And We're Off: The Behavior Studio is Born!

Ahh! The school year has just begun! The pencils are sharpened, the routines are being built, and those first-day jitters are already fading. 

Isn’t it amazing how quickly we switch from summer relaxation to full-on teaching mode?

This first week back always has me reflecting on the year that just ended. As I replay the big events from the previous year, I start asking myself a few questions:

What went well and what didn’t?

What parts of my classroom program should I keep? 

What should I add that I’m currently missing? And…

What should be eliminated because it’s no longer working?

After completing my personal assessment, I discovered that, just like any other school year, there were some good days, some not so good days, and some very, very (very) bad days. 

One major highlight of the school year is...

I graduated more students this year than in years prior!

This is a major accomplishment since I currently teach at a continuation high school. Most of my seniors made it to graduation.

Another major highlight was all of my juniors passed all of their classes.

There was not one ‘F’ among them. Again…at a continuation high school, this is a major accomplishment to say the least.

There was one major disappointment though... 

This past school year was, hands down, the most violent year of my 16-years teaching ED (or SED Severely Emotionally Disturbed). 

Before now, I regarded my time teaching ED in elementary school as the most violent period of my teaching career. But this year definitely topped those years.

This school year I had three students “reach out and touch” another adult (if you get my drift). 

Normally I have none! So this was a massive 300% increase!

I mean, it is always quite alarming when a second or third grader gets violent with an adult (and it happens more often than one would think). It is even more so when a junior or senior in high school gets violent because, of course, with older, larger, and stronger students, the possibility of someone getting injured increases dramatically!

Luckily, no one got hurt.

And while these incidents were quite unpleasant and stressful…

I did learn one very valuable lesson… 

These incidents clearly showed me the absolute importance of building relationships with students. 

While my experience is only anecdotal in nature; the fact is, the students did not ‘lay hands’ on me, nor on my classroom assistants. Rather, the students ‘laid hands’ on adults that they did not know and had no relationship with - substitute teachers. 

In fact, in light of the overwhelming prevalence of social media use among kids coupled with all the latest statistics that link excessive social media use to increased chances of loneliness; this principle of relationship building is probably more true now than ever.

In addition to learning some very valuable lessons…these incidents inspired me - no, pushed me - to work very hard to rev up my program and supercharge my teaching. 

It was time to, once again, refine some of my practices, to throw out some outdated ones, and to develop some new ones. As a result…

I decided that there was one major tweak to the program I needed to make...

I needed to move my students’ locus of control inward because while I loved that my kids respected me and my Aides so much that they would behave for us; I didn’t like that they would behave only for us. 

And yes…building relationships is important. But it is unrealistic to think that students will be able to build any kind of meaningful relationship with a substitute teacher.

So I decided to look deeper for the solution. 

What would inspire a student to behave even when the adult in front of them is, at best, simply unknown, and at worst, misbehaving themselves.

My answer:

Shift the students’ locus of control inward.

I wanted the students to behave because that is how they saw themselves. 

So, this past school year, I took on the extraordinary challenge of changing my students’ self concept. 

This work was much harder to do! 

But in my estimation the results would last much longer and have a greater, more positive impact on the students’ lives both in and out of school.

And it worked!

All three incidents took place early in the school year…with the last one taking place in November. After the tweaks and changes to the program, there were no more incidences after November. Yay!!

I am very proud of that little factoid.

And as I reflected on my success and the success of my students one more disappointing experience flashed before my eyes! 

It was so hard to find the information and training that I needed! 

Much, much harder than I ever expected.

I searched high and low. I even asked my local training office to create the training that I needed. But I was out of luck and on my own.

I discovered that although there are many, many (many) resources and trainings available for teachers of academic and vocational subjects (and even for certain special education teachers); the available trainings for teachers like me - teachers who needed help solely with teaching and reshaping behavior - were scarce. 

I know. I know. I hear what you’re saying. What about trainings in SEL, or Social Emotional Learning?

Yes! It is true. 

You can find a plethora of trainings on using SEL strategies. Unfortunately, many of these trainings only covered surface-level principles, and did not go deep enough into the principles of behaviorism that I needed.

