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Methods for Managing Behavior: Types and Uses

When it comes to methods, there are four points to be made in particular. First, any single method (e.g., time-out, having an adolescent provide a detailed story about what led up to a misbehavior) can fit comfortably within almost any approach, and so, wise educators make it a point to collect a storehouse of methods—no need to rule out using a method because it fails to fit within an approach. Put another way, it is wrong to say “My approach is to use time-outs” or “I switched from a developmental to a behaviorist approach when I began to use time-outs.”

Second, the meaning any method has depends on the educator’s approach. For example, time-out as a method may have one meaning within a behaviorist approach (as a way to stop misbehavior from being reinforced) but quite another meaning within a psychodynamic approach (as a way a child can regain composure and, when ready, reenter the group), and the differences in meaning matter.

Third, while a method can fit comfortably within almost any approach, approaches are defined, in part, by which methods are featured. One way to spot how an approach features certain methods is to organize methods into main types and ask which type is featured.

Types of Methods

Control Methods

One type of method functions primarily to gain direct and immediate control over children and adolescents. The methods in this type, then, can be referred to as control methods. For children, they include invoking a classroom rule (e.g., “No running in the halls!”), using time-outs, providing rewards for good behavior, and implementing physical restraints. For adolescents, they include in-school suspensions and being made to do extra work. Control methods may bring to mind only behaviorist approaches, but they figure in every approach because there are times when children and adolescents need to be directly controlled by teachers.

Guidance Methods

Another type functions primarily to guide children and adolescents so as to support more mature behavior and long-term development. The methods in this type, then, can be referred to as guidance methods. They include helping children and adolescents to think of alternative ways to negotiate conflict (e.g., “Can you think of something you might have done instead of grabbing John’s marker?” “Can you think of some other way of being funny than by being funny at someone else’s expense?”), holding class discussions about ways to improve the class, and directly suggesting trying out some more mature way of resolving a problem.

Prevention Methods

A third type functions primarily to prevent problem behavior from occurring in the first place. The methods in this type, then, can be referred to as prevention methods. For children, they include providing advance warnings that transitions are coming up (e.g., “Five minutes until clean-up.”), seeing to it that every child has the materials needed to carry out some project, and being careful not to ask young children to sit still for longer than they are able to. For adolescents, they include making the curriculum interesting and making students feel known and respected. One of the major findings from research on behavior and classroom management is that, regardless of approach, good teachers differ from others not so much by how they react to problem behavior as by how they prevent problem behavior from occurring in the first place.

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