Blog

Stop: Uncover the “Why” of Student Behavior BEFORE Responding

When a student fails to finish and submit their work, are they demonstrating laziness? When a student bristles in response to a request to engage in a task, are they showing defiance? When a student shows little interest in what we are teaching, are they telling us that they do not want to learn? These may seem like innocuous and obvious questions. However, what we assume about the behavior of students can determine whether what comes next will be productive or a distraction. Will it be meaningful, or will it become a fruitless interchange?

Assumptions about the sources or causes of student behavior matter. What we assume about students drives how we engage with them. When we respond based on what we assume, we risk misinterpreting the behavior and even escalating the situation.

Even though we may be busy, stressed, or frustrated, we would do well to inquire and explore the cause before we decide how to respond to what may appear to be unacceptable or resistive behavior. Our words and actions set the tone for how students are likely to respond, too. If we approach students based on negative assumptions, we are likely to see more defensive, combative responses, even if the cause of the behavior was legitimate and understandable.

The truth is that how we choose to respond, and our corrective actions, are often more instrumental in how the situation will play out than what the student may have originally said or done. Let’s consider some examples of how student behavior may not be what it initially appears.

We see what we think is the lack of motivation or evidence of laziness. In reality, what we might be seeing is the lack of organization or belief in the value of what we are asking the student to do. Or we may be seeing the results of learned helplessness. Pressing the situation based on an assumption of laziness may result in even more of the behavior and damage our relationship with the student.
We see behavior that seems to signal a lack of interest in learning. What lies behind the behavior may be a lack of interest in or appreciation for the value and usefulness what the student is being asked to learn. It could be that the student lacks the skills necessary to learn what is expected and finds it safer to show disinterest than risk being exposed as not currently having the capacity to learn the material. Exploring the larger context for the behavior can lead to new insights and a more effective correction strategy.
We encounter a student who exhibits frequent disruptive and unacceptable behavior. We may think that the student is trying to undermine our authority, so we may be tempted to take a punitive approach to correcting the behavior. Yet, what we may be seeing is a defense mechanism to avoid the pain of failure. It might be a response to difficulties forming relationships with adults. Or, we may be seeing a need for attention, but the student does not believe that positive attention is possible. Unless we understand what is driving the behavior, success in correcting it will be difficult to achieve.

When the cause of a student’s behavior is not clear or obvious, consider a four-step process to guide your response:

Resist taking immediate reaction. Even a few seconds can provide crucial time to consider whether you need to explore further or act in response.
Review the circumstances under which the behavior seems most often to occur. You may need to collect some data and chart instances and trends.
Arrange a private conference with the student to share what you have observed and data you have collected. Not all students are aware of what might be driving their behavior, but the combination of student perspective and data can typically offer some useful hints.
Use the observations you have made, data you have collected, and the perspective of the student to formula a plan going forward. Where possible, involve the student in formulating, implementing, and monitoring the effectiveness of the strategy.

Without question, student behavior can be a mystery. However, the mystery is part of the meaning and magic of working with young people. Our challenge is to search for what may be behind the behavior and be thoughtful and strategic in how we respond.

Reference:

DeBruyn, R.L., & Larson, J.L. (2021). You can handle them all (3rd ed.). The Master Teacher.

March 28, 2024

Dealing with Defiance: Tools, Techniques, and Trusted Strategies

One of the most vexing challenges we face emerges when students respond to our requests, directions, or instructions with defiance. However, such resistance is rarely about us. In fact, in most situations, defiance is a response to what students are experiencing, feeling, and needing. Yet, how we choose to respond will likely determine whether we face a momentary distraction—or an escalating crisis. Fortunately, there are several steps and strategies we can employ to make defiance less frequent and disruptive.

Of course, our best course of action is to prevent defiance from occurring rather than responding to it after it does. Instead of waiting for students to resist us or push back, we can create conditions that make defiance less likely to occur. Here are four strategies we can tap.

An obvious first step is to build positive, powerful relationships with students. The stronger our relationships, the less likely it is for most students to push back or refuse our request or direction. Obviously, we want to have positive relationships with all students, but it is worth the investment to give extra attention and effort to building relationships with students who have a history or tendencies toward resistance, noncompliance, or outright defiance. When students know that we care about them, defiance will be a less frequent behavior choice.

Giving students choice is great, but involving students in planning, deciding, and goal setting related to learning is even more powerful. Students are less likely to resist when they play a meaningful role in creating their learning path. Defiance is often about power. When students experience power in deciding what they will do and learn, defiance becomes less useful or necessary.

