This classroom facilitation model seeks to reframe “classroom management” through practices that are responsive and student-centered, with the goal of ensuring learning and well-being.
“Students learn best in a psychologically safe, mistake-friendly environment. We all make mistakes. How teachers respond has everything to do with whether or not their students feel valued as human beings. We are responsible for creating a psychologically safe classroom. In all possible situations, we should seek to uphold the dignity of the student. Even when disciplinary action is necessary, it should be handled in a dignified way.” — Chad Donohue, from “Give the Kid a Pencil”
Effective classroom facilitation is critical to supporting student learning and lessening behavior concerns. Teachers can spend hours crafting creative, engaging, standards-aligned lessons, but those lessons will be of little use if taught in a chaotic or unsafe learning space.
This classroom facilitation model seeks to reframe “classroom management” by questioning the assumption that teachers must always lead and be in control and that students must always follow. The toolkit supports educators in responding to student behavior with the goal of ensuring well-being and keeping learning on track rather than maintaining absolute control. It focuses on children’s development instead of punishment and offers proactive and inclusive practices to create affirming learning spaces.
Understand and Distinguish Behaviors
All behavior is communication aimed at meeting a need. While disruptive behavior may not be an appropriate way for a child to get their needs met, they engage in it because, on some level, it has worked for them. Determining the function of a behavior is essential for developing a response or intervention. Understanding the reasons behind behaviors also allows adults to focus on prevention, as opposed to punishment.
Not all behaviors call for the same response. For example, three common types of misbehavior — disrespect, disruption and disregard for rules (the “three Ds”) — indicate different needs and require different intervention strategies. Properly understanding and distinguishing behaviors also reduces the likelihood that educators will personalize student misbehavior.
Social scientists view behaviors as serving functions or purposes. Each child’s behavior is a puzzle that adults are tasked with solving. When we understand the function or purpose of a behavior, we can design interventions that teach children how to meet their needs in more appropriate ways.
The four most common needs driving behavior can be remembered by the acronym EATS.
Escape: Children engage in inappropriate behaviors to try to escape a task or situation they find aversive.
Attention: Children engage in inappropriate behaviors to gain — or escape from — the attention of peers or adults.
Tangible gains: Children engage in inappropriate behaviors to gain access to a preferred activity or situation.
Sensory needs: Children engage in inappropriate behaviors to meet a sensory or internal need.
Rethink Control and Power Dynamics
Reframing classroom facilitation requires an understanding of what is realistic to expect of a child. Our expectations should be based on what we know of the child’s personal circumstances, the message their behavior sends and their developmental level. Children enter classrooms with unique personalities and challenges; educators should consider these factors when assessing how to support children within the classroom community.
Adults have bad days and sometimes test boundaries, as we all know, but the expectations we place on children often don’t allow for these natural behaviors. Instead, we insist that children adhere strictly to our rules and allow themselves to be “managed.” The term “management” itself is problematic because it relies on unbalanced power dynamics and assumes that all children are developmentally the same and that the boundaries we establish adequately support the needs of all learners. “Management” also misplaces emphasis on training and control rather than collaboration.
Responsive classrooms are shared community spaces where children are growth partners and leaders of their own learning.
Be Proactive, Not Reactive
Proactive classroom culture calls for preventative steps, such as building relationships and fostering engagement, instead of reactive steps, like meting out punishment after misbehavior occurs. Simple strategies such as greeting children by name as they enter the classroom or engaging them in conversation about their interests outside of school, for instance, can have profound effects on behavior.
Responsive classroom facilitation honors the whole child, respects their identities and experiences, and acknowledges their critical role in the classroom community. It also seeks to understand behavior and make room for the varied ways children show up at school — the ways they express themselves and their needs — rather than focus exclusively on power and control.
Returning the classroom to order by any means necessary may seem desirable in the short term, but harsh or punitive practices actually exacerbate behavioral problems by fostering resentment and humiliation. Punitive practices also do nothing to change the environment or to address the underlying and unexpressed needs of the child. When educators engage in dialogue with children and create spaces where it is safe to make mistakes and learn from them, children are better equipped to understand and regulate their emotions and manage their own behaviors.
