Basic Summer Camp Behavior

Children often enter summer camp for multiple weeks over the summer. Their parent’s goal is to keep them entertained for the summer. The children’s goal is to have as much fun on their summer break as possible. This means incorporating a lot of movement into the day in order to keep kids busy and prevent behavior issues.

A few tips for basic summer camp behavior management:

• Always have a plan! (This means have a rainy day contingency and an uh oh, I need to fill 30 minutes or an hour NOW contingency.)
• Turn anything into a song – transitions and even a walk up a hill can become easy with the help of a lively song.
• Get the kids moving as often as possible, but remember that sometimes down time is helpful too – find a balance.

Overnight Camp Behavior Management Tip

Most overnight camps will have pretty strict rules in place for managing behavior during the overnight hours. In general, though, counselors will need to have a very predictable bedtime/morning routine and stick to basic light’s out rules.

Overnight Camp Tip: For bedtime, offer each kid a hug, high five or hand shake. This takes pressure off of kids who don’t want to give you a hug and yet offers the option of a hug to those kids who want one.

Day Camp Behavior Management Tip

Day camps are a different beast from overnight camp and while they are easier in some way, they are also harder in some ways.

From the counselor’s perspective, it’s easier because if you have a behavioral issue, that child will leave at the end of the day and go home. Unfortunately you are more likely to have these types of issues because the kids know that they have to go home and face reality every evening, regardless of what that reality might be.

Day Camp Tip: be aware that those children who act up, especially nearing the end of the camp day, may be dreading the reality that home life brings. Try to not act as if you cannot wait to get rid of them – make camp a getaway, even for the brief time that it is, in order to reduce behavioral issues.

Last thoughts for you: set rules and expectations for your campers and follow through. Equally important – have fun!

Related posts:

1. 3 Ways to Beat the Summer Heat
2. Those Who Can’t Do… Ask
3. Homework Assignment: Student Reflection

What is a Behavior Plan? 

A behavior plan is a document (lesson plan perhaps?) that details the plan for changing a specific target behavior in an individual student. It provides detailed information on what the behavior is, what behavior is appropriate and what the reward is for demonstrating that appropriate behavior. Typically there is room for failure and a gradual increasing of expectation. For more detailed information on what a behavior plan is, along with examples and free blank plans, check out Behavior Plans.

Another way to look at what a behavior plan is, would be to say that a behavior plan is the documented way to change a child’s behavior. Parents change behavior all the time – training a child to use the bathroom, to say please and thank you, to not run into the road, and any number of other behaviors. Teachers also change behaviors frequently but there are those few students who just need a more structured approach to behavior change, and that is the time to introduce a behavior plan. 

When Behavior Change becomes MicroManaging

The problem with behavior plans is that they tend to provide the option for micro-managing a child’s behavior. Recently I was told of a behavior plan for a fifth grade student who had difficulty controlling himself when he perceived that other students knew more than he did. He particularly had difficulty entering some of his special’s classes. 

The target behavior was identified nicely enough, and the end goal was just idealistic enough to make you sigh dreamily about how in the world you might get there… the problem was the steps in the middle.  

Phrases like “breathing techniques” and “stop and think strategies” were used to describe steps to teach the student to change his behavior. Ideally, yes, a student on the verge of losing control of himself would stop, breath deeply, think about his response and then choose the appropriate path. But if that’s what it takes to change behavior, I’m thinking a global initiative might solve rush hour traffic tempers…

Trying to get a child to change his behavior through breathing techniques is like trying to jump in a stream to stop the tide. It makes me think about those times as a parent when I want to just say “pllleeaaaasseee stop wining!!!!”. It’s not going to work.

The root of the problem is not being addressed through breath. Instead of micromanaging the behavior itself, the deeper issue should be addressed. Sometimes behavior like this can be changed by simply assigning the student as a big brother or helper to another student who is struggling, or by modifying the instruction slightly in order to ensure that he is able to answer questions and be a part of the instructional time. It’s also possible that the class is boring and he needs to be pushed a little harder, have more expected of him.

Too often I feel that students with behavior issues are micro-managed, coddled and prodded along. In the end they are not provided the instruction they need in order to learn and move onto another life lesson. This behavior, whatever it might be at the moment, needs to be just part of the child’s education, not one that lasts the entire year.

