Teach like a champion 3.0: 63 techniques that put students on the path to college - Lemov Doug 2021

Technique 57: Art of the consequence
High behavioral expectations

Unfortunately, despite your best efforts to redirect nonproductive behavior with subtlety and grace, to prevent small things from becoming bigger things and to encourage students to choose to do the most positive things, you will have to give consequences in your classroom. This is all but inevitable and it is not a statement about what you believe or don't believe about students. You should love your students and want the best for them. You will still occasionally be in a situation that calls for consequences. In many cases you will give consequences because you care about your students. The key is to give consequences judiciously, justly, and humanely with the purpose of changing nonproductive behaviors into positive behaviors rather than punishing.

And in the end if your consequences are appropriate—that is, in most cases they let students learn lessons at small cost—given with humanity and supported by teaching, they are a useful thing. “Treating students as having responsibility over their actions is vital if we are to teach them how to accept responsibility for themselves, to manage their own lives, to grow in maturity,” writes Tom Bennett. “Students must learn to self-regulate, to restrain their own immediate desires and whims, to persevere even when they don't want to before they can learn … independent behavior.”

Bennett's observations lead us to recognize something we often lose sight of: a just, fair, and manageable consequence is an act of caring to a student who must learn to respect and set limits and self-regulate. Of course we don't wish to make them unhappy now; but a small unhappiness now is preferable to larger disappointments later—and of course to allowing the rights and dignity of others to be trammeled. To a student who is too impulsive, life may bring an array of potential challenges we would never wish them to have to struggle with. If consequences in school can help them to replace their impulsiveness with more disciplined responses, we have done students a favor. Try to express to students if and when you must give consequences that they are an act of caring.

But all this talk of consequences as an act of caring only goes so far when they backfire. And consequences are notoriously tricky. As I'm sure nearly every teacher can attest, they do not always have the intended effect. Who hasn't given a consequence that, instead of reducing a negative behavior, actually made it worse? As my team and I set out to learn from great teachers, we observed classrooms where consequences had the intended effect, not just some of the time but nearly all of the time, and these observations inform what I have dubbed Art of the Consequence.

Principles of the Effective Consequence

Consequences, used properly, are not merely punishments with a sanitized name. Their purpose is to efficiently reinforce sound decision making—to respond to situations in which mistakes are made so that students learn from them. Their goal should be to develop and teach, and this goal can and should be evident in how you employ consequences. The following sections describe a few principles of effective consequences.

Incremental

It isn't the size of a consequence that changes student behavior but the consistency of it. Designing consequences so that they can be allocated in smaller increments lets students learn from mistakes at manageable cost. “Small mistake, small consequence” works really well for students, and it's better for you as well. If your consequences are heartbreaking for the students you love, you will hesitate and probably not use them. Plan out a system of consequences that starts small and scales up gradually in severity. The first response should be a disincentive, not a life-altering event.

We've all seen an elementary school student become bereft over a color change. This is one reason why in many classrooms I have seen a color change chart that shows everyone on green while the teacher is near tears with frustration. The system isn't incremental, so it doesn't get used. One simple change is to subdivide a color change (green to yellow or yellow to red) into a series of three checks. If a student is calling out and you've asked him to stop but the action persists, he is telling you he needs a clearer reminder, but a check is far more useful than an color change. “That's a check for you, Donald,” you might whisper, “Please work harder not to call out when it's someone else's turn.”

Another benefit of small, scaled consequences is that they enable you to respond consistently, but still offer students a clear and feasible path to success. A student who loses all of his or her privileges has no incentive to stay in the game.

Quick

An immediate consequence is more closely associated with the action that caused it than a delayed consequence. If the goal is to shape behavior rather than to punish it, try to give a consequence right away. A smaller consequence in the moment (for example, “Scholars, go back to the door and come into this classroom quietly please”) will often be more effective than a larger consequence that occurs later (“Gentlemen, I will see you here after school”). Quick consequences also reduce the amount of time a student's behavior remains onstage. This latter benefit removes students' incentive to engage in attention-seeking behavior and minimizes the odds of escalating behavior.

Consistent

Responses should be predictable in students' minds: “If I do X, Y will happen.” If they aren't sure what will happen, then they have an incentive to “test” and see. Thus consistency and incrementalism go together. We are trying to teach, not punish, so the message should not be It's OK sometimes, but not other times.

