2. Tough Kid Tool Box: Effective Proactive Classroom Management Strategies
Ameet Bosmia, Ed.S, NCSP, LPES
School Psychologist

3. Ameet Bosmia
(205)

4. Essential Questions 1. What is proactive classroom management?*
2. How do I measure how effective my classroom management is?**
3. What does proactive classroom management look like?***

5. Presenters Meeting Outcomes
1. Knowing if your classroom management is effective and sufficient
2. Knowing what Tier 1 behavior strategies to utilize to increase classroom management
3. Advocating for continuous professional development regarding classroom management

6. The Tough Kid Book & The Tough Kid Tool Box

7. “The educational placement of students with emotional and behavioral disorders will be one of the most pressing and controversial issues facing the 21st century.” James Kauffman (2001, p. 14)

8. Full Functioning RTI Model
Progress Monitoring
Progress Monitoring
Progress Monitoring
Special Education
Comprehensive Evaluation
Universal screening

9. Selected Universal Targeted/ Intensive (SOME At-risk Students)
IN AN IDEAL WORLD:
Menu of a continuum of evidence-based supports
Tier 3 Menu of Individual Supports for a FEW:
FBA-based Behavior Intervention Plan &
Replacement Behavior Training
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Multisystemic wraparound supports
Intensity of Assessment and Supports
Targeted/
Intensive
(FEW High-risk students)
Individual Interventions
(3-5%)
Tier 2 Menu of Default Supports for SOME:
Behavioral contracting
Self monitoring
School-home note
Mentor-based program
Positive peer reporting
Group social-emotional skills training
Selected
(SOME At-risk Students)
Small Group &
Individual Strategies
(10-25% of students)
Tier I Menu of Supports for ALL:
Schoolwide PBIS
SEL curriculum
Good behavior game
Proactive classroom
management
Universal
(All Students)
School/classwide, Culturally Relevant
Systems of Support
(75-90% of students)

10. *What is Proactive Classroom Management?
A host of proactive strategies that teachers can implement to prevent the occurrence of problem behaviors and create a classroom environment that is conducive to learning

11. **The 2 Most Important Variables for Learning
Time devoted to instruction (TDI)
How much actual time throughout the day is devoted to learning activities?
Direct instruction, small group activities, independent seatwork
Academic engaged time (AET)
The extent to which students are engaged or paying attention to the instruction
Learning does not occur if the student is not paying attention (NO DUH!)

12. The Numbers: Increasing TDI or AET
5 hours of possible instruction per day (300 minutes)
Engage in efforts to increase TDI and/or AET
Increase by:
5 minutes per day = +25 minutes per week; hours for year
10 minutes per day = +50 minutes per week; hours for year
15 minutes per day = +75 minutes per week; hours for year
30 minutes per day = +150 minutes per week; hours for year

13. Why is it more difficult to manage the Behavior of a Group than an Individual?
More of them and only one of you
Difficult to please everyone at once
Diverse motivations, interests, and skill levels
Peer contagion
People do things in the context of groups that they would never do alone

14. Chapter 1: What does a Tough Kid look like?

15. What Does a Tough Kid Look Like?

16. The Tough Kid Tool Box Practical Classroom-test Ready to Use
Straightforward
…guide to managing and motivating tough-to-teach students
William R. Jenson, Ph.D, Ginger Rhode, Ph.D., & H. Kenton Reavis, Ed.D

17. Me: You looked Stressed. How’s your class
Me: You looked Stressed? How’s your class? YOU: LOL…we just got 20 new students…LOL
Major reasons for teacher burnout and turnover:
Problems encountered with difficult students and loss of classroom control
20-30% of your classroom time (and sometimes more) can be spent trying to difficult students
Feelings of being drained, tired, and powerlessness
2-5% of students in home schools meet the definition of a “Tough Kid
CIL…theoretically 100% !!!!
How many of you received specialized training during you teacher education training about classroom management?
How much of this training was specialized for difficulty student populations?

