Professional Documents
Culture Documents
would result in the class becoming quiet and gain their focused
the foot so the white side was showing, then the foot would be dropped
down a level for the second warning, and finally the foot would be put
in the row in for recess and the child would lose recess. The tickets
drawing and selection from the prize box, free popcorn on Friday, and
the opportunity to invite another student from a different class over for
snack. After spending time in this class, I began to wonder how PBIS
which have endorsed and signed onto the PBIS initiative. Most
al.).
Some of the more concrete goals of the program include less out
responding in the manner he/she has, and to create and foster a sense
initial group of PBIS schools has since increased and currently there are
20% of the students who attend public school are being reached
through the state's current PBIS initiative (NH Center for Effective
PBIS?).
studies have indicated that PBIS at the high school level may need to
Edmonson, et al. also cited research from the National Center for
on discipline (p.4). These factors seem to indicate that PBIS not only
schools, but also that it may vary based on local, regional or school
characteristics.
faculty and staff to use the system, acknowledging and adjusting the
school-wide system because it may not work for all students, and
that this can impact whether faculty and/or administration will buy in
using PBIS about the level of participation by the faculty and she said
that initially there was a lot of work done on the program, and
but the faculty is seeking out alternative methods. A lot of the high
school faculty members are currently unhappy with the program and
she mentioned that part of the problem with the program is rewarding
students for something they should be doing anyway. This has been
they can be good or bad. This is not a new concept for schools or
would discuss how their choices had outcomes and how it might be
choice, but that it was important to know that by making their choice,
they also helped to choose their outcome. PBIS seems to work the
Tyler 8
same way. If you behave well, you get rewarded by a small token, a
there are consequences for that as well. The major difference between
the Choice program and PBIS is self; in the Choice program, the
a two page essay on respect. This essay was assigned by Tims regular
English teacher because of her class extremely poor behavior for the
substitute teacher they had the previous day. The paper was in
was unruly. He wrote the first page fairly quickly but was struggling to
find a way to meet the two page requirement. Tim asked me for help,
and I asked him about what he had done, and how he felt about it.
Then I asked him how he thought the substitute felt. He said he would
be apologizing to her tomorrow when she subbed for another one of his
instructors.
the assignment and if it will improve their behavior. I have trouble with
that they are developing the skills they need to learn how to function in
behavior and understanding that you also have to follow up with the
bad behavior too. I think it might be easy to do the first, but the
second is where the message might make it through. Others, like Wolk
(2003), argue that when teachers bring moral issues into the classroom
and invite our students to think about them [it helps] them form their
moral identities (par. 3). This essay asking Tim and his peers to
rewards/punishment model.
(p. 81) and that misbehavior will diminish when children feel less
them to] develop their own sense of goodness and how they should
behave both outside and inside the classroom (Wolk, 2003, par. 4).
Leslie says that most of the teachers do not use the system, only the
Tyler 10
ones that are involved in the program, or part of the intensive team.
implementation of PBIS and it seems like PBIS just added key words
She displays the ROCKS poster in her classroom, and admits that
she should try to do a better job of incorporating the language into her
respect? or question them Are you using that opportunity? more, but
not have been how she would have chosen to spend the time with the
kids.
Tyler 11
problem behavior. Behavior issues are dealt with promptly, but the
at all, and achieving academic success are the ones who lack the
She thinks that at the middle school level the program has a lot
furthering the language of the program. She noted how many teachers
use some gimmicks to prompt student participation, but the key was
not to take the gimmick seriously, and to show this to the students as
tool. She sometimes gives out stickers as prizes, or students are able
to ring a large bell for incorporating vocabulary words into their speech
or discussions. She does not do this regularly, nor does she place a lot
participation. She says that the students respond to it, but like most
common purpose who come to know and trust each other (Kohn, p.