We can pay attention to student needs and moods. When students are tired, stressed, hungry, depressed, or experiencing other challenges, defiance can be a “knee-jerk” reaction. Checking in with students as they enter the classroom, remaining aware of student attitudes and behaviors as the class unfolds, and observing how students are responding to requests and direction can often give us clues and help us to anticipate and avoid pushback and outbursts.

We might also make it a priority to notice and reinforce positive behavior, including small improvements and noticeable progress, especially from students who may struggle with their behavior. The focus of our attention matters. If a student can gain attention for positive behavior, unacceptable behavior becomes less necessary. If attention is what is driving the student’s defiant behavior, our attentiveness to acceptable behavior can satisfy that need.

The combined impact of these four strategies can dramatically reduce instances of defiant behavior. However, we will still occasionally encounter circumstances where defiant behavior will surface. When we find ourselves challenged with defiant behavior, there are steps we can take—and steps we can avoid.

Do:

Stay calm.
Listen without judgment, validate the student’s feelings, and empathize.
Use “I” statements and avoid observations or commands that begin with “you.”
Consider what may be the root cause of the behavior and respond accordingly.
Meet with the student privately to avoid having them grandstand or attempt to engage the rest of the class.
Present the student with acceptable options that sidestep the defiance.
Give the student an opportunity to cool down by engaging in another activity, such as getting a drink of water.

Don’t:

Take it personally or allow your ego to become involved.
Become angry, raise your voice, or engage in threatening nonverbal behaviors.
Enter the student’s personal space.
Make threats that may escalate the situation, especially if you cannot follow through with what you say.
Respond with judgments, generalizations, or accusations based on past behavior.
Bring the rest of the class into the conflict.
Put your relationship with the student at risk.
Hold a grudge against, ignore, or disengage from the student following the incident.

Defiance can feel challenging and unsettling. However, we can tap strategies to prevent most defiant behavior from occurring. We also have access to responses that can lower the “emotional temperature” and help everyone to move forward.

Note: Some students who are intensively and frequently defiant may be exhibiting what is known as Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Certainly, these students will also benefit from the steps and strategies discussed in this blog, but they may also require more structured and intensive assistance. Our support might require a referral to and consultation with mental health professionals to ensure that these students receive the appropriate help.

February 15, 2024

Six Secrets to Prevent Discipline Incidents from Escalating

Times when we must discipline students can be among the most challenging and stressful situations we encounter. We want to avoid extended interruptions to learning, and some of us want to avoid confrontation. At the same time, though, we want other students to remain safe. And, of course, we want to avoid having emotions and behavior escalate to a level where the situation may spin out of control.

Certainly, the emotional and psychological state of the student will play a role in how the situation will play out. However, there is much we can do to prevent escalation and respond if tensions threaten to rise. Here are six tips we can use to maintain our focus, inform our responses, and thoughtfully manage the situation.

Start by listening. When we understand the student’s perspective, we are better able to respond effectively. At some level, the behavior makes sense to the student. Until we know why the student made the choice or choices they did, deciding how to proceed will be risky. Often, by talking through what happened, the intensity of the student’s emotions begins to dissipate, and reason begins to emerge. Once the student has explained their motivation and actions, we are in a better position to understand and ask questions that can clarify the situation and formulate our next steps.

Avoid embarrassing or shaming the student, especially in front of others. We might be tempted to call out the behavior and student in a public way. However, this choice is filled with risk. Some students will feel humiliated and deeply resent the way they were treated; they will remember and harbor these feelings long after the incident has passed. Others will feel the need to “save face” and may push back even more vigorously, even as we attempt to deescalate and calm the situation.

Keep your ego and emotions out of it. Many students are highly skilled at “pressing the buttons” of adults. Yet, when our ego becomes involved, we are vulnerable to losing perspective, and when we lose control of our emotions, we lose control of the situation. We are more likely to say things we will regret and open the door to accusations that we have become part of the problem we are trying to solve.