18. What will this book do for you?
Help you develop a “tool belt” of proactive individual and classroom management strategies
Gives you EVIDENCED-BASED PRACTICES to manage your most difficult students
Increase your time spent on instruction, rather than on redirection of “tough kids”
A small investment of your time NOW in learning these strategies will pay in many ways down the year…including your sanity, happiness, and overall health

19. What is in this book?
The Tough Kid Book is divided into 5 major units:
What Does a Tough Kid Look Like?
Unique Positive Procedures
Practice Reductive Techniques for the Classroom
Advanced Systems for Tough Kids
Getting Tough Kids Back to General Education Settings
Helps you understand why behavior problems occur. Covers the realistic assessment of difficult students and proactive ways to set up a classroom.
Focus behaviors on interventions you can use to reward students for demonstrating pro-social behaviors. It is CRITICAL that POSITIVE procedures are used with “tough kids” before reductive behaviors are used. WHY?
Reviews realistic techniques that you can use to stop problematic behaviors. These techniques are effectives in quickly reducing aggressive, non-compliance, and tantrum-like behaviors. If you don’t examine these techniques correctly, you are likely to implement them correctly or excessively.
This is not as relevant for teachers. This unit examines more advanced macro-level school changes that need to take place to more effectively help teachers manage student behavior, including SEL, parent training, etc.
Many students who leave CIL (inclusive, restrictive environment) regress upon their return to their homeschool. This chapter offer several approaches that homeschools can use to better aid in the transition of CIL students back to the homeschool setting: 1) Teacher self-management strategies, 2) SEL curriculum in the classroom, 3) Addressing the classroom behavior expectations of the “Tough Kid’s” homeschool general education teacher, 4) Assessing common classroom stimuli in the regular school environment, and using “Lucky Charms” as a generalization strategy

20. The TOUGH KID BOOK & PBIS
Fits with our PBIS/RTI initiative
Many of the “Tough Kid” techniques & interventions fit in the PBIS/RTI models
Positive and preventive strategies for behavior management
Large emphasis increasing motivation of a student
“Tough Kids” are considered Tier 3 (3-7%) students
Failing both academically and socially

21. LET’s BEGIN our Journey…CHAPTER 1

22. What does a Tough Kid look like?
We need to be able to readily identify a “Tough Kid”
Tough Kid’s stand out in 2 ways:
1) Behavioral Excesses
Too much of a behavior (noncompliance, aggression, etc)
2) Behavioral Deficits
Too little of a behavior or skill (self- management skills, social skills, and academic skills)

23. Noncompliance and Coercion
Tough Kids have a kingpin behavior that is central to their behavioral excesses
kingpin – something that is central or holds something together
What do you think the kingpin is for Tough Kids?
NONCOMPLIANCE!
noncompliance – not following a direction with an reasonable amount of time
Most of a Tough Kid’s tantrums, arguing, fighting, a rule breaking is secondary to avoiding requests or required tasks
When you ask a Tough Kid to do a simple task, they may argue or tantrum to get you to withdraw your request
When you withdraw your request or reduce the request, the arguing or tantrum is rewarded!
This process is called the “pain cycle” or “ coercion cycle” because painful behavior is used to force a teacher to withdraw or reduce a request
When a student’s with an adult’s requests falls below 40% the noncompliance is EXCESSIVE enough to DISABLE a student…this leads to both academic and behavioral DEFICITS

24. UNCLE!!!!!

25. Understanding the Coercive Pain Cycle (or, how to make it worse…OUCH)
Refer to Figure 1-1 (Coercive Pain Control) handout
Page 9 of the Tough Kid Book

26. THE
COERCIVE
PAIN
CONTROL
CYCLE

27. Behavioral Deficits
The result of coercive behavior is the student typically does not learn or develop like other students
Every time the student uses coercive behaviors, basic skills development in others areas are stunted or delayed (academics, social skills, delayed gratification, etc.)
This increases the likelihood that student uses even more drastic coercive behaviors as they age
In sum, the Tough Kid develops a deficit in self-management skills or rule-following behavior and the long this cycle continues, the more pervasive and serious the problem

