Rationale/Philosophy:
Jones's goal "has been to perfect methods of classroom management that are powerful and affordable for both the teacher and student." (Source) He has determined that maintaining active student involvement in lessons can prevent most discipline problems. His positive classroom management is based on eliminating wasted class time while teaching student responsibility, independence and cooperation. It combines discipline, instruction and classroom behavior. Teachers are to support students so they gain self-control, which leads to good behavior, positive attitudes and enjoyable learning experiences in the classroom. Jones states, "The best way to manage behavior problems is to prevent their occurrence" (Charles, 2002)
How it works in the classroom:
- Room Arrangement - Teachers must minimize the physical distance between themselves and their students. Jones believes that teachers should be constantly moving among their students. He suggests creating an "interior loop" so teachers can move easily among the classroom.
- Opening Routines - Teachers must open each class with bell work that does not require active instruction from the teacher. Jones suggests that students should start working the moment they enter the classroom. The bell work should consume about the first five minutes of class, which helps to eliminate the problem of students settling in. (Source)
- Others include:
- Classroom Chores
- Classroom Rules
Skill Cluster 2: Limit-Setting through Body Language: Jones says that teachers must discipline through the use of body language rather than with words, which use up teaching time. “The ultimate goal of limit setting is to prompt students to get back to work.” (Source) Jones also stresses the importance of a teacher's body language as a factor in determining students’ good behavior in class. It is important for teachers to remain calm and use body language to set limits. One method is:
- Physical Proximity - By moving closer to a misbehaving student, teachers can stop the misbehavior, avoid verbal confrontation and can continue with instruction.
- Others include:
- Proper breathing
- Eye contact
- Body carriage
Skill Cluster 3: Using Say, See, Do Teaching: "Say, See, Do Teaching is another essential tool for teachers. It structures the lesson into a series of "Say, See, Do Cycles" which cause students to continually learn by doing. It becomes the students' job to actively engage in learning activities while the teacher checks for understanding." (Source)
- Say, See, Do Teaching - During a lesson, teachers must tell students what to do, show them what to do, and then have them do it before having time to forget it. Throughout the lesson, this process is repeated as teachers provide information to the students in short intervals. Teachers must have students learn by doing, one step at a time. Jones states that it is important to focus on students’ correct performance rather than remembering what was said. (Source)
- The process looks like: teacher input -> student output -> teacher input -> student output -> teacher input -> student output
Skill Cluster 4: Responsibility Training through Incentive Systems: Jones suggests establishing an effective incentive system into the classroom. Group rewards or incentives are structured to help build student cooperation and also help to motivate responsibility, good behavior and productive work. They encourage students to be on task and prevent wasted time in the classroom. (Source) Two methods are:
- Preferred Activity Time (PAT) - Jones came up with the acronym, PAT. He states that incorporating PAT into the classroom, on a daily basis, helps to encourage the students to become responsible for their actions. Students can earn PAT for positive behavior or lose it for negative behavior. Teachers use PAT as time for learning games and enrichment activities, ones that students enjoy and also have educational value. (Source)
- Backup Systems - Jones suggests having a backup system set up as a last option for misbehaving students.
Teachers must implement a three-tiered arrangement of negative sanctions:
- Speak privately or semi-privately with the student
- Public within the classroom (any student in the classroom can see)
- Public with two professionals (Charles, 2002)
- Others include:
- Grandma's Rule
- Student Responsibility
- Genuine Incentives
- Omission Training
Skill Cluster 5: Providing Efficient Help to Individual Students: Jones states that students need to learn to work on their own. He calls students that are reliant on their teacher's presence "helpless-handraisers." Teachers can prevent helpless handraising by efficiently helping students during independent work. One method is:
- Reducing time used when giving students individual help - When working with students individually, teachers must praise, prompt and leave. Jones states that teachers must praise the student quickly for something done correctly, give a prompt to help the student get going and leave quickly. That way, every student who needs help is able to receive it and misbehavior is less likely as students waste little time waiting for the teacher.
- Others include:
- Classroom seating
- Graphic reminders
How to introduce the program:
The program is easy to set up and helps to minimize off-task behavior. Jones suggests that teachers carefully plan out in advance and introduce the five-tiered system of classroom structure, limit setting, Say, See, Do teaching, incentives and backup systems simultaneously in the classroom. It is important for teachers to understand that the parts correlate with each other. To introduce the program to students:
- Begin with a class discussion of limit setting.
- Form rules and agreements about what students may or may not do in the classroom.
- Explain that if a student violates a rule, the behavior will be corrected with body language.
- Discuss desirable incentives and explain the procedures for managing incentives.
- Remind students the incentives they select must have instructional value.
- Discuss backup systems that will be used if students misbehave seriously and do not listen to the teacher. (Charles, 2002)
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