Bridget Spade, creator of the Lettered Classroom, is a Teaching Assistant sharing her journey as a TA and what she has learnt along the way.
In this video she talks about the need for strong behavioural management in the classroom.
She stresses the importance of routines, procedures and behaviours – what does she want her students to be doing and how she can enable that. She also talks about learning in the moment, and putting them in to a situation, playing back her observations to the students and then breaking down the understanding into chunks.
She gives examples of how to guide the student through conversation and questions, enabling them to come up with the answers.
She also talks about resetting the scenario if it doesn’t go well and teaching the students that they need to display the behaviour expected.
Whilst watching this video, have a think about Bridget’s examples and then think about how you handle these situations.
Transcription
Mrs. Spackman (00:07):
Hey, guys. Today I wanted to talk to you about behavior management in the classroom. When I did my video on a day in my life, a lot of you left a comment about how well my students were working and how did I achieve that behavior in my classroom.
Mrs. Spackman (00:21):
So I want to talk to you about my overall classroom behavior management plan and what it is that I do to get my kids engaged, to keep them on task and to manage all of those little behaviors that happen in the classroom. So before I start talking about behavior management, I want to kind of give you my analogy of behavior in the classroom.
Mrs. Spackman (00:43):
So I like to think of a classroom as a really long road trip. When you first get into the car, you’re excited, it’s fun, it’s new. You can’t wait for all of the great adventures that are about to happen, and you’re getting along great with everyone in the car.
Mrs. Spackman (01:01):
Well, after a while of driving, you start to kind of get a little antsy and you’re moving and you’re kind of tired, you’re ready to get out of the car to stretch your legs. So you need a break. And that’s kind of my reference to like Thanksgiving break and Christmas break. Towards the very end of that road trip, you are about to rip each other’s heads off.
Mrs. Spackman (01:23):
You are tired of each other. You’re getting irritated. You don’t want to be around those people anymore. You just want to get out, stretch your legs and kind of go and have your own space in your own time. And this is so much like the classroom. Because in the beginning, the kids are excited, it’s fun, it’s new. You don’t really know each other yet. You’re starting to learn about each other.
Mrs. Spackman (01:44):
And as it goes on, you get some of those much needed breaks so that you can kind of walk away from each other and do your own thing and just kind of stretch your legs, right? And then towards the very end you know each other so well, and you’re about sick of each other and your kids are fighting and there’s a lot of behaviors that are happening inside of the classroom.
Mrs. Spackman (02:04):
So I wanted to talk to you about what it is that I do to start handling some of those behaviors. The first thing that I want to talk to you about is routines and procedures. It is so important to set up those routines and procedures in the classroom. For me in the very beginning of the year, I kind of sit down and I think about all of the different things that I want my students to be doing.
Mrs. Spackman (02:26):
How are they going to come in and unpack? What are they going to do as soon as they come in? How are they going to know what to do? What are some things that could happen? Kids might be fighting over certain things, they might say that one of them is theirs. And you want to make sure that you are prepared to handle all of those different types of behaviors.
Mrs. Spackman (02:46):
And some of it, yes, you’re going to be able to anticipate beforehand, and some of it is just going to have to be with time. For my veteran teachers out there, you kind of already know about those. But if you’re a first year teacher or you’re still in school and you’re ready to become a teacher, some of those behaviors and things that you’re going to see is just going to be over time. You’re going to learn what’s happening in the classroom.
Mrs. Spackman (03:08):
So don’t feel bad if you don’t get everything right away the very first time. Now, some of those routines and procedures, my kids will already know what it is that I want them to do, because I will explicitly tell them exactly what to do. I will show it to them, I will tell it to them. And then I will have them tell it to me as far as what they have.
Mrs. Spackman (03:28):
And then I usually also keep up some type of visual in my classroom so that they can always reference back to it and they’ll know exactly what to do. For those other routines and procedures that I don’t explicitly tell my students, this is where I want them to learn to build those expectations, those routines, those procedures together.
