Changing Behaviors by Changing the Classroom Environment

1 Whatimpactdoesthe classroomenvi-ronment haveon overall classbehaviorand learning?Manyteachersfacedis -ruptivebehaviorin theircla d ch angeprob-lemareasin thecl assroomenviron-ment?By collectingdataon students engagementduringinst ru cti on,dis rup -tive behavior,andtea cherobservations,teac herscanidentifywhich physicalasp ectsof theircla ssr oomneedto beimproved. Changingth e faceis disrup-tivebehavi or in theirclassrooms. In a2004survey,75%of teachers notedthat they wouldspendmore timeteachingan d teachingeffectivelyiftheyhadlessdisrupti vebehaviorintheircla ssrooms(PublicAgenda,2004).Di sruptivebehavior( ,speak-ingwithout permission,gettingoutofseat)ofteninterfe reswithstudents engagementin challengefo r teachersis tofindclas sroommanagement strategiesthat are proactive, preventative,andrelatively easyto implement,andwhichprovideminimaldisrupti ontothe cl , , , angingBehaviorsbyChang in g theClassroomEnvironmentCaroline A.

2 Gu ardi no and ElizabethFullertonBehavior MattersResearchershaveinvestigatedtherel ationshipbetweenthecl assroomenvironment, studentbehavior,andacademicengagement (Hood-Smith&Le ffingwell,1983;Visser,20 01).A well-or ga nizedclassroompermitsmorepos-itiveintera ctions betweenteachersandch ildren,re ducingtheprobabilitythatch all engingbehaviorswilloccur(Mar-tella,Nelso n,& Marchand-Martella,2003).Additionally,mod ifyingtheclassroomenvironmentmayserveas adirectint erventionforchildrenwhode monstrateongoingdisruptivebehav-ior(Conr oy,Davis,Fox , & Brown,20 02).Althoughthewell-designedclassroomhas provenbenefits,there islittleresearchontheimpactenviron-menta lmodificationshaveonbehaviorandlea rning(Guardino,2009; Sc hilling& Schwartz,2004).Env ironmentalmodificationsar e apr eventative,whole-classapproach(Emmer& Stough,2001)thatmaydecreasechronicbehav iorpr oblems,pr eventbehaviorproblemsforstu-dents whoareat risk,an d allowch il -dr enwithminimalor no problembehaviorto , manyteach-ersarenotawareof th e pr sessingtheclassroomenvironmentas to itsimpactonstudentbeh aviorandimple-mentingchangesto th at en vironmentis a three-stageprocess(seeFigure1).

3 Thefir st stepis fortheteachertoobservethestudentswithin theclass-roomenvironment,noting whereandwhendisruptivebe havioris occurringandhowdifferent ar easof theclass-roomar e utilized. Forexample,arestudentsunableto work withoutTEACHINGEXCEPTIONALCHILDREN ChangingtheClassroomEnvironment Whattypesof disruptivebehaviors occur in yourclassroom? Whenarethemostdisruptivebehaviorsoc curring?Timeof day?Underwhich ty peofcircumstances? Howare differentareas of yourclassroomutilized?Dotheta skscompletedin theareaschangethrough outtheday?(Sometimesthelibraryareais forreadingbutdu rin g mathit is forgroup activities.) Whereis disruptivebehavioroccurring? Arestudents ableto workat deskswithoutdistractions? Arestudentsableto wor k ingroupareaswithout distracti onsfromthesurroundingen vironment? Pro videareasof personalsp ace(Hood-Smith& Leffingwell,1983,Visser, 2001). Decreaseor ch ange pl acementof stimulatingvis uals.

4 Clearpa thwaysbetweenstudentsandhightr affickedar eas(Visser,2001;Weinste in,1979). Makea cle ar distinctionbe tweenindividualversusgroupactivityareas. Re arrangete acher sdesk(Proshansky& Wolfe,1974;Zifferblatt,1972). Placebarriersand/orpartitionsin theclassroom(Evans& Lovell, 1979;Gu mp, 19 74;Proshansky& Wolfe,1974). Address acousticqualityin theclassroombyeli minatingobjects thatprodu ce ba ckgroundnoi se. Modifyclassroomcl imate byad justinglighting,air flow,te mperature. Or ganizeareasbyad dingshelves,labels,or cubbies(Evans& Lovell,1979;Weinstei n,1979). Re arrangestudentse ating(e. g.,coeddyads, rows)facingawayfromvisualdis tra cti on ssuc h as doorwaysandwindows. Alter th e room to ensurea cl earlin e of sight. Areyouusing themodificationscorrectly? Areyouusing themodificationsconsistently? Arethemodificationsbeingusedhowthey wereintendedto beused? Doanymodificationsneedrea rranging, Changing ,or re moval?

