Instructional

Behavioral
Guidelines

“People’s behavior makes sense if you think

about it in terms of their goals, needs, and
motives.”

—Thomas Mann

David Lehman
 Table of Contents

ABOUT THE AUTHOR i

FOUNDATIONS OF BEHAVIOR
• Discipline and Authoritative Teaching 1
• The Hierarchy of Needs 2
• Establishing Patterns from the Start 3

STOPPING MISBEHAVIOR BEFORE IT STARTS

• Rules 4
• Procedures 4
• Beyond Rules and Procedures: Prevention Strategies 5
• Managing Group Work 6

GETTING AND STAYING INVOLVED

• A Hierarchy of Intervention 7
• Love and Logic 8

CREATING A CONTINUAL HUNGER WITH DIVERSE LEARNERS

• Motivation: Philosophy 9
• Motivation: Strategies 9

• Management Strategies for Diversity 10

APPENDIX
• Work Cited Page 2 A-
A-1
 About the Author
David Lehman grew up the
majority of his life in South
Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee,
where he came in contact with
many different cultures and
philosophies of life. These
encounters allowed him to
develop a richness and curiosity
for people and life in general. He
attributes his love for teaching
first and foremost to his father,
who was first a high school math
teacher and then ended his
career as a religion instructor for
high school and college students.
Others who had a hand in his
instructional development are his
high school English and Calculus
teachers, and his high school
baseball coaches.
His love for Spanish started in high school, where he took four years of
instruction that helped prepare him afterwards to live and teach in Argentina
for two years. Upon returning from Argentina, he began his college studies in
Spanish Teaching and continued serving the Hispanic community by teaching
ESL with the Provo School District Adult Education Program.
Outside of his studies, David enjoys spending time with his wife,
Ashley, and his daughter, Emma. He is currently expecting his second child
at the end of October.
All his life experiences have created a passion for learning and
enjoyment, which he hopes to express to each and every student he comes
in contact with. He understands the role of learning in helping individuals
evaluate their own beliefs and perspectives, which in turn help create
powerful expectations and goals. David wishes to be a part of that journey in
the life of his students.
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i
 Chapter 1: Foundations of Behavior

Discipline Defined
At first glance, “discipline” is usually defined as “punishment.” However, if this is how
discipline is implemented in the classroom, not much learning will occur. The Latin origin
is disciplina,
disciplina, meaning
teaching or learning. Discipline equals students and teacher working together
From this perspective, we to create a learning environment—Brenda Burr
can describe discipline as
having a responsibility (teaching) and an expectation (learning), which fall on both the
shoulders of the teacher and the student. Emmer and Evertson state the teacher should
set guidelines for behavior so that students can work productively. Furthermore, they
claim a clear set of expectations (guidelines) of behavior is the starting point for a well-
well-
managed classroom (pg. 18- 18-19).

Authoritative Teaching: Creating a Democratic Classroom

Creating a democratic classroom does not necessarily mean that students will have a say
in every aspect of classroom instruction, rules, and policies. What it does mean, however,
is that a sense of community exists, with an understanding and mutual respect between
Discipline & teacher and student. What does a democratic classroom look and sound like? First of
all, it is a fair classroom where authoritative and not authoritarian teaching takes place.
Authoritative Emmer and Evertson feel an authoritative teacher is one who not only establishes
Teaching reasonable rules and procedures, but explains the “why” behind them and enforces them
consistently (pg. 24). The key principles here are reasonable rules, reasonable
explanations, and consistency. In addition to these ideals, Brenda Burr gives some very
practical attributes of the democratic classroom:

Model respect and Have meaningful

Learn names quickly assignments
courtesy

Student input with Create class motto

Student interaction and
curriculum and/or group names
“peer teaching”

Beginning-of-the-year Student evaluations

Publish student work bonding activity of class

4
1
 Chapter 1: Foundations of Behavior

Understanding Why Student Misbehave

As with any problem, we must first understand the “why” before we can determine the
“how.” In regards to misbehavior, teachers must first understand why a student is acting
out so they can effectively determine how to change the undesirable behavior to a
desirable one. Brenda Burr believes that all misbehavior comes from an unfulfilled need,
known as a hierarchy of needs.

In order for this to take place,

effective communication must
occur. Emmer and Evertson (pg.
151) list three techniques that can
be of use in this process:
• Constructive Assertiveness
• Empathetic Responding
• Problem Solving

The These concepts describe the

necessary communication skills
Hierarchy of teachers need to develop. More
Needs importantly, teachers should assist
their students in applying these
skills on their own so that they
learn how to make changes in their
behavior, in their thinking, or in the
situation that has caused the
problem. By doing so, teachers
make students responsible and accountable for their own behavior, and thus their own
learning..

