Running Head: POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN

Positive Behavior Support Plan

Towson University

Kelly Haacke

Dr. Hoppin & Dr. Noggle

POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 2

Positive Behavior Support Plan

*Both the student and school name have been changed in order to maintain confidentiality.

Definition of Specific Behavior

The focus student for my Positive Behavior Support Plan is Jordan. Jordan is an eight-

year old student with ADHD in Mrs. S’s second grade class at USA Elementary School located

in Baltimore, Maryland. Jordan lives at home with his parents however, he does spend a lot of

time with both of his grandmothers. USA Elementary School is a Title 1 public school due to

40% of their students receiving Free and Reduced lunch. The school currently has a student

population of 631. The USA Elementary school population consists of about 49% White

students, 24% African American students, and about 11% Asian students. USA Elementary

school is ranked 428th of 850 Maryland Elementary Schools.

Jordan demonstrates problematic behavior at school especially in the classroom during

independent work time at his desk. Jordan has a lot of trouble staying seated in his chair (at his

desk) for short and/or long periods of time. While Jordan does have ADHD, he is also very

fidgety when sitting in his chair. Again, a lot of times this behavior occurs during independent

work time at his desk. When told to sit at his desk and start his work, Jordan will sometimes

stand behind his desk, sit down for a few seconds, and then stand back up again. There are times

where he will get up out of his seat and either walk around the room for a minute or walk over to

the teacher or A.A. (additional assistant) for no reason (just to get up). Sometimes, this is due to

the fact that Jordan does not want to complete the work or does not want to stay in his chair. On

the other hand, according to Jordan’s teacher Mrs. S. and the A.A., Jordan also exhibits this kind

of behavior (not staying seated) on the carpet as well as during large group time which is

distracting to others.
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Literature Review

As I was completing this positive behavior support plan, I researched multiple sources

about Jordan’s behavior that he was showing and how his teacher, the school community, and his

family can help decrease this behavior. Since my hypothesis of Jordan’s behavior was both

attention and work avoidance, I decided to look into this type of behavior. According to Bright

(n.d.), a study found in 2008, children need to move to focus during a complicated mental task,

and the children in the study, especially those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

(ADHD), fidgeted more when a task required them to store and process information rather than

just hold it. The article goes on to discuss several different ideas for accommodating “the

wiggles.” Jordan’s teachers and family can use some of these ideas both in the classroom and at

home to help improve his attention and stay on task. In the article, a teacher at an elementary

school in North Carolina says that teachers can rent the “Read and Ride” room which allows

students to read while pedaling. Another teacher in Kentucky, uses movement (with music) to

help students exercise and concentrate during the school day. Lastly, a teacher in Georgia, uses a

“whatever works” approach with her students. This teacher says, “if they can make a responsible

choice and get their work done, it doesn’t matter if it’s at a desk, on a stool, or cross-legged on

the floor with a clipboard.” (Bright n.d.). Therefore, she uses stability balls, sitting on the floor,

yoga exercises, and a variety of other tools and activities to help her students stay active and

focused. Other ideas for “the wiggles” can include old tires to make giant rubber bands to put

between the legs of traditional desks which gives students an outlet for foot-fidgets and using

squishy balls as fidgets.

An article written by Mires and Lee (2017), talks about those teachers who may have a

student like “Calvin” in their class, who will not stay in his seat, does not complete his class
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work, and rarely returns his homework. As I was reading this article, I thought this was

appropriate since Jordan’s behavior again is both work avoidance and attention. Researchers

suggest that this population of students, which includes those with emotional and behavioral

disorders (EBDs), attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, and/or or learning disabilities, are

more likely to experience academic failure, be retained in grade, and leave school before

graduation than students without disabilities (Wagner, Kutash, Duchnowski, & Epstein, 2005).