Think teaching rather than punishing. In the heat of emotions and behaviors, we may immediately focus on the punishment that would be appropriate in response to the unacceptable behavior in which a student has engaged. However, this path risks missing an important opportunity to teach and change behavior in the future. Punishing a student may generate some feelings of satisfaction and closure, but it can sow the seeds of future misbehavior. Punishment often teaches little beyond the experience of embarrassment and temporary discomfort. Students may learn little, if anything, about how to control their emotions and manage their behavior. Our goal in response to unacceptable behavior is to teach students alternatives and strategies for remaining in control despite what happens around or to them. Of course, once emotions have calmed and the lesson has been taught, we still can assign reasonable and logical consequences. In fact, the best consequences are part of the learning we want students to gain.

Don’t threaten consequences you cannot (or do not intend to) deliver or do not control. Many students come to us having extensive experience with empty threats. Consequently, they will have little impact on behavior, other than challenging us to see if we will follow through. Promising consequences on behalf of someone else is equally problematic. Others may see the situation differently or have ideas that may not be consistent with our preferences. As a result, a colleague or administrator may be placed in the position of having to choose between supporting our threat and using what they see as their best judgment. Meanwhile, the student is likely to miss any lesson to be learned, while also receiving confusing messages about their behavior and the situation in general.

Reject the behavior, but value the student. Despite the unacceptability of any behavior, we need to be careful to separate the behavior from the student. Making an unwise choice or behaving in a manner to which we object does not make the student a bad person. There may be lessons they need to learn and adjustments in behavior they must make to be successful, but we need to be careful not to treat the student as being inherently bad or unworthy. We can protect our relationship with the student while disapproving of their behavior. In fact, our actions to separate the student from their behavior can be a message of hope for students who struggle to control their behavior and have few role models to emulate. Our reinforcement of their inherent value makes their struggle to learn and grow worth the effort.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to managing behavior. If serious disruptions continue to occur, additional steps may be necessary, such as individual counseling with the student or reaching out to your colleagues with whom the student does experience success. We know that managing disciplinary situations is an important and integral part of our professional role. These steps can help us to create a context in which the student is respected, learning occurs, appropriate consequences are dispensed, and relationships remain intact.

October 05, 2023

Six Do’s and Don’ts for Day One

The first day of a new school year offers a special opportunity to set the stage for the year, create first impressions, and begin building relationships. Careful planning and preparation can make your initial meeting with students a time of excitement, reassurance, and anticipation. As you get ready to start the new year, here are six “don’ts" and “do’s” to make the first day comfortable, engaging, and productive for all.

Don’t:

Assume students should know who you are and make them guess what the year will be like.

Do:

Allocate time to introduce yourself, and preview what their learning journey with you will be like. Consider sharing who you are, some basics about your family, when and why you decided to become a teacher, what you like about your work, and what you plan to do to make the year ahead rich and successful for your students. What you share can lessen the anxiety of students who may be fearful or uncertain. For all students, having a sense of who their teacher is and how committed that teacher is to their success can leave them eager for what lies ahead.

Don’t:

Delay relationship building with students.

Do:

Focus on getting to know your students. Listen carefully to their names, especially how they pronounce them. Learning students’ names quickly is a sign that you respect and value them. Pay particular attention to names from other cultures with which you may be unfamiliar. You might also invite students to share a nickname they prefer that you use, but be careful about assigning nicknames or using nicknames you have already heard; students may not want to be called by a nickname they have been assigned by friends or others. An initial seating chart can be helpful, even if students will be able to choose their seats once they settle in. If you assign seats alphabetically, consider doing so in reverse order, or using another strategy that avoids having students with names at the beginning of the alphabet seated closest to you and those with names at the end of the alphabet farthest away.

Don’t:

Assume students inherently know the value and utility of what they will be learning.

Do:

Find something interesting, unique, and surprising—and ideally, useful—about what you will be teaching to engage students. A list of fascinating facts, an unusual application, or an often-overlooked element within your content might be a good place to start. For example, you could share how the mathematics that students will be learning can be used to solve real-world problems, recount little-known stories about famous people who are or were voracious readers or writers, or describe how science promises to solve some of the world’s most vexing challenges. The goal is to give students a picture of how interesting and useful what they are going to learn in your class can be in their lives.

Don’t:

Read a list of classroom rules and expectations you have set.

Do:

Share with students that, throughout the first week, you and they will discuss classroom routines, norms, expectations, and rules together. Invite them to think about ideas and experiences they might share to support their learning and help them to be comfortable while in the class. Typically, the first day is better spent developing relationships and generating interest and anticipation. Also, signaling to students that they will have opportunities to provide input and participate in shaping how the class will operate demonstrates that you value them and their perspective and that you want them to feel safe and comfortable while learning.