So those of us who have that one student (or a whole class of students) for whom instruction in reading and math takes a back seat to instruction in behavior (and that is the majority of us), we are often left to fend for ourselves.

What kind of information was I looking for? 

I was looking for training that would teach me what was happening in the brain of a student in crisis.

I wanted to attend trainings that would teach me how to determine and address the root cause of a behavior, and then reshape the behavior while still keeping the student engaged in the learning process.

Most trainings tell us TO do this but they do not teach us HOW to do this.

So, in a nutshell…

I wanted to attend trainings that would teach me the invaluable art of reshaping behavior in the context of school. 

For example, I remember an assignment that I had to do back when I was studying to get my first teaching credential.

I had to prove that 2+2=4. 

Easy! Right? 

Take two things, put them together with two other things, count all the things, and you’ll find you have a total of four things. Seems simple enough.

But think about that for a moment. How would you prove that 2+2=4 to someone who has no concept of numbers and mathematics? 

How would you break down something that for you is already at its most basic level? 

The equation 2+2=4 is so basic that, until it is pointed out for us, we cannot see that this already small equation is made up of even smaller parts.

Well, an hour and a half (and a full lecture) later, I was finally able to do it!

How?

To prove that 2+2=4, you must first identify the components that make up the problem (the numbers 2 and 4, and the concepts of addition and equality) and then define what each of those components mean.

Once you’ve done that, you can then prove that when each of those components are put together in a particular order they make a true statement.

Okay, that is all well and good…

But what does proving that 2+2 really equals 4 have to do with reshaping behavior?

Well, as teachers, we perform this same ‘breaking down’ exercise when we teach reading, or the makeup of a cell, or the events that led up to the Civil War. In fact, there is no knowledge or skill that we teach in school, that we do not break down in this manner…except behavior.

We have positive behavior systems in our schools that teach students to “be respectful” or “be responsible”; But what does this really mean? How do you break down ‘be respectful’ or “be responsible” into smaller, well-defined components?

And even more, how do you teach a student to properly protest a decision they do not like; or to have a good concept of self? 

And how exactly do you teach resilience?!

I wanted to find and attend trainings that delved deeply into these topics, because these were the topics I dealt with on a daily, even hourly basis. But sadly, I was unable to find them. So…

I decided to create them myself! 

Inspired by the overwhelming desire to prevent future violent incidents, this past school year I went on a journey of discovery. I read everything I could get my hands on.

And what really changed things for me is when I started looking to other fields and disciplines for answers. Because, let’s face it, by the time my students arrived in my program, all of the techniques, strategies, and programs that the school system had to offer had failed. 

So it made perfect sense to me that I look to fields outside of education for the answers. 

And guess what else I discovered? 

I absolutely LOVE studying human behavior! 

And with the new laws and regulations making schools even more responsible for managing extreme behaviors while simultaneously stripping schools of the authority and resources to do so, this is the perfect time for me to lean into my passion for demystifying human behavior.

Luckily, the principles and techniques for teaching and reshaping behavior are NOT just reserved for teachers of special programs like me. 

They will work for all teachers.

And like me, I believe you too have gone on a search for answers; and like me, you have found very little, if any, information.

So to fill this void…

I decided to start this blog.

But this blog is not just for me. It is for us.

What will you get out of it? Bottom line: 

You will get the help you have been looking for in managing, correcting, and transforming extreme behaviors in your classroom. 

I will not only share with you the principles I have learned and have built my program on; but as I learn more and more strategies and techniques I will share them with you as well.

I never want another teacher to search for real answers on managing extreme behaviors and come up empty. That feeling of being alone and unsupported is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

And I didn’t want to stop at just starting this blog.

To make sure no teacher ever has to face extreme behaviors on their own, I’ve launched a weekly newsletter called Project Behavior Change!

Each issue will be filled with practical strategies you can use right away to bring more calm, confidence, and consistency to your classroom.

If you believe the information I will share here will be of some use to you, I invite you to click the button below and subscribe.

Subscribe to Project Behavior Change!

And if you know of a teacher that will benefit from this information, please forward this message to them.

Thanks for ‘listening’!

And I’ll ‘see’ you in the next post!

And we’re off…