Consistently using the same language reduces the transaction costs involved with giving consequences, and also makes them more legible to students (for example, “Michael, please don't call out, two scholar dollars” or “Michael, calling out, two scholar dollars”¹²). Students won't have to worry about trying to decipher your consequences and you won't have to spend time and explaining. And of course you’ll want to explain what calling out is and why it’s a problem in advance. What is expected of students should be defined for them.

If you and your students shift activities or move to different areas of the room, your management system should follow. Whether you're teaching from desks or the carpet, stick with the system and approach that students know and understand. Otherwise, students will quickly learn when and where they can test the limits.

As Private as Possible

In technique 55, Least Invasive Intervention, I discuss the benefits of privacy. When you seek to employ it, you remind a student that you are not trying to embarrass them, and you avoid situations where responses are public and a relationship-corrosive back and forth may ensue. These things are doubly important when giving consequences. We want students to know we give consequences when we must, and we should be prepared for them not to be happy about it. In both cases privacy helps. Using a whisper correction, a nonverbal gesture, or a private individual correction can help.

Depersonalized

Avoid personalizing consequences by keeping them as private as possible (with a whisper, during a one-on-one interaction, for example) and by judging actions instead of people (for example, “That was inconsiderate of your classmates, Daniel,” versus “You are very inconsiderate, Daniel.”). Maintaining privacy shows consideration to the student, which can go a long way toward preserving your relationship with him or her. It also keeps behavior offstage, which reduces the likelihood of attention-seeking behavior or a public standoff that benefits no one.

Finally, strive to remember that strong teacher emotions distract students from reflecting on the behavior(s) that resulted in a consequence. Maintain a neutral facial expression and steady tone of voice when you deliver the consequence, and then continue teaching with warmth and enthusiasm.

Notes on Delivery

In addition to exuding Emotional Constancy, protecting privacy, and making sure consequences are focused on purpose, not power, teachers who give consequences that reliably change behavior for the better follow the principles described in the next sections.

Use a Bounce-Back Statement

It's probably safe to say that every teacher has encountered a student who shuts down once he or she receives a consequence. In that instant, some students feel as though the whole world is against them, including you, so they convince themselves that they should cut their losses and stop trying. Your goal is to suggest otherwise and nudge them forward into a productive direction. One way is by delivering a “bounce-back” statement that shows students that success is still within their grasp. For example, you might say something like “Michael, please don't call out. That's two scholar dollars. I know you can do this” or “That's two scholar dollars. I can't wait to see your hand up so I can call on you.” When you use bounce-back statements, you socialize students to persist in the face of emotional duress, which is a life skill that will benefit them long after they leave your classroom.

Maintain the Pace

Responding to behavior by lecturing or giving a speech disengages the rest of the class and increases the likelihood of other fires sprouting up. Here are a couple of tips for maintaining the pace when emotions run high and you have to give a consequence:

Describe what students should be doing as opposed to what they are not doing (“Michael, I need your eyes” is better than “Michael, for the last time, stop getting distracted!”).

Use the least amount of verbiage you can (“That's two bucks. I need you tracking,” rather than “You just earned a two-scholar-dollar deduction because you chose to draw cartoons when you were supposed to be listening to my lecture. You should know better …,” and so forth). Doing so maximizes instructional time and minimizes the amount of time students are left onstage.

Get Back on Track

When it comes to consequences, the goal is to get in, get out, and move on with the business of teaching. Teachers who are able to get all students back on track after a consequence remember to show that it's over.

What you focus on after you give a consequence speaks volumes to students about what you value. If you want students to carry on with learning, resume instruction with warmth and energy. Find an opportunity to talk to students in a calm, relaxed manner to show that the interaction is over. You can even go a step further by getting the student who received a consequence positively back into the flow of class by asking a question or acknowledging his or her work. Doing so models forgiveness and shows students that you still value them and want them to be successful.

The Million-Dollar Question: Consequence or Correction?

One of the trickiest aspects of managing a classroom is deciding when to give a consequence rather than a correction. The question is tough, in part because teachers must decide on a case-by-case basis. That being said, here are some helpful rules of thumb:

· Persistence and repetition. When students persistently engage in off-task behavior that they know they shouldn't, this should push you more toward a consequence. This is especially true when students continue in spite of your correction(s). If, instead, the behavior appears to be a one time error caused by distraction or misunderstanding, then err on the side of correction.

· Degree of disruption. If a student's behavior doesn't disrupt others' learning, then it's more likely that a correction is warranted. In contrast, if the student's behavior distracts or disrupts others, a consequence is more likely to be warranted. You have a responsibility to maintain the group environment.

