SPLED801:

Lesson 3 Introduction

 

To be successful in this lesson, you should do the following things:

 

Lesson 3 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should do the following things:

• Define principles of applied behavior analysis that focus on using antecedent structure in classrooms to encourage positive behavior.
• Identify ways to create optimal learning environments by utilizing antecedent structure.
• Demonstrate goal-setting and the use of goals in developing a set of classroom rules.
• Define behavioral momentum and discuss ways to use it to promote compliance with classroom rules and expectations.
• Define and provide examples of classroom universals.

Please watch the following video clip.

Does this scenario look familiar? Most of the time, teachers and other professionals working in educational settings are in “react” mode, which is inefficient and, quite often, ineffective. What happens when we set up the classroom ahead of time instead and focus on the antecedent structures we can use to prevent these undesirable behaviors?

If you can identify the problem behavior, determine the behaviors in sequence, and understand the antecedents to and consequences of the behavior, you can then put it all together into an ABC analysis. Why perform an ABC analysis? Well, there are a number of ways to change any behavior; we look for the simplest, most effective plan.

The ABC in an ABC analysis stands for antecedent–behavior–consequence. Once the behaviors, antecedents, and consequences are identified, the next step is to look for patterns and determine the factors that are either prompting or maintaining the behaviors (antecedents and consequences). Last, but not least, decide on a plan for change.

Lesson 3 Overview

In Lesson 3, we are going to focus on

• creating situations in which the learner expects to be successful and
• creating situations in which the learner obtains a desired outcome.

In other words, we are going to focus on creating a good structure for learning by focusing on antecedents (observing the learner, communicating expectations, and providing attention to the learner).

We will examine the following components of structure in the remainder of Part 1 of Lesson 3:

• expectations and how to meet them (goals and success strategies),
• rules,
• room arrangement,
• schedules and routines, and
• the way the teacher communicates directions and offers feedback.

Guiding Questions

As you proceed through the lesson, think about the following questions:

• What are your goals for your learners this year?
• How can learners be successful when working with you?
• What learner behaviors should you encourage?
• How can the physical arrangement support learner success?
• What routines will help learners be successful?

Using Antecedent Structure in Classrooms to Encourage Positive Behavior: Teacher Expectations and Goal-Setting

Begin creating optimal situations for learners to be successful by developing goals and expectations. Here are some sample goals:

It is important to remember that goals are broad, general statements of where you want to end up. Your goals probably have to do with changing students’ academic behaviors so that they can read better or solve math problems. They also probably involve goals for social behaviors. Keep in mind that your goals will generally apply to learners both with and without special needs.

Goals only tell you the general direction you are headed in, not how to get there. You should take some time at the beginning of the year to identify what your big goals are. For example, a goal may be that your students will develop math computational skills. In the social area, a goal may be that they will get along with everyone. Knowing what your goals are should help you stay on track. If you know where you want your students to end up, you will look for ways to help them get there. And if you share goals with students, it can help them engage in goal-directed behaviors.

Another big advantage of focusing on your goals is that this practice encourages you to avoid judging behaviors as good or bad. You can instead view behaviors as effective or ineffective for attaining the goal. This can lead to a much more pleasant classroom atmosphere. When you see students exhibiting a behavior (academic or social) that is heading off course, you can give them feedback to get them back on track, objectively pointing out that the behavior may not be useful for attaining the goal. It helps you and your learners know what’s important and what’s not.

Developing Rules for Learner Behavior

In providing structure, your next step is to develop and specify rules for learner behavior.

Rules differ from strategies for success and expectations in that they address behaviors for which there are consequences. If you follow the rules, something good will happen; if you don’t, something less desirable will happen. When students know the rules, they are not left guessing about what they are supposed to do. Rules add an element of security.

Generally, rules are not activity-specific. For example, one rule might be to arrive on time with all materials. That would be true of almost any learner activity. The creation and communication of rules for learner behavior are foundational parts of motivation and management structure. Even if you decide not to communicate strategies for success, it is critical that you, at a minimum, develop and communicate rules. Anticipate the misbehaviors that are most likely to occur and incorporate them into your rules.

Rules should address ineffective behaviors that are both

• minor (but chronic) and
• major (but occasional).