Don’t:

Spend time handing out textbooks and other materials.

Do:

Pre-position textbooks and other standard materials on students’ desks, or have materials placed in a convenient place for students to pick them up as they enter the room. The time with students on the first day is precious. Spending time distributing textbooks and other materials that could have been organized in advance risks missing opportunities to engage students and begin building those crucial relationships.

Don’t:

Read aloud the class syllabus and list the exams students will take, the projects for which they will be responsible, and other requirements of the class.

Do:

Prioritize your time with students to maximize interest, build anticipation, and instill confidence that students will find success and usefulness in the time you will spend together. While you might provide students with a copy of the syllabus and any other information regarding how the year might unfold, save your discussion of this information for later.

In many ways, the first day sets the tone and forms the path for the year ahead. The time spent planning, structuring, and preparing to make the first day interesting and motivating for our students is well worth the effort and can pay rewards that last well into the year.

July 13, 2023

What Priority for Recess?

Each minute in a school day is precious. We need students to catch up and be on track with their learning. Meanwhile, we feel pressure to add activities, elements, and aspects to their day, without always identifying what’ll be removed to create time. At the same time, some argue that academically focused time is likely to pay better dividends than allowing students to run and play with friends and classmates. Without question, these are worthy considerations. However, robbing students of recess may have longer term consequences than we think. Giving students breaks from learning and time to shift their focus to activities that aren’t planned and structured by adults can offer some surprising learning and life benefits. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises there are several important outcomes associated with what we’ve traditionally called recess. First, children, and even adolescents, are best able to focus on learning when they’ve periodic mental breaks to focus on non-academic topics and activities. Other countries and cultures have long embraced schedules with intense focus followed by frequent mental and physical breaks. For example, young students in Japanese schools typically are given ten-to-fifteen-minute breaks each hour. Simply shifting focus from one activity to another can be advantageous to learning, but the most significant benefits appear to come from breaks allowing students to choose and be free from tight structure. Research and experience hold that following breaks students are better ready to re-engage and focus on academic learning. Importantly, even though recess isn’t typically a part of school schedules for adolescents, they still need and benefit from mental and physical breaks. The same is true for adults. Beyond academic learning, unstructured but safe and supervised recesses provide students with opportunities to develop important interpersonal skills, such as resolving conflicts, negotiating priorities, forming relationships, developing perseverance, and sharing resources. These skills are important building blocks for social success that can often get bypassed when adults are immediately available to enforce rules, render judgments, and direct behavior. We might think of these experiences as opportunities for students to develop and apply social and emotional learning and skills. A study by professors at the University of Colorado and University of Denver further reinforces the benefits of less structured and unstructured activities in yet another aspect of student development. Researchers found that students who spent more time in free play appeared to develop greater executive functioning: the ability to plan, make decisions, use information with purpose, successfully switch between tasks, and manage thoughts and feelings. Of course, there’s a strong connection between executive functioning and academic success. Students with well-developed executive functioning tend to be less dependent on adults to manage their behavior and are better able to focus on important tasks. Additionally, time spent running, chasing, and active play during recess also contributes to the recommended sixty minutes of physical activity each day. As a result, recess helps to combat obesity and sedentary lifestyles that contribute to health problems later in life. It can also take the edge off energy that leads some students to fidget, squirm, and engage in off-task behavior. Importantly, recess shouldn’t be confused with or seen as interchangeable with physical education. Physical education is intended to be a more formal environment in which students learn skills and activities that help them to make good life choices and develop a healthy, active lifestyle. Physical education is an important part of the education of young people. It can also contribute to the total minutes of activity in which students engage daily, but recess and physical education have different purposes and play separate roles in learning. The American Academy of Pediatrics offers several recommendations regarding recess including: Consider recess students’ free time. Resist over-structuring the time or withholding recess for academic or punitive reasons. Schedule breaks of sufficient length for students to mentally decompress and be ready to re-engage. Treat recess as a complement to physical education, not an alternative or replacement. Provide adequate supervision during recess but avoid unnecessary structuring of activities. Finally, opportunities to decompress and refocus aren't just for young people. We, too, need to make breaks and exercise part of our routines if we hope to do our best work and be fully present and ready to support students as they learn.

