Behavior: Teaching Rules and Routines

Preventative Methods

I'd like to share info I got from somewhere website....let's check it out!!

The best strategies for establishing acceptable behaviors are those strategies that are pro-active and preventative. If you want cooperative children/students, they need to understand and be able to follow your rules and routines. Meeting this goal will ensure that you have a good learning environment.

First of all, you will need to communicate your expectations for acceptable behavior. How will you do this? You will teach the expectations, simply telling children about your expectations is not enough. The following steps will provide you with everything you need to meet with success:

1. Describe the acceptable behaviors with words and actions; be specific. For instance, instead of telling them to use acceptable voices. Describe the levels of noise for the various activities. Ask them to demonstrate what voices are used during reading time, you should hear silence. Ask them to demonstrate what voices are use during group work, they should speak relatively quietly to their group members. Ask them who they should be talking to at group times. When this role play is complete, once again, ask the students to repeat the 3 types of voice levels and when they are to be used.
2. Provide opportunties for children to practice expected behaviors. Again, this is like role playing but is quite necessary if you want children to fully understand your expectations. Be sure to focus on the students who experience behavior difficulties to demonstrate and tell you what the acceptable behaviors are in the various situations.
3. Provide honest and ongoing feedback. Always let your children know if they are behaving appropriately or if there is something they could be doing to improve their behavior. Be specific when telling children what it is about how they're behaving. For instance, you may say that you really liked the way that they put everything away so quickly and quietly. Give regular reminders and feedback, this will help to establish a great climate for learning.
4. What about the student that breaks the rules? This student should not be embarassed. If there are other students around, you will need to bring the student to a spot that is away from the other students. Ask him/her why he/she thinks you've asked to speak with them. Usually they can tell you. Ask them how they should have handled the situation and what they'll do next time. Include them in the consequence that should happen. Sometimes they'll tell you that they should work alone or that they should give an apology. Your consequence needs to be logical and fit the behavior deviation.
5. Although you won't be able to predict absolutely every behavior problem that you may encounter, it will be possible to identify many of them. Once you are prepared for the most common behavior problems, you will be able to cope and be able to change many of them. It's often wise to prepare a list of potential behavior issues and preventative and reactive strategies that will lead to ongoing acceptable behaviors. Being prepared for and knowing how you'll handle behavior deviations is half the battle!