Welcome to the 2nd module of the
Paraprofessional Training Series that Volusia
County Schools is providing for all ESE paraprofessionals in the district. In this module
we are exploring Positive Behavior Strategies
and are going to provide you with information and techniques aimed at promoting positive behavior
in the classroom.
The objectives for this module are you will become familiar with some basic concepts
related to behavior. You will acquire strategies to
increase students’ opportunities to respond. You will learn about reinforcing responsible student
behavior and responding to incorrect student
behavior and you will understand the concept of ratio of interactions and strategies to increase
positive interaction with students. You may wish
to take notes throughout this module as there will be a ten question quiz at the end for you to
successfully demonstrate your understanding.
In our first training session, we talked about management as one of the 3 key anchors for
paraprofessionals and in that 3rd anchor when we
talked about management, we broke it down into classroom management and individual behavior
management. We talked about defining what
positive behavior looks like and providing positive behavior support. Defining what positive
behavior looks like was also referred to when we
looked at the CHAMPS acronym and the skills or behaviors that CHAMPS is concerned with. It
might be interesting to note, that Dr. Randy
Sprick, the author of the CHAMPS program and from whom we’re drawing much of what we’re
doing here today, began his career as a
paraprofessional in Oregon and now he’s the researcher and primary author of the Safe and
Civil Schools series. He has presented to and
consulted with thousands of teachers, administrators, and staff to help effectively work
with misbehaving students. But he understands, at
the very foundation, the importance of your responsibilities as a paraprofessionals as he was
one himself.
Let’s start by familiarizing ourselves with some behavior basics. You will be able to manage
student behavior more effectively if you have an
understanding of behavior and how it can be modified. The first important concept is the understanding
that behavior is learned. People are constantly
engaged in learning. Our day to day experiences, whether we find a situation to be pleasant or
unpleasant, effective or ineffective, those events
that we experience create conditions which influence our behavior. People tend to repeat
behavior that results in a pleasant consequence
and if a behavior leads to an unpleasant consequence, then we are likely to not repeat that
behavior or find that we decrease the amount of
time we engage in that behavior. One important idea to keep in mind as you consider this
information in relation to working with students is
that what may be pleasant consequence for one person could be an unpleasant consequence for
another. For example, getting a smiley-face
sticker for having good work is likely to be well received by a first grader, encouraging him to
work hard in the future. However, the same thing
may very well have an opposite effect on a tenth grader. Getting a sticker might be so
embarrassing that he or she will be less likely to
work hard in the future. A second important behavior concept is the idea
that: Any behavior that occurs repeatedly is
serving some function for the individual exhibiting the behavior. This is true for positive and
negative behaviors. For students who
consistently behave responsibly, they have learned that responsible behavior leads to things
they value, such as parental approval, good
grades, teacher attention, a sense of pride and accomplishment, and so on. Their responsible
behavior serves a function. On the other hand,
when a student frequently behaves irresponsibly, it’s likely the student hasn’t experienced the
benefits of responsible behavior and has learned
that irresponsible behavior is a more effective and efficient way of getting his or her needs met.
For example, a student who chronically argues
with staff may have learned that by arguing she is frequently sent out of the class and assigned
detention, her parents are called regularly, and
school staff are continually angry and frustrated with her. As unpleasant as these consequences
seem, they must have a perceived benefit to this
student. In this case, her behavior gets her powerful attention from adults and peers. She
has learned the behavior often allows her to avoid
academic work, which may be reinforcing if she struggles academically. This student’s
irresponsible behavior serves a function, and
does so effectively, so it is therefore likely to continue without a plan. The good news is that
because behavior is learned, it can also be
unlearned. This is the third important behavior concept:
Behavior can be changed. When the
consequences of certain behavior change, behavior will adjust. In the last example of the
student who is argumentative, angry, and always
getting thrown out of class, imagine what would happen if school personnel created a situation in
which she started experiencing academic and
behavioral success such as getting good grades and receiving peer recognition for her appropriate
behavior. Imagine if she no longer received a lot
of attention or status for her anger and hostility. If done well, consistently, and for a sustained length
of time, the school could create a powerful
positive change in her behavior. The next behavior concept to keep in mind is to
focus more energy on encouraging responsible
behavior than on trying to reduce inappropriate behavior. We will be focusing on this concept in
depth a little later, but to put it into terms we can all
relate to, think about when we are trying to change one of our own behaviors- maybe it’s going on a
diet or exercising more- we usually find a positive
coach or role model more motivating than someone who is pessimistic and highly critical.
The same is true for students. We should strive to
be the effective coach who teaches and motivates.
