Addressing 95% of Problematic Behavior, Part 1 of 2

Learn the 4 simple actions that, when well-executed, will eliminate most problematic behavior before it happens.

Key Points

• Remaining calm and neutral when addressing student misbehavior is crucial to building your relationship with students and keeping small problems small.
• Expectations need to be clearly communicated before any consequences are implemented. If students are unaware of what they should be doing, it’s not fair to hold them accountable.
• If you need to address a student or group of students’ behavior in front of their peers, use the least invasive method. You want the correction to be almost invisible to the other students.
• When there is a group of students engaging in rule-breaking behavior rather than an individual, use interactive modeling or reinforcing language.

Insider Tips

If you need to address an incident, but you feel too upset to be calm and neutral, try using a breathing technique first (such as counting to 5 while breathing in, and counting backwards from 5 when breathing out). Then, address the student(s). It may feel like a very long time to you, but it doesn’t to the student(s). Those ten seconds will drastically change the way you approach the student.

Resources

How to Improve Student Behavior Without Shame or Punishment