March 02, 2023

Five Responses to Misbehavior We Must Avoid

The mental health of young people is a serious concern. We see evidence and hear reports about the nature and extent of the problem daily. Our students face unprecedented pressure and stress ranging from traditional sources, such as fitting in and friendships, family issues, social media pressure, the need for learning catch up, and fears about the future. We need to do what we can to help our students cope with the issues they face and learn how to manage the pressures and stresses they face. Above all, we need to do what we can to avoid adding to the mental and emotional weight our students carry. For example, when students engage in unacceptable behavior, we must be thoughtful in our response. We want students not to repeat the behavior, but some of our choices in response to students’ actions can risk harming their mental health. Consider the difference between discipline and punishment. Discipline approaches misbehavior or poor choices as an opportunity for teaching and learning. Our goal is not just to stop the behavior. We seek to have the student learn how and why to change their behavior. Discipline is guided by our commitment to help our students grow and be able to make better choices on their own. Punishment, on the other hand, seeks to stop the behavior by exacting consequences or implementing a reaction that'll lead the student not to repeat the behavior. Pain and discomfort - emotional, social, or physical – are frequent tools for punishment. Avoiding further consequences and practicing compliance are the assumed outcomes. Unfortunately, many means for punishing misbehavior can also harm the mental health of students. The damage can be profound and lifelong, especially when punishment is exacted in anger. Many of us can clearly and painfully recall times when and how we were punished, even though many years have passed. Our position of authority in the lives of students makes our responsibility in this regard even greater. Punishment that can cause mental harm comes in many forms. However, there are at least five ways in which students often are punished that teaches little and can result in significant harm: Ostracizing. When we intentionally ignore and encourage others to not interact with a classmate, we risk causing feelings of isolation and depression that can lead to significant and lasting damage. Students may not repeat the offending behavior, but the cost can be high. Humiliation. When we intentionally embarrass a student, especially in front of peers, we risk creating a wound that'll be slow to heal. Students may regret what they did, but they'll not soon forget how we made them feel. The combination of pain and resentment can result in loss of confidence and significant depression. Holding a grudge. Students say and do many things about which they may have not given much thought. We can be offended and angry. We may feel humiliated and embarrassed. However, once we've handled the situation we need to let it go. Our students are still learning and growing. They need the opportunity for a new start without our lingering resentment damaging our relationship with them. Expressing disgust. Disgust is an expression of revulsion or strong disapproval. Few things students do should raise this level of response from us. Expressions of disgust are especially harmful when the object is something over which students don't have control. Physical characteristics of the student, the student’s family status or behavior, or ethnic traditions are examples. Being the object of someone’s disgust can create a lasting and unpleasant memory even if the student does not fully understand what caused it. Negative predictions. What we predict about the future of our students can carry far more influence than we imagine. In a moment of anger, we might predict that a student will never be successful, not graduate, ever amount to much, or another negative prospect. Long after we have forgotten the incident, we likely will find that the student hasn't let the memory go. In fact, the student may refer to our words whenever they fail or fall short. Only rarely will a student use the experience to propel them to success. However, even if they do, it'll be despite us, not because of our inspiration. We must do all we can to help our students and never consciously or intentionally add to their mental health load. Our focus must be on how we can help students learn to behave in acceptable ways, and not rely on our threats, comments, and emotional state to keep them in line.

February 10, 2023

Share Your Tips & Stories

Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.