Mrs. Spackman (03:49):
So what I do is I have my students kind of try to just deal with the problem as it is. And you’re like, “What? That’s crazy.” Well, hear me out. Let me give you an example too. At the beginning of the year, I don’t give morning work for my students. I will let them have a lot of social play, a lot of free choice time, because I want them building language. I want them talking with students and I want them to kind of get out of their comfort zone.
Mrs. Spackman (04:17):
Now, it’s so typical that in that very beginning, they are playing by themselves, but they’re playing around other students. They’re very quiet. They don’t say much to each other. So it’s not like they come in loud and rowdy in the beginning. So something that I do notice that happens quite a bit is that my students will all kind of gravitate to one box and they’ll all want to play with all the toys in that one box.
Mrs. Spackman (04:43):
Once I start realizing what happens, we’ll clean up, we’ll come to the carpet. And I say, “Guys, y’all did really well. You were so very quiet. But I noticed something. I noticed that there was this one box and not a lot of you were able to have toys. You were having problems sharing with it. Why do you think that is?”
Mrs. Spackman (05:04):
And majority of the time, a lot of them will raise their hand and say, “Well, because there was too many of us at that one area.” And I said, “Well, that’s a really great thought. I want us to think about how can we fix this? How can we make sure that there’s enough toys for everyone that wants to play in this box?”
Mrs. Spackman (05:22):
And during this entire conversation that I’m having with my students, I’m guiding them to the answer that I want them to give me. I want them to give me that there should only be three people for each box in that area. But I’m having them build all of that. And they’re really learning from each other because they feel like they’re the ones coming up with the routine. They feel like they’re the ones coming up with that rule.
Mrs. Spackman (05:45):
So once we get that situated, the next day my students will come in and of course, they all understand that they’re supposed to be three people for each box. But then the next problem arises. There are five or six box in one carpet area, which then there’s not enough space for students to play. And then two, it gets loud because they’re so close to each other that they’re trying to start to talk over one another.
Mrs. Spackman (06:10):
So we clean up, we come back to the carpet and I say, “Guys, this is what I noticed.” And I’ll tell them what it is that I see. Again, I’m guiding them to the answer that I want them to give me and that’s it, that they need to spread out and that there should only be certain amount of boxes for each area.
Mrs. Spackman (06:28):
So again, we’re building those routines and procedures together. Another example is lining up. Well, we can’t all line up at the exact same time, but I let them. So when I say, “All right, let’s line up, let’s go to lunch.” Now, also keep in mind that if I know that I’m going to have this time to talk about the routine and the procedure and try to have us set it up together, I’m going to want to make sure that I have efficient amount of time for us to discuss this.
Mrs. Spackman (06:55):
So versus us lining up and it only taking three minutes, I may know that it’s going to take 10 to 15 minutes because I’m going to set procedures and routines during this time. So when we line up, I’m going to say, “Oh goodness, I noticed this happened and this happened. And so we’re going to sit down, we’ll talk about it. We’ll create an anchor chart of how it is that we line up.”
Mrs. Spackman (07:14):
And we will build that together so that my students have an ownership and they understand and they truly grasp what it is that they’re expected to do. So in the beginning of the year, it’s all about those routines, all about procedures and creating them together. I don’t like to just sit there and tell my students everything that they’re supposed to do, because they’re not really learning from that.
Mrs. Spackman (07:36):
They’re not learning how to correct their mistakes. They’re not being problem solvers. They’re just listening to this person who’s mad at them all the time, yelling at them of why they’re not doing it the way that they’re supposed to be doing it. So make sure that you are giving your children a lot of opportunities to discuss the expectations and procedures and learning how to build some of those rules together.
Mrs. Spackman (07:56):
Speaking of rules, I know that this is a big one in classrooms. So many classrooms have rules and they say, “Well, this is what we’re going to do. These are the rules, everyone needs to follow them.” I don’t have rules in my classroom. I never tell my student what rules we have in the classroom.
Mrs. Spackman (08:11):
I go about the three rules that we have for the school. And that’s what I tell my students, “Guys, I don’t have rules in this classroom. And that’s not to say that we’re all going to get to do whatever it is that we want to do. Not at all. It is just the fact that this is a class, we’re a family, we’re a community, and we’re going to deal with the problems that arise together.”
