Behavior Management Tips: Disruptive Behavior and More

Never have enough writing utensils on hand? Help keep track of pencils and pens in the classroom by using shoes. Classroom noise level too high? Use a room buddy and a quiet voice to counter disruptive classroom behaviors.

Do You Have a Shoe to Spare?
If you often lose the pens and pencils you "lend" students, try this technique: Allow students who forget their pens or pencils to borrow one -- if they give you one of their shoes. Students only get the shoe back when they return the pencil.

Sh-h-h-h-h!
If students are noisy, whisper an instruction that begins, "If you can hear my voice and (give an instruction), you can have ten minutes of free time at the end of the day." Give the instruction just once; those who don't give you their immediate attention or miss what you say because they were talking too loudly miss out on the reward.

The Buddy Room
Agree with a teacher in a nearby room to be "buddy room" partners. If a student in one class is disruptive, the teacher takes the student to the buddy room in the other class. There, a special desk is assigned for such circumstances, containing a stack of "think sheets." The disruptive student completes a think sheet describing what he or she did wrong, the effects the behavior had on the class, and what he or she will do to correct the behavior.

Article by Linda Starr
Education World®
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