28. Academic Deficits
Best predictors of long-term adjustment for Tough Kids are basic academic skills, especially reading
If the student can’t read, they are not likely to be as successfully employed in our increasingly tech-driven, global society
As a result…they fall back on their old, excessive behavioral strategies
More likely to be arrested (theft, assault, etc.) – Walker, Ramsey, & Gresham (2004)
Even though, students are sent to alternative or ED self-contained classes for behavioral concerns, we can’t forget to continue to address academic deficits if we want to a sustainable, long-term plan for the Tough Kid
Must increase on-task academic behaviors to at least 85% - Chapter 4 provides several techniques to do this
Students comply with teacher directives on average 80% of the time
Students are on task on average 85% of the time

29. Social Skill Deficits
All students must have appropriate social skills if they are to successful in any situation and setting
If they have not developed these skills, the skills must be taught directly just like any other skill, including academics
Second Steps
PBIS Behavioral Expectation Lesson Plans
If not taught, Tough Kids will revert back to their old coercive strategies when they interact with others
Skills need to taught in a classroom setting, not just pull-out model, so Tough Kids can actually practice such skills (Jenson, Clark, & Burrow-Sanchez, 2009)
If we just lump Tough Kids with Tough Kids (aka alternative programs), it provides little to no opportunity for Tough Kids to practice pro-social in a real setting where there is a positive payoff for using non-coercive behaviors
Tough Kids have not developed either the basic or intermediate social skills they need
Pain coercion retards social skills development
This is why Tough Kids tend to hang with younger children so they can dominate them
Rapid friend cycling – no one likes a meanie!
Basic social skills: Staring a conversation, entering games, cooperating, giving appropriate positive feedback to others, grooming
Intermediate social skills: Asserting oneself appropriately, accepting negative feedback, learning to say “No” appropriately, resisting peer pressure, dealing with teasing, and managing anger

30. Rule Following, Impulsivity, and Self-Management Deficits
Final characteristic of a Tough Kid is lack of rule following and self-management skills
Common complaint, “Why can’t he behave like other students?”
The problem is Tough Kids do no internalize commonly accepted values
They operate on IMMEDIATE gratification
Guilt inducing questions don’t work – “What would your parents think?” “Can’t you see your hurting someone else?”
Waiting for them to suddenly change isn’t going to work or blaming them or their family isn’t going to help
A more functional concept is to recognize that coercive pain control leads to demands for immediate gratification
Tough Kids’ behavior is contingency governed vs. rule governed
In other words, the next thing that the Tough Kid sees will impulsively govern or control their behavior (SQUIRREL)…rather than internalized, rule governed behaviors
This type of contingency governed behavior is due to deficits with self-management skills
Zimbardo Marshmallow Experiment -
How does this related to our Tough Students making poor decisions? Examples?

31. Practical Definition of a Tough Kid
Refer to handout Box 1-1: Practical Definition of a Tough Kid

32. Practical Assessment of Tough Kids
Why is assessment necessary for Tough Kids???
To have one is your class is to KNOW a Tough Kid
Assessment is important for the following reasons:
To accurately identify a Tough Kid, particularly if requests or referrals for additional help are made
To determine the specific problem behavior or behaviors that require change
To understand the function of the behavior, or the purpose the behavior services for the Tough Kid
To use a standard measure approach to determine whether progress has been made after a behavioral interventions have been implemented
What procedures are in place with ACPSD to identify and request for help for such students? What about those with disabilities?
ABC of an FBA – Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence
Stress the importance of know the ABC’s of a behavior. “Looking for common antecedents and consequences is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle”

33. Behavioral assessment of Tough Kids
There a numerous ways to assess for problem behaviors
The more tools used, the greater the reduction in measurement error
Common ways to measure behavior:
Behavior checklists
Functional behavior assessments
Social skills checklists
Curriculum-based measurements (CBMs)
In-class observations
A good target behavior is one that is:
Observable – behavior that can actually be seen
Measureable – behavior can be measured or rated on a behavior checklist or similar tool
Well defined – behavior is defined objectively and simply so two or more people can agree when the behavior occurs
Poor target behaviors for change include:
A bad attitude
Poor sense of responsibility
No internalized controls
Damaged self-esteem

