher from becoming frustrated and resorting to yelling, hostility, and sarcasm. 

Weaknesses:  The weakness of this model is that does not attempt to understand the underlying causes of misconduct. The model encourages the teacher to be controlling and avoids helpful supportive guidance approach. 

 And as with most consequences approaches, it does not promote autonomy in students. 

3.Kounin Effective Momentum Model (Psychologist Jacob Kounin) 

    - Effective lesson management leads to good behavior in the classroom

      Key philosophy: 

•  Preventive strategies rather than intervention

•  Smooth transitions

•  “Withitness” (insightful awareness of what was going on in the classroom knowing what            everyone is doing in the classroom- eyes in the back of their head )            

• Overlapping – managing behavior while keeping focus on the lesson         

• Momentum – keeping lessons going, preventing boredom

• Smoothness – Sufficient variety of lessons, avoid lengthy directions. 

     -Praise positively affects the behavior of not only the intended recipient but also those witnessing        the praise. 

Strengths:  affects whole classroom, not just one student.

Weaknesses:   is strictly preventative, doesn’t provide corrective measures to solve serious discipline problems, assist students in developing self-discipline.

4. Logical Consequences (Dreikurs and Soltz) 

  Key Points: 

-Democratic principles are essential to discipline

-When an individual can assess consequences of his or her behavior, actions are more informed.

-Needs must be met for behavior to improve.

-Punishment, positive, negative reinforcement is inappropriate because they create dependency.

Common sense consequences approach:

Examples of consequences:

    1. Child writes on the wall and cleans the wall/pays custodian to do it

    2. The child who fights at recess is banned at recess until he comes up with a plan to avoid fighting

    3. Child recreates a sloppy assignment. 

Examples of dos and don'ts under this philosophy: 

     1. Do give clear-cut expectations

     2. Do focus on present behavior, not past

     3. Do build on positive, avoid the negative

    1. Don’t get caught up in own authority

    2. Don’t ask a child to promise anything

    3. Don’t use threats

Other aspects: 

-Focus on encouragement, instilling self-control in students

-Students want to become part of a group, so they act out. Teachers must find ways to help students do this without misbehavior.

Strengths: Promotes autonomy in students.

Weaknesses: Difficult to find student motives, students may not be able to understand or admit them. 

5.  Traditional Model

    This model is considered a "cookbook approach" to classroom management.  It is based on a collection of practices teachers have traditionally employed in their classrooms.  It consists of commonsense remedies for management ills.  It is interventionist rather than preventive, and reactive rather than proactive.  This model includes positive reinforcement and intervention strategies including punishment.  Misbehavior is controlled by ignoring, reminders, eye contact, commands and direct orders, verbal threats, separating students from the site of the infraction, and sending offenders to the principal.

Essential Practices

        1.  Develop classroom rules   

        2.  Create classroom rewards

        3.  Devise classroom consequences   

        4.  Establish routines and procedures

        5.  Organize the classroom space

        6.  Practice effective communication

The managerial strategies are effective and logical in the application and include these teacher directives:

        1.  Always be consistent in enforcing rules.

        2.  Never play favorites when rewarding students.

When to Use:  Use in combination with other strategies that have a sequential base. 

                         This model is typically successful and it is the easiest to use.

Strengths:  These are comfortable and reliable approaches that offer a lot of variety.

Weaknesses: 

       1. Teachers enforce rules without analyzing each situation individually. 

       2. This method leads to using coercive forms of                          management. 

       3. Students react to traditional, role punishments in a                  negative way. 

       4. There is little evidence that this approach has long-                term improvements. 

6.  Behavior Modification

 Based on the studies of psychologist B.F. Skinner.  Skinner believed behavior could be controlled through a program of reinforcement.  His work led to the science of human behavior known as behavior modification. These five historical figures led to the foundation of behavioral psychology:  Aristotle who classified human behavior into five categories ( sight, smell, hearing, appetite, and fashion); Rene Descartes, who said behavior was mechanical since the body was thought to be like a machine; Darwin, with his theory of evolution and natural selection; Ivan Pavlov, who demonstrated behavior modification by getting dogs to salivate  when a bell was rung; and John B. Watson, who formalized previous into a field called behavioral psychology.

 Skinner followed the work of Watson and isolated behavior as its own entity separate from all other aspects of life.

 Behaviorists believe the behavior is controlled by consequences and any behavior can be reinforced if a strong reward is associated with it.  Behaviorists modify behavior using both positive and negative reinforcement. 

Skinner believes both appropriate and inappropriate behavior is learned and a child misbehaves because he has not learned appropriately.  To modify behavior teachers should use the following correction strategies:

        1.  Extinction:  Ignore inappropriate behavior until it disappears.

        2.  Reinforcement:  Using stimuli to produce certain behavior.  Positive reinforcement means using stimuli as rewards while negative reinforcement means removing the stimuli.

                

Types of reinforcers:

        A- Conditioned reinforcers:  These reinforcers are strengthened by association with another                reinforcer. (i.e. give verbal praise and a material reward).

       B- Edible reinforcers:  Food treats such as candy.

       C- Material reinforcers:  Give favored objects such as toys. 

       D- Activity reinforcers:  Give pleasurable experiences such as playtime. 

        3.  Response-cost procedures:  Correction procedures that remove desirable stimuli.

        4.  Time-out:  Removes student temporarily from the environment where misbehavior is being                 reinforced.

        5.  Punishment:  This is a last resort when other strategies have failed.  It is seen as decreasing                the severity of, or eliminating, the objectional behavior.

Skinner also formulated principles for behavior shaping, which is the systematic use of reinforcing stimuli to change behavior in desired directions.  The following reinforcing stimuli or rewards are used:

        1. Catch 'em being good.  Praise for good work and good behavior.

        2.  Rules-Ignore-Praise.    Make rules, ignore rule breakers and praise rule followers.

        3.  Token Economies.  Using tangible reinforcers such as toys and candy.

        4.  Contracting.  Formal behavior agreements signed by the teacher, student, and parents.

When to use:  Teachers who accept its underlying philosophy will have the most success using behavior modification. The teacher's role is to provide instructional episodes combined with reinforcers.

Strengths:  This model is easy to use and results are seen immediately. This model combines feelings of success with obtaining rewards.  Rules and standards are consistent, clear and the same for all students.  It can be applied to children of all ages.  This method is well-researched and works consistently with most students.

Weaknesses:  The biggest weakness is implementation, most teachers resist full-application.  This model is ineffective in dealing with blatant misbehavior.  It is weak in intervention and corrective discipline. The results may not be long-term.  It ignores the underlying causes of misbehavior.  This model does not give students a chance to express emotions, weight alternatives, decide on solutions, or to develop self-discipline.