However, the main part of the article goes on to explain a strategy that teachers can implement in

their classroom called, the “Daily Behavior Report Card”. The Daily Behavior Report Card

(DBRC), is a daily progress note that includes student target behaviors, both appropriate and

inappropriate (e.g., raising hand, being respectful of authority figures, noncompliance, task

completion), and lists specific criteria for meeting behavioral and/or academic goals (Owens et

al., 2012). As I was reading about this strategy, I thought this could be an easy intervention for

Jordan’s teacher(s) to help decrease his behavior. This intervention can be implemented for a

variety of learner populations (any student with academic or behavioral difficulties), for a variety

of outcomes (academic and/ or behavioral), and in a variety of settings (private or public

elementary, middle, or high schools; special education or general education classrooms) (Mires

and Lee 2017). Teachers provide immediate prompting and feedback to the students on their

target behaviors in the DBRC, as well as praise for working toward or meeting their behavioral

goals. Another advantage to this behavior strategy is that school-home communication can be

positively impacted through the daily behavior report card. The student receives a paper copy of

his or her daily goals and receives feedback each day on progress toward those goals. A critical

aspect of the DBRC is that this feedback is also presented to parents or caregivers at the end of

the school day rather than weekly or not at all, effectively and efficiently bridging the
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communication gap between parents and schools (Power et al., 2012). Overall, Vannest et al.

concluded that the DBRC is a research-based technique for improving academic and prosocial

behavior.

In a research article by Christofferson and Callahan (2015), researchers explored the

implementation of a school-wide intervention program (The Positive Behavior Support) that was

designed to foster and instill intrinsic values based on an external reward system. The article says

that managing student behaviors has always been an area of concern for school teachers and

administrators and that classroom disruptions have been proven to lower student achievement,

not only for the offending student, but also for his or her classmates (Lannie & McCurdy, 2007).

Students with behavior problems are at a risk academically and socially. They are more often

suspended, expelled, placed in an alternative setting, and are more likely to drop out of school

before completing high school than students not at risk (Wallace, Goodkind, Wallace, &

Bachman, 2008). The Positive Behavior Support in Schools (PBSIS) is an intervention intended

to improve the climate of schools using system-wide positive behavioral interventions to

discourage disruptive behaviors. Research suggests the implementation of a school-wide

discipline plan similar to Positive Behavior Support in Schools (PBSIS) would help

administrators, teachers, and students to work on consistent discipline strategies in both the

classroom and in non-instructional areas, such as the cafeteria, playground, and gymnasium. Key

elements of PBSIS include an active teaching and reinforcement of a small number of clearly

defined social-behavioral expectations, implementation of consistent consequences for violations

of school expectations, and use of data to drive intervention planning (Feuerborn & Tyre, 2012).

The charter school that was the focus of this research experienced high staff turnover, a negative

school climate and student suspension rates that exceeded the state average. The significance of
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this study was to provide administrators and staff with a comprehensive intervention program

that focuses on a proactive approach to school-wide discipline concerns (p. 37-38). A mixed

methods research design included; survey research from climate surveys, the School-Wide

Evaluation Tool (SET), student and staff interviews, and descriptive statistics on the number of

student disciplinary incidences and suspensions. The results of this study indicated that the

implementation of the Positive Behavior Support in Schools had a positive and significant

impact on improving student behaviors and school climate (Christofferson and Callahan 2015).

One of the supports I used with Jordan was a bumpy seat that he can sit on when at his

desk. According to Seifert and Metz (2017), this article discusses the effects of inflatable seating

cushions on engagement in Preschool circle time, and how it improves attention. Inflatable balls

and cushions made of non-latex rubber can provide alternatives to sitting on the floor/ground or

classroom chairs. With the use of wiggle cushions, there were statistically significant

improvements in attention and persistence. Merriam-Webster Inc. (2015) defines engaged as

being involved in an activity or being greatly interested. Student engagement is defined as ‘‘the

degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are

learning or being taught’’ (“Hidden Curriculum,” 2014). Attention can have an effect on children

throughout their educational careers with attentional capacity during early education strongly

predicting of academic achievement in later education (Breslau et al. 2009). This leads to the

suggestion that interventions geared toward attention should be implemented at a young age to

prevent against the long term impacts of poor attention. According to Seifert and Metz , one

common modification suggestion by occupational therapists for enhancing engagement in seated

tasks for all children, often specifically for those with deficits in attention or sensory processing,

is the implementation of therapy balls or inflatable seating cushions (often called wiggle
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 7

cushions) either in place of or in addition to their usual seats. This study tested the effect of

inflatable cushions (wiggle cushions) placed on the floor for seating during circle time in typical

preschool classrooms. The results of this study support the implementation of wiggle cushions as

dynamic seating in preschool classrooms to address student engagement as they may help to

improve multiple aspects of engagement. Lastly, these results also indicated that wiggle cushions

can be considered as an intervention method for whole classroom.

