Redirection and Consequences

Coming prepared and setting up your lesson well prevents most behavior issues. When
students fail to meet expectations, you and your Team Leader will need to reinforce
classroom procedures and behavior expectations through redirection and/or consequence.
Here are a few best practices:

Every time you give a warning or a “strike,” you should address the child by name and
include:

 What you saw or heard the child do

“Daniel, you are yelling out, which is disruptive to the rest of the class.”

 Why this is against our community expectations

“As you can see on our community contract, we’ve agreed that we will raise a strong,
silent hand if we have something to say.”

 What the current consequence and next step will be

“Because you yelled out, you have earned a warning. If you disrupt your team
members again you will receive your first strike.”

All warnings and strikes should be given as privately as possible. It’s more effective to cross
the classroom and whisper to a child than to call across the classroom. Other students will
be curious or scared about what you’re saying to that child if you whisper, and the child will
be more likely to take you seriously if you’re close, perhaps with a hand on the child’s
shoulder.

It’s also a good idea to do some bigger-picture thinking with the child:

 How receiving a strike affects the team/student/program

“As you know, every time you get a strike it subtracts a point from our team. We’re
so close to being Team-of-the-Week but everyone’s got to pitch in so everyone can
benefit.

 Depending on the child, the offense, and how many previous offenses you may also
want to get to the root of the issue
“I hear that you were yelling out to get my attention because you needed help on
your homework. How else can we work together so that you can get the support you
need without disrupting other students?”