Although calling out an answer (rather than waiting to be called upon) is not going to cause injury, it can interfere with the learning process; therefore, it is as important to include in the rules as, say, hitting someone, which is more severe but may not happen as often.

How often have you heard the idea that if you involve learners in creating the rules, they will have greater investment in them and therefore will be more compliant? This may sound like a good idea; however, there is no research that supports it. Engaging learners in a rule-generating session takes a good deal of skill, especially with learners who are lacking language or social turn-taking skills. And, because you want to introduce your rules on Day 1 of the academic year, before you get to know your students, I strongly advise you to present the rules to them.

Writing Rules

So, rules are rules, right?
Not necessarily. There is a right way and a wrong way to write rules. 

Here are some general guidelines for what rules should look/sound like:

• A list of rules should consist of only a few statements (less than seven).
• Rules should be short statements of observable behavior.
• Rules should be positive statements of required behavior.
• Rules should not be request statements, such as "Would you stop banging on your desk?" (since you give the learner the option of saying no when you do this).

Keep your rules to seven or fewer short statements of observable behavior, worded positively. You want to keep the list of rules short, because you want learners to remember them; the fewer there are, the easier they will be to recall. You want to keep the actual rule statements short for the same reason. Also, it is very important to use specifically described observable behaviors. For example, while treating everyone with dignity and respect might be a worthwhile strategy for success, not everyone will agree with what that looks like. On the other hand, keeping one’s hands to oneself is an observable behavior that would be pretty hard to miss. The third part here (using positive statements) is important, because you want to always use an instructional, educative approach; a key way to do this is by emphasizing what you want to see, not what you don’t want to see. Finally, a rule should have consistent and predictable consequences (as with laws and legal penalties), so avoid making rules sound like requests. Avoid please do this and the like.

 

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Let’s take a few minutes here to practice applying what we’ve just covered. Read the question, think about your answer, and click the expand button for the answer.

Is "Please be kind to everyone" a well-stated rule?

Four Rules to Consider

Consider using the following rules, which may cover just about every possible behavior of concern to you in an instructional setting:

• Keep your hands, bodies, and objects to yourselves.
• Follow directions.*
• Stay in the assigned area.*
• Raise your hand to get permission to speak.

The first rule ("Keep your hands, bodies, and objects to yourselves") addresses such behaviors as hitting, spitting, kicking, pushing, and throwing items. If your learners do not exhibit such aggressive behaviors, you may want to just skip that one. Also, if you are trying to encourage sharing, this rule does not support that.

The second rule ("Follow directions") addresses doing what the teacher instructs (or could refer to the directions on a worksheet). Sometimes you’ll see this rule phrased as "Do your job." In either case, this rule places responsibility on the adult to be clear about what the directions are or what the job is. You can say to a learner, “Your directions right now are to work on these problems.” You cannot assume that learners with special needs will automatically know what they are supposed to do.

The third rule ("Stay in the assigned area") may or may not be useful depending upon the setting in which you are working. If you have some learners working at their desks and others working with you, it is probably important for the learners to stay at the table or desk where you have seated them or to stay with a particular small group. This is a great rule for field trips, as the learner’s assigned area is likely the group. This rule, like the second, requires you to be clear about where the learner’s assigned area is.

The fourth rule ("Raise your hand to get permission to speak") may or may not be needed; it just depends upon how you want your learners to communicate with you.

As you can see, all four of these rules are observable, though the second and third are observable only if you have been very clear about the directions or assigned areas. The rules are all short enough to remember, and there are fewer than seven. The rules are all stated in terms of what you want to see, rather than what you don't. These rules can be very useful if they fit the situation in which you teach.

Communicating Rules

Rules should be communicated by

• posting,
• discussing/modeling, and
• consistently enforcing positive and/or negative consequences.

Once you have identified your rules and decided how to state them, you need to be sure to communicate them to the learners. You want to teach rules just as you would academic behaviors—teach them the very first time you meet with the learners and then review them periodically. You want to ensure that your students learn the rules as well as they will learn the academic content you will teach them. You can do this by posting the rules, discussing the rules with the learners, and consistently enforcing consequences for rule adherence. When posting rules, you want to remember that the point is to make it easy for the learner to remember them, so you will want to post them in an accessible format. If you cannot put the rules on a bulletin board, you might provide each learner with a sheet of paper or a small index card that has the rules on it. Young learners or non-readers may benefit from drawings or pictures illustrating the rules. Always model the behavior. Finally, you should always provide positive feedback for rule compliance and corrective feedback and consequences for inappropriate behavior.