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2
 Chapter 1: Foundations of Behavior

The First Days of School

Emmer and Evertson are very useful in outlining ideals and procedures (pp. 62-
62-73) that
should be followed at the beginning of the school year to help establish behavioral
guidelines.
General Guidelines
Resolve student uncertainties
Help students be successful by planning uncomplicated lessons
Keep a whole class focus
Be available, visible, and in charge

Administrative Tasks
Have class rosters organized by period
Plan to assign seats the first week of classes
Establishing
Patterns Have all forms on hand

from the
Start The First Days of Class
Before class begins, stand by door to help students find room and greet them
Introduce yourself and perform a get-
get-to-
to-know-
know-you activity to help build
classroom community
Discuss classroom rules and procedures
Complete an initial content activity to excite students about the class
Establish an end-
end-of-
of-period routine

3
Chapter 2: Stopping Misbehavior Before It Starts

Rules
According to Emmer and Evertson, rules:
• Identify general expectations or standards
• Should be positively worded
• Should be limited to a small number, between
three to five
• And should be clearly stated
All of these principles will support the original goal
of establishing discipline in the classroom and a
sense of community because students will be more
likely to accept them due to their positive nature and usefulness in maintaining a
classroom environment that focuses on participation and learning (pg. 19).

Procedures

Rules
&
According to Emmer and Evertson (pg. 20), procedures:
Procedures
• Communicate expectations for behavior
• Usually apply to a specific activity
• Are usually directed at accomplishing something rather than at prohibiting some
behavior or defining a general standard

Below is a list of procedures that should be established (pp. 40-

40-41):
General Seatwork & Instruction Group Work Miscellaneous
Attendance Student attention Use of materials Signals
Absent students Student participation Student assignments Fire and Disasters
Tardy students Talk among students Student participation Split lunch period
Out-
Out-of-
of-Room policies Obtaining help Student behavior
Materials Out-
Out-of-
of-Seat policies
Ending the period Seatwork completion

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Chapter 2: Stopping Misbehavior Before It Starts

Prevention Strategies

Even the best rules and procedures will not create perfect student behavior. Hence,
there are other strategies and qualities teachers should possess in order to strengthen
their already existing rules and procedures. Among these are:
Classroom Climate
One reason why students misbehave is because they either do not understand or do not
feel comfortable completing an assignment. As teachers learn to lower classroom
anxiety and create an atmosphere where students feel comfortable and safe asking
questions, misbehavior will minimize and learning will increase.
Establishing Relationships
As part of classroom climate, teachers need to have the ability to communicate with their
students in such a way that students feel comfortable voicing their opinion or even
frustration with certain classroom rules, procedures, and assignments. This becomes
part of the democratic classroom that teachers should strive to create. It doesn’t mean
that teachers have to agree with what is being voiced, but they should have the presence
Beyond of mind to listen, empathize, and come to both an understanding and decision with the
Rules and student.
Procedures: Removing Distractions
Prevention In addition to establishing relationships as part of classroom climate, the teacher has to
Strategies be able to remove distractions from the classroom. Sometimes this could even mean
teacher instruction and planning. Teachers need to honestly evaluate classroom
instruction, procedures, seating arrangement, etc. to realize what aspects of the
classroom foment classroom misbehavior and impede learning.
Pacing
Teachers need to understand when to slow down and when to speed up classroom
instruction so that students do not feel the need to misbehave due to lack of interest or
inability to understand. This can only come through proper assessment of body and vocal
cues coming from the students and adapting instruction to meet their needs.
Variety
Connected to pacing is variety. As much as routine can be beneficial to classroom
management, so is variety in instruction. Because there is variety in student personality
and learning styles, there must also be variety in instruction to meet the diverse needs of
the students.

Adapted from Brenda

8 Burr’s Hierarchy of Intervention Handout

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Chapter 2: Stopping Misbehavior Before It Starts

Managing Group Work

One of the most productive ways to manage group work is to understand how it becomes
successful. Emmer and Evertson refer to group work as “cooperative learning groups.”
Thinking of a group as a cooperative learning unit causes the teacher to ponder upon the
skills necessary to foment cooperation. Among these are interdependence, individual
accountability, social skills, explaining skills, and leadership skills. All of these are
discussed in more detail by Emmer and Evertson (pp. 117 117--122). To help the teachers
even further, they developed a series of questions (pp. 129-129-130) that teachers can ask
themselves to better prepare for and manage group work.
Room Arrangement
• How will student seating be arranged?
• How will group materials/supplies be stored?

Routines and Expectations

• What are your expectations for student movement to, from, and during group work?
• What expectations about talking will you communicate to students?
Managing
What group attention signals will you use?
Group Work •

• Will students have specific roles?

• What group skills need to be discussed, modeled, or practiced?

Monitoring, Accountability, and Feedback Procedures

• When will group work have individual products, group products, or both?
• How will individual or group work be assessed?
• How will you monitor student behavior and work during group activities?
• How will students receive feedback about individual and group performance?
• How will students receive feedback about their behavior in groups?