34. Proactive Classroom Management – Rating Form (PCM-RF)
The PCM-RF is a classroom management plan walk-through form (See Handout #1)
This tool can be used by yourself and your administrators as means to measure and assess your Intensified Tier 1 classroom management plan
There are 6 Domains of proactive classroom management focusing on 16 PCM skills:
Space
Seating Arrangements
Positive Climate
Teacher Behaviors
Behavioral Expectations
Reactive Strategies

35. 16 Proactive Intervention Strategies
The first line of defense for classroom intervention for Tough Kids should be preventative or proactive strategies
Proactive – preplanned strategies that stop or interfere with most problem behaviors before they even occur or escalate
The key to be proactive and use such preventative strategies is to anticipate problem before they occur (this means getting to know your Tough Kid using assessment strategies)
Remember…it is much more difficult to remediate the problems caused by a Tough Kid than to prevent them. Once you have lost the management tempo of a classroom and things are out of control, it is difficult to re-establish control and authority

36. 16 Proactive Classroom Management Strategies See Handout #2
Organizing a productive classroom
Establishing positive relationships with all students in the class
Positive greetings at the door to precorrect and establish a positive climate
Classroom rules/expectations and procedures are visible and known by every student
Transitions are managed well
Independent seatwork is managed and used when needed
Communicating competently w/ students
Teach, model, and reinforce prosocial skills
Teacher proximity
Motivation system to reward desirable behavior
Goal setting and performance feedback
Visual schedule of classroom activities
Effective cuing systems to release and regain attention
5 to 1 ratio of positive:negative interactions
Smiling and being nice
Providing numerous opportunities to respond

37. Proactive Intervention Strategies
Classroom rules
PBIS Behavior Expectations Matrix (S.T.A.R)
Your classroom schedule
Structuring your classroom space
Get up and move
6 principles for influencing Tough Kids

38. How to develop good proactive rules
Keep the number of rules to a minimum – no more than 5
Keep the wording of rules simple – pictures or icons are an additional benefit for younger children
Have the rules logically represent your basic expectations for student behavior in your classroom
Keep the wording positive when possible
Make your rules specific (Tough Kids will take advantage of ambiguous rules)
Make your rules describe behavior that is observable
Make your rules describe behavior that is measurable
Public post your rules in a prominent place in your classroom

39. CIL Classroom rules

40. Classroom schedule – downtime causes problems
Time not scheduled is an open invitation to disruptive behavior
Scheduled academic time is critical to academic success and appropriate classroom behavior of a Tough Kid
Completely under your control
Academic learning time has 3 basic components:
Percentage of the day scheduled for academics (70% of the day)
Peer tutoring and cooperative learning approaches can help aid in making sure that students are successfully engaged
On-task time of the student (85% on-task)
Success of the student once he is academically engaged (80% correct)
What percentage of your class time is spent for direct academic engagement?
What percentage of your class time is spent for down time or unstructured activities?

41. Structuring your classroom space
Two simple rules apply to Tough Kids when planning classroom space:
Move them close to you
Do not Tough Kids sit together
These rules all seem like common sense; however they are constantly violated or are extremely difficulty to implement at CIL
Placing your most difficult students in the rear of the classroom (farthest away from you) invites trouble. The closer they are to you, the easier it is to provide immediate reinforcement (e.g. punches, praise, etc.)
When Tough Kids sit together, they frequently reward each other for disruptive behavior. This behavior can be so subtly, you won’t be able to detect it at times

42. Get up and Move
Simply moving around the classroom is a highly effective deterrent of problematic behavior
The more time spent behind the desk, the more likely the Tough Kid will behave
Make you walks random – most effective when they can’t predict your behavior
During this time you can reinforce (S.T.A.R) behaviors
EXPERIMENT: How much time do you spend behind your desk?