Related posts:

1. Those Who Can’t Do… Ask
2. Two Musts for the End of the School Year
3. Teaching the Nightmare Class

No doubt the child’s home-life is messed up, and that messed up stuff is coming with him to school, impacting his learning and his very ability to care about anything.

Discipline: 

Suspending him doesn’t help because it is a reward, not a punishment. Other in-school discipline won’t likely help because there is not likely an authority figure in the school building that he respects (although if there is, utilize that because that may be your only chance at changing the child’s behavior!). Likely, whatever discipline ideas you try in the classroom will be seen as petty and not cause any impact.

Make Learning Fun:

Making learning fun doesn’t work because he could care less about “fun” because to him, fun is what happens outside the classroom. No matter how well planned your lessons, he will likely not want to be there and not care what happens.

Home Visit:

This family might benefit from a home visit, but more likely, they won’t open their door for you or ever be home in the first place, and if they do welcome you in, they likely will put on a show for you and nothing will ever change.

Praise: 

These kids are likely not going to immediately respond to praise, but it is important none the less to praise them for something (even something little) each and every day. You may be able to wear them down little by little over the course of the school year.

Care:

This child does not care. His parents do not care. His friends likely do not care. This, incidentally, is not the problem, but the symptom of a much deeper problem. This child has been programmed to not care about anything or anyone because he has learned that no one and nothing cares about him. 

The first thing you need to do when faced with a child like this is realize that his behavior is a symptom, not the disease. Now I am not saying that he needs to not be responsible for his behavior, but the fact of the matter is, at a certain point, all you are is a stupid teacher who doesn’t like him. 

You need to care – and more importantly he needs to know you care. Forget his school work, his future or his past for a while (indeed, you won’t likely have much chance with improving his grades, improving his future or changing his past) and instead do what you can to show him you care right NOW. Care about TODAY. 

A child who doesn’t care if he is suspended is hurting and more than the ability to read and write, he needs to learn to love again, and to feel loved. Forget what all the government people are telling you – in fact, who cares if this kid doesn’t pass a single test in your classroom. If he can learn to care about life again, that might be one less kid on the streets selling drugs, one less kid who will walk out on his family, one less kid who goes no where in life. Instead, it may be one more kid who you can actually make a difference in his life, who you can impact and truly change his future.

Related posts:

1. Using Praise for Basic Discipline
2. How Class Sizes Don’t Impact Your Students
3. Creating a Positive Classroom Atmosphere

She has sown a pair of child sized jeans closed at the bottoms and she cut and sewed the belt loops back over a coat hanger so that the pants hang without worry of falling off. She then filled the pants legs with Smarty candy’s. 

She has “I’m a Smarty” stickers and she gives out “smarty” awards for all kinds of academic achievements in her classroom. Each time a child wins an award, she makes a big deal about the child, why the child won, gives the child a candy and a sticker and everyone cheers. 

It’s a great way to recognize achievement of all levels and motivates students to always try their hardest!

Related posts:

1. Establishing Classroom Management as a Tutor
2. Success Story: Having Confidence
3. Success Story: Whisper Teaching

Other times, you will have a parent who is surprised, maybe shocked and likely concerned about their child’s behavior and will become a great part of the team in helping that child improve at school. 

Usually, though, parent-teacher conferences are less about solving problems and more about a battle of wills. 

Indulge me for a moment (because I am sure that none of you have parents like this…):

Parent’s perspective: 

I work hard all day every day to provide everything I can for my child and the least you can do is teach him and control his behavior in school. That’s what you are being paid to do!  If I wanted to be in charge of my child’s learning and behavior all day I wouldn’t send him to your classroom every day! 

Or perhaps more like this: 

You are just expecting too much from my baby! She’s doing the best she can, if you would just stop pushing her so hard! Of course I am doing her homework for her, she spends all day doing everything you say, why should she have to spend all evening doing more schoolwork? She needs to be able to play sometime! Why don’t you just give her some extra slack? She’ll figure it out eventually!

But never like this: 

I understand what you are saying, that my son is not following directions and not working to his potential in class. I will make sure that I follow up with him each day before and after school to be sure he is doing his required work and I will sit with him each day to ensure he completes his homework to the best of his ability. I will also turn the TV and Video games off more so that he realizes I am being serious about him doing his best in school. Please call me if he is ever a problem in class and I will take care of it as soon as he gets home.

Here’s the thing – teachers are NOT babysitters. You are not paid to discipline, break up fights or talk parents into doing their jobs as parents. You are paid to teach. Because of how many hours a day you are responsible for the same children over the course of a year, you automatically step in for the parent in a million ways, but that is never an excuse for a parent to step out of the child’s life. 

