Learning New Behaviors
When helping students learn new behaviors such as positive social skills, teachers can use a combination of instructional strategies, including:
- Modeling
- Rehearsing appropriate behavior
- Role playing
- Continuous reinforcement
- Prompting
"Target Behavior of the Day" is a practice used in Jacksonville, Florida to help students think about good classroom behavior on a daily basis. At the elementary level, teachers introduce this practice by asking students to make a list of specific behaviors that are desirable in the classroom such as raising your hand, listening when others talk, waiting your turn, speaking with an inside voice (i.e., using a low tone of voice inside, even though louder voices can be used outside on the playground), and cleaning up your area.
These behaviors are then written on large strips of posterboard and displayed one each day on the "Target Behavior of the Day" bulletin board. During the day, the teacher records a mark on a tally card each time a student displays the behavior. At day's end, the teacher recognizes students who have modeled the behavior.
For older students who need more of a challenge, this technique can be adapted by listing all of the desired behaviors and keeping the targeted behavior a secret from the group until the end of the day.
Providing constructive feedback to the student is important. Middle school teachers in Lake Villa, Illinois have come up with an approach for helping students demonstrate positive academic and social behaviors. Each Friday, teachers write a brief progress report on the students, describing the students' behavior, effort, classroom performance, homework completion, and present grade point average.
Before leaving school, the students collect the reports and meet with a designated adult to discuss the comments. During this meeting, the students and adults work together to problem solve and suggest alternatives where needed.
Verbal prompting has also been found to help students better understand the requirements of their environment. In Des Moines, Iowa teachers help ease transition generally a very difficult time for many students with attention deficit disorder by telling the student when there are "two minutes to go before..." Even young students who might not comprehend time can benefit from the cue which alerts them of the approaching change.
Enlisting Colleagues' Support
Some students will demand more attention and understanding. At these times, consider enlisting the help of your colleagues either individually or on teams in supporting the student's behavioral growth.
In Irvine, California teachers find it helpful to come to team meetings prepared with the following information about the student's behavior:
- Statement of problem behaviors
- Desired alternative behaviors
- Previous attempts at modification in the classroom: what works and what doesn't work
- Special health considerations
- Previously used reinforcement mechanisms: levels of success
Using this information as a guide, the team might decide to have a colleague serve as another set of eyes in the classroom, to gather more insight into how the student might be helped to develop more positive behaviors. Ultimately, this information will form the basis for a classroom intervention plan.
Excerpted from Teaching Strategies: Education of Children with Attention Deficit Disorder.