5 Doyouneed to implementadditionalmodifications?Observe ModifyFol low-Updistractionfrompeersandtheenviron- men t? Arestudentsinterruptingtheless onbe ca usematerialsareunorgan -ize d andin accessible?After ob servation,theteachersho ul d reviewpossibl e optionsformodifyingproblemareasin n bemodi-fiedin a varietyof ways (Bullard,20 10;Guardino,2008;Lawry,Danko,&Strain,199 9),including Arrangingclassroomfurnituretodefinelearn ingareas. Im provingaccessibilityandavail-abilityof materials. Delineatingtrafficpa tterns. Im provingorganizationof example,if studentsare distractedby peers,th e teachercouldusedeskcarrels(seeFigure2);i f theoutsideenviro nment causesdist ra cti ons,deskscanbe rearrangedsostudents desksdon tfac e thewindows . If materi alsarein ac cessible,eachstudentmayneedindividualsto ragespace( ,chairbags,deskswi th compartments;seeFigure3) .Aftermodifyingtheclassroomenvi-ronment, teachersshouldself-critiq ueusingthefollow-upquestionsin Fi gure1.

6 Whenteachersaskthemselvesques-tionssucha s Aremyst udentsco nsis-tently usingdeskcarrelsduringindi-vidual worktime? or Dothestudentshaveallthematerialstheyneed th roughout thedayin theirindividualstoragesp ace? ,theyareable to under-standwhatmodificationsare workingandif theyneedto implement addi-tional : sInclusiveClassroomMs. Thompsonteaches at anelemen-taryschoolin anurbanareaof ool snearly1,000studen ts,about90%areeligibleforfreeor makeannualyearlyprogress,as requiredbytheNoChildLeftBehindActof 2001,for thepast6 addition,accordingto statestandardstheschoolhas performedbelowaverage(receiv-inga D or F grade)th e past2 sfourth-gra deinclu-sivecl assroomhadhighlev elsof dis -rup tivebehavior:Shewouldreportdisruptivebeh aviors three or moretimesa weekto school 17studentsin herclassroom,onereceivedspecialeducatio n servicesandsev eralstudents wereawaitingreferralsfor sp eci al ed theclassroomexhibitedhighle velsof disruptivebehaviorsuchas callingoutanswers andprofanities,throwingob jects,hi tti ng , andpushing, sClassroom: Before and After EnvironmentalChangesAre studentsunableto workwithoutdistraction fr om peersand the environme nt?

7 Are students inter rupting th e lesso nbeca use ma terialsare unorganized and inaccessible?as wellas completedisregardforteacher directionor thestudentsreceivedin-schoolandou t-of-schoolsuspensionsduringthedurati onof :BaselineDuringthebaselin e phase,wecollectedda ta fo r overallclassroomacademi cengagement anddisruptivebe e firstst epwasto ompsonto identifytheareas in theclassroomwhereandwhen disruptivebe haviorsoccurred,thetypesof dis -ru ptivebehaviors,andthebesttimetoobservean aca sinput,wedefinedaca demic eng agementaspur-poseful attentionsuchasraisingahand,answerin g a question,workingindepen de ntly, or watchingtheteacherconduct thele sson(Downer,Rimm-Kaufman& Pianta,2007;Lane,Smither,Huseman,Guffey, & Fox,2007).Disruptive behaviorwouldco m-prisebehavior thatdidnotfo s cl assroomrules:speakingwithoutpermission,g ettingoutofseat,making unwantedphysicalcon-tact,or noncomplianceto ,a studen t wasdisruptiveif hedidnotfollow th eteacher s request to si t do wnat hisdeskandworkonth e andestablishingthedataweneededto collect,wetook before picturesof th e Classroom (seeFigure 2).