Send Us An Email

Why We Need to Help Students Develop Their Academic Identity

We know the importance and influence of our students’ social identity. Their social confidence determines how they interact with others in a variety of settings. Their social skills influence their success in developing and maintaining relationships. Their social status often is driven by the social identity they project. Students also develop and behave consistently with their academic identities. Academic identity might be thought of as a combination of students’ experiences as learners and how they interpret and make meaning from what they experience. Academic identity is how students perceive their ability to learn. It influences how students interpret what happens in their academic lives. It can be a driver of or impediment to success. For example, some students possess high levels of academic confidence and take learning risks. Other students replay past struggles and are reluctant to take risks. They give up easily, believing they’re not capable. Most students have a sense of who they are as learners. However, students may not pay much attention to what skills and characteristics make up their identity, how they can change and build their identity, and how it determines their current and future success. Like social identity, academic identity includes these elements: Learning skills. Some students see learning skills as their strength and are quick to engage in developing them further. Others believe their capacity is limited and won’t invest much time and energy in gaining new learning skills. Learning risks. Some students are willing to try, even when they’re not confident of success. Other students prefer to focus on aspects of learning in which they’re confident and believe success is likely. Learning persistence. Some students continue to strive and struggle even when success isn’t readily apparent. Other students more readily give up when success is slow in coming. How students respond to mistakes. Some students are quick to recognize mistakes and leverage them to build new insights and learning. Others take great care to avoid, ignore, and discount the occurrence and value of their mistakes. Value of their ideas and perspectives. Some students are quick to present and defend their ideas. Other students are reluctant to share and lack confidence in the worthiness of their thoughts. Of course, we can influence the academic identities our students develop. Our daily interactions, coaching, nudging, and feedback are part of students’ learning experiences and influence how they see themselves as learners. Here are six actions we can take: We can support students to reflect on their academic identity. Through dialogue, self-assessments, and reflection, we can coach students to become more aware of their current learning strengths, identify opportunities for growth, discover passions, and build aspirations. We can focus our attention and instruction on development of learning skills over emphasis on intellectual abilities. Students have control over the skills they develop. As their skills grow, their intellectual abilities also grow. We can celebrate academic risk-taking. We know new learning is richest when it includes an element of risk and promise of reward. As students learn the value of taking learning risks, their confidence and abilities grow. We can design and present challenges that require students to struggle then reward their learning persistence. One of the best ways to develop a commitment to persist is to have our efforts pay off. We can treat mistakes as valuable opportunities to build understanding and create conditions for success. When students see mistakes as valuable learning experiences, their openness to try, learn, and succeed increase. We can exercise care with the ideas and perspectives students present. Students are keenly aware of whether we accept and respect what they share. When we ignore, discount, or reject their thoughts without consideration, we risk sending a message that students’ ideas and thoughts aren’t valuable. As a result, students may come to doubt the worthiness of their thinking and are less likely to share in the future. Academic identity determines whether our students will invest and succeed in their learning today. How they see themselves as learners will also influence their choice of careers, the learning circumstances within which they’ll place themselves, and the learning trajectory of their lives. Our work with students today to build strong, confident academic identities pays rich dividends that will last a lifetime.

February 03, 2023

Six Learning-Based Strategies to Counter Cheating

It‘s disheartening when we discover that the work students submitted as representative of their learning is not their own. They may have copied the work of others without attribution. They may have had someone else do the work for them. They may have devised a way to secure test questions in advance or otherwise submitted work that wasn't a product of their learning. The list could go on. Of course, many reasons explain why students decide to cheat. Some students have poor time management discipline and run out of time to prepare. Some students believe they need to get a high grade and assume they won’t achieve it on their own. Some students believe others are cheating, and they too must cheat to compete. Other students aren’t interested in what they’re asked to learn, and cheating seems like a workable shortcut. Still others just assume they won’t be caught. The wide range of forces and factors that lead to cheating argue for more than a single strategy to counter the behavior. We need to think beyond threats, punishments, and logistical strategies that may challenge cheating but fail to address the root causes. Our efforts to counter the behavior needs to be multi-part and responsive to what typically motivates students to cheat. Here are six strategies we can consider, adapt, and adopt. We can start by being clear about what constitutes cheating. Students typically are aware of the most blatant forms of cheating, but they may not have thought about other behaviors that fall within its definition. We might provide examples, share stories, and engage students in conversations about what cheating is and what it’s not. We might explain legal considerations related to plagiarism and similar issues, depending on the ages of our students. We need to be clear that cheating is dishonest, unacceptable, or a sign of poor judgement. Most importantly, we need to communicate to students that it violates the trust we place in them, trust which is central to our relationship. For many students, this step alone is enough to have them hesitate and reconsider cheating as an option. A second strategy is to avoid over-emphasizing grades and placing excessive pressure on students to attain them. For example, we need to provide multiple low stakes opportunities for students to demonstrate and measure their learning throughout teaching and learning cycles. We can remind students that grades are intended to reflect their learning; they aren’t the reason for it. Additionally, we need to avoid student-to-student competition that drives status and image, which can leave students feeling pressure to find shortcuts to winning. A third strategy is to make sure learning is meaningful and purposeful for students. When students are interested in what they’re learning, see utility in skills they develop, and feel ownership for their progress, cheating becomes less attractive. The secret for us is to connect what students are asked to learn, to what we know about them, and to what motivates them to learn. For example, we might give choices about how students will approach their learning, what materials they may use, and how they’ll share and display their work. Of course, when we show interest in what students are learning and sincerely engage with them in the learning process, we create a more authentic and engaging experience. A fourth approach is to focus on the process of learning over its product or outcome. We can focus our attention on the learning path students experience. We can offer feedback, praise their efforts and strategies, and engage them in conversations about their learning. Even a short conversation can indicate whether a student is learning and where they might be struggling. Interestingly, the more students know how much we know about their learning progress the more difficult is their decision to cheat. A fifth strategy is to treat cheating as misbehavior and consider teaching over punishment. Cheating, like other misbehavior, is an error in judgement and reflects poor decision-making. We can think about what lesson needs to be learned, not what punishment to exact. Our goal is to have students not repeat the behavior. While there may be consequences, we also need to give students strategies to deal with situations in which they might choose to cheat. As examples, they might come to us for additional assistance, request an extension for submitting a project, or learn better time management strategies. A sixth and final strategy is to provide structures and supports that discourage cheating. We might construct assessments that have students compose responses rather than select from a list or provided options. We can construct assessments that focus on deeper understanding than dates and facts. We also need to be clear about resources students can and cannot access and use during the assessment. Of course, the more our assessments involve learning performances, explanations, and applications, the more difficult it is to cheat. As noted earlier, there’s no one way to prevent students from deciding to cheat. Students look for shortcuts for many reasons. However, we can provide a learning environment and community that makes cheating less necessary and attractive. And when cheating happens, we can use it as an opportunity to teach rather than punish.