An article by Flower, McKenna, Bunuan, Muething, and Vega, (2014) talks about how

challenging behaviors still remains a concern in schools and how challenging behavior often

interrupts teachers’ abilities to teach and students’ abilities to learn (Cameron, Connor, Morrison,

& Jewkes, 2008). A variety of behaviors have been identified by researchers as challenging at

school including physical and verbal aggression, harassment, fighting, disrespect, and defiance

(Kaufman et al., 2010; Spaulding et al., 2010), getting out of one’s seat, talking without

permission, and classroom rule violations (Walter, Gouze, & Lim, 2006). The authors in this

article go on to discuss the Good Behavior Game (GBG) which is most commonly used for

disruptive behavior, off-task behavior, aggression, talking out, and out-of-seat behaviors. The

GBG is a classroom management strategy that has been used and studied for more than 40 years,

and it has been found to be useful to positively change student behavior (Flower, McKenna,

Bunuan, Muething, and Vega, 2014). The GBG is an easy to implement group contingency

procedure that includes identifying target behaviors, posting rules, identifying rewards, dividing

a class into at least two equal teams, identifying rule violators and stating their infractions,

debiting the offending team for infractions or awarding points for meeting expectations, and

awarding daily and weekly prizes to the team with the fewest infractions (Barrish, Saunders, &

Wolf, 1969; Elswick & Casey, 2012) or most points earned for prosocial behavior. The GBG
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also allows teachers to engage in several behavior management strategies including;

acknowledging appropriate behavior, teaching classroom rules, providing feedback about

inappropriate behavior, engaging in response cost practices, verbal praise, and providing rewards

as reinforcement. Furthermore, researchers used the GBG to decrease out-of-seat and talking-out

behaviors of fourth-grade students during mathematics and reading instruction. Thus, the GBG is

a potentially effective classroom management tool for teacher use (Elswick & Casey, 2012).

Baseline Data Collection

From January 30th through February 1st, I observed Jordan in his classroom during social

studies for 30 minute periods from 2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. During each of these observations, the

class was participating in large group discussion on the carpet for about 15 minutes then the

students would be sent to their seat/desk to work independently on an assignment. While

completing independent work at their desks, students were to sit in their chair properly, complete

their work, work quietly, and raise their hand to ask the teacher for help.

I collected my data by using my own version of a data collection table. On the table, I had

many different categories to make it easier to collect a little more detail and help me pinpoint the

behavior. The categories were; day, date, setting, activity, description of the behavior,

time/duration, strategy or consequence imposed by the teacher, and student’s response to strategy

by the teacher. Again, I found these categories to be helpful when trying to determine the

behavior, and not only the cause/trigger of it but the student’s reaction as well. While it was

probably a little easier to have a tally column for the number of times Jordan did not stay in his

seat, I found it helpful to write down what he was doing instead of sitting in his seat and for how

long. The data gave me a lot of useful information. In summary, my data revealed that Jordan
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was having trouble remaining in his seat during independent work, whether it was for a short

period of time or a long period of time.

When I talked to Mrs. S., Jordan’s teacher, she says that right after I left (in December)

and before I came back (in January) his behavior had gotten a lot worse. She even said it was to

the point where he couldn’t remain in his seat very long at all. Mrs. S. also mentioned that Jordan

needs constant reminders when sitting on the carpet, such as sitting on his bottom, sitting flat,

sitting crisscross applesauce, or any other reminder he needs. Mrs. S. and Mrs. D. (the A.A.) also

use a visual card/cue (that shows the correct sitting posture) to Jordan when he needs it. When

talking with Jordan’s A.A., Mrs. D., she says that sometimes the reason why Jordan cannot or

has trouble staying in his seat is because he doesn’t want to do his work.

In addition, I talked with my mentor, Ms. W. who is Jordan’s special educator, and she

says that Jordan’s functional behavior is a combination of both work avoidance and attention.

