Top ten classroom behaviors
Below is a list that my peers and I created as the top ten behavior challenges in an elementary classroom setting. Included after each of these behavior challenges are a few ideas that we came up with collaboratively that could help us to address these problems in our future classrooms.
« Frequent bathroom use
• Give students time before and after lunch as well as two passes for the rest of the day.
• Remind students at recess time to use the bathroom.
• Give students passes at the beginning of the semester and give extra credit if they don’t use them.
« Constantly seeking attention
• Have times set aside with talk to the student.
• Use the Think/Pair/Share strategy to allow all students to share their thoughts.
• Teachers can ignore bad behaviors and give students more attention when they have positive behaviors.
• Give recognition or give rewards for positive behaviors in the classroom.
« Tattling
• Use the Tattle Telephone. (See link below)
• Tell students to “just worry about yourself.”
• Tell students to solve the problem yourself first, and to only tattle if someone is hurt.
« Talking out of turn
• Remind students of the classroom rules.
• Repeat students' names who have their hands raised.
« Sneezing on teacher
• Have tissues available.
• Teach students to sneeze in their sleeves.
« Picking students to answer questions
• Have a classroom set of popsicle sticks with each students name on one. When you would like to call on a student, pull a stick to pick the person who gets to talk.
• Us the iPad app Teacher's Pick to help randomly pick students to answer questions. (see link below)
• Do Think, Pair, Share activities so that all students are able to share their ideas with at least one other person, even if they do not get picked to share with the whole class.
« Clingy
• Offer students a good morning high-five or hug but say that we then must keep our hands to ourselves.
• Have a hugging Teddy Bear. This bear would be used with younger students who feel the need to physically hug someone throughout the day.
« Crying
• Allow students to know that you care about them but cannot talk with them until they are calmed down.
• Teach students how to take deep breaths to calm themselves down when they are upset.
« Bullying
• Have conversations as a whole class about what bullying looks like, why we should not do it, and how to handle it if it happens to us.
• Have a classroom contract of zero tolerance for bullying.
« Motion (out of seat)
• Allow students choice to sit where they are most comfortable and can still learn.
• Have scheduled breaks for students throughout the day where they can get out of their seats and move around the classroom.
« Frequent bathroom use
• Give students time before and after lunch as well as two passes for the rest of the day.
• Remind students at recess time to use the bathroom.
• Give students passes at the beginning of the semester and give extra credit if they don’t use them.
« Constantly seeking attention
• Have times set aside with talk to the student.
• Use the Think/Pair/Share strategy to allow all students to share their thoughts.
• Teachers can ignore bad behaviors and give students more attention when they have positive behaviors.
• Give recognition or give rewards for positive behaviors in the classroom.
« Tattling
• Use the Tattle Telephone. (See link below)
• Tell students to “just worry about yourself.”
• Tell students to solve the problem yourself first, and to only tattle if someone is hurt.
« Talking out of turn
• Remind students of the classroom rules.
• Repeat students' names who have their hands raised.
« Sneezing on teacher
• Have tissues available.
• Teach students to sneeze in their sleeves.
« Picking students to answer questions
• Have a classroom set of popsicle sticks with each students name on one. When you would like to call on a student, pull a stick to pick the person who gets to talk.
• Us the iPad app Teacher's Pick to help randomly pick students to answer questions. (see link below)
• Do Think, Pair, Share activities so that all students are able to share their ideas with at least one other person, even if they do not get picked to share with the whole class.
« Clingy
• Offer students a good morning high-five or hug but say that we then must keep our hands to ourselves.
• Have a hugging Teddy Bear. This bear would be used with younger students who feel the need to physically hug someone throughout the day.
« Crying
• Allow students to know that you care about them but cannot talk with them until they are calmed down.
• Teach students how to take deep breaths to calm themselves down when they are upset.
« Bullying
• Have conversations as a whole class about what bullying looks like, why we should not do it, and how to handle it if it happens to us.
• Have a classroom contract of zero tolerance for bullying.
« Motion (out of seat)
• Allow students choice to sit where they are most comfortable and can still learn.
• Have scheduled breaks for students throughout the day where they can get out of their seats and move around the classroom.