Determine if students understand behavioral expectations and Essay

Determine if students understand behavioral expectations and consequences for misbehavior - Essay Example In other words, functional behavioral assessment looks beyond the overt topography of the behavior, and focuses, instead, upon identifying biological, social, affective, and environmental factors that initiate, sustain, or end the behavior in question. This approach is important because it leads the observer beyond the "symptom" (the behavior) to the student's underlying motivation to escape, "avoid," or "get" something (which is, to the functional analyst, the root of all behavior). Research and experience has demonstrated that behavior intervention plans stemming from the knowledge of why a student misbehaves (i.e., based on a functional behavioral assessment) are extremely useful in addressing a wide range of problems. Students are frequently reminded of the expectations and the character traits we value as a community through assemblies, classroom lessons, role modeling and daily discussions. Below are some areas to consider in determining classroom expectation and consequences. Being proactive and establish preventative measures, the plan is to start with well thought out lessons that reflect the community and curriculum. Each class has a different feel and its part of my job to determine which angles teachers will use to engage the class into what is to be learned. To help students learn to monitor their own behavior, students will receive verbal recognition from me when behavior models expectations. Students will also be able to earn points for the entire class when they are on task, maintaining appropriate interactions and noise level. Students will earn time towards weekly. To learn problem solving skills, we will have regular class meetings. If students have an issue they need to resolve, teachers will keep a log available where they can enter agenda items to be discussed at the next class meeting. The goal is to have the students learn strategies to help them solve problems with the teacher as facilitator. Teachers will also provide parents with a we ekly note home regarding their child as a means of keeping them in touch with what is going on in the classroom. Student involvement is normally intense with a final eureka experience at the moment of discovery, a natural reinforcer of the learning experience. Students are apprised of school behavior policies through personal visits and advance notification of behavioral expectations and possible consequences by counselors/administrators at the beginning of each semester. Consequences will fall within a range, and will be determined by the appropriate school official. Disciplinary action will depend upon the severity of the misbehavior, previous behavior and interventions, and the circumstances surrounding an incident. In schools today, students are often addressed as passive learners, merely participants in their educations, as opposed to partners. Opportunities for meaningful and significant student involvement in education planning, school leadership and self-governance are primarily offered to gifted and advanced students only and even then with reservation from the teachers and administrators. However, a recent survey1 summarized the following conclusions: - Students need to become directly involved with the decision-making processes in schools; -