Image Credit: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Part IIIA

In my previous posts I discussed some of the pitfalls with removing students from the classroom and provided simple solutions for preventing the inadvertent reinforcement of maladaptive behaviors. As I noted, the best case involves creating a positive classroom environment that is characterized by high engagement through meaningful activities supported by helpful and encouraging teachers. A student is more likely to learn and less likely to misbehave under these conditions which tends to make removal from the classroom aversive.

When helping becomes a problem

Another common mistake I’ve noticed tends to occur over and over during the times a student is returned to class following removal for misbehavior. This is especially true in elementary schools where the students do not transition to other classes as frequently as middle or high school students. Under these conditions, the well-meaning administrator might return a student to the class they were removed from and provide directives to the student upon entering in attempts to assist the teacher and avoid disrupting the class. Once the student is seemingly back on task, the administrator or dean promptly leaves believing an effective consequence has been successfully applied. Here is the potential problem with this scenario. Each time a teacher is forced to have a student removed for disruption, they are essentially giving up their “power” (i.e. instructional control) to another staff member. If the student was refusing to complete a task, or just didn’t “feel” like following the teacher’s directives, the student’s behavior has been successful as they circumvented the teacher’s original directive and potentially avoided a non-preferred task. In other words, they may have complied with the administrator’s directives, but not the teacher’s. Consequently, it is important that instructional control be regularly transferred back to the teacher (i.e. directions come from the teacher) when a student is returned. Below are some strategies I’ve successfully used in school settings to ensure the efficient transference of instructional control back to the teacher while ultimately preventing non-compliant or task escape motivated behaviors from being rewarded. You may have to adjust them to ensure they are a contextual fit.

Take action…plan that is

I would recommend that students usually be required to complete some type of action plan after being removed from the classroom. This action plan can be used later by the teacher as a means of discussing the behavior and setting some short term goals. Typically these action plans involve the student providing a written response to questions that prompt the student to problem solve alternate solutions to their behavior. I like to make sure that action plans contain the following:

• A review of the misbehavior (What did you do?)
• A replacement behavior (What might you do next time?)
• An empathy piece (What are the potential consequence of your behavior to yourself or others)
• A restitution piece (What will you do to make up for what you did?)

For young students who cannot write yet, consider having them draw their response. I don’t mean a Picasso here with all the artistic accouterments…just some simple stick figures will do. We don’t want the students to think it’s time for their favorite art activity when they are removed!

Behavioral Momentum

When a student is eligible to be returned to class (i.e. followed expectations and completed action plan), you might approach the student and say something like, “You may go back to class now.” No other discussion is really needed at this point. If the student refuses to leave, remind him or her that every minute he or she does not comply will result in an additional minute “owed” in the designated area. Another option for refusal is resetting the student’s time for about 3 minutes, or providing a “time owed” intervention whereby the student will have to make up time during tasks or activities they prefer (e.g. during recess, after school, Saturday school, or lunch detention if that has been determined a viable intervention by your team). Before the student leaves the designated area, ensure they are compliant by using behavioral momentum strategies such as requiring they tuck their shirt in, push the chair under the desk, and line up quietly at the door. This is a high probability request that requires little effort on their part and ensures the student is ready to comply. Side note: If a student refuses to follow simple directions, it’s been my experience that they are not ready to go back to class. Returning a student who is not following these simple directions is likely setting the teacher up for failure and creating a situation where the student will probably be called out of class again shortly.

Set the student and teacher up for successful reentry

Once you’ve used the behavioral momentum strategy, pre-correct the student prior to transitioning back to class by reminding them of what the expectations are for the transition (e.g. straight and silent walking with hands to self). It’s important that they remain under your instructional control by following your expectations precisely.   For example, if you were to ask them to walk on the right side of the hallway but they walked in the middle, require them to walk back and do it again, but this time on the right. Additionally, ensure that the student has his or her completed action plan to bring back to class. As mentioned earlier, this should be reviewed with him or her by the teacher at a later time as a strategic discussion. Just before returning the student to class, try the following:

1. Remind the student of their restitution within the action plan (e.g. “Remember, you wrote that that you planned to apologize to the teacher.”)
2. Remind the student to ask the teacher if they can return to class. Someone once suggested this was a terrible idea, but I’ve only had a few teachers actually refuse allowing the student to come back into the class. In every case it was because the student had what might be considered a “smug” look on their face, so I don’t blame them. In each of these circumstances I required the student to sit or stand quietly in a designated area for about 5 minutes, and then briefly required him or her practice what might be described as a humble facial expression. In each of these cases the teacher willing accepted the student back to class upon return.

When appropriate, prompt the teacher regarding the expectations of regaining instructional control. In other words, if they are not familiar with the procedures (and they won’t be unless you provide them with a training), discreetly remind the teacher just before the student enters the room of what the procedure entails.

Stay Tuned for the final piece of returning instructional control back to the teacher in Part B of this post next week!

Paul has successfully supported multiple struggling schools in the turnaround process. As a certificated behavior analyst who concentrates on organizational behavior management and behavioral leadership, Paul provides administrative teams, teachers, and staff with coaching and consultation in analyzing and developing behavior and performance management systems directly aligned with student achievement. Contact Paul at gavonip@hotmail.com