Thanks for the feedback on the report I gave last week…if you haven’t read your copy you still can here: http://www.teaching-tips-machine.com/least-intervention.pdf

I did receive lots of questions though about my closing remarks in the report regarding punishment. Don’t get me wrong here…I’m not saying that teachers must never punish misbehavior…I was just stating that punishment should be saved as a last resort.

Punishment often leads to other problems (as I mentioned in the report) so teachers should try other strategies first to try to minimize the repercussions that punishment may create.

For example, let’s say you are forced to RE-act to a student whose behavior has not improved…you have used all the PRO-active classroom management strategies you can think of to try to get this student involved in your lessons…you have used all steps under the “law of least intervention” to try to stop the behavior problems without disrupting the class…

Still, you have a student who is causing classroom management problems…

Now you must RE-act to the situation. HOWEVER, as I stated before you want to save punishment as a last resort only!

So, what’s a teacher to do?

Well here’s an idea…create a “behavior action plan”.

The key to changing inappropriate student behavior is to have the *student* take responsibility for his actions. The teacher should try to get the student to identify the inappropriate behavior, then determine why it is inappropriate, and finally, how the student plans to stop the inappropriate behavior.

The teacher can create a simple “behavior action plan”. The plan calls for the student to complete the following three statements:
1. I am writing this plan because I…
2. This behavior was not appropriate because…
3. To prevent this from happening again, I plan to…

Then, at the bottom of the handout make sure to have the student sign his or her name.

By signing his name the student is making a promise to follow through with their plan.

You may even want the parent to sign as well.

In the end, this is significantly better than simply punishing the student for the misbehavior. This approach has more potential for long-term results without the repercussions.

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Are you sick and tired of professional development training that is completely worthless?

Do you want REAL professional development that will actually help you become a better teacher?

Then make sure to “listen” to Marjan Glavac’s one-of-a-kind teleseminar entitled How to Thrive and Survive in Your Classroom @ http://teaching.telesem.hop.clickbank.net

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