· Motivation. If a student is clearly testing your expectations, give a consequence. Tolerating willful defiance corrodes your authority in the eyes of the student as well as the rest of the class. Just be sure that's the case before you rush to judge.

What Comes After

Many of the actions we take when we give a consequence are shaped by the necessary fact that we are teaching or are in charge of a group of people while we give them in most cases. That said there is an immense opportunity and often a responsibility for a follow-up conversation designed to explain and even better to teach. Here are some notes.

Explained, With Love

The first thing is to remind students that you have to give them consequences because you care about them. You want them to understand something that they are struggling to learn or hear something that they are struggling to hear because you care about them and want the best for them. Distinguish between the behavior and the person. “I believe in you and think you're a great kid; but of course I can't allow you to push someone else in the classroom, just like it wouldn't be OK with me if someone else pushed you.” Do this with calmness and Emotional Constancy. If you're upset don't attempt an explanation until you're confident you can sustain Emotional Constancy.

Teaching a Replacement Behavior

It's not enough in the long run to tell someone not to do something. Our job as educators is to teach people what to do, instead. What a student can do, instead, at the moment when they are inclined to do something counterproductive, is known as a replacement behavior. Instead of reacting quickly in anger at a classmate, here are three questions to ask myself. Instead of calling out I can jot down what I wanted to say or send magic to a classmate, so they suspect I know the answer, too.

It won't be enough for a student to know a replacement behavior, of course. If they're likely to be able to use it, they'll need to practice it a bit. As in: I'm going to ask you some questions that you know the answer to, and you're going to practice writing down a word or two, to remind you of what you want to say rather than calling out, OK? and that can be a great way to make “talking it over” a productive and active task.

Background knowledge is profoundly important to learning. That starts with vocabulary. To name something is to conjure it into being. When you keep from doing something you have an urge to do, it's called self-regulation. That makes it easier to talk about.

But background knowledge can go further. You could give an impulsive student a short article about the role of the amygdala in mindfulness—summarizing the idea that if you can delay your response by even a second you can better regulate it. If students understand the science behind what is happening to them, they can often be more successful in making changes.

A good, brief article on the role of the amygdala can be hard to find the moment you need it, obviously, so it might be worth keeping a few articles about predictable challenges at the ready. That's the idea behind the Dean of Students' Curriculum¹³ my team developed under Hilary Lewis's leadership. It's a set of dozens of reflective knowledge-based lessons to help students reflect on common nonproductive behaviors.

Self-Checking

Giving consequences to students is hard. It rarely makes them happy. It rarely make teachers happy. There's the risk that despite your best efforts to always be fair and accurate and judicious you will be wrong in giving a consequence, in the single case or perhaps you will have misunderstood a particular student even more broadly. There will be a student in whom you somehow see the wrong more than she deserves or one whom you never quite notice when she gives her best. And yet it's necessary to set limits for students. Tom Bennett's guidance that “Treating students as having responsibility over their actions is vital if we are to teach them to accept responsibility for themselves, to manage their own lives and grow in maturity” is helpful to keep in mind. So are these four sets of questions to ask yourself, to help you make sure you're on the right path.

· About Design: Is your consequence system scaled and gradual? Are there small consequences students can use to learn lessons at low cost? Are the consequences incremental and scaled? Do they always specify the behavior that caused them so students know and can learn from what they did wrong? Is the system aligned across the school? Are there positive consequences as well, so students' positive behavior is also reinforced? Is positive reinforcement intermittent, occasional, and framed in appreciation of extra effort (rather than an expectation)?

· About the Decision: Am I more inclined to give consequences for persistent and repetitive behaviors and less inclined to give corrections for single low-level incidents? Am I more inclined to give consequences for behaviors that disrupt the learning opportunities for other students or endanger their safety? Am I more inclined to give corrections for behavior that only affects the student involved? Do I take motivation into account when I can? Do we as a school or a grade-team make these decisions similarly and consistently?

· About Delivery: Am I as private as I can be? Do I attempt to drop my voice or whisper if in public? Am I emotionally constant in asking the student to focus on his or her own actions? Do I tag the behavior, so my students know what I think they've done wrong? Am I quick and do I get back to teaching promptly, ideally including the student in question in the lesson?

· Discipline: Have I explained and taught my expectations? Have I explained and maybe even practiced with my students what to do when a consequence is given, generally and specifically, and what to do when and if a consequence is given and the student(s) do not agree? Is there a process for students who get consequences they don't agree with to follow?