Action Research -----Critical Element Paper #3 Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership And Postsecondary Education University of Northern

o!a -----n Partial "ulfillment #f the Re$uirements for the Advanced %tudies Certificate -----&y 'ennifer L( Lau)hlin Colum*us Community %chools Colum*us 'unction+ A Novem*er ,-.3 -----Dr( Nic/ Pace And Dr( &arry 0ilson

Action Research Question Does e1plicit teachin) and postin) of *ehavior e1pectations in the lunchroom improve *ehavior and decline *ehavior referrals to the office and to classroom teachers2 Rational for study and Action taken 3his action research study is *ased on our lunchroom *ehaviors of students and adult lunchroom supervisors not e1pectin) the same thin) from students durin) lunchtime or follo!in) throu)h the same !ith students !ho !ere mis*ehavin)( Lunchroom supervisors !ere ma/in) ne)ative ver*al comments to teachers a*out their students and their *ehaviors on a daily *asis !hen teachers !ould come to pic/ up their class( %tudents !ere *ein) sent to my office for mis*ehavin) in the lunchroom on a very re)ular *asis+ !ith little details as to e1actly !hat happened(

3he lunchroom schedule !as set *y the past principal+ !hich is no! the 4th-5th principal( %ince he had *een in the *uildin) for a fe! years he !as as/ed to set up the schedule and supervisors for the entire *uildin)( 3his year lunchroom supervisors have *een staff mem*ers in our *uildin) for a couple of years+ *ut may not have had this particular duty *efore( Nothin) had *een communicated to them on !hat the e1pectations of the student6s noise level+ *ehavior+ or other lunchroom procedural types of thin)s( 3his in turn means they !ere ta/in) very different approaches to handlin) noise level and procedural types of thin)s !ithin the lunchroom( 3his !as creatin) ne)ativity and ma7or issues !ithin the lunchroom *et!een supervisors+ teachers and students( t !as startin) to affect the student6s *ehaviors more and indicatin) there !as disrespectfulness happenin) amon)st staff and students( Due to the student6s *ehaviors the

teachers !ere )ettin) told !hen they pic/ed up their class+ their students !ere a!ful and not *ehavin)+ *ut fe! details !ere shared other than the teacher needed to ta/e care of their student6s *ehaviors( 3he supervisors !ere not ta/in) responsi*ility for the students !hile they !ere on duty+ yet e1pectin) teachers to handle the mis*ehavior even thou)h they !ere not present in the lunchroom(

After reco)ni8in) there !ere no common lunchroom e1pectations and the lunchroom supervisors !ere not handlin) the various *ehaviors the same+ it !as time to set some thin)s in motion to determine a solution( A meetin) !as held !ith the teachers to as/ for their input on past lunchroom e1pectations and ho! *ehaviors !ere handled in the past( All teachers indicated they did not /no!+ *ecause they had never done lunchroom supervision and never practiced any sort of e1pectations or lunchroom rules !ith the students in their classrooms( 3his !as an eye opener to myself on ho! !e had no direct teachin)s to our students a*out the lunchroom area( teachers the lunchroom supervisors !ould *e meetin) to come up !ith e1pectations and procedures for the students to follo! in the lunchroom( After those !ere determined !ould *rin) them *ac/ to the teachers and it !ould *e the e1pectation they directly tau)ht their students !hat the lunchroom e1pectations and procedures !ould *e( told the

called a lunchroom supervisors meetin) a day or t!o later( 0e tal/ed a*out the current e1pectations of the student6s *ehaviors+ the procedural thin)s of the lunchroom and the procedures they !ere all usin) durin) their duty( 3hey !ere a*le to determine themselves the inconsistencies that !ere *et!een them( 0e then came up !ith the lunchroom e1pectations+ procedures !e !ould all follo!+ as !ell as the flo! of thin)s !ithin the lunchroom( !as

char)ed !ith creatin) a poster for each classroom teacher to have and )o over !ith their students+ as !ell as a lar)e poster to han) in the lunchroom( Each supervisor a)reed to the e1pectations and !ould implement them as !e all a)reed startin) the follo!in) 9onday once all students had *een directly tau)ht(

3he posters :!hich are follo!in) this para)raph; !ere hun) on "riday afternoon in the lunchroom once all students !ere )one for the day( 3he teachers had )one over the e1pectations !ith their mini-posters !ith all of the students "riday durin) the day(