 

Seating and Classroom Arrangement

Another way to provide structure and communicate expectations to learners is to position them in ways that facilitate attainment of instructional goals and compliance with rules. The various ways in which you seat learners will result in different outcomes. Careful arrangement can decrease student noise and disruption, thus increasing on-task behaviors. First, though, you need to decide on the nature of your goals.

Matching Goals to Physical Arrangement

Follow the steps below to use physical arrangement to position learners for success:

• Decide if your goals are instructional or social (or both).
• Identify any distractions you need to reduce.
• Use chairs.
• Assign seats.
• Seat learners so that you can easily monitor work and behavior.
• Keep away from high-traffic areas.
• Gather data about where a special-needs student would best be positioned.
• Have the necessary supplies immediately available.
• Allot space for student belongings.

All of these are considerations for setting up the learning environment and creating structure. For example, although it may seem cozy to sit on the floor on cushions, sitting in chairs provides more structure. Chairs encourage learners to sit up and pay attention. It is also a good idea to assign seats, rather than leaving it up to chance or individual learner choice. By assigning seats, you can use what you know about learners to avoid putting two learners who are likely to distract one another side by side, and you can seat learners who may serve as good models near those who may struggle. Additionally, you can seat learners in a way that enables you to readily see them work. If you want to provide feedback and answer questions promptly, you’ll need to be able to see what your students are doing. Clear lines of view between where you spend most of your time and areas of instruction are critical. When you first arrange your room, you should stand in different parts and determine whether you can see everything that is going on so that you are avoiding problems to begin with. (Remember that antecedent structure!)

Keep high-traffic areas free of learners. Do not sit them where they will be in the way of others going into and out of the room or to and from the pencil sharpener. While all of the recommendations above are intended to meet the needs of learners with special needs generally, you may have a student with a physical or sensory challenge that warrants some consideration. Ask the child to tell you where she’d like to sit in order to get her work done and then monitor that choice to see if she is accomplishing a reasonable amount of work. You might write something on the board and ask her to copy it from different spots in the room to see where she has the best access. While there are some general opinions out there, your best bet is to place the learner and then monitor the impact on her performance. (Use data to make decisions!)

An inefficient teacher is an ineffective teacher, so always have necessary supplies on hand; don’t lose valuable learning time retrieving them. Downtime leads to problems, so be prepared to keep things moving. The final point is to have a place where learners can keep their belongings while in the room. It is important that included learners who aren't in your room for a full day feel like a part of the class; having a place where they can put personal belongings like the other learners can help.

Options for Arranging Seating in a Classroom Environment

 

 

Physical Arrangement Options (360° Videos)

NOTE: keep in mind that 360° video controls only work in Chrome, Firefox and IE browsers on desktop/laptop computers. Use keys A and D for left-right, and W and S for up-down.

If you want to try the videos with mobile devices and a VR viewer/headset please see the instructions below the two videos.

 

 

Watching the Videos on Mobile Devices and With a VR Headset 

1. Make sure that your Canvas and YouTube Apps on the smartphone are updated.
2. Access the course through the Canvas app, then go to course page with the 360 video(s).
3. Select the video link and turn up the sound. Youtube app should launch with the video.
   
   
   1. Physical Arrangement: Clusters
   2. Physical Arranagement: Semicircles
4. Select the Cardboard icon 
5. Prepare your headset and place your phone in the viewer.
6. Adjust the headset lenses and strap as necessary.

Scheduling

Another way to provide structure to the learning environment is to schedule your time wisely and develop and use routines. A well-thought-out schedule is critical to the expedient accomplishment of instructional and behavioral goals. It takes a lot of time to develop a schedule, but it is well worth it. Routine helps learners feel secure; they know what to expect because of the predictability of the schedule. For example, something as minor as a fire drill or an unexpected assembly can trigger a behavioral issue in a child who cannot deal with change in routine. The classroom level, student characteristics (such as age and developmental levels), and administrative constraints (such as start time and lunch breaks) all influence the schedule for any given setting. Whatever your schedule is, you should take time initially to review it with the learners and be sure to alert them to changes as they arise.

