Positive Behavior Support

Students are dependent on their teachers for information, resources and structure. In order to satisfy these needs, teachers are equally dependent on their students ' cooperation. A teacher 's goal should be to help all students grow academically, socially and emotionally. To achieve this, teachers must tackle the hefty task of attending to each student. However, this becomes more difficult when students engage in disruptive behavior. If students enter the classroom late and talk during the lesson, it becomes a distraction to the class. In addition, it wastes valuable time when the teacher must redirect the class. These disturbances hinder the teacher 's ability to teach the lesson successfully. As classrooms become more diverse and inclusive, …show more content…
Positive behavior support can also lead to more effective instruction in the classroom. Scott, Lee Park, Swain-Bradway, and Landers found "PBS at the classroom level is founded on the same expectations that have been established school-wide but includes individualization in consideration of the unique needs of a given classroom" (p. 225-226). Today classrooms are becoming more inclusive and this requires teachers to "accommodate for students with more diverse academic and behavioral needs," (McLeskey, Henry &Hodges, 1998) including students with disabilities or emotional and behavioral disorders (Scott, 2007, 223). Therefore, it is crucial that teachers are aware of positive behavior support. According to Mastrilli and Sardo-Brown (2002), "many beginning teachers cite classroom management as one of their biggest concerns", and according to Leukens, Lyter, Fox, and Chandler (2004) "many teachers cite this same difficulty as a reason to leave the teaching profession" (Scott, 2007, 224). Teachers could use "the same PBS features- prediction, prevention, consistency, and evaluation apply in the classroom to decrease the number of problem behaviors and increase academic and social success" (Scott, 2007, 226). The first step of class-wide positive behavior support is to actively predict failure by understanding the antecedents of problem behaviors (Scott, 2007). Then the teacher should …show more content…
Teachers must remember to be consistent in their practices because "inconsistency is the enemy of instruction" (Scott, 2007, p.225). The teacher must evaluate the students behavior in comparison to the expected behavior. "Sharing goals and progress monitoring with students fosters ownership and pride in the performance and success" (Scott, 2007, p.227). Positive behavior support is most successful when it implemented school-wide, class-wide and individually(Scott, 2007). "However, PBS in the classroom based on the logic of prediction and prevention via effective instructional environments can be implemented even in schools that are not implementing PBS school-wide" (Scott, 2007, p. 231). Overall, positive behavior support on the classroom level is supposed to allow the teacher to use time more efficiently (Scott, 2007). The less time wasted on disciplining and correcting inappropriate behavior, the more time can be spent helping students to grow academically and socially (Scott, 2007). "Effective strategies are those that take into consideration teacher time and effort, resources, and current routines in order to seamlessly embed proactive rules, routines and physical arrangements into current classroom practices. The goal is not to disrupt ongoing effective instruction but to compliment existing classroom strengths to