Canters Behavior Essay

Dylan is a five year old boy that from the very start showed disruptive behavior frequently throughout the classroom. Dylan’s teacher has well- documented his actions and she has asked the administrators of the school for support, plus she has also referred Dylan to have a behavioral evaluation. The teacher has spoken with Dylan’s parents on many occasions and they say his behavior was the same at home. Dylan’s parents also stated that his disruptive behavior was his way of seeking attention. During this time Dylan’s behavior is generally getting more and more disruptive and aggressive. With the teacher’s observation logs, Dylan’s is having a rough time playing along with other children and is having a difficult time following directions. Just about every day Dylan is hitting, yelling, or is taking things away from the other children’s hands to get the teacher to come over and see what is wrong. Many of the children have made the decision to ignore him or to just move in another direction away from him. With his academic skills he is far more behind than the other students in class. Dylan has the knowledge to finish the activities, but he is rarely in the mood to do so. Sometimes the issues begin when the teacher starts giving everyone there assignment and is working quietly, that’s when Dylan’s behavior really goes through the roof, and when he is told what to do about his behavior. While the disruptive behavior remains the teacher’s patience with Dylan starts to run very thin and begins to call out to every unacceptable behavior that he shows. These actions start to have a negative influence on the attitudes of the remaining students. Most of students start to mimic Dylan’s actions while the others students are not finishing their work. This can result in the teacher needing to spend a lot of time having to deal with Dylan’s behavior and not having enough time with to teach. Teachers have many avenues to teach students successfully and professionally take care of unacceptable behaviors. One step would be to use the Canter’s Behavior Management Cycle, into effect (Canters 2006). Canter has three steps; first, effectively communicating explicit directions, second, using behavior narration and third, taking corrective action. When starting to use Canters’ cycle teachers will need to take the time to use two very important methods at the start of the school year this is going to help minimize disruptive behaviors. One, creates lessons on appropriate behavior for specific parts of the school day, activities, and transitions (Canters p. 31) and second creates a, â€Å"Responsible Behavior Curriculum,† for the first two weeks of the school year (Canters chap. ). This curriculum will set the tone of the class for introducing what is acceptable with appropriate behaviors, and that they are expected to follow the rules from students throughout the school day. Teachers should start with Canters’ behavioral cycle; Dylan’s teacher needs to start with the first step. The first step will need to that the teacher to communicate clear, specific and detailed directions. The directions are being given to Dylan and he is to follow them precise. When giving directions they need to be quite clear and on point at all costs. The teacher needs to always evade being unclear to the students, if they know what is expected of them they will follow. The teacher’s directions should contain precisely how the students are to conduct themselves in the classroom. Explicit directions should include the, â€Å"expectations for student verbal behavior, physical movement, and participation† (Canters p. 53). The teacher needs to never make the mistakes of assuming what the students know, what the expectations of their behavior is, and the teacher should always recall the students on a daily basis what is expected of them. The teacher has to have a firm grip on effective communication while having detailed directions, she can continue on to the next important step. This step involves using â€Å"Behavioral Narration† (Chapter 9), which is how the teacher will positively motivate Dylan to follow directions. One way of achieving this is to give Dylan and the class as a whole effective positive feedback (Canters p. 58). When giving detailed directions, the teacher should look to notice which student within seconds of giving the directions to see who is really following the directions that were given. The teacher needs to point out who is listening to the directions and how the students are following the directions. At the moment when Dylan is being difficult the teacher does not need to focus on giving Dylan more attention, but try to focus on the students who are listening and making good choices. When trying to change the unwanted behavior the teacher needs to try to use the behavioral narration, which will allow the teacher to repeat the rules and define the acceptable behavior of students who are making good choices. This will show the students their teacher is mindful of the actions that are taking place and is more than ready to fix any problems that may arise. When the teacher acknowledges the acceptable behaviors and recaps the directions it sets a wonderful start and a positive atmosphere in the room. The class will be regularly recalled on what is expected from their behavior, students are expected to follow the rules, students who were not able to receive or finish their assignment will have time to finish and catch up with the rest of the class. Students will be given a chance to have time to catch up when needing be. With this step it can go the extra mile by setting up an award-system in place. For example, when the directions are given the teacher notices Dylan is sitting where his seat is and he is working on the assignment that was given to him, then the teacher would say to his friends, â€Å"Look at Dylan he is sitting at his seat and is working on his assignment so nicely I am going to have to give Dylan his extra class point that he earned in class. Ultimately this will inspire Dylan to have more acceptable behaviors and the other students to strive for the goals that are set up for the students to obtain. The last action of the cycle is corrective action taken (Chap. 10). When the direct instructions have been given out, looking to observe the group for ten seconds, reports were made on students that are on the right track, and when Dylan is not following directions; then you must use the corrective action. This is done by directive verbal statements or disciplinary consequences (Canters p. 9). The teacher needs to peacefully reaffirm the instructions and notify the students of their penalties and what their actions have caused. This can also let Dylan and the entire class knows and understands that you are very serious about bringing an end to unacceptable behavior. Students need to know, understand, and be aware of the effects for disrupting the class and just making unacceptable choices. When the unacceptable behavior remains untouched the procedure needs to be shadowed with the corresponding reaction. Every time a student shows a disruptive behavior it should be dealt with immediately and that the penalties produced is entirely from the student’s actions. In order for students to learn the rules must be enforced. Students have to have structure so they can flourish, they need to know what is expected of them on day one. Once a child knows that they cannot get away with disruptive behavior they will tend to not want to misbehave. If there is a reward system they will definitely want to have a reward at the end of the day or week. Consistency is the key to keeping students where they need to be in order to have peace in the room.