She says that some days it can be avoidance and other days it can be attention but it really varies

from day to day for many different reasons. Ms. W. did mention that ever since her, Mrs. S., and

Jordan’s grandmothers had a meeting (a few weeks ago) about Jordan’s behavior, he seems to

have changed. Another important piece of information is that during the meeting with Jordan’s

grandmothers’ and teacher (Mrs. S.) Ms. W. says that the grandmothers mentioned that Jordan

wants to be the center of attention. From the attention side of things, Ms. W. says that his ADHD

does play a huge factor in his behavior but that is not the only thing. Ms. W. also mentioned that

Jordan does not know personal space, which gives him attention because then Ms. W. says she

has to stop in the middle of the lesson and remind him of where his body parts are. Sometimes

she says that his arm is often on the student’s desk that is next to him. Ms. W. also says that

Jordan tries to avoid his work because he sometimes has no desire to do anything, and sometimes
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he sits and does nothing or says nothing. She says that Jordan is often resistant and does not want

to come when it’s time for him to get pulled out.

When working with Jordan during our pull out sessions for reading and math, I observed

similar behaviors when he is in his regular classroom. A lot of the time, I have to constantly

remind him to sit on his bottom or have seat. Other times, he will stand behind his chair or fidget

in his chair, whether it is on his knees or feet. In his classroom, I have observed times when he

gets out of his seat to walk around or get the A.A. or teacher’s attention, but in the small group

setting with my mentor and I, Jordan does not get up and walk around (unless he is told to go and

get materials).

Hypothesis of Functional Intention

After observing and reviewing all of the data I have collected, I have determined that the

function of Jordan’s behavior is both attention and work avoidance. Jordan is a nice/friendly,

hardworking student who wants to do his best and complete his work. When Jordan is given a

task that he dislikes or doesn’t want to complete, he tends to get out of his seat and walk around

the classroom in order to avoid the task. At other times, Jordan will display attention seeking

behavior such as; standing or asking for help, and when he observes a teacher or adult assistant

working with another student.

Replacement Behavior

The desired replacement behavior that Jordan should demonstrate is: Remain seated in

his chair during independent work at his desk. Jordan will be given prompts, supports, and

breaks to help him demonstrate this positive behavior.

I did not specifically teach Jordan the replacement behaviors. Before any supports were

put in place, I spoke with his teacher Mrs. S., about the three positive supports I planned to help
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 11

Jordan remain in his seat during independent time at his desk. I reviewed all three with Mrs. S.,

explained how they should be implemented, and I provided a time frame for when they should be

started. She was really excited that I was willing to work on this situation with Jordan and was

open to my ideas to reduce the inappropriate behavior. After my discussion with Mrs. S., I

verified that she did not have any concerns or questions. She told me she would talk with the

A.A. and explain the supports and how they should be used.

Positive Behavior Supports

The first positive behavior support I put in place was a bumpy seat that Jordan can sit on

when he is at his desk during independent work time. According to my mentor, Ms. W., she told

me that Mrs. S. (Jordan’s teacher) had already tried using the bumpy seat with Jordan back in the

beginning of the year, but it ended up being taking away from Jordan since he was not using it

properly. I decided that when I pull him out for reading and math, I would try to implement the

bumpy seat again since I notice that sometimes he does use it during our pull out sessions. At

first, I was a little hesitant to retry this since it was not successful in the beginning of the year,

but I realized that if it did not work I could always try something else. However, so far I feel as

though it is working because every time I observe Jordan in his class or during our pull out

sessions, he has been using the bumpy seat ever since, which is great.

The second positive behavior support I put in place was a visual support to put on his

desk, which is called, “Good Learners”. On this visual support is a picture of a girl sitting on the

chair and next to her it says, “Bottom on your seat.” .Then below the girl, is a boy that is sitting

at a desk and next to him it says, “Feet on the floor.” . Lastly, below the boy is a different boy

who is sitting at a desk working hard and next to him it says, “Working the whole time.” .When I
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 12

am in the classroom observing Jordan, I am not sure if he refers to this visual at all but at least it

is available at all times.

