Shana teaches middle school on a sixth-grade-only campus. A fellow teacher, Pedro, knows that she has been working hard to improve her classroom management and visits her classroom to see how things are going.
Pedro immediately notices several behavior management systems indicated on posters or other displays around the room. One bulletin board lists the students in college-named teams and each team has earned small, cut-out “diplomas.” Some of the diplomas say “Academic Achievement” and some say “Productive Focus.” Pedro remembers that “productive focus” was the theme of Shana’s classroom management speech at the beginning of the year.
There is also a big paper arrow on the wall that can be turned from “My Time” to “Your Time.” Pedro notes that the arrows is turned to “My Time” as Shana is giving complex directions for, and modeling, sentence diagramming on the board.
There is also a poster, titled “Elements of Productive Focus,” that seems to serve as Shana’s “rules” for the classroom:
(1)Productive noise at appropriate times
(2)Respectful, collaborative interactions
(3)Maximized learning
Pedro remembers discussing these somewhat unusual class guidelines with Shana and becoming convinced that she understood that these principles would need to be illustrated with concrete examples for her sixth graders. Pedro knows that Shana, at the beginning of the year and periodically since, has assigned Do Now journal assignments that required her students to come up with examples, or evaluate scenarios, under those guidelines.
Another poster lists the consequences for receiving warnings:
One Warning Ineligible for Productive Focus Diploma for Your Team
Two Warnings 5-Minute Detention During Lunch
Three Warnings 30-Minute Detention after School and Discussion with Family
As Pedro scans the room, the noise level significantly increases. Shana has just given directions for an independent practice activity. Students, in ten groups of three, are to diagram a series of compound and complex sentences according to the specific rules she outlined on the board. Shana has turned the arrow to “Your Time” and leans over to answer a student’s questions. Pedro watches Shana move around the room, answering and posing questions with each group. Several times, her route changes to address raised hands.
At one point, a burst of laughter from a group fills the room. Pedro watches as Shana looks up at the group for a moment, determines that despite the laughter the group remains on task, and returns to her discussion with the table in front of her. A few minutes later, two groups start talking with one another. Shana walks over and stands between them; both groups immediately return to the assignment.
Pedro spends the next few minutes walking around the room as well. He discovers that all but two of the ten groups are on task. One of these off-task groups is discussing an altercation that happened between two students after school yesterday. Pedro walks over to that group. When he leans in and asks them what they are working on, one group member immediately returns to the diagramming process. The other two students, however, explain that they were talking about the PE scuffle. Pedro asks the students about the teacher’s behavior expectations and all three students answer, in unison, “Productive Focus.” When Pedro asks one student what that means however, the student seems unsure. The other two students eagerly offer specific examples. Pedro’s general sense is that almost all of the students would probably be able to articulate what is expected of them, even if this one student could not.
In the other off-task group the students are folding their diagramming sheet into little squares. Pedro notices that one student began the paper folding and the other two watched for a moment before folding their own papers. Almost immediately, Shana walks quickly to the group, says something quietly to them, replaces the folded papers with new versions, and puts a warning mark by each student’s name on the wall chart. Pedro notices that one of these students already received a warning mark today. Pedro also notices that the table remains on task from that point on.
Having viewed these two examples of misbehavior, Pedro mentally notes that these are relatively minor, quick, and, he thinks, impressively unobtrusive issues. During his ten-plus minutes walking around, Shana is able to facilitate learning at all of the tables and students seem mostly engaged and learning.
After about 15 more minutes of group work, Shana flips the lights, turns the arrow from “Your Time” to “My Time” and begins to count out loud. The classroom comes to silence by the time she reaches five. Shana writes “4 seconds” and puts a smiley face by it on a white board that lists numbers, in apparent random order, ranging from 24 seconds down to 3 seconds. She says, “Nicely done, everyone. I appreciate your productive focus and your quick silence. We’re looking to be in great shape for staying within our goal of two minutes of transition time today.”
This class before lunch and Pedro stays after the class to talk to Shana. Pedro waits while she sits in a chair by her desk with the student who received two warnings. Shana asks the student to explain, verbally, why he is there. He does and his explanation includes an apology for “interrupting learning time.” She then tells him he is not allowed to read or work on homework but must simply sit there for five minutes. She sets a timer and comes over to Pedro.
Pedro asks her about several of the systems displayed on the wall and says that he was impressed with the thoughtfulness and apparent consistency with which Shana uses those systems. Shana reports that she has seen improvement in her classroom management over the last six weeks because of the systems. Shana also describes several other behavior management systems that were not used during Pedro’s observation, including weekly “Productive Focus Reports” that she writes for individual students who need extra help with behavioral management, relatively frequent seat changes to separate students who negatively influence each other, and strategically assigning students with “focus problems” to an appropriate, high-visibility responsibility in the classroom.
Pedro says that he is really impressed with those systems and asks more about them. As Shana describes their implementation, Pedro comes to realize that she rarely implements these more individualized systems. She says that she has used each technique “maybe three times this year.”
When Pedro asks whether students ever take the lead in maintaining the class’s “productive focus,” Shana seems skeptical of the role that students might play in managing their own behavior. Shana also acknowledges that a few of her students do not really yet grasp the connection between her expectations and the class’s academic goals, but she is confident that almost all of them do.
Pedro acknowledges the inherent challenges of this approach, but also emphasizes that he feels that Shana seems ready, and may see huge benefits, from more frequently using individualized behavior plans with particular students. Pedro promises to provide some guidance on behavior contracts and an article on “Silent Secret Behavior Management with Your Most Challenging Student.” Shana also expresses interest in seeing an exemplary model of a classroom where students monitor and manage their own behavior.