When talking to a parent during a conference, and it becomes obvious that the parent is stepping out of the child’s life, it is time to re-prioritize your meeting agenda. The agenda might have started like this:

Top priority: Child’s behavior in class

Second priority: Homework completion

Third priority: Working up to ability 

If the parent has checked out and is expecting you to fill those empty shoes, your priorities need to be more like this:

Top Priority: Get parent to realize their child needs them!!!!

Second Priority: Involve parent in child’s life at school somehow!

Third Priority: School work.

Because the thing is, if Johnnie is acting up a lot in class, not turning in homework and not working up to his ability, but his mom has checked out, no amount of work samples are going to change Johnnie’s behavior. On the other hand, if you can get Johnnie’s mom to show him that she cares and get her involved in his school work, Johnnie will stop acting out and will automatically do better in school because he sees his mom caring about it!

So while a parent conference may answer a lot of questions about why a child acts in a particular way, be ready to change your priorities so that the child remains your top priority, that is why you got into teaching, isn’t it?

Related posts:

1. Effective Consequences for Tutors
2. Home Visits May Reduce Discipline Issues
3. Classroom Management: Lack of Parental Support

• Give the student something to fidget with his hands
• Allow the student to chew gum or suck on a mint
• Give the student the opportunity to stand up to do his work.
• Send him with a note or textbook to a teacher on the other side of the school or campus to give him a break.
• All the student to stand up and sit down as needed in the back of the classroom as long as he is not distracting to other students.
• Allow the student to listen to music on headphones providing he doesn’t need to be actively listening or participating in a discussion.
• Offer a special seat in an out of the way part of the classroom that the student can go to if he is having difficulties focusing.
• Allow the student to work under his desk.
• Provide a place on the floor for the student to work
• Put a desk off in a corner of the room for him to work at.
• Sometimes simply giving desk choice can help reduce distractibility
• Allow the student to draw a picture while you read or lecture

Sometimes it can be difficult to find the right thing for a particular student. All of these ideas have been used successfully with other teachers – some worked well for some students and others worked well with other students. If you have a student who you can’t figure out, try something new and see if it helps! Sometimes just switching it up can be a big help.

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2. Back to School Checklist
3. Two Musts for the End of the School Year

The Typical Kindergarten Student 

• Kindergarten students are 5 years old, typically. 
• While some (or most, depending on the area) kindergarten students have been to preschool, this may be the longest these children have ever been required to focus, ever.
• Kindergarten students love having fun and playing – anything resembling work is tedious and tiresome.
• Kindergarten students typically like school and love to help and please others.

Classroom Guidelines for Maintaining Discipline in a Kindergarten Class 

Kids thrive on boundaries. This does NOT mean that kids thrive on a super structured, every minute of the day planned out type of class. But kids do need to know where the lines are. It is difficult for a kid to please a teacher without knowing what behavior is acceptable (and thus pleasing). 

That said, boundaries are often forgotten and always tested. 

It is important to stick to your boundaries with two very important caveats. 

1.  It’s ok to change your mind. Saying no (or yes) and then changing your mind is ok – but try not to make a habit of saying no first, then changing your mind or else the kids will feel that they can get you to change your mind if they just push hard enough.
2. Kids need love too. Never substitute a boundary or “orderliness” for love. Depending on your school district, these kids need a lot of love that they don’t get at home, too.

There is no easy formula for managing any classroom full of students (any age!). 

Do you have specific questions about managing a kindergarten class? Please send me an email or question in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer each question!

Related posts:

1. How Class Sizes Don’t Impact Your Students
2. Those Who Can’t Do… Ask
3. Kindergarten Behavior Plan Example

First, is it one student or a group of students behaving this way? I would be willing to bet that if it is a whole group of students, either they are simply trying to push your buttons and are ganged up together, or one student started it and the others are simply following the same path (in which case, you need to figure out who started it because that’s where the discipline problem started). 

Now, assuming you want to know how to eliminate the problem rather than just responding to the problem, here are some steps to take:

Reflect Before Reacting 

Before addressing an ongoing behavior such as verbal wisecracks, sit down in that student’s seat after class is out and reflect. Survey the classroom from the student’s perspective, know who is sitting where, think about what it is you know about the student’s home life and any other factors that impact the student’s life: subject matter, difficulty level, any special needs, any problems with friends, girl problems, boy problems, puberty, parental issues, poverty level, etc.

