Checklist for the Successful Prevention of Behavior Problems--49 Ideas That Can Help

1. _____    Change pace of lesson to meet needs of students
2. _____    Provide transition activities between assignments
3. _____    Make sure students know the relevance of their assignments
4. _____    Deliver instructions in at least two modalities
5. _____    Praise good behavior as often as possible
6. _____    Teach and reteach classroom procedures
7. _____    Enforce classroom rules consistently and fairly
8. _____    Call a student’s home while a problem is still manageable
9. _____    Contact a student’s home early in the year to create a supportive relationship
10. _____    Stand in the same area of the classroom when asking for student attention
11. _____    Set reasonable and clear boundaries and help students observe them
12. _____    Present yourself in a professional manner at all times while you are at school
13. _____    Be specific when giving directions
14. _____    Make sure that your behavior directives are positive in tone
15. _____    Listen patiently when students are expressing themselves
16. _____    Provide a mixture of activities so that students can be successful
17. _____    Celebrate your students’ successes
18. _____    Make sure students have clearly expressed and obtainable goals
19. _____    Design and deliver engaging instructional activities that encourage active learning
20. _____    Model the courtesy you want from your students
21. _____    Provide motivational activities to inspire your students to want to learn
22. _____    Use encouragement to make sure that students know what to do to be successful.
23. _____    Establish classroom signals so that students can seek help appropriately.
24. _____    Follow school rules and observe school policies. Help your students to do the same.
25. _____    Try to ignore as much of the small stuff as you can.
26. _____    Make student success as visible as possible. Let students see their successes.
27. _____    Offer appropriate tangible rewards as often as necessary and effective.
28. _____    Encourage students to work together and help each other learn.
29. _____    Move close to a student who is just beginning to misbehave.
30. _____    Don’t turn your back on a class.
31. _____    Don’t ever leave a classroom unattended.
32. _____    Pay attention to the signs that your students are starting to be restless. Change the                    activity sooner rather than later.
33. _____    Offer plenty of formative assessments so that your students will know what to do.
34. _____    Stop horseplay as you as you can. It can quickly escalate into trouble.
35. _____    Avoid giving students “free time.”
36. _____    Carefully monitor your students throughout class. Move around.
37. _____    Start to build positive and caring relationships with your students early in the year.
38. _____    Present yourself as a well-prepared, knowledgeable teacher who is clearly in charge.
39. _____    Never lower your academic or behavioral expectations for your students.
40. _____    Offer help individually and to larger groups.
41. _____    Try offering your students as many options about their work as possible.
42. _____    Set up the traffic flow in your class so that students can move around easily.
43. _____    Say, “What are you doing to help yourself learn right now?”
44. _____    Make it easy for students to be willing to take a risk by encouraging an atmosphere of                tolerance.
45. _____    Be so prepared for class that you can focus on your students .
46. _____    Pay attention to the things that tend to trigger misbehavior and address them early.
47. _____    Provide activities where students can interact productively with each other .
48. _____    Arrange the desks in your classroom so that you can see every student and every                student can see you.
49. _____    Have students settle to work as soon as they enter class by providing them with                engaging and useful bell work activities.