The simplest way to ensure that students
expect success is to make sure that they
achieve it consistently.
Brophy, 1987
CHAMPs Classroom
Management
Strategy
December, 2010
Understatement: Not all students come to us
motivated and/or responsible.
Some are responsible and highly
motivated.
Some are responsible, but only moderately
motivated.
Some are like Huck Finn, severely at risk.
What is a Misbehavior?
Anything that keeps the teacher from
teaching or the student from learning
is misbehavior.
There are no “simple” solutions.
Punitive consequences are not enough.
Role-bound power is not enough.
What CHAMPs Is; What
CHAMPs Isn’t
CHAMPs is not a “canned” program nor is it a rigid set of
procedures. Instead, a teacher using the CHAMPs strategies will
reflect both her/his individual needs and style of the
teaching and the students’ need for structure while manipulating
the following five behavioral variables that research shows will
promote better student behavior:
1. Structure (organize) your classroom to prevent misbehavior.
2. Teach your expectations regarding how to be successful
within the structure that you
have created.
3. Observe whether students are meeting your expectations.
4. Interact positively with all students.
5. Correct misbehavior fluently, briefly, calmly, consistently,
immediately, and (as much as possible) privately.
The CHAMPs Basic Beliefs
– Teachers can structure and organize
their classrooms to prompt responsible
student behavior.
– Teachers should overtly and consciously
teach students how to behave
responsibly in every classroom/school
situation.
– Teachers should focus more time,
attention, and energy on acknowledging
responsible behavior than responding to
misbehavior.
– Teachers should preplan their responses
to misbehavior to ensure that they will
respond in a brief, calm, and consistent
manner.
The Power of Positive
Interaction
Interacting with every student at
least three times more when he/she
is behaving responsibly (through
non-contingent attention and
contingent praise) than when
engaged in misbehavior, is one of the
most powerful strategies you can
employ to ensure a positive and
productive classroom environment.
Consequences for Misbehavior –
Gentle Verbal Reprimand
The Gentle Verbal Reprimand – Go over to the student(s)
engaged in a misbehavior and quietly remind/tell the
student(s) what he/she should be doing at that moment.
The following are characteristics of effective verbal
reprimands:
• Short
• Given while physically near the student
(not from across the room)
• Respectful in tone and content
• Clear and unequivocal
• State the expected behavior rather than
accusing the student of misbehavior
• Given in a way that gives the illusion of privacy
CHAMPs Acronym
– The acronym CHAMPs reflects the
“categories” or types of expectations
that you, as a teacher need to clarify for
students about every major activity or
transition that occurs in your classroom.
The CHAMPs Acronym
Conversation: Can students talk to each other
during this activity/transition?
Help: How can students ask questions during this
activity/transition? How do they get your
attention?
Activity: What is the task/objective of this
activity/transition? What is the expected end
product?
Movement: Can students move about during this
activity/transition? Can they sharpen their pencil?
Participation: What does appropriate student work
behavior for this activity/transition look/sound
like?
CHAMPs Template
Classroom
Activity
Conversation
Help
Activity
Movement
Participation
Begin at the Beginning
Build positive relationships with your
students’ families by making initial
contact with them at the beginning
of the year and maintaining contact
throughout the year.
• Ideally contact should be made
before school starts.
• Contacts within the first 2 weeks of
school will increase parental
involvement throughout the school
year.
• It’s never too late to initiate a
relationship with your students’
families.
Provide the following information:
– A welcome greeting that indicates that you are
interested in getting to know your students’
families
– Some information about your background
– A list of the major goals for the rest of the
year (academic and social-emotional)
– The best time for parents to contact you
– A copy of classroom guidelines for success and
rules
– Invitation for questions or comments
The First Month
• It is MUCH easier to teach responsible behaviors
from the very first day than to deal with negative
behaviors throughout the year.
• The tasks of the first month ensure that you build
positive relationships with students and
communicate your expectations clearly.
• Research shows: Teachers who take the time to
teach expectations explicitly, get further in the
curriculum than teachers who don’t.
The First Month
When you teach students how to
behave responsibly during the first
month of school, you dramatically
increase their chances of having a
productive year.
Expectations for Classroom
Activities
Define clear and consistent behavioral
expectations for all regularly
scheduled classroom activities (e.g.,
small group instruction, independent
work periods, etc.)
Expectations
• It is noted that clearly defined
behavior expectations are not
enough.
• Expectations must also be
communicated and taught in a 3step process:
1 Teach your
expectations before
the activity or
transition begins.
2 Monitor student
behavior by
circulating and
visually scanning.
3 Provide feedback
during and at the
conclusion of the
activity.
Organization:
Classroom Rules
Identify and post 3-5 classroom
rules that will be used as a basis for
providing positive and corrective
feedback.
Organization:
Classroom Rules
• Keep the number of rules to a
minimum
• Keep the wording of rules simple
• Have rules logically represent your
basic expectations
Organization:
Classroom Rules
• Keep the wording positive
• Make your rules specific
• Make your rules describe behavior
that is observable
Organization:
Classroom Rules
• Publicly post rules in a prominent
place
• Tie following the rules to
consequences
• Always include a compliance rule
Organization:
Classroom Rules
• Students should be as familiar with
the consequences as they are with
the rules.
(Consider a “What If Chart.”)
• Deliberately teach the consequences
for rule infractions and rule
compliance.
• Consider different rules for different
activities.
E x V Theory of Motivation
• Expectancy x Value = Motivation
–Expectancy = degree to which an
individual expects to be successful
at that task.