January 19, 2023

Achievement Gaps and Discipline Disparities—Five Questions to Ask

Among the two greatest challenges we face as we emerge from the pandemic are lagging academic achievement and student behavior. The pandemic harmed students in both areas, and we need to address them. However, the pandemic also exacerbated a long-standing, problematic relationship that is even more concerning today. For decades, we have been concerned about the existence of gaps between the achievement of groups with certain characteristics, especially students of color and Caucasian students. Meanwhile, we’ve attempted to address disparities in discipline incidents based on race for years. Yet, the two phenomena have typically been studied and addressed largely as separate, unrelated issues. Changes in academic performance have been viewed as instruction/curriculum/learning issues while disparities in discipline have been viewed as cultural/contextual/connectedness issues. Importantly, a recent study calls the approach of separating these two challenges into question. The study suggests that the connection between achievement gaps and discipline disparities is stronger than we have assumed. It also may be that working on one of the gaps can influence the other and that working on both types of gaps may have a larger beneficial impact on school success than previously understood. The researchers studied achievement gaps and discipline disparities using data from more than 2000 American school districts drawn from the Stanford Education Data Archive, a massive database of math and reading scores and racial achievement gaps, and federal civil rights data on school suspensions. The research was conducted by a team of researchers from several universities, led by a professor from Stanford University. The analysis focused on students in grade three through eight from the 2011-12 school year to 2013-2014. In general, the study found that students who attend schools in districts with large racial achievement gaps experienced higher suspension rates. However, the disparity was greatest for black students. For example, a widening of ten percent in reading and math achievement gaps between black and white students was accompanied by a 30 percent larger gap in suspension rates between black and white students, as compared to similar school districts. On the flip side, school districts with black/white suspension rate gaps ten percent wider than average, experienced black-white achievement gaps that were 17 percent wider. Importantly, this relationship between academic achievement gaps and discipline disparities held firm even when controlled for socio-economic, parent education, and other demographic characteristics. The study did not extend to causational factors driving the relationship between achievement gaps and discipline disparities. However, the result of the study suggests several important questions for us to consider and test in our own schools and districts. First, is it possible that when students are suspended from school that missed instruction and lost learning opportunities lead to lower academic performance? Logic suggests that this may be at least one factor. Obviously, finding alternatives to out-of-school suspension and maintaining learning and teaching continuity could reduce this impact. Second, might suspensions from school result in students feeling less connected in their relationships to school staff and fellow students? We know that a sense of belonging and being accepted are important factors in support of the willingness of students to take learning-related risks and practice learning persistence. Third, might some suspensions be the result of students feeling as though they cannot be successful in school? If students believe they cannot succeed, they sometimes choose to behave in ways that connect academic failure to misbehavior rather than unsuccessful learning efforts. High quality learning experiences, effective instruction, and appropriate supports can go a long way toward preventing students from facing such a choice. Fourth, are there negative perceptions embedded in the school culture about the ability of some groups of students to excel in academics? What we believe about the abilities of our students can make a big difference in what they believe about their own potential and our commitment to ensure that they succeed. Fifth and related, do we hold expectations and perceptions, whether higher or lower, about the behavior of some groups of students that lead to inequitable discipline? Behavior that may be outside of dominant cultural norms can sometimes become the basis for discipline even when the behavior is not threatening or disruptive to the school environment. Understanding and flexibility often can go a long way toward avoiding unnecessary disciplinary incidents and achieving equity. Obviously, the findings of this study raise many important questions. It is crucial that we review the experience of students in our schools and determine if these same conditions are present. If so, we have no time to waste in determining causes and designing strategies to achieve the academic and behavioral outcomes we need.

