8 minute read
Whole Child
Dr. Jessica Zanton
Dr. Louise M. Yoho
Improving Approaches to Behavior Change: Applying the ASCD Whole Child Tenets
Introduction
In the book Why Are We Still Doing That? the authors identify out-of-date teaching practices and recommend alternatives that are more supportive of the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional learning needs of children. These recommendations align with the five Whole Child tenets of ASCD. According to the tenets, students should be Healthy, Safe, Engaged, Supported, and Challenged. The focus of this article is on the outdated practices of using behavior charts and taking away recess as strategies for managing student behavior. Specifically, these practices will be analyzed in relation to the ASCD Whole Child Tenet #2: Safe, which states that “Each student learns in an
environment that is physically and emotionally safe for students and adults.”
When thinking of the concept of safety, many people first think of the physical aspects of an environment: Is the space free of dangerous materials? Are furnishings and materials designed for the needs of students who are in that room? Is there an evacuation plan, should the need arise? We cannot deny the immediate importance of these issues. But increasingly educators have focused on
the emotional safety of an environment. In Whole Child Tenet #2: Safe, ten factors are identified that make a school an emotionally safe environment for students. In this article we will address how the practices identified in Why Are We Still Doing That? relate to this tenet.
The problems
“Our students feel valued, respected and cared for and are motivated to learn.” In an ASCD article titled “Tear Down Your Behavior Chart,” Jung and Smith point out that teachers don’t generally enter this field to “show students who is boss”— they want to make a positive difference in the lives of children! Behavior charts do not communicate respect for students. Instead, they teach compliance; and students who are not compliant are publicly called out on the class’s behavior chart. Students who are repeatedly “put on red” internalize this idea that they are bad. This stigma is long lasting and risks not only school failure, but social and emotional difficulties. Other students will begin to see them as “bad” when they are repeatedly punished for non-compliance. As the authors state, “Behavior charts are a way to excuse ourselves from the hard work of meeting a student’s selfregulation and behavior needs.”
Another common method of punishing a student for misbehavior is taking away recess, whether they have been disruptive, defiant, or even forgotten their homework! According to Massey et al. (2021), 77% of schools report removing recess as a behavior management strategy (p. 200). Yet the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other national groups recommend that elementary children receive a minimum of 20 minutes of recess daily (Massey et al.). There are numerous benefits to physical activity in schools. Students often have “improved attention, working memory, and mood” after physical activity (Dendy, 2021). Research also shows that children develop social skills through unstructured play. Additionally, the emotional benefits are substantial (Massey et al.). When recess is taken away, the student, teacher, and classmates all suffer. Consider the impact on students who are fidgety, bouncing in their seats, disorganized with their materials, or overwhelmed by sensory stimuli. Without recess, these students’ struggles only increase as the day goes on. Physical activity is an outlet for them to organize their thoughts and bodies. It releases tension. It helps them participate in school more successfully. And yet, schools still choose to punish students by removing the opportunity to get their excess energy out.
Our school staff, students, and family members establish and maintain school
and classroom behavior expectations, rules and routines that teach students how to manage their behavior and help students improve problem behavior. Generally, students do not learn to change or manage their behavior from a behavior chart or
from having something taken away. And teachers who rely on these strategies don’t necessarily pair it with teaching more appropriate school behaviors. They inadvertently create a vicious cycle: a student behaves in a way the teacher considers inappropriate, the student is punished through shaming or removing a preferred activity, the child doesn’t know how else to behave so they continue to use their challenging behaviors. This cycle becomes more damaging to the student as the years go on.
It cannot be stressed enough that any effort to change undesired behavior must simultaneously include teaching and reinforcing a more acceptable behavior. If students don’t know what else to do, they will continue doing what they’ve always done. Those who consistently end up “on red” or lose recess may not understand how to do what their teachers want them to do. Teaching the desired behavior is key to changing behavior! Rather than focusing on punitive strategies, teachers must learn to use supportive, preventative strategies that enable students to be their most successful selves in the
classroom. The following sections describe research-supported strategies that do just that.