Lunchroom Expectations Preschool < As/ an adult to scrape your tray Kindergarten 3rd grade < Raise your hand and as/ a lunchroom supervisor to scrape your tray :.st )rade scrapes+ ,nd )rade cannot scrape until .st )rade is dismissed+ 3rd )rade cannot scrape until ,nd )rade is dismissed; 4th grade 0hen the Preschool students are done scrapin) you may )o scrape your tray(

!th "th grade < 0hen you feel you are done eatin) you may )et up and scrape your tray at any time All grade le#els = once tray is scraped please return to your seats+ tal/ $uietly+ and !ait for lunchroom supervisor to dismiss you to line up( All grade le#els f you !ant more food or drin/ please raise your hand and as/ a lunchroom supervisor( $oise Le#el 3al/ $uietly !ith the people around or across from you( Please use inside voices( f noise level )ets too hi)h the lunchroom supervisors !ill shut the li)hts off to indicate the noise level is too loud( Please *e respectful and lo!er your voices(

Research &efore held the teachers and supervisors meetin)s researched lunchroom *ehaviors and e1pectations( discovered or)ani8ations !e*sites and specific school !e*sites that had a )reat

deal of information concernin) lunchroom *ehaviors and e1pectations( Each !e*site or article discussed ho! to /eep order and some tips on ho! to assist lunchroom supervisors !ith handlin) the more unstructured settin) !ith a )reat num*er of students( n an Educational Leadership article it tal/ed a*out Positive &ehavior %upports !ithin the lunchroom and ho! to set that up to )o alon) !ith the school !ide system( 3here !as a very specific P&% system !ithin the lunchroom that allo!ed anyone enterin) the cafeteria to /no! the e1pectations( t !as visual !ith red+ yello!+ and )reen cups at each ta*le+ as !ell as a visual as to !hat those cups meant on the !all in several locations( 3he e1pectations !ere posted as !ell for everyone to *e a*le to see and read( 0ith this *ehavior system came re!ards that !ere very laid out as !ell and classes+ )rade levels+ or !hole lunch periods could earn over time( 3he )reen mar/s+ !hich !ere the positive *ehaviors that !ere seen+ !ere pu*lically posted for all to see ho! close specific )roups of students !ere to earnin) a re!ard( Also+ specific conse$uences !ere tar)eted !here teachers and students !ere involved in correctin) the *ehaviors immediately after a certain amount of time( 3hese conse$uences occurred directly in the lunchroom( 3his article stated the *ehavior or lunchroom incidents reported to the office !ere drastically reduced(

n another article it tal/ed a*out movin) the recess that !as ri)ht *efore or after lunch a!ay from that time period( 3his particular school eliminated the lunch recess and had t!o lon)er recesses instead+ one in the mornin) and one in the afternoon later( &y eliminatin) this middle recess it reduced the amount of transitions that students encountered throu)hout the day+ !hich in turn

reduced interruption to student learnin)( 3he principal also stated there is no sin)le solution for all schools that !ill !or/( #ne 7ust needs to ta/e the time to evaluate the lunchroom rules and e1pectations for students and supervisors re)ularly and )ather input to ma/e the modifications as needed to create a system that !or/s for your school( 3o do this they met !ith the lunchroom supervisors monthly and *rainstormed ideas on ho! to ma/e thin)s *etter or maintain them as needed( n this specific cafeteria they had various thin)s they did to /eep the noise level and sociali8ation to a maintained level( "or e1ample they either had their 3>6s that !ere availa*le on to somethin)+ li)ht music playin)+ free "riday seatin)+ or even their decorations for the year !ere themed in the cafeteria promotin) )ood lunchroom *ehavior(

3he other t!o !e*sites loo/ed on !ere specific elementary !e*sites+ !hich provided )reat e1amples of rules and e1pectations for students( 3hey !ent into detail a*out ho! they !ent over these !ith the students at the first of the year( %eein) the visuals+ e1pectations+ and other activities they did to promote positive lunchroom *ehaviors provided me )reat resources on thin)s to try ne1t year at the start of the year( 0ith seein) these e1amples this )ave me a !ay to slo!ly )et thin)s in place this year( 3he poster !e have created of the e1pectations and displayed in our cafeteria !as one !ay to improve our cafeteria *ehavior immediately( Results Does e1plicit teachin) and postin) of *ehavior e1pectations in the lunchroom improve *ehavior and decline *ehavior referrals to the office and to classroom teachers2 ?es+ have had )reat feed*ac/ from teachers and lunchroom supervisors on the e1pectations that have *een set and )one over !ith the students( met !ith the lunchroom supervisors@ !e set e1pectations for