The third positive behavior support I put in place was a “break card”. The way this

support works is that for every 10 minutes Jordan can stay seated in his chair during independent

work time at his desk, Jordan can earn a 5 minute break, in which he can choose from three

different choices. Jordan will receive a “break card” which says, “I earned a 5 minute break I

would like to; 1. Get a drink, 2. Stand up and stretch, or 3. Draw a picture. (in the privacy

desk/cube in the back of the room). If Jordan does not stay in his seat for 10 minutes he does not

earn a break. When talking to the teacher and the A.A. about this break card, we agreed that if

Jordan’s time (for either sitting in his seat, or the amount for a break) needs to be increased or

decreased then as a team, we would change it if needed. Also, the same agreement was made for

Jordan’s break choices of whether he had to choose the ones listed, or if he wanted to do

something else that was in the classroom that he can do independently.

Data Collection and Visual Representation

I implemented my positive behavior support plan for 3 weeks starting on Tuesday,

February 6th and ending on Friday, February 24th. The first week of implementation consisted of

Monday, February 5th through Friday, February 9th. However, schools were closed on Monday,

February 5th and Wednesday, February 7th. The second week of implementation consisted of

Monday, February 12th through Friday, February 16th. The last week of implementation was

Monday, February 19th through Friday, February 23rd. This positive behavior support plan was

implemented for a total of thirteen days.

POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 13

Week 1: 2/5-2/9
# of times Jordan stayed in his seat during independent
work time for 10 minutes
2
2
1.8 Content (Afternoon)
1.6
1.4
1.2 1 1
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Monday 2/5: No Tuesday 2/6 Wednesday 2/7: Thursday 2/8 Friday 2/9
School No School

Week 2: 2/12-2/16
# of times Jordan stayed in his seat during independent work
for 10 minutes 4
4 Content (Afternoon) Shared Reading (Morning)
Phonics (Morning) Small Groups (Morning)
3.5
Specials (Afternoon)
3
2.5 2 2
2
1.5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1
0.5
0
Monday 2/12 Tuesday 2/13 Wednesday 2/14 Thursday 2/15 Friday 2/16
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 14

Week 3: 2/19-2/23
Content (Afternoon) # of times Jordan stayed in his seat during independent work
Phonics (Morning) time for 10 minutes
3 3 3
3

2.5
2 2
2

1.5
1
1

0.5

0
Monday 2/19: No Tuesday 2/20 Wednesday 2/21 Thursday 2/22 Friday 2/23
School

*During week 3; the A.A. who normally takes some of the data, was out all week, so the only data I
have of Jordan was when I had time to go in and observe him.

*Wednesday (2/21) I was not able to see Jordan due to an assembly at 10:30 a.m. and our team at
1:50 p.m.

Number of times Jordan stayed in his seat (weekly) during

independent worktime
25
Total # of times in seat

20 20

15
14

10

5
4

0
0 1 2 3 4
Week
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 15

Data Summary and Interpretation

*Jordan can earn a 5 minute break for every 10 minutes he can remain in his seat during
independent work time at his desk.

Overall, there was a lot of information that I gained after collecting data on Jordan’s

behavior for thirteen days. This information helped me develop a more thorough understanding

of the behavior that Jordan was portraying. In the first week of implementation from Monday,

February 5th through Friday, February 9th, Jordan stayed in his seat during independent time a

total of four times. However, schools were closed on Monday, February 5th, and Wednesday,

February 7th. On Tuesday, February 6th, Jordan earned two breaks during “content” (social

studies) time in the afternoon. This means that during independent work time at his desk, he was

able to stay seated in his chair for ten minutes. On both Thursday and Friday of that same week,

Jordan earned one break during “content” (social studies) time in the afternoon. Unfortunately,

during this week of implementation, the A.A. expressed her concern that Jordan may have been

able to earn more breaks throughout the day but because she had to also keep up with behavior

charts and the needs of other classmates, she wasn’t able to consistently track Jordan’s behaviors.

I only have what I could observe during that time.