–Value = degree to which an
individual values the reward(s)
that accompany that success.
Feather (1982)
E x V Theory of Motivation
• Often educators attribute a lack of
motivation only to the value component of
the formula.
– “He doesn’t care about good grades.”
– “He doesn’t care about free time or stickers.”
• These explanations do not take
expectancy into account.
If either one of these factors is 0, then
motivation is 0.
Motivation:
Ratio of Interaction
• Our students are very demanding of
attention and will go to many lengths
to get it.
– An emotionally intense reprimand may
be more rewarding than a brief “good
job.”
– Which is longer, more rich and intense?
Your feedback for positive behavior or
your corrections for negative behavior?
Motivation:
Ratio of Interaction
• The behavior you attend to the most
will be the one that you will see more
of in the future.
• What behavior do you attend to?
Positive student behavior or negative
student behavior?
Motivation:
Ratio of Interaction
• Not only is what you attend to important,
the frequency and distribution of your
attention is also important.
• Research says: Teachers should use a 5:1
ratio. For every 1 corrective or negative
interaction, the teacher needs to provide 5
positives for appropriate behavior.
“They can’t get your goat if they don’t
know where it’s tied”
Bill Jenson
Correction Procedures
When you treat student misbehavior
as an instructional opportunity, you
give students the chance to learn
from their mistakes.
Correction Procedures
• 3 important concepts:
– Being prepared for misbehavior reduces
annoyance and frustration.
– Correction procedures are only effective
if they reduce the future occurrence
misbehavior. This means data!
– Most chronic misbehavior serves a
purpose.
Analyze Misbehavior
• Types of misbehavior:
– A. Awareness type: student is unaware of the
misbehavior. The intervention should focus on
making expectations clear, and helping the
student become more aware of her behavior
and its affect on others.
– B. Ability type: student misbehaves because
she does not know how to exhibit the
appropriate behavior. The intervention should
focus on teaching the student how and when
to perform the appropriate behavior.
(continued)
Analyze Misbehavior
• Types of misbehavior (continued):
– C. Attention seeking type: student engages in
misbehavior to gain attention from peers
and/or adults. Interventions should involve
ignoring the misbehavior, and teaching and
reinforcing the appropriate behavior (a.k.a.
DRA).
– D. Escape/avoidance type: includes behavior
that functions to release the student from an
aversive situation or person(s). Interventions
will vary based on the specific function of the
behavior but will likely include corrective
consequences.
Escape/Avoidance
Misbehavior
• Much chronic misbehavior occurs to help a
student escape or avoid something.
– Avoid difficult work or aversive work
– Avoid aversive social situation (adult, peer)
– Avoid school in general
• The use of corrective consequences alone,
however, is not sufficient. Your
intervention must also include a
component in which appropriate or
responsible behavior will be rewarded.
Escape/Avoidance
Misbehavior
• Step 1: Remove any positive
consequences that are maintaining
the misbehavior by:
– Ensuring that the student will no longer
get what he/she has been getting from
the misbehavior (attention, etc.).
– Ensuring that the student will no longer
get out of what he/she has been
avoiding with the misbehavior (work,
social interaction).
Escape/Avoidance
Misbehavior
• Step 2: Demonstrate that positive
behavior (a replacement behavior)
leads to positive results for the
student.
– Example: if the student misbehaves to
get out of work, give breaks contingent
upon work.
Escape/Avoidance
Misbehavior
• Step 3: When possible, make the situation
the student is avoiding less aversive:
– Would it help to change the way the task is
presented? Is the pace too slow? Too boring?
– Is the work too hard? Does the student need
extra help? Does the student know how to ask
for help?
– Does the student know what to do to get out
of uncomfortable social situations? Would
counseling or social skills training make the
situation easier?
– Is there a different place for the student to sit
or work?
Escape/Avoidance
Misbehavior
• The replacement behavior must:
– Yield as immediate positive results for the
student as the misbehavior (long-term reward
plans are unlikely to work with these
students.)
– Be a behavior that the student can easily do
(not a new or difficult behavior for the
student).
• A good replacement behavior makes the
problem behavior irrelevant, inefficient,
and ineffective for the student
Escape/Avoidance
Misbehavior
• Suggested Rewards for Replacement
Behaviors:
– Extra free time
– Free homework coupon
– Skip an assignment coupon
– Contingent breaks
– Work-break schedule
Escape/Avoidance
Misbehavior
• Step 4: Implement corrective
consequences appropriate to the
misbehavior.
– Plan to be consistent.
– Make sure the corrective consequence fits the
severity and frequency of the misbehavior.
– Plan to implement the consequence
unemotionally.
– If it is necessary to interact with the student at
the time of the misbehavior, be brief and never
argue.
Escape/Avoidance
Misbehavior
• Suggested Corrective Consequences:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Time owed
Extra work
Work during recess
After school work session
Restitution
Positive practice (do it the right way 3 times)
Overcorrection (fix it to better than it was
before)
– Response cost/loss of privileges
– Demerits
Escape/Avoidance
Misbehavior
• Non-Examples:
– “Linda, you skipped 2 days, so we’re
going to suspend you for two more.”
– “Joey, you lost your math book because
you’re obviously not ready to learn
today.”
– “If you’re just going to sit there, you
can sit in the office.”
– “You earned detention for not
completing your work 3 days in a row.”
Motivation
The simplest way to ensure that students
expect success is to make sure that they
achieve it consistently.
Brophy, 1987