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Suggested Steps for Developing and Implementing a Plan

The following steps are designed to help you develop an appropriate intervention plan and implement it effectively, whether you choose to use one of the MODEL PLANS or create a customized plan of your own. The steps are, however, suggestions--they are not intended to be followed rigidly or in any particular order. Use your professional judgment and the knowledge of your particular situation to make them work for you.

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1. Make sure you have enough information about the situation.

a. Anecdotal information from actual incidents will help you explain what has led you to conclude that "the class is out of control." This type of documentation is easy to collect--simply keep a card in your pocket or on a clipboard and, occasionally, when you see a student misbehaving, make notes.

For each entry, briefly describe the circumstances--where and when the misbehavior occurred, what was said and/or done, and any other relevant observations (e.g., what prompted the behavior). You do not need to take notes every time a students misbehaves; the idea is to capture a range of examples so that you will be able to describe the behaviors clearly and completely.

Also include notes on times when the class has behaved appropriately. This way, the students will realize that you are not only aware of their inappropriate behavior, but also notice their appropriate behavior. The positive examples will also help you clarify how you want the students to behave.

b. It may also be useful to document how often the inappropriate behavior occurs (i.e., a frequency, count). Use the "Tally of Rule Violations" form described in PLAN B to obtain a daily class-wide total, and a record of which students are misbehaving how often and in what ways. The daily frequency count can be recorded on a posted chart.

c. If a student notices what you are doing and asks about it, be straighfforward--say that you are collecting information on the amount and type of misbehavior in the class so you and the class can develop a plan.

d. Continuing to collect this type of information and keeping the chart up-to-date while you implement a plan will help you monitor whether the situation is getting worse, staying the same, or getting better.

2. Discuss the situation with the class.

a. Schedule a class meeting for a time when you are calm (i.e., not right after an incident has occurred). Inform the students that you are finding the amount of misbehavior in the class to be a problem. Then have the students develop or revise specific classroom rules and consequences for rule infractions (see PLAN A).

b. Next, present the logistics of the intervention plan you propose (e.g., MODEL PLAN B or C, or your own plan), and give the students the opportunity to ask questions and make comments. End the session by thanking the students for listening and letting them know that you are confident they will make more of an effort to behave responsibly and follow the rules in the classroom.

3. Determine when and how to include the parent(s).

a. When the situation is class-wide, contacting the parents of all the students who have misbehaved is probably neither appropriate nor realistic (you wouldn't want to call five to 15 parents every night). However, after discussing the problem with the students, it may be useful to send a memo to all the parents (or include an item in the classroom newsletter, if you have one) explaining that the class will be working on following new classroom rules.

b. If the students brainstorm certain behaviors that should result in parental contacts and you agreed to do this (see PLAN A), follow through on this procedure when appropriate.

4. Give the class regular, ongoing feedback about their behavior.

Periodically meet with the students to discuss the situation. In most cases, three to five minutes once per day should suffice. Review any information that has been collected (e.g., anecdotal notes, frequency count) and discuss whether or not the situation is getting better. As much as possible, focus on improvements, however, also address any new or continuing problems. As you discuss the problems, acknowledge that there are students in the class who consistently behave appropriately. (Do not single out individual students, as this may be embarrassing to them and/or set them up for accusations of being a "teacher's pet.") As the overall situation improves, the meetings can be faded to twice per week, once per week, once every other week, and then to once per month.

5. Evaluate the situation (and the plan).

Any plan should be implemented for at least two weeks before deciding whether or not it is effective. Generally, if the situation has improved (based on the objective information that's been collected and/or the subjective perceptions of yourself and the students), continue with what you have been doing. (Eventually you will want to fade, then eliminate, the plan.) If the problem has remained the same or worsened, some kind of change (i.e., modifying the current plan or switching to another plan) will be necessary. Always discuss any change in the intervention with the class first.

Aggression-Verbal and/or Physical

If you have a student who is physically and/or verbally aggressive toward adults or peers, you will want to read this chapter (pg. 31 in book).

Chaos/Classroom Out of Control

If you have many students in your class who frequently engage in a variety of misbehaviors, you will want to read this chapter (pg. 175 in book)

Dr. Randall Sprick graciously has given his permission to post two problem behaviors and all plans listed within these two chapters. We sincerely thank him for providing this resource to the teachers of Kentucky so that they may effectively serve students with challenging behaviors. Please visit the The Teacher's Encyclopedia of Behavior Management Web page.