Next, in the second week of implementation from Monday, February 12th through Friday,

February 16th, Jordan stayed in his seat during independent time a total of twenty times. This was

the most successful week that Jordan had and I was really proud of him for doing such a great

job staying in his seat, and staying on task. On Monday, February 12th, Jordan earned three

breaks. The first break he earned was in the morning during “shared reading” time. In the

afternoon, during “content” (social studies), Jordan earned two breaks for staying in his seat for

ten minutes. Next, on Tuesday, February 13th, Jordan earned another total of three points. He

earned two breaks in the morning; one during “phonics” and the other one during small groups.
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 16

Jordan earned his last break for the day in the afternoon during “content” (doing a special

activity at his desk for the 100th day of school). On Wednesday, February 14th, Jordan earned a

total of four breaks. He earned two breaks in the morning during “phonics” and “small groups”

time and earned two more in the afternoon during “content” (social studies) and his “specials”

time. Furthermore, on Thursday, February 15th, Jordan earned a total of three breaks. Jordan

earned one break in the morning during “phonics” time and his other two breaks in the afternoon

during “content” (social studies). Lastly, on Friday, February 16th, Jordan earned a total of seven

breaks! This was by far Jordan’s best day. He earned all but one of his breaks in the morning,

which was really good. Jordan earned six breaks in the morning; one during “shared reading”

time, one during “phonics” and four during “small groups”. Then in the afternoon Jordan was

only able to earn one break which was during “content” (Health). Again, this week of

implementation was the best week that Jordan had and I am proud to see that the supports were

helping.

During the final week of implementation; Monday, February 19th through Friday,

February 23rd, Jordan earned a total of fourteen breaks. As I mentioned earlier under my chart for

this week, the A.A. (who helps take data) was out sick all week, so this is all the data I was able

to collect during this week. In addition, schools were closed on Monday, February 19th. On

Tuesday, February 20th, Jordan earned a total of five breaks. He earned two breaks in the

morning during “phonics” time, and he earned his other three breaks in the afternoon during

“content” (Health). On Wednesday, February 21st, I was not able to go in to the classroom to

observe Jordan since they had an assembly at 10:30 a.m. and I was in a team at 1:45 p.m. (these

are typically the only times of the day where I can go in and observe Jordan). However, on

Thursday, February 22nd, Jordan earned a total of four breaks. He earned one break in the
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 17

morning during “phonics” time, and he earned his other two breaks in the afternoon during

“content” (health). Lastly, on Friday, February 23rd, Jordan earned a total of five breaks. Jordan

earned three breaks in the morning during “phonics” time, and he earned his other two breaks in

the afternoon during “content” (Health). This week was still successful for Jordan, but I feel as

though data would have shown Jordan earning more breaks if there was someone to collect the

data throughout each day.

The line graph above shows the overall total number of breaks Jordan earned by staying

in his seat for ten minutes during independent work time at his desk, over the course of three

weeks. As shown, week one was Jordan’s worst weeks since he only earned a total of four breaks

that week. However, this was due to the fact that there was no school two out of the five days,

and the supports were slowly being implemented. Next, week two was by far Jordan’s best week

since he earned a total of twenty breaks during that week. Lastly, the results for week three

weren’t too bad considering the absence of the A.A. and my availability. He earned a total of

fourteen breaks that week, which shows he still had a successful week.

Another interesting point I wanted to discuss is the fact that some days it didn’t seem to

make a difference whether Jordan earned his breaks in the morning or in the afternoon. During

week one, all of Jordan’s breaks were earned in the afternoon. This could be the effect of Jordan

not having a great morning, but we don’t know for sure. During both weeks two and three,

Jordan earned many breaks at different times of the morning and in the afternoon, which was

great. For example, during week two on Monday, February 12th Jordan earned a total of three

breaks; one in the morning during shared reading time, and two in the afternoon during content

time. Another example, is during week three on Tuesday, February 20th Jordan earned a total of

five breaks; two in the morning during phonics time and three in the afternoon during content
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 18

time. Again, it was interesting to me how scattered his breaks were both in the mornings and the

afternoons. Overall, I think that the positive behavior support plan had a huge impact and

improved Jordan’s behavior positively.