Now think about – and write down – the details of the situation in question. What was going on? What happened in the classroom directly prior to the behavior? Many times you can follow the behavior backwards and see a root cause.

Possible Behavior Triggers 

A behavior trigger is something that causes a behavior to occur. This might be emotional stress (parents splitting up, verbal/physical abuse at home, bullying), academic stress (not comprehending the subject, difficulty keeping up in class, special needs) or a more tangible cause (being told an answer was wrong in front of the class, being laughed at for academic efforts by other students).

Identifying the possible behavior triggers for a student who is directing wise cracks at a teacher is an important first step towards eliminating the issue. My guess without knowing more about the situation, is that a student who is talking back to a teacher is either under academic stress (probably having a hard time keeping up) or is under some kind of emotional stress.

Having a better idea of what is triggering the behavior will give you a place to start helping the student.

How To Respond?

Solving the underlying problem is the hard part. Responding to the wisecracks is often the easy part. Initially, simply ignore the comments. They are likely meant to get you riled up, so not responding is likely to help in the long run (although it may also cause them to get worse before better, see ignoring the behavior). 

If the comments include swear words, here is an idea for how to deal with cursing in the classroom.

The bottom line: you are the adult, so use self-control and respond with maturity and restraint. Then, figure out what is causing the behavior and work to fix the underlying problems because all behavior has some sort of trigger. That does not make the behavior correct, but simply disciplining for a behavior will not eliminate the behavior if you are not also working to correct the trigger. 

Related posts:

1. The Use of Hands in Classroom Management
2. Reflection is the Best Remedy
3. Sarcastic Non-verbal Reactions from Students

Teach your class about bullying with this exercise:

Have each child take out a piece of paper and crumple it up, stamp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it.

Then have them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty it is.

Have them tell the paper they’re sorry.

Now even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, point out all the scars they left behind. Those scars will never go away no matter how hard they try to fix it. Let this sink in for a moment, and encourage the children to keep trying to fix it if they think it will help. Once they realize that it won’t do any good, explain that this is what happens when you bully another child. You can say sorry, you can try to “fix” it, but the scars remain forever.

Related posts:

1. When Behavior is Not a Choice
2. Handling Serious Behavior Issues
3. Homework Assignment: Student Reflection

How to discourage cursing in the classroom can be a tricky issue because usually at the root of the foul language, are emotions that are raging out of control. These words are the way their parents and friends have taught them to handle these crazy feelings and they know no other way. 

Because of this, calling home or sending a note home is likely to fall on deaf ears, or in the worst case scenario, you’ll hear worse language through the phone in response to your interruption of the parent’s life. 

Instead, it is time for you to step up and take the place of the parent and teach the child how to manage their emotions. The positive thing about kids who swear in the classroom is that they are willing to let their emotions out – providing a platform for teaching, whereas students who keep everything bottled inside often fly under the radar and are many times not helped.

Action Point for Curbing Swear Words in the Classroom

It’s time to break out those dictionaries and begin expanding the vocabulary of the students in your class. Start by translating the phrases that the student uses. Often, over time, this can solve the problem all by itself. Here’s an illustration:

Mrs. Smith “please put your pencil down, it is time to clean up and go to specials”

Student:”x8(3#^&@!(“ 

Mrs. Smith (DO NOT REACT TO THE SWEAR WORDS!!!! STAY CALM!!): “Mrs. Smith! I wasn’t finished yet! I hate it when you don’t give me enough time to finish what I was working on! (PAUSE) I’m sorry Johnnie, I understand that it is frustrating, why don’t you bring your lunch back to the classroom and I’ll help you finish so that you can go out to recess with your friends.” 

This is just one example, and probably a poor one,  but the point is to translate what the student said into something more appropriate, then respond to the frustration. This might increase the language problem at first, but one teacher has told me that over time in her classroom, the language slowly gave way to more appropriate exclamations of frustration. This then gave her the opportunity to better understand her students and how to help them.

You can also give the student a dictionary when they use a choice word and instruct him or her to come up with an alternative. Make the assignment non-negotiable, but consider giving extra credit if the student can find a way to use the new word in context.

Any other ideas for curbing a cursing tongue in the classroom?

Related posts:

1. The Importance of Body Language
2. How to Manage Students who Lie at School
3. Successful Methods of Classroom Management