What behavioral principles should educators be familiar with to understand student behavior?
Page 1: Learning and Behavior
Educators have a myriad of responsibilities that include teaching academic content, supporting students’ social-emotional needs, communicating with families, and maintaining a positive classroom environment. For many educators, though, one of the more challenging responsibilities is addressing the spectrum of classroom behaviors—which often occur simultaneously. Consider the first five minutes of a school day, where an educator might observe:
- Philip quietly entering the room and putting away his backpack
- Joey and Peter greeting each other
- Ahmed throwing a wad of paper across the room
- Louisa organizing her pencil box
- Remi texting on his phone
- Yuki getting started on his morning work
Every one of these acts is a behavior—that is, an action that can be observed and measured in some way. Educators often associate this term with actions that disrupt the classroom environment (e.g., kicking, swearing, throwing things). However, behavior refers to all actions regardless of whether those actions enhance or interfere with social, emotional, or academic learning. Once educators understand the influences on any student behavior, they can actively work to promote expected behaviors and eliminate challenging ones.
Research Shows
In a 2019 study, over 1,100 faculty and staff from 25 different schools, ranging from elementary to high school, indicated that a wide range of expected behaviors were critical to their students’ success. More specifically, educators consistently prioritized:
- Classroom behaviors related to following directions, cooperation, and self-control
- Behaviors in noninstructional settings (e.g., hallway, playground, bus, restroom) related to health, safety, and personal responsibility
(Lane et al., 2019)
Did You Know?
In addition to learning expected classroom behaviors, some students might need to unlearn behaviors that interfere with their classroom engagement and progress. In these cases, educators might need to explicitly teach a more appropriate behavior (i.e., replacement behavior) to replace the undesired or challenging behavior. Understanding the foundational concepts covered in this module can help educators support students in learning and unlearning behaviors.
Educators must understand that all student behavior—whether it enhances or interferes with classroom instruction—is learned. Learning is a process that leads to change, which applies equally to academics and behavior. When we learn, we gain new knowledge, skills, and behaviors. The great news is that if behavior is learned, then behavior can be taught. Like with academics, educators are responsible for teaching students expected behaviors. Luckily, students learn academic and behavioral concepts and skills in much the same way. For example, when kindergartners learn to identify numbers or high schoolers learn to solve linear equations, they add new skills to their academic toolbox. By the same token, students must learn expected classroom behaviors (e.g., following classroom rules, interacting with peers and adults, taking responsibility for their own learning) and add them to their behavioral toolbox.
For Your Information
Behaviors that are viewed as challenging in the classroom (e.g., calling out, hitting, refusing tasks) often result when students lack a prerequisite skill in communication, socialization, emotional regulation, executive functioning, or academics. Therefore, educators must always consider what skills are necessary for students to display an expected behavior.
executive functioning
The skills required to control and coordinate activities related to learning, including processing information, retaining and recalling information, organizing materials and time, and using effective learning and study strategies.
Whether teaching academic or behavioral skills, educators must remember that prior knowledge and experiences are critical to students’ ability to learn something new. Just as they understand how academic skills develop in sequence, educators must also recognize how behaviors build on each other over time. For example, learning to read follows a developmental sequence from basic skills to more complex understandings; students would never be expected to read sentences before learning letters and sounds. Similarly, educators should not expect students to work collaboratively with peers without first learning skills such as how to communicate, take turns, and listen to others’ perspectives.
Additionally, educators should assume students will engage in unobservable, internal behavior (e.g., thinking, feeling). Like observable, outward behavior, internal behavior is learned through experience, and these skills build over time. Following are a few examples.
- After learning how to solve a math problem by practicing the steps on paper, the student might be able to solve similar problems in their head.
- After mastering computation for one type of problem, a student may be able to combine their skills in a different way to solve a new problem.
- A student may notice that they are taking longer than others to accurately compute solutions for assigned problems. Unfortunately, this may result in negative internal attributions (e.g., They’re better than me or I’m stupid) accompanied by unpleasant feelings (e.g., frustration). On the other hand, a student may experience motivation in this situation (e.g., Let’s see how much faster I can do this! or I bet I can finish the page before the bell rings!).
Furthermore, educators must establish supportive relationships with students. Although educators are not responsible for reading students’ minds, it is critical to acknowledge that interactions intended to teach expected behavior can positively or negatively impact the way a student thinks and feels about the classroom and about themselves. Thus, cultivating meaningful relationships with students can set the stage for educators to more effectively and compassionately teach behavior that supports students’ educational progress.
To maintain a positive learning environment, educators must establish supportive relationships with students, endeavor to understand and interpret the impact of environmental factors on students’ behavior, and teach expected behavior with compassion. This module will explore some of the foundational concepts involved in understanding, addressing, and changing behavior.