Reflection

This project has helped me grow in my knowledge and skills of behavior and how it can

impact classroom management. As far as knowledge of behavior, I learned that it is important to

be able to identify, understand, and control the behavior that is being portrayed. Just as with

Jordan, I was able to observe his behavior (on different days and times) and identify it, then I

was able to understand why he was portraying this behavior (avoidance and attention), and I was

able to control it and turn the negative behavior to positive by adding simple supports. I was also

able to grow in the area of some skills you may need to work with behavior. I learned that it is

important to be able to control emotions that a student is portraying and knowing what frustrates

or “sets them off”. Luckily, Jordan did not have severe reactions to any of the supports but when

I was observing him, I could tell that sometimes he was getting frustrated and wanted to stop. I

also learned that it takes time and patience when implementing behavior supports and sometimes

they may not work, so it can be a lot of trial and error before you find the right thing/tool to

work. In addition, it is important that you are recording useful notes/data in order to interpret the

results and come up with a solution to again turn this negative behavior into something positive.

This project has not only helped me grow in the area of behavior and classroom management,

but it has helped Jordan turn his negative behavior into something positive and helped him focus

more on learning.

Another area that this project has helped me grow in is classroom management. It is

important to have good classroom management because it provides a safe and well organized
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 19

environment for students to learn. When I went in to observe Jordan in his classroom, there were

a few times where he didn’t want to return from his break when his five minutes were up. The

A.A. in the room told him that if he did not follow directions when the timer went off, then he

was not going to be able to earn another break, or if he did earn another break, he could not

choose to play with the sand timer since he did not want to put it down (when his break ended).

This showed/taught me that my classroom rules, expectations, and consequences need to be

clearly defined to all the students so they know what is expected of them. It is important to have

a positive learning environment so that students can focus, be attentive, and stay on task

wherever they are in the classroom.

I feel as though two out of the three supports that were implemented actually worked for

Jordan and helped him improve his on-task behavior. The supports that I felt worked with Jordan

was the bumpy seat, and being able to earn a break. The bumpy seat really helped Jordan stay

focused a little more because he was still able to fidget and move around in his chair, but it

helped him to not stand up or sit on his legs or feet like he was doing before. I was glad to see

that this was working because apparently he had a bumpy seat in the beginning of the year but

his teacher, Mrs. S. had to take it away because he was playing with it. Again, I think the break

card worked with Jordan because he seemed to like being able to take breaks and choose

something either off the card, or something quiet from the back of the room. There were some

times when the A.A. told me that he asked for a break because he needed one. I was glad to see

that this support was working. I do not think the visual on his desk (that showed him how he

should be sitting) helped him as much. I didn’t really see him or the A.A. referencing it as much

as I would have liked him to. It may have been hard for Jordan to touch the floor with his feet
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 20

especially when he used his bumpy seat. Overall, I was very pleased to see that two out of the

three supports were successful for Jordan and helped him stay on task longer.

If I were to repeat this project, I would like to try and implement each support a few days

in-between each other so I could see which one(s) was more accurate or if the data looked the

same. Since we only had four weeks to implement this project we had to implement all of our

supports at the same time and we were short on time to fit it all in. I feel as though I gained a lot

of data with two out of the three supports, but I would have liked to see how each support was

working or again, which was the “best” support. Another aspect I would do differently is have

Jordan complete a self-reflection sheet rather than a visual on his desk showing him how to sit

that he seemed to never use. Jordan would fill out this self-reflection sheet after completing an

independent assignment at his desk. The self-reflection would have a few boxes that Jordan

would check off (only if he portrayed that behavior), such as “out of seat/area,” “stayed in seat,”

“not on task,” “on task the whole time,” “Did I focus and get my work done?” etc. At the end,

Jordan will answer and respond to the question, “What will you do differently next time?”

Overall, I really learned a lot about implementing a positive behavior support plan and it was a

good experience. Now I know how to implement something like this in my future classroom if

needed. It was great getting to work with Jordan and his teacher, Mrs. S. on this project and be

able to see that most of the supports worked for Jordan and helped him stay on task to learn.
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN 21

References

Bright, R. (n.d.). Kids Who Can't Sit Still. Retrieved February 11, 2018, from

http://www.nea.org/tools/47003.htm

Christofferson, R. D., & Callahan, K. (2015). Positive Behavior Support in Schools (PBSIS): An

Administrative Perspective on the Implementation of a Comprehensive School-Wide

Intervention in an Urban Charter School. Education Leadership Review Of Doctoral

Research, 2(2), 35-49. http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy

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Flower, A., McKenna, J. W., Bunuan, R. L., Muething, C. S., & Vega, R. J. (2014). Effects of

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