Mrs. Spackman (08:29):
So I tell them the three rules that we have as a school. And I love these three rules because so many different things fall in the three. And that’s one, respect your teachers. And two, respect your peers and three is work hard. So I tell them that it’s those three rules all the time. And they understand that.
Mrs. Spackman (08:50):
They understand the idea of the three rules. And I tell them, “Guys, if you’re playing, are you working hard? No. Are you respecting your teacher? No, not at all.” So I stick by my three rules for the school. So I talk about the three rules for the school in my classroom. And I tell my students, “Guys, we don’t do rules in the classroom, but we will follow the rules of the school.”
Mrs. Spackman (09:11):
It’s because so many different things fall underneath those three rules, it fits perfectly for what I want. So something that I want to hit on a little bit is that so many times teachers and parents feel like kids should just know what to do, that they should just know what’s expected of them and they should just do it. Why is this so hard? Right?
Mrs. Spackman (09:30):
Well, we have to step back and we have to remember one, they’re kids, two, they may not know exactly what it is that they’re supposed to be doing. They’re just kind of making it up as they go and thinking that it’s the right thing. Or three, someone has taught them wrong.
Mrs. Spackman (09:47):
So I try to step back and think of it from that perspective of either one, you don’t know what to do or two, someone has taught you wrong. And it is my job as a teacher to help you correct that behavior, to understand why it is the incorrect behavior and what are some of the different strategies that we can use to correct that behavior so it doesn’t happen again.
Mrs. Spackman (10:08):
So I want to create thinkers in my room. And at the beginning of the year, that’s something I really emphasize to my parents. I sit them down during our first meet the teacher and I let them understand that, “Hey guys, I’m not here to just get onto your child. I’m not here to give them rewards and candies and all these wonderful, cute, little great things. I’m here to make a thinker out of your child. I’m here to create children who problem-solve and I’m here to make great citizens. To make hardworking, great citizens. That is my goal as a teacher.”
Mrs. Spackman (10:43):
So when you walk into my classroom, there’s no behavior charts anywhere displayed in the room, there’s no rules displayed in the room because I want them to know what is expected of them. I don’t want them coming in and thinking, “The only thing that I want to do is go to the treasure box.” Or, “The only thing I want to do is get a whole punch,” or, “I just want to clip up.” That’s not what I expect.
Mrs. Spackman (11:03):
I don’t expect them to clip up. I don’t expect them to get a hole punch. I expect them to do what it is that they are supposed to be doing. And I want my students to understand that. And at this point in the year, they all get that. They know that Mrs. Spackman’s not one that just likes to give out rewards, that the best and the biggest thing that I can do for you is make you feel like a king or queen when you do something right.
Mrs. Spackman (11:28):
Because I will let the whole world know how wonderful and how great you are. So in my classroom, I don’t do a lot of behavior charts or behavior strategies. Now I do have other things that I do, but a lot of it is going to be talking with my students, brainstorming with my students and then giving them different strategies that they can use to help them solve problems.
Mrs. Spackman (11:52):
So in the beginning of the year, I will tell you, it is tiring, it is very exhausting, but it is so worth it because by the time we get to October and November, my students know exactly what to do. They know what is expected of them, and they’re going to do it. Something else that we do at the beginning of the year is that we practice expectations and routines over and over and over again.
Mrs. Spackman (12:14):
And I will even have to pull this out during the middle and during the end of the year. So if you’ve heard about The Daily 5, or if you do The Daily 5 in your classroom, you know that the Sisters talk about building stamina for reading and about how you start little and you come back, you talk about what happened and then you go back out and let them read some more.
Mrs. Spackman (12:34):
And as soon as you see somebody do something wrong, you bring them back in and you talk about it and you give them another chance. Well, I take that into my routines and my procedures as well. If my students don’t do something the way that they’re supposed to do it, I send them back to where they were. We sit down, we’ll talk about it and then we’ll try it again.
Mrs. Spackman (12:54):
And if they still don’t do it right, oh, so sorry, let’s go back to where we were. Here’s what happened. This is how we’re going to fix it. And then we go back when we try it over and over and over again. And make sure that they understand that, “Hey guys, there is no, “Oh man, I can get away with this and I can get away with that and she’s not going to say anything to me.” It is, you’re going to do it the way that you’re expected to do it every single time.”