students in the lunchroom+ and e1pectations for the supervisors as !ell( 3hese e1pectations !ere

put into a document that !as handed out to teachers durin) a staff meetin)( 3hey !ere )one over and input !as )iven on them( 3hey !ere then modified and ta/en *ac/ to the supervisors for final approval( #nce this !as complete the document !as updated+ sent out to staff via email and they !ere )iven a hard copy( 3he e1pectations !ere they !ould )o over these !ith their students sometime durin) that !ee/ to *e implemented on the follo!in) 9onday( A lar)e e1pectations document !as posted in the lunchroom+ as !ell as smaller versions around the lunchroom( as/ teachers on a !ee/ly *asis ho! many times the lunchroom supervisors tal/ !ith them a*out their students mis*ehavin) in the lunchroom( All of them have reported at a ma1imum of one time a !ee/+ if that( 3he ne)ativity of the supervisors to!ards the teachers disciplinin) their students for mis*ehavin) in the lunchroom has drastically reduced( have as/ed the supervisors

!ee/ly as !ell ho! thin)s are )oin) !ith ta/in) char)e of the discipline in the lunchroom and they have all a)reed that /no!in) they are in char)e of the students durin) the lunchroom has alleviated a lot of stress( t has created an environment !here the students /no! they need to listen and respect the supervisors in the lunchroom and do !hat is as/ed of them( 3hey have reported for the most part they are all follo!in) throu)h !ith the e1pectations of their roles and holdin) the students responsi*le for the e1pectations( 3here are a fe! other associates !ho are not lunchroom supervisors that are in there !ith specific students !ho are not follo!in) the e1pectations the same+ so !ill *e addressin) that specifically !ith them( 3he lunchroom referrals to the office have drastically dropped as !ell( 3he fe! that have had to come in since the e1pectations !ere tau)ht and posted !ere *ecause of disrespectfulness to other students+ !hich !ere not *ased on the lunchroom e1pectations or procedures(

Recommendations 3eachin) e1plicitly the lunchroom e1pectations and procedures to all students and staff assists !ith student *ehaviors and declines office referrals( 0ith this small chan)e in our lunchroom thin)s have improved tremendously( &y completin) this action research pro7ect+ have )athered other ideas and !ays to implement systems on ho! to improve lunchroom *ehavior and still create a social+ comforta*le+ more unstructured settin) in a positive !ay( have documented

many ideas and !ill *e tal/in) to teachers and lunchroom supervisors this sprin) to determine chan)es !e can ma/e to the start of ne1t year to improve the lunchroom e1pectations and procedures even more than this year( Reflection 3he action research pro7ect !as one that provided a process for me to follo! to resolve a conflict !ithin our *uildin)( !or/ed throu)h the entire process to identify a root cause+ or situation that

needed to *e chan)ed+ researched !hat could *e done a*out it+ )ained input from /ey sta/eholders+ created a plan of action+ implemented it and then evaluated the outcomes( 3his process !as !ell laid out and one that could assist any leader in identifyin) any )iven issue and creatin) solutions and chan)e that needed to occur to improve the situation( plan on usin) the

action research process in a variety of !ays to assist !ith the chan)e process that needs to occur in a variety of situations(

References Aorine/+ L( :,--5+ %eptem*er;( 3he positive classroomB A lunchroom solution( Educational Leadership+ 66:.;+ Retrieved from httpBCC!!!(ascd(or)Cpu*licationsCeducationalleadershipCsept-5CvolDDCnum-.CA-Lunchroom-%olution(asp1 Order in the cafeteria: Tips for improving behavior and supervision( :n(d(;( Retrieved from httpBCC!!!(education!orld(comCaEadminCadminCadmin4F3(shtml Good behavior competition. :,-.,-.3;( Retrieved from httpBCC!!!(elementaryschoolcounselin)(or)C)ood-*ehavior-competition(html Kindergarten Rules and Routines: Lunch. Teaching School Routines is Essential :-5C-DC,-..;( Retrieved from http%&&'''(kindergartenkindergarten(com&)*++&*,&teaching-schoolroutines-is-essential-the-first-fe!-days-!ee/s-of-school-i-)o-over-every-sin)le-routine-ican-thin/-of-and(html