Here are some general guidelines for scheduling that are particularly relevant for learners with special needs:

• Alternate the nature and interest level of activities/tasks. It is often wise to do the less-interesting, harder work first and then follow up with a task the learner enjoys or does particularly well.
• Move from short instructional periods to longer ones. Young children need shorter lessons and more physical activity breaks. Consider the age and developmental level of your learners.
• Schedule time for relationship development. You may have to actually plan for this, especially for students with special needs (who might not otherwise interact with you and other students).
• Permit adequate time for the completion of activities. This provides the learner with closure and prevents him from switching from task to task and becoming confused. You of course would want to be sure the task is at an appropriate level for the learner.
• Incorporate distributed practice. Spacing some review time throughout the day will help learners with special needs retain the skills and content they are studying.
• Cue learners about time; give a prompt to help with time management (e.g., "Two minutes to wrap up"). 
• Begin the day with a framing activity and close with a routine. A framing activity is any moderately interesting, non-threatening task that requires the student to pay attention and respond in some simple, physical way for a brief period of time, such as a word search or crossword puzzle. End the day with a routine to provide closure, such as taking five minutes to check notes and assignments and return books to shelves.

Whatever your routine procedures are, you must know them and teach them—and, ultimately, the students must know them, too. When you do teach them, you want to be sure to include why a particular procedure is important, why it is needed, when and/or where it is needed, and what the routine looks like. Identify what you need to do to help learners be successful in adopting the procedure and consistently following it. Because routines vary by setting and the teacher's personality, it is impossible to tell you exactly what your routine procedures should look like in order to be effective. Remember to reinforce compliance with routines and schedules.

Sample Situations Requiring Routine Procedures

• transitions
  • coming into and exiting the room
  • changing to another task
• requesting help
• finishing early
• using the bathroom

Please complete the following self-check activity. Read each question, think about your response, and click Show Answer.

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It's Time to Stop and Recap What We’ve Done so Far.

You read about the importance of creating a classroom climate that is structured to encourage learning by clearly communicating goals, strategies for success, and rules that are consistent with your expectations. You also read about using physical space wisely and scheduling to support the structure. We covered using routines to use time wisely and keep learners on task. Now let’s see how you did on the quiz.

The first item could have one or two correct answers. Communicating expectations is important because learners will better know what to do, and this keeps both the learner and the teacher on track. It is very important for learners to know what they are supposed to do so that they do not have to spend time determining how to respond.

What are some ways you can communicate expectations so that learners know what to do? You have many options, among which is sharing your goals and rules. You might also use room arrangement, schedules, and routines. All of these influence student behavior; you really do need to pay attention to all of them.

The third item is false. Behaviors needed for success can and do vary by teacher and setting. You have to determine and communicate these behaviors to the learner so that he or she can be successful in your setting.

In the next item, you were to categorize the statement. However, the statement fit none of the listed options; it is not a goal or strategy for success because it is too narrow. It is also not a well-stated rule because it uses the word please.

The last item is true. The way you position students sends a message to them about communication with you and with each other, so you really need to be aware of what message you are sending.

Surface Management Interventions

Sometimes learners exhibit behaviors that are not conducive to learning (for either themselves or their peers). For behaviors that are occurring repeatedly, the teacher should institute a systematic program of intervention combined with a clear-cut classroom structure. When unexpected or atypical behaviors occur occasionally, the teacher should use an intervention that leads to as little disruption in the flow of instruction as possible while avoiding unintentionally reinforcing the behavior.

Research indicates that teachers (special as well as general education) use a variety of what Long, Morse, and Newman have called surface management interventions. Because not every option will work for every student or for every incident, the teacher needs to be well versed in the many options available. First, we’re going to talk about options for addressing problem behaviors; then, we’ll review the surface management interventions suggested by Long and colleagues.

There are basically three options for teachers when deciding whether or not to address various student behaviors: preventing, permitting, and intervening on the spot. In some respects, these are artificial boundaries, but you should be aware of them when deciding to intervene or not. Repetitive behaviors that disrupt the learning environment for the student or for the student’s peers require preventive strategies. We prevent behavior through two basic avenues: classroom structure and a well-planned system of behavior support.