Mrs. Spackman (13:20):
And again, it is exhausting, I’m not going to say that it isn’t. But it is so worth it because your students are going to do it every single time after that. If you show them that you are not going to let up, that you’re not going to just kind of see past it and that you are sticking to what your decision is every single time, they’re not going to try to get away with things in your room.
Mrs. Spackman (13:46):
So make sure that you have kind of that heavy foot and say, “Nope, you’re not going to do that in my room. And this is how we’re supposed to do it every single time.” And you make sure that they understand that, they’re going to respect you for it and they’re going to do exactly what is expected and what you want.
Mrs. Spackman (14:02):
Something else that I have at the beginning of the year are high expectations. I feel like so many times people will say, “Well, they’re just so young. They can’t do that.” We need to stop making excuses for our kids because they’re smart and they’re capable and they are able to do the things that you want them to do.
Mrs. Spackman (14:24):
And so many times I feel like as teachers and as parents, we try to make an excuse for them and say, “Well, this is why.” Don’t make excuses. Set your expectations high. Because if you have those high expectations and you expect your students to get there, they will get there. It may take them time, they may need support with it and they may need practice at it, but they will get there. So set those high expectations, don’t make excuses for your students and let them get there.
Mrs. Spackman (14:58):
I feel like if you show them that you have those high expectations, a lot of the times kids just want to feel accepted. They want to feel like they’re doing a great job. I mean, think about it as you. I want to feel accepted. I want to feel like I’m doing a great job. I want to feel like people notice the good things that I’m doing.
Mrs. Spackman (15:17):
So if people are setting those high expectations for me, I’m going to try to reach them because I want someone to recognize me. I want someone to stop and say, “Whoa, you’re doing a great job.” And when that happens, it just sets the bar even higher and they want to reach that for you. So make sure that you’re setting some of those high expectations. Don’t make excuses for your students. Show them how to do it, correct it together as a class and then move on.
Mrs. Spackman (15:43):
So the next thing I want to talk to you guys about behavior management are going to be those behaviors that you start to see between students. Now, a lot of the times teachers are going to relate this to tattling. And tattling is one of my biggest pet peeves. It absolutely drives me crazy when students come up to me to tell me about what another student has done or to tell me that this student isn’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing. And they feel like they’re doing a great job by doing that.
Mrs. Spackman (16:15):
And I tell my students, “Listen, I’m so glad that you noticed this behavior and I’m so glad that you know what is expected, but right now that is not on my top priority. I want you to think about how you can help me by fixing this. What can you do to fix this problem?”
Mrs. Spackman (16:35):
So in my classroom tour, a lot of you noticed the round wheel that I had in my classroom, and this is on my big book stands. So it’s right there in their face when they are sitting at my carpet. And this little behavior wheel plays a huge part at the beginning of the year with handling some of those tattling and some of those student behaviors between each other.
Mrs. Spackman (16:58):
So in the beginning of the year, we have our morning meeting. And every day I like to present them with a problem. And I say, “Guys, listen, I have this friend named Sue and Sue has this problem. And she says that you guys are great thinkers and she wants us to help her.”
Mrs. Spackman (17:15):
So I will write out the problem. And I’ll say, “You know what? Sue has this friend, Joe, who sits next to her. And Joe just keeps talking and talking and talking and talking. Well, Sue gets in trouble every time Joe talks and she doesn’t like it. What do you guys think she can do?” So I tell my kids that problem and then we start talking about it.
Mrs. Spackman (17:38):
And I said, “Well, let’s look at our wheel. Let’s think about which one of these choices might be the best for her.” So a lot of those times my students will say to walk away, to go somewhere else to find a different spot. So I tell my students, “Okay, here’s what I want you to do today.
Mrs. Spackman (17:55):
I want you to try to think about how you can do this strategy today. Think about a behavior or something that might happen today. And then today in the afternoon, when we come back and we sit down and we reflect on our day, I want to see who has used that strategy and can share how they used it.”