Alternatives
Challenging behavior should be addressed in a respectful, private manner whenever possible. The entire classroom does not need to know that a child is struggling. Some of the most concerning aspects of the use of behavior charts and missing recess are that they exclude and shame students, putting their emotional safety at risk. As such, these discipline policies help to create a school climate that has negative consequences for all students, not just those who are on the receiving ends of them. Research has repeatedly shown that not only are they not effective in actually changing student behavior for the better, but they may actually interfere with students’ normal healthy development (McNeill,
2016). Add to this the consistent evidence that these discipline policies are often administered in way that disproportionally impacts students of color, those living in poverty, and those with disabilities (McNeill, 2016), it is imperative that classroom teachers and administrators use alternative means to positively shape student behavior.
Teach new skills
Student misbehavior is often the result of an unmet need or a skill deficit. Teachers and support staff can begin by asking themselves 1) if the student understands the behavioral expectations for the situation, 2) if they are capable of controlling the behavior, 3) if they have the skills necessary to perform the desired behaviors, and 4) if they understand when it is ok to engage in the behavior (like throwing an object) and when it is not. If the answer to these questions is “no”, the behavior might be a skill deficit that can be addressed by explicitly teaching the student the appropriate skills. Teachers can engage the student in identifying behaviors to reduce and new skills to learn, and include them in planning how to implement and monitor their changing behavior. These skills are often connected to behaviors that are then socially validated by their peers, making the changes all the more reinforcing.
Reinforce and replace
Not all behaviors are the results of a skill deficit. Sometimes undesirable behaviors are the result of a performance deficit that can be remedied through arranging reinforcement to occur when, and only when, the appropriate behavior occurs. Teachers can use antecedent strategies that prevent challenging behavior from occurring in the first place, and use strong reinforcers to encourage the use of new, more acceptable behaviors. Have the student earn rewards rather than take away preferred activities. The ability to earn extra computer time rather than take away recess could be both more motivational to the student and avoids the shame and missed physical activity that would accompany a missed recess punishment.
Restorative practices
“Restorative practices” refers to an approach to school discipline that focuses on mending the harm that was caused by inappropriate or dangerous behaviors. This mindset shifts the focus to asking “Who was harmed, and to what extent?” instead of “What laws/ rules were broken?”; “What needs that gave rise to the event?”, instead of “Who did it?”; and finally, “How can this harm be repaired, relationships restored, and future harm prevented?” instead of “What punishments does the perpetrator
deserve?” (Thompson, 2016; Amstutz & Mullet, 2005; Ortega, Lyubansky, Nettles, & Espelage, 2016). One way that teachers that affect decision-making and selfregulation. This means that students who have experienced trauma are likely
can bring this into their classrooms is through the use of circles. These circles provide a time and space for students and teachers to talk about conflicts and support each other. A 2020 article in The Educator’s Playbook notes that “even at their most basic, circles can be a check-in to set classroom norms and reinforce communal goals”, and that harm circles can help students to “understand actions, take accountability, and, when possible, begin to repair harm” (Garrett, McInnis, Rogers, Thompson, & Whitfield, p. 1). Restorative practices help students feel physically and emotionally safe in school, even when they make mistakes, and can teach them “valuable skills in building and repairing relationships with their classmates, teachers, family, and community” (McNeill, 2016, p. 174).
Be trauma-informed
Being “trauma-informed” means understanding that the way students and staff in schools perceive their safety impacts their brains and bodies in ways to have dysregulated emotions, poor concentration, difficulties staying on task, disruptive behaviors, and even show aggression towards other students or staff. Teachers and other staff members might unintentionally make these situations worse by escalating the situation through punishment instead of seeking to reduce harm. The exclusion and shame that accompany the use of behavior charts and missed recesses could certainly fall into this category, and are not considered trauma informed.
Discussion/conclusion
As stated in the Whole Child Tenet: Safety, it is imperative that students have the opportunity to learn in environments that are physically and emotionally safe for them. Student and faculty safety is often at the heart of well-meaning discipline policies, but many of these policies miss the mark. While it may feel like punitive measures such as taking away recess and using behavior charts are effective strategies for managing student behavior, in actuality these strategies can