Structure the classroom so that ineffective behaviors do not occur and so that effective behaviors are encouraged. This involves the many aspects of classroom structure we’ve discussed before, such as room arrangement and clearly specified goals.

A planned system of behavior support might include reinforcement systems in the form of token economies or contracts. We will discuss both of these later on in the course. Some student behaviors might be so trivial that the teacher chooses to allow them either by ignoring or tolerating them. This might legitimately occur when the behavior has one of the following characteristics.

 

The third option, related to the first, is to intervene immediately upon exhibition of the behavior. You would immediately intervene to prevent any of the following things.

 

Once you have decided that a behavior warrants intervention, you need to determine how to address it. Interventions are designed to be used by a teacher immediately as problematic behaviors occur. They should be used in tandem with a well-planned program of environmental structural management, effective instructional design and methods, and positive behavior intervention.

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Reference:

Long, N. J., Morse, W. C., & Newman, R. G. (1980). Conflict in the classroom: The education of emotionally disturbed children (4th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Options for Addressing Students' Surface Behaviors

 

Surface Management Interventions, Continued

Time to use what you learned! Read the scenario that follows and identify surface management techniques that might be appropriate to use to address the behavior(s).

 

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In the follow-up discussion activity you will have to:

• List three things you could do now.
• List three things you could have done to avoid this situation.

Role of Behavioral Momentum in Encouraging Compliance With Classroom Rules and Expectations

The final topic in Lesson 3 is behavioral momentum. When you consistently and systematically use the antecedent structures you learned about in this lesson, you will dramatically increase positive outcomes for your learners. There are always exceptions, however, such as the learner who will simply not comply. Behavioral momentum is one technique you can use with such a student.

Behavioral momentum is a technique that capitalizes on the positive momentum generated by learner compliance with two or three teacher instructions. The technique uses this momentum to direct the student to engage in likely behaviors, followed by an unlikely behavior.

Behavioral momentum takes advantage of the momentum of complying with teacher instructions to engage in preferred behaviors to gain compliance to less preferred instructions. Behavioral momentum is the tendency for behavior to continue following a change in the environment. The greater the rate of reinforcement, the greater the behavioral momentum. What you are trying to do is manipulate the rate of reinforcement to establish a momentum of compliant behavior that can continue even when learners are directed to perform a behavior that they normally would not comply with. It is a fairly straightforward technique, but you have to know your learners and what directions they will readily follow.

Before using behavioral momentum, identify behaviors that the learner enjoys doing (i.e., those behaviors the learner typically complies with when told to do so). Then, do the following things:

• Direct the learner to do the first likely behavior, reinforcing compliance.
  [Wait ten seconds.]
• Direct the learner to do the second likely behavior, reinforcing compliance.
  [Wait ten seconds.]
• Direct the learner to do the third likely behavior, reinforcing compliance.
  [Wait ten seconds.]
• Direct the learner to do the unlikely behavior, reinforcing compliance.

Example of Behavioral Momentum (High-Probability Command Sequence)

“Laura, help me collect the papers.” (Laura complies. Reinforce compliance.)

“Thanks, Laura! Now help me put these in the right folders.” (Laura complies. Reinforce compliance.)

“Good! Now put the folders on the desk.” (Laura complies. Reinforce compliance.)

“Thanks. Now, Laura, sit down and write your short essay.” (Reinforce compliance.)

When you use this technique, you are going to give the learner three to four one-step directions. Directions should be delivered one at a time, in fairly rapid sequence. The first two or three directions should include behaviors that a learner already likes to do. In other words, when the teacher gives the instruction, the learner is at least 70% likely to do what the teacher tells her. Once the learner has complied with those—has gained compliant momentum, so to speak—the teacher assigns the learner the task with which the learner has historically not been compliant. While giving two, or even three, directions prior to the less-preferred behavior notably enhances the technique, giving only one direction before the less-preferred one can also have a positive effect.

Behavioral momentum is sometimes used as part of instructional design for such academic activities as solving math problems on worksheets. Here, the learner is given several “easy” problems before getting a more challenging one to capitalize on the momentum established by solving easy problems first.