Mrs. Spackman (18:13):
So we talk about the strategies. I’ll put a lot of problems into my morning message that my students will have to solve as far as behaviors. During my reflection times, during writing or reading and math, I usually incorporate a lot of those problem solving behaviors during that time. So that’s the time when we sit down and we really talk about what are those behaviors that I noticed and how could we fix them?
Mrs. Spackman (18:43):
And this entire time guys, I’m creating anchor charts. There are anchor charts everywhere for things that we could be doing to help fix some of those issues that may happen in the classroom. So it’s just another great way for my students to understand and have a place to go to find strategies that will help them in solving their own issues.
Mrs. Spackman (19:02):
So the last thing that I want to talk to you guys about is the positive rewards and the consequences for behavior. So I don’t have anything big in my classroom. I talked to you guys about how I don’t have rules, or I don’t have any of the charts or anything like that, but I did want to incorporate something that could give my kids rewards because I mean, who doesn’t love rewards.
Mrs. Spackman (19:24):
For us, it would be pay raises, a little woo hoo, hooray kind of thing from our principals here and there. So I wanted them to have something like that. And I also wanted to make sure that parents were involved and they understood what was happening in the classroom on a daily basis.
Mrs. Spackman (19:40):
Now, I don’t know if I would do this so much for the upper grades as I would for the lower grades. For upper grades I feel like I would have higher expectations for them at that point because they’ve had so many years within the school setting that they should understand a lot of those things at that point. This, I would typically keep around kindergarten, first grade.
Mrs. Spackman (19:59):
So I have a monthly behavior chart. And it’s pretty much just a calendar where I write down the days and I have little boxes for me to be able to fill in anything. So on days where I don’t have to tell my students over and over and over again, I will give them a smiley face for having a good day. For those days where I have to constantly redirect and kind of help them along the way, I will write down that we had a hard time doing this or doing that and let parents be aware of this.
Mrs. Spackman (20:29):
Every day parents have to sign this and then send it back to me. Now here’s where the positive rewards come into play. So after five smiley faces, and they do not have to be consecutive, my students will get to go to the treasure box or they get to a coupon. So it is their choice as far as which one they get.
Mrs. Spackman (20:50):
Now, again, it doesn’t have to be consecutive. So let’s say a student comes in and on Monday they got a smiley face. Tuesday, they got a little notes at home, but Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, they did great. Come next week, Monday, they didn’t do so great. But on Tuesday, they had a better day.
Mrs. Spackman (21:06):
So on Tuesday, that’s when we would have our fifth smiley face and I would let that student go to the treasure box or go get a coupon. So that’s how I do behaviors. I don’t really do anything big or huge. It’s just something simple, it’s something small and I don’t make so much of a big deal about it.
Mrs. Spackman (21:24):
For consequences, I like to make sure that those follow along the same lines as the behavior. So let’s say for instance that I have a student that’s playing during independent time or during reading time. At that point, I say, “Baby, listen, I understand that you’re playing right now. So you know what we’re going to have to do is that during your playtime, I want you reading because you’re taking away from your learning and you’re taking away from my time, which isn’t fair.” So during their recess time, I would require them to read.
Mrs. Spackman (21:54):
Let’s say I have a student who’s throwing markers or crayons across the room. I would simply go up to that student and say, “Baby, listen, right now, you were throwing markers across the room. That is not how we use our markers right now. Markers are supposed to be on the table and they are meant for coloring.”
Mrs. Spackman (22:11):
So I’m going to take those markers or crayons away, and I’m going to put them at my table and I’m going to tell my student, “Listen, whenever you’re ready to decide that you can make those good choices. I want you to come back up to me and tell me that you want those back.” I don’t like to tell my students when they can have things back.
Mrs. Spackman (22:27):
I want to make sure that I’m allowing students to take that responsibility and understand when it is that they’re ready to make those better choices. So when they are ready, they come up to me and say, “Mrs. Spackman, I understand that throwing markers across the room was not okay. Markers are supposed to be at my table. I promise to leave my markers at my table and use them for coloring only.”