8 During2 weeksof datacollection,wemeasuredacademicengagem entan d dis ruptive behavior by directob servationdu ringthecl ass s reader sworkshop mini-readingle sson,af servationse ssi onwas 15 min-uteslo ng;duringthisti me,we notedan y instanceswhereoneor moreTEACHINGEXCEPTIONALCHILDREN PossibleEnvironmentalChangesin ssibleenvironmental changesin thecla ssroom inc lude chair bagsforpersonal belongings;modifyingth e computerareatoreducedistractions;usingsh elving(inth is ca se,a combinedstorage sp aceandbookcase)to create separategroupspace areas; andsettingtheteacher sde skat an angleandaddingsh elves to in crease was no t academicallyengagedduringany15-secondint erval. (Like-wise,we notedif disruptive behavioroccurred anytime duringthe15 -seconds.)Phase2:InterventionAftercomple tingourobservations anddat a collection,we met with mpsonto di scussth e typesofenvironmental changesth at mighthav e thegreatestim pactonstudentbeh anging theseatingarrangement; creating groupspace;ad di ngor ganizationalmat erialssuchas shelves, hooks,an d labels;creatingclearpathwaysin areasofhighcongestion; adding plants andinspirationalpo sters;providingchairbagsto holdsuppliesneededfor aca-demic andspongeactivities;andst udycarrelsfor lesson-relatedtaskskeepst udentsbusy in notrequireteacherin pu t or grading( ,crossword puzzles,nu mbercru nchers,coloringdiagrams, journal -ing).

9 Priorto modifying theclassroomtherewasnodist inction betweengroupandindivi dualspace,su pplieswer e notav ai lable,thearrangementofthecomputerareainc reaseddis -tractibility,pathwayswerenotclearlydef ined,andkeepingsu ppliesonth eteacher sdeskcausedco ngestion(seeFigure2) .Wemet Friday, andthefollowingSat urdaymorning,to implementthemodifica fy ingtheclassroom(seeFigure2),studentshadi n dividualcarrels(referre d to as their office ) forindepend : oneat thefrontroundta ble, andtwoonth e carpetseparatedbyboo ch airbags wouldenableth emto organizetheir supplies,andgivethema place to keeptheir e ch ai r ba gs prevented thestudentsfromneedingto leave theirseatsandcomein physicalcontactwitheac h e computersfacethest udents,werearra ngedtheareasotheco mputersfacedba ckto backandawayfro m thege iesandindependentreadingbooksto themid dleof thecl assroomto providethestudentswith a cle arpathwayandeasyaccessto extr a Monday,wecollectedda ta fo r 4 qu estion-naire regardingherperceptionof theeffectivenessof changingtheclass-roomenvironmentto im pr 4 shows th e baselineandinter-ventiondatafo r erallacademic engagementwas extremelylowbe foreintervention,withstudentsengagedless than3%of ssroom,aca -demicengagementincreasedimmedi-atelyand stayedat or near45%.

10 Priorto intervention, overalldisruptivebehavioroccurredap proximat ely90%of ,disruptivebehaviorimmediatelydecreased, bu t wasinconsistentduringthe final questionnaireanda s satisfactionwithmodify-inghe r classroomenv iro nment that thein terventionhe lped someofher st udentsincreaseaca demicengage-mentanddecreasedi sr soin tendedto usethemodifica-tionsandimplementst rategieslearnedduringthestudy in tedtheintervent ionas notatall disruptive,an d saidshewould definitely recommendthisin terven-tionto oth er sequently,Ms. Thompsonsharedthatothersinher sc hoolusedherclassroomas amodelforenvironment al ar ThoughtsThis casestudyexploresthepossibilityof aff ect ingclassroom behaviorsbymodifyingthe classroomenv researchprevi-ouslyhasbee n conduc te d in self-con-tained sp ecialeducationclassrooms(Guardino , 20 09),thi s is thefirststudyto exploremodificationsin e resultsof thi s :AcademicEngagementandDisruptiveBehavior BaselineIn terventionProblemBehaviorEngagement0123 456 789101112141415161009080706050403020100a lignwith previousresearch:modifica-tionsto theclassroomenvironmentincreasedacademic engagementan dde crease d di sruptivebehavior(Hood-Smith& Le ffingwell,1983; Proshansky& Wolfe,1974;Visser,20 01;Wheldall &Olds,1987;Zifferblatt,1972).