than creating one based on trust. Many schools utilizing PBIS have
and LHS Student Handbooks, 2006). These values are ones that most
under 400 students in the entire K-12 structure. This is a school where
or terms, and the high school National Honor Society has members
plan seem natural, especially when the low staff turnover ratio, and
low student body changes are added into the mix. Most students
There are two influxes of students that feed into the school, one
in grade 3 when students from Landaffs Blue School join the student
body and again in 7th when one or two students from Bath Village
School join. Other than these two influxes the student body remains
of the community. Lisbon Regional was one of the first two cohorts of
a K-12 school, the program was originally implemented only for grades
7-12; within the last few months the school has begun implementing
the program at the K-6 level, making it a school-wide initiative. The K-6
grouping was part of a more recent cohort, and made the move to be
more cohesive with the high school practices. I observed a sixth grade
a year after over twenty years of teaching middle school and high
visible presence of rewards, Jolly Ranchers, but the teacher, John, did
not offer these every day or every time. There were consequences for
a meeting in the hall with the teacher. John taught at a fairly high
which I was most engaged, and learned the most. When I was in high
school, there was no PBIS, yet, it was a class where behavior was rarely
English classes. I found myself being drawn into her lesson during my
engage in side conversations, but most of the time the majority of the
class was drawn into the discussion on first East of Eden, and then
Gatsby. She managed her class very subtly, by passing out papers to
to gain attention in her lecture and redirecting them to the tasks she
they were moving onto some in-class silent reading time, she did
remind them that they should be quiet by speaking quietly and shhing
the class was completely silent and most appeared to be doing the
Very few students raised their hands during the lecture or class
and take between the teacher and her class, and it made me wonder if
and treated with respect will help create the results the programs are
designed to do.
This school has been the location of her entire teaching career.
Littleton is one town away from Lisbon, but has the distinction of being
the economic and business center for the North Country, while Lisbons
currently part of the same School Administrative Unit (SAU) as LRS, but
both schools are in separate districts and have different school boards.
Elementary (K-6), DBMS (7-8), and Littleton High School (9-12) will be
forming its own SAU at the end of this school year. DBMS adopted PBIS
three years ago, with the other two district schools, Lakeway and
Littleton High (LHS). There are approximately 140 students within the
teachers who offered input included a math teacher who has been with
the school for eight years, a paraprofessional, active in both DBMS and
functioning within their class, how it relates back to their own practice
and philosophy, and the role of rewards within their classroom. I also
questions included whether there has been any change in the number
Tyler 18
of students removed from the classroom for behavior and what steps
teachers are wonderful to substitute for because they leave real lesson
plans and clear expectations of how they manage their classes. Those
The classes I dread are the ones that there are movies, no sub
students to work on. Those are the classes where class management
becomes an issue and I walk out at the end of the day with a pounding
headache and resolved to leave good sub plans when I am absent from
the classroom. They are frequently classes that have very low student
observational roles.
how the students and teacher behave, how they stay on task, get
prompted to return to task, etc. Often they dont behave that much
better for the teacher than they did for me, no matter what my
experience. It also allows me to use the prompts that they are used to
in their class if I substitute for that teacher again. One teacher uses a
resettle her class, while another teacher might clap twice and wait for
the students to echo it. Others will wait quietly until students notice
that class is paused until they reengage. Often how the teacher
the teachers that have the least need for the program, because they
the program that matters, but how the teacher views, treats, and
discipline does not lie solely in one program, because there are going
essential that we examine what our goals are and consider whether
after they leave our classrooms; with the focus on external controls
rather than self reflection, it seems unlikely that PBIS really meets that
need.
Tyler 21
References
http://www.pbis.org.
Freeman, R., Eber, L., Anderson, C., Irvin, L. Horner, R., Bounds, M. and
Development.
Muscott, H. S., Mann, E., Benjamin, T. B., Gately, S., Bell, K. E., and
5(2), 71-79.
http://www.rethinkingschools.org.