Mrs. Spackman (22:49):
When they tell me that, I give them their markers back and they can go right along their way. Now this could be one to two minutes right after what happened. And that’s okay. I don’t like to make a big deal about it. Guys, if they realized what they did wrong and they are willing to correct it, don’t keep it dragging on and on and on. Just fix it and then move on.
Mrs. Spackman (23:10):
Let’s say I have a student who is rolling around on my carpet or who is constantly calling out. I would say, “Listen, I understand that right now you have a lot of things that you want to say, and you are really excited about sharing it. And I’m so happy that you are really ready to learn, but right now it is not fair to someone else because you’re not letting them think.
Mrs. Spackman (23:30):
So I need you to go to your table. And when you are ready to come back to my carpet and make better choices, then please let me know.” Again, I’m allowing that student to go back to their table. I’m taking them away from where the behavior is occurring. And they are given some think time. And when they’re ready to come back and make those better choices, then they can do that.
Mrs. Spackman (23:52):
Again, I don’t make a big deal about it. I don’t drag it on forever and I get past it. It’s not something thing where we have to make them feel awful about it. Let them just understand that, “Okay, I know that I did this wrong. I know I need to fix it.” And done, it’s over. That behavior is over, we’re moving past it and we’re going to keep doing what we’re supposed to be doing.
Mrs. Spackman (24:14):
I don’t want the behavior to be the focus of my day. I want learning and having fun to be the focus of my day. So when those little behaviors happen, I deal with it right away. I take whatever it is that the behaviors’ occurring around away from them and I let them make that choice for whenever they are ready to do the right thing.
Mrs. Spackman (24:35):
So let’s have a quick recap. So at the beginning I talked to you guys about routines and procedures and really allowing students to help you set up some of those routines and procedures. Next, I talked to you about individual student behaviors between each other, and more typically that tattling behavior that will happen.
Mrs. Spackman (24:53):
So allowing your students give them strategies that they can use in order to go and fix those behaviors is going to be the most beneficial in the beginning. You don’t want to constantly fix things for them. Remember, you’re wanting to create thinkers and you’re wanting them to learn how to problem solve themselves.
Mrs. Spackman (25:11):
If we are constantly doing that all for them, they’re not being thinkers, they’re being very dependent on us and that’s not what we want as teachers. We want them to be independent. And last I gave you some great ideas for my rewards and my consequences. My rewards, I don’t really make a big deal about it because I want my students to understand the expectations and I just want them to do the right thing.
Mrs. Spackman (25:37):
I don’t want them to feel like they’re constantly just wanting rewards. I want them to make that choice to do the right thing all the time. And last, for consequences I make sure that the consequence is related to the behavior. If throwing markers across the room is the problem, then I’m going to take the markers away.
Mrs. Spackman (25:57):
But another thing you want to remember is that you don’t want the consequence to last for an extended period of time. Don’t drag it on guys. If the student recognizes what they did was wrong and they’re willing to correct it, and they can tell you how to correct it, give it back to them and move on.
Mrs. Spackman (26:14):
Again, you don’t want to make it a big deal because they’re learning. They’re kids, they’re going to make mistakes. You have to remember that no one is perfect. And a lot of the times we want them to be perfect all the time. Well, they’re not. So remember that, enjoy them, let them have fun, let them make mistakes and let them learn from those mistakes.
Mrs. Spackman (26:35):
I feel like by allowing your students to learn from their mistakes, they’re going to really take more ownership and they’re going to understand that behavior and they’re going to be able to fix it. They’re learning to build those problem solving skills in the end. So I hope you guys got some really great ideas as far as what I do for classroom behavior and classroom management.
Mrs. Spackman (26:54):
I know that there are other behaviors that can happen within the classroom setting and I’m going to do a different video on that because I feel like it can drag on and on and on. So I’ll do a separate video on just specific behaviors and what I would do for those types of behaviors. But this was just more of my general classroom management and classroom behavior system.
Mrs. Spackman (27:14):
So again, I hope you guys got some really great ideas. If you have any questions, please make sure to leave them down below. And as always guys, if you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up. And I will talk to you guys really soon. Bye. A big sun. And I already had the circle’s precut and I had the rectangles precut. This was on a card stock and they had to cut that out themselves for the cloud. But I…
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