November 28, 2022

Prevent Bullying: Three Things That Don’t Work and Three That Do

Bullying has been a part of our culture for a very long time. In some cases, bullying has even been seen as a rite of passage, from rituals associated with hazing in fraternity and sorority societies and the gauntlet of joining an athletic team, to being a newly hired employee. Yet, the negative impact of bullying can be far reaching, especially for children and young people. Bullied students often underperform academically, suffer emotional distress, and can suffer from lack of self-confidence and depression for years. Meanwhile, children and young people who bully, too, can suffer from emotional issues, fail to develop important social skills, and can go on to engage in even more serious and destructive misbehaviors. Educators have been engaged in the prevention and elimination of bullying behavior for generations. However, recent studies that connect prolonged experiences with being bullied and violent actions against others, including school shootings, have brought new attention to the need to reduce, prevent, and deal with bullying behavior. Interestingly, some of the most popular programs and strategies to deal with bullying have little grounding in research and little impact on preventing and interrupting bullying behaviors. Here are three worth noting: First, several studies have documented reliance on zero tolerance policies and punishment of bullying behavior as largely ineffective in preventing bullying behaviors. In some cases, punishment can make bullying behavior less visible, but may do little to eliminate a culture of bullying. Second, peer mediation programs that place responsibility on students to work out bullying and related conflicts and behaviors have even shown to increase the number and severity of bullying behaviors. Bullying behaviors often rely on unequal power relationships; thus, victims can face an impossible challenge in trying to change the situation. Further, children and young people rarely have the maturity and skills to be successful in such a complex emotional situation. Third, programs and training to position bystanders to intervene work only if bystanders have higher social status, possess strong tendencies toward moral engagement, and are empathic extroverts. Most children and young people do not possess the courage, skills, and confidence to intervene effectively, especially when they anticipate that their engagement may shift the bullying to include them. So, what strategies can we use to decrease, prevent, and deal effectively with bullying behaviors? Here are three approaches to consider: First, we can focus our attention and efforts on ensuring that students feel they belong and are connected within the school and classrooms. When students experience stability and consistency in school and classes and feel they belong, they are less likely to disrupt and put their status in jeopardy. In addition, they tend to perform better academically. Second, we can pay attention to what researchers often call “entry” behaviors that signal and build into more serious and aggressive bullying behaviors. Like efforts to prevent serious crime, often dealing with smaller issues can prevent the need to respond to more serious bullying actions. Entry behaviors include:

Ignoring and excluding others.
Laughing cruelly and encouraging others to laugh at a target.

Eye rolling and prolonged staring.
Back turning.
Stalking and spying.
Giving disparaging nicknames.

Third, we can make social emotional learning elemental in building culture within the school and classroom, not just a component of the curriculum. Social emotional focused lessons and activities can be a start. But nurturing a caring, inclusive, emotionally safe environment can build a culture that makes mutual support and empathy integral to the learning experience of students. Rather than focusing on what we want to avoid, this approach builds counter attitudes, behaviors, and experiences to make bullying less attractive and acceptable within the culture. Of course, there may still be instances and situations in which bullying behaviors surface. Our best response is to address the situation early, to focus on teaching and coaching more socially acceptable behavior alternatives, and to keep the culture strong and positive.

November 03, 2022

The Master Teacher Blog

Stop: Uncover the “Why” of Student Behavior BEFORE Responding

Dealing with Defiance: Tools, Techniques, and Trusted Strategies

Six Secrets to Prevent Discipline Incidents from Escalating

Six Do’s and Don’ts for Day One

What Priority for Recess?

Five Responses to Misbehavior We Must Avoid

Share Your Tips & Stories

Why We Need to Help Students Develop Their Academic Identity

Six Learning-Based Strategies to Counter Cheating

Achievement Gaps and Discipline Disparities—Five Questions to Ask

Prevent Bullying: Three Things That Don’t Work and Three That Do

Quick Links

Customer Service