The final concept of behavior basics is that
changing behavior may require implementing a comprehensive plan. When a student has chronic
behavior problems, school staff may develop an
intervention, or Behavior Improvement Plan, for the student. As we discussed in the first module
of this training series, the first main anchor of your
role as a paraprofessional, is teamwork. As a team member, working with students, you should
be aware of any behavior plans that may be in
place and have an understanding of procedures for implementing those plans. It is important to
find out from your immediate supervisor what the
expectations are for the students you are working with and what the expectations are for you as part
of the team. You may be working directly with the
student and implementing specific strategies or you might, as we discussed in the first module, be
asked to collect data. No matter what role you
play, working together to carry out a behavior improvement plan, sometimes referred to as a
B.I.P, F.B.A. or Fuba, will increase the probability
that the students will learn to behave more responsibly and encounter success.
Now let’s cover a few more big ideas that help
support positive behavior for students. Dr.
Sprick’s research has shown that there is improved academic achievement and improved
behavior when students have more opportunities
to respond. Often times in class we’re interested in having the kids sit quietly and be passive. But
his research clearly shows that the more overt
opportunities that the students have to respond, the more likely they are to achieve and behave.
As a paraprofessional you may be involved in
delivering instruction and by using strategies that increase the students’ opportunities to respond,
you will find that student behavior improves along
with academic results. These opportunities to respond can be things as simple as giving a
thumbs up or thumbs down response raising their
hand, writing it down on a paper or sticky note, or working with a whiteboard so they can raise it up
to give an answer. It can be asking for a choral
response, having students talk to their partner, and anything else that the students are doing
overtly to respond- either individually or
collectively- can have a very positive impact. Also, consideration should be made to
incorporating visual supports that meet the needs,
age-appropriateness, and personality of the students in the classroom from pre-k through high
school. Some students gain understanding and
increase their ability respond when verbal directions, questions, and other instructions are
paired with a visual cue, such as a picture, written
words, or gestures. This can be especially powerful for young students, students with
language impairments, students with autism
spectrum disorders, and students who struggle with reading. All of these strategies for
increasing opportunities to respond can change a
classroom or small group from a place where one student at a time is answering a question, to a
place where many students are actively engaged
and responding to questions and tasks. Now we’ll discuss Reinforcing Responsible
Behaviors. An area that Dr. Sprick has worked
extensively with is what he refers to as Ratio of Interactions. And what he means by this is how
many times do we interact with students when
they are behaving appropriately versus how many times do we interact with them when they are
behaving inappropriately. This is a very crucial
skill in a classroom, but it is one that has to be deliberately implemented because it can be
challenging. What Dr Sprick tells us in his
research is that a healthy classroom will have a ratio of interactions that is 3 to 1. That 3 to 1
means that we will be interacting with students 3
times more when they are behaving appropriately, exhibiting positive behavior, than when they are
behaving inappropriately. We want students to
understand that if they want to have interactions with the adults in the classroom- the more they
behave, the more likely they are to be praised and
given specific feedback. And as we learned earlier in the module, behavior can be changed by
focusing more energy on encouraging positive
behavior and less on trying to reduce inappropriate behavior. However, the research
here in Volusia County and also in Orange County
and other school districts, shows that the average ratio of interactions in a classroom is 1 to 9 the
other way. What that means is that we will be 9
times more likely to interact with a student who is misbehaving than we are with a student that is
behaving. Now if we know that a function of a
student’s behavior is to gain the attention of an adult, whether that attention is positive or
negative, he will realize that he is 9 times more
likely to have or get the attention of this adult if he misbehaves in the classroom. We need to
understand that often times as paraprofessionals
and as teachers we are so conditioned to look for and correct inappropriate behavior and we forget
to look for and praise appropriate behavior. The
old saying “catch them being good”, although sounds somewhat trite, is actually very, very true.
Educators in general have to tune our eyes and
our ears to look for appropriate behavior in the classroom. Changing behavior from non-
productive to productive may require making note
of how much attention we are paying to positive behavior and how much attention we are paying
to the negative. We may need to adjust our
strategies if we discover we are paying too much attention to the negative- saying things like “stop”,
“don’t do that”, or “how many times do I have to tell
you?” and we are not paying enough attention to the positive behavior- saying things like “thank
you for raising your hand”, “thank you for waiting
your turn”, or “thank you for sharing”. And don’t forget- positive interactions can be simple and
non-verbal too, such as a pat on the shoulder or a
smile. One way to achieve a 3 to 1 ratio is to provide
positive feedback. This goes hand- in- hand with
the idea “catch them being good. Always watch for and take advantage of opportunities to give
students positive feedback. Make sure that when
you give students positive feedback, it is effective. Some guidelines for providing effective
feedback include: making sure it is accurate. If a
student receives positive feedback for something they didn’t really do, the feedback is basically
meaningless and your credibility with the student
may be diminished. Therefore, if you tell a student that his accuracy on his math assignment is
improving, you need to be sure that the accuracy
really is improving. Similarly, you don’t want to congratulate a student for demonstrating
improved self-control by staying in her seat for an
entire instructional period, unless she actually did stay in her seat for that whole time.
