Positive behavior strategies are evidence-based, proactive approaches to changing challenging student behavior. Some examples of positive behavior strategies are pre-correcting and prompting and nonverbal signals.
There’s a lot to think about when it comes to teaching. You plan and deliver lessons to cover the curriculum. You adjust your lesson plans to meet your students’ needs. On top of it all, you manage student behavior.
You’re not alone if you feel like managing behavior sometimes gets in the way of teaching. That’s where positive behavior strategies come in. These strategies are also known as positive behavior supports, or PBS.
Positive behavior strategies encourage you to see behavior as a form of communication. Every behavior sends a message about what a student needs. Some messages are easy to read. Some need more deciphering. (In those cases, a behavior specialist, a school psychologist, or other colleagues can help.)
Once you understand the message behind the behavior, you can better support students. As Jerome Schultz, PhD, puts it, “If you can read the need, you can meet the need.”
Instead of reacting to challenging behaviors, you can proactively reduce them. Using positive behavior strategies can help you:
Instead of seeing behavior as a problem, you’ll show empathy by looking at students with compassionate curiosity. With this view, you can shift your focus from “fixing” students to understanding them. You can also develop a more collaborative relationship with students by working together to understand when and under what circumstances a behavior occurs.
Once you understand why a student behaves a certain way, you can respond more effectively. You can teach new behaviors that serve the same purpose. Many social-emotional learning programs incorporate specific strategies for teaching behaviors, like how to follow directions or ignore peer distractions.
Students might not have the language or communication skills to express what they need. Or the behavior could be a way to avoid a difficult situation or task. Some students behave in negative ways to get attention or to get what they want. In other cases, they may be reacting to an environment that isn’t supporting their learning. Or there could be a cultural difference. This may prompt you to take a culturally responsive approach to analyzing the behavior and your response to it.
As a classroom teacher, you may not have all the time, tools, or training to look at student behavior in depth. You can work with other school staff to do a functional behavior assessment (FBA). The specialist who does the FBA can work with teachers to create an appropriate behavior intervention plan.
Explore specific examples of what behavioral communication can look like in the classroom
Explore examples of positive behavior strategies:
To see a positive behavior strategy in action, watch this classroom video from Edutopia.
Handling challenging behavior can be frustrating. Use this chart to reflect on where you are in your practice and where you might focus your next efforts.
Post and define positive behavior expectations.
Have systems to respond to behavior.
Partner with families.
Behavior expectations might be different at home than they are at school. It’s important for families to know what’s expected in your classroom. Talk with families about the behavioral expectations in the classroom and the language you use to talk about behavior.
This will help families understand new phrases they hear or behavior changes they see. Also, families may want to use the same expectations at home. Share with them these parent-child behavior contracts to get started.