43. Influence Techniques for Tough Kids
Some of the most effective strategies to working with Tough Kids is proactive influence strategies
We are influenced in our life by countless fixed-action patterns – regular, mechanical patterns of action that occur automatically in response to a specific trigger (e.g. mindlessness)
Certain words can produce a “click, whirr” stimuli that can produce an automatic “Yes” response regardless of the rationale that surrounds it
We generally try to motivate Tough Kids and increase their compliance to adult requests
Proactive influence techniques can help accomplish these goals

44. Behavior Reciprocation
principle of reciprocation – you receive something positive from another person, you automatically feel obligated to give something positive back in return and in the same form as what you received
The unexpected present… 08
Think about it…what is PBIS as it relates to the principle of reciprocation?
Studies show that Tough Kids only receive positive praise for compliance with teacher directives about 15% of the time (Jenson, Olympia, Farley, & Clark, 2004)
A simple “You really help when you follow through with…” or “I really appreciate your following my direction – it makes things easy” will result in more positive compliance from Tough Kids
The same is true for negative behavior…be careful because this can leads to behavioral escalation
Listen to John Wayne…”talk low, talk slow, and don’t say too much” when student is escalating
The second the student complies, reinforce them with praise (not a punch in their card…these should be only given for compliance the first time!)
To be mad or hold grudges only result in a reciprocal mad and grudge-holding Tough Kid
Negative example: If I criticize you, you may criticize me back…
This leads to behavioral escalation, both positive and negative!
PBIS is the behavioral escalation of positive reciprocation out of control! 

45. Commitment and Consistency
We must be consistent with following through with Tough Kids
When people make a formal commitment, even a small one, they are more likely to follow though with the commitment (Sherman, )
Behavior contract – Tough Kids are asked to set positive goals, engage in specific appropriate behaviors, and sign the contract…click, whirr

46. Social Proof
We are likely to do what we see and hear other do (monkey see, monkey do!)
When Tough Kids see other Tough Kids do something, they think it is social proof to engage in that behavior too
Think of canned laughter…Seinfeld
Social proof also works for Tough Kids!
Tough Kids reward other Tough Kids for inappropriate behavior
This can eventually lead to classroom chaos!
Group contingencies (Chapter 3) help keep tabs on these Tough Kid groups
The whole group is rewarded when the individuals in that group follow the rules and behave appropriately
Reinforced appropriate behavior for the group becomes the classroom social proof norms

47. Linking
Linking is one of the most important influence principles when working with Tough Kids
You are more likely to get a “Yes” and compliance from a Tough Kid when she likes you than when she actively dislikes you…SOCIAL CURRENCY!
Interrogation techniques will shut down a Tough Kid (Bad Cop/Good Cop)
Always be the Good Cop and have a sense of positive humor
Tough Kids are already not like at their homeschools and they let them know it
Positive compliments are one of the most powerful techniques to motivate and gain social currency with Tough Kids
Overtime, you social currency bank account can make or break difficult situations or tasks you give a Tough Kid

48. Authority
Tough Kids are more likely to comply with an adult who gives off an aura of knowing what to do and how to do it
You are the authority in the classroom
When you have a proactive program in place the first day of school, good classroom rules, a structured schedule, and you consistently follow your own program, you will give Tough Kids the sense that you are the authority and have things under control
Tough Kids like consistency and positive structure
Be careful with sudden changes to your programs and rules

49. Scarcity
We value things that are scarce, available for a short period of time, or available only to a few people
Tough Kids are no different
The scarcity principle can be easily and effectively used to motivate Tough Kids
Mystery Motivators (Chapter 2), should be presented as rare and mysterious
Level systems with leveled items
Box 1-5: Proactive Strategies for Teachers Handout

50. Revisiting the Presenters Meeting Outcomes
1. Knowing if your classroom management is effective and sufficient
2. Knowing what Tier 1 behavior strategies to utilize to increase classroom management
3. Advocating for continuous professional development regarding classroom management

51. Revisiting the Presenters Essential Questions
1. What is proactive classroom management?
2. How do I measure how effective my classroom management is?
3. What does proactive classroom management look like?

52. Ameet Bosmia
(205)