What might Ms. Torri consider to help her students stay on task and also help her regain some lost instructional time?
Page 1: Self-Directed Versus Teacher-Directed Strategies
There are many ways to manage student behavior. These strategies can be broadly categorized as either self-directed or teacher-directed.
Self-Directed Strategies
Self-directed behavior strategies are those that students use to monitor and regulate their own behavior. The teacher plays a role in guiding students in selecting and establishing appropriate self-directed strategies, but it is the students themselves who actually implement the strategies. Students are seen as controlling their own behavior.
Teacher-Directed Strategies
Teacher-directed behavior strategies are ones in which the teacher plays the central role in identifying, monitoring, and reinforcing student behavior. The teacher is seen as controlling the students’ behavior.
In order to implement either a self-directed behavior strategy or a teacher-directed behavior strategy, a teacher should follow the steps below. Keep in mind that though the teacher can participate in most of the self-directed steps, her or his involvement is substantially less than it would be in teacher-directed interventions. And in teacher-directed interventions, although the teacher plays the central role in each step, students are frequently involved in formulating parts of teacher-directed behavior strategies.
Key |
 |
Student involvement |  |
Teacher involvement |
|
Steps |
Self-directed | Teacher-directed |
| Identifies the problem behavior | |
|
| Collects baseline data | |
|
| Selects a replacement behavior and determines the criterion | and |
|
| Identifies possible strategies | and |
|
| Implements a strategy | |
|
| Monitors and evaluates progress | and |
For an illustration of how these two strategies would differ in a classroom setting, view the example below. Note that the way the steps are implemented differs for each behavior strategy.
Scenario: A middle-school social studies teacher has a student named Bob who does not consistently bring his textbook and other materials to class.
| Steps | Self-directed | Teacher-directed |
| Identifies the problem behavior | The teacher determines that Bob does not bring his textbook and other materials to class. | |
| Collects baseline data | The teacher makes certain that Bob has the necessary materials and skills for compliance. She collects two weeks of baseline data on whether he brings the book and other necessary materials to class. She determines that he came prepared to class on 2 out of 10 days. | |
| Selects a replacement behavior and determines the criterion | The teacher discusses the goal with Bob, and they decide that Bob will bring the book and other materials to class on at least 4 out of 5 days each week. | The teacher decides that Bob will bring the book and other materials to class at least 4 out of 5 days each week. |
| Identifies possible strategies | The teacher gains Bob’s cooperation in implementing self-monitoring and self-reinforcement strategies. | The teacher decides to implement a positive reinforcement strategy. She will monitor the behavior and reinforce Bob when he brings the required materials to class. |
| Implements strategy | After the teacher shows Bob how to monitor his own behavior, he tracks his progress. For his reinforcement, Bob chooses 15 minutes of extra computer time on Fridays. | The teacher monitors Bob’s behavior. For his reinforcement, Bob chooses 15 minutes of extra computer time on Fridays. |
| Monitors and evaluates progress | Bob is responsible for monitoring his success at bringing the supplies to class and showing the completed chart to the teacher each Friday before rewarding himself with extra computer time. | The teacher prepares a simple monitoring chart and places it in her planning book. She tells Bob that she will review his compliance for the week and let him know whether he has earned extra computer time. |
Benefits of Self-Directed Behavior Strategies
Although both self-directed and teacher-directed behavior strategies have proved effective in changing student behavior, the self-directed strategies have a number of additional benefits for less serious behavior infractions.
Self-directed behavior strategies not only free up the teacher’s time by directly involving the student in the more time-intensive step of monitoring his or her behavior but also have the benefits described below.
Benefits for Students
Provide immediate feedback for the student- Encourage student responsibility
- Empower the student
- Encourage self-control
- Teach valuable life skills