The feedback needs to be specific and
descriptive. The student should know exactly what they did to earn the praise. We have to
avoid the “good job” syndrome- where we use a
simple repetitive phrase- because they are too often not specific enough for the student to
understand what is being praised, and if the
phrase is used too often, it becomes background noise and the students no longer “hear” it. Also,
when giving specific and descriptive feedback,
be very careful about stating or implying that a student is “good” or “smart” or “wonderful”. These
statements imply that if the student had not come
up with the answer, you may think they are not smart. It’s far more effective to say, “You applied
the formula, and came up with the correct
answer”. Try to avoid using phrases such as “I like the way you…” When we use that kind of
feedback, even if what follows specifically
describes the behavior, that initial phrase may be taken by students to mean they should have to
please you when our goal is to have students
behave responsibly because it helps them be successful learners.
The feedback needs to be age appropriate. The
way you give positive feedback to a kindergarten student will be different from the way you give it to
a high school student. And keep in mind that
many students do not like public praise, may be embarrassed by it, and it could have the opposite
of the desired effect. When dealing with students
who seem to be embarrassed by positive feedback, you might consider: using a quiet
voice, being brief, being somewhat businesslike,
praising more than one student at a time, avoiding pausing and looking at the student after
you praise because a pause could imply to the
student that you expect her to respond, which can put them in a difficult position.
The feedback needs to be given in a manner that
is comfortable to you. There is no one right way to deliver positive feedback. There is always
room for your individual style.
In your role as a paraprofessional, there will
undoubtedly be times when you have to respond,
or correct, irresponsible student behavior. An effective, tailored response can help the student
learn to exhibit more productive behavior. It is
important to mention that some students will have specific plans which will guide you how to
respond to their behaviors and those plans need
to be closely followed. We should always be professional when
responding to student misbehavior. Student
misbehavior can be frustrating and upsetting, however we need to be careful not to do or say
anything that we might regret later. Three major
tips on how to maintain professionalism when dealing with misbehavior are to be sure not to
take it personally. When a student misbehaves,
he or she is probably not thinking about doing something to you. They would probably be acting
out with anyone who was in a position of authority.
Give yourself time to think before you respond. When confronted with tense situations with
students, there can be a tendency to want to
respond quickly, but take a moment and make sure that your response will be professional. View
misbehavior as an opportunity to teach. Remind
yourself that any time a student misbehaves, you have the chance to teach that student a more
productive way of behaving.
Have a plan to respond to student misbehavior. It is good to practice to think about the most
common behaviors you see in your students and
work with the teacher on how to best respond. Remember to be patient when responding to
student misbehavior. No matter what your
response to misbehavior is- ignoring, giving a verbal reprimand, directing students to another
task- be sure to implement it calmly. Avoid
showing tension. Try to be supportive rather than confrontational. Keep in mind that for some
students, an angry or hostile response from adults
is the biggest payoff they can receive and in those cases, getting angry is the last thing in the world
you want to do- because it will just serve to
increase the chances of the student exhibiting the same behavior in the future.
Don’t expect miracle cures when dealing with
students who exhibit chronic misbehavior. We need to be persistent when responding to
irresponsible behavior. Managing student
behavior is an ongoing process that takes time to show results. So to wrap things up, we are interested in
promoting positive behavior in the classroom.
We want to do that by learning the basics of student behavior, having you focus on the new
research by Dr. Sprick dealing with increasing
opportunities to respond, and the correlation between the opportunities to respond with
academic achievement and positive behavior in
the classroom. We also want you to be very cognizant of the 3 to 1 ratio that should be in the
classroom. You can help achieve this ratio by
using strategies to reinforce responsible student behavior with feedback and responding to
irresponsible student behavior effectively. Thank
you for taking the time to spend learning about Positive Behavior Strategies. This brings us to
the end of the second module. Please reference
this screen or the guide, “How to Access the Paraprofessional Training Series” for directions
to access the Module 2: Positive Behavior
Strategies Quiz. Remember that an 80% is required to pass the quiz and you have two
attempts, if needed, to obtain that score. See you
next month!