Group Skills that Need to Be Discussed/Modeled/Practiced

• Social skills
• Explaining skills
• Leadership skills 9
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 Chapter 3: Getting and Staying Involved

Hierarchy of Intervention

When discussing intervention, it is important to remember that the purpose of discipline

is to create an atmosphere where learning can occur. Understanding this, teachers can
soon realize that there are certain behaviors that, while bothersome, may not necessarily
need to be addressed in such a way that it disrupts the flow of class and student
learning. To help illustrate this concept, Brenda Burr’s hierarchy of intervention will be
shown and discussed. While illustrating this hierarchy, it is important to know that
prevention is the first step, and that intervention only becomes necessary after
preventative measures are no longer useful. Some of these preventative measures
include classroom climate, establishing a relationship with students, policies and
procedures (chapter two), pacing, and variety (Hierarchy
(Hierarchy of Intervention Handout).
Non-
Non-Verbal Cues
• Stand close by
• Use a signal
• Touch the desk

A Hierarchy Subtle Verbal Intervention

of • Reminder of policy or procedure
Intervention • Give the “I” message
• Call on student near by
• Use humor
• Temporarily cease teaching
• Correct student and redirect

Moderate Intervention
• Private conference

Prolonged Intervention
• Document/Behavioral Contract

Enlist Outside Help

• Call parents
• Notify counselor
10
• Notify administration
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 Chapter 3: Getting and Staying Involved

Love and Logic Strategies

Two principles, love and logic, are so key to successful intervention. If students are never
capable of feeling that you genuinely care about them, and how their behavior affects
both their learning and the learning of others, a strong relationship will never develop
that allows for open communication and problem solving. The idea of logic puts the
accountability on the shoulders of the students. After all, this is one of the goals of the
teacher: give autonomy to the students so that they can monitor and change their own
behavior. To help develop this autonomy in students, Brenda Burr suggests four skills
that teachers need:

Skill #1: Neutralize Student Arguing

A fire can only burn as long as there is oxygen. Teachers cannot be the oxygen in
arguments. The remaining three skills help in this process.

Skill #2: Offer a Choice

Love and An argument or defiance on the part of students will many times set the stage for
increased hostility and classroom disruption. An easy way to stop the escalation even
Logic before it starts is to put the power of choice in the hands of the students. If a student
Strategies refuses to comply with a teacher demand, all the teacher has to do is give two
reasonable and acceptable alternatives. This way, the student has all the power to
decide the outcome of the situation.

Skill #3: Delayed Consequences

Sometimes both student and teacher need time to think. When the teacher says, “We
will discuss this later,” many times emotions diffuse over time and more effective
behavioral changes can occur.

Skills $4: Empathy

One of the strongest skills teachers can develop is the ability to understand the need that
is being manifested through misbehavior and help students also understand it and
confront it. Again, autonomy is being given to the student to recognize the problem and
come to a decision, with the help of the teacher, as to how to resolve it.

Adapted from
11 Love and Logic Basics Handout
 Chapter 4: Creating a Continual Hunger with
Diverse Learners
Motivation: Philosophy

Motivation = Value x Expectation x Climate

• How can teachers expect students to want to learn if what they are teaching means
nothing to the students personally?
• How can teachers expect students to want to excel at learning when they set low
expectations in learning?
• How can teachers expect students to want to participate in classroom learning when
the classroom climate doesn’t allow for student learning?

These are three questions all teachers should ask themselves when pondering student
motivation. As they do so, they will begin to prepare meaningful lessons, set reasonable,
Motivation:
challenging expectations for their students, and create a classroom atmosphere where
Philosophy & community involvement grows and cooperative learning takes place.
Strategies
Motivation: Strategies

Thoughtful Autonomy
Personalize Content
Questioning

Model Motivation Provide

Project-Based
To Learn Organizers
Learning

Minimize Performance Give Meaningful, Hands-On

Anxiety Prompt Feedback Activities

Taken from
12 Brenda Burr’s classroom notes

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 Chapter 4: Creating a Continual Hunger for
Diverse Learners
Management Strategies for Diverse Learners

Diverse Learners = Differentiated Instruction

Even after teachers have gone through the steps of prevention and intervention, they still
meet the challenge of reaching the learning needs of a heterogeneous classroom. This
means that teachers will have to apply effective assessment strategies to know where
their students are at and from there modify their classroom instruction, arrangement,
and procedures so that each student has an equal opportunity to learn. The most
successful modifications come through a tier organization in the classroom, where
teachers first plan instruction for the majority of the students, knowing how they will best
receive instruction, then modifying instruction for a smaller group that may not
understand the first time through, and then even going further to modify instruction for
Management those groups of students that could be considered special needs students. Through this
approach, the teacher has adequately prepared to meet the academic and social
Strategies diversity that surely will be present in the classroom.
for Diverse
Learners Diverse Learners: Strategies

Peer Splitting up
Seating Arrangement Assignment
Tutoring

Clear, Brief Graphic

Inclusion Directions Organizers

Written and Consult Consult

Oral Instructions Students Parents

Adapted from Classroom Management for Middle and High School Teachers
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 Appendix

Works Cited Page

Burr, B. (2010, January-

January-February) Secondary Education 379 classroom lecture notes.
notes. Brigham Young Univesity,
Provo, UT.

Emmer, E. T., and Evertson, C. M. (2009). Classroom Management for Middle and High School Teachers, 8 ed.
ed.
Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.

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