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Chapter 5

ExpectationsPlan to teach students how to be successful

T he school and teacher effectiveness literature has consistently shown that successfulteachers are very clear with students about exactly how they expect them to behaveduring the school day (Cotton, 1999; Kameenui, Carnine, Dixon, Simmons, &Coyne, 2002).Many teachers think that by developing classroom rules and classroomprocedures, they haveprepared everything they need to orient students to their classroom. Rules and proceduresare certainly essential, but they do not provide details on what behaviors are expected andnot expected of students in each type of classroom activity (D. M. Baer, 1999). You wantyour students to behave one way during lectures, a different way during independent workperiods, and still a different way during cooperative group activities. If you dont know ordont clearly communicate behavioral expectations to students, then the students have toguess at what constitutes responsible behavior. The problem with this is obvious when youconsider the most common student misbehaviors:

Talking too much or too loudly or about the wrong things Demanding attention by following the teacher around or calling out to the teacher Doingmath when they should be working on science or socializing when they should

be cleaning up Doing work together that they should do on their own, or copying another students

work, or copying source materials without giving credit Wandering around the room or sharpening pencils when they are supposed to be

listening to the teacher Monopolizing classroom discussions or not participating at all Disrupting lessons or sitting and doing nothing during work periods

You can avoid most of these problems by clearly dening for yourself and thencommunicating to your students how you expect them to behave during each activity andtransition that occurs during the typical class period. If you do not, your students wontknow whether their behavior is acceptable. For example, are they allowed to sharpen theirpencils during cooperative group times, ask other students for help during a work period, orask you questions while you are taking attendance?

Keep in mind that the answers to these kinds of questions will be different fordifferent teachers. The important thing is that you know what your answers are. That

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136 Discipline in the Secondary Classroom

is why the rst two tasks in this chapter are designed to help you specically deneyour behavioral expectations for students during major classroom activities (e.g., teacher-directed instruction, independent seat work, class discussions, cooperative group work) andcommon transition times (switching from one subject to another, getting textbooks opento a particular page, correcting papers). The foundation for completing these tasks is theCHAMPS acronym, which is designed to help you clarify the major behavioral expectationsfor each activity and transition in your classroom (Sprick, Garrison, & Howard, 2002;McCloud, 2005):

CConversationHHelpAActivityMMovementPParticipationSSuccess

The issues incorporated in CHAMPS and the basic questions to be addressed foreach issue are included within task 1. The CHAMPS acronym has been used successfullyby many high school teachers to clarify expectations. Some teachers are understandablyconcerned that their students may consider the CHAMPS acronym to be too elementary.To accommodate this concern, this chapter also introduces a more sophisticated acronym,ACHIEVE:

AActivityCConversationHHelpIIntegrityEEffortVValueEEfciency

The basic questions to be addressed for each issue within this acronym are includedin task 1. Samples and blank templates for both CHAMPS and ACHIEVE are included toassist you in deciding which model to use and to facilitate your planning for the rst day ofschool.

Dening your expectations with precision is critical if you hope to have a positiveand productive classroom. However, dening expectations alone is not sufcient. Youalso have to effectively communicate your expectations to your students. Thus, the thirdtask in this chapter has to do with designing lessons to teach students the expectationsyou have dened. Teaching expectations is the rst step in a three-step process foreffectively communicating expectations to students: teaching expectations, monitoringstudent behavior during activities and transitions, and giving students feedback abouttheir implementation of the expectations (National Research Council, 2000). This three-stepprocess is summarized in gure 5.1. (Detailed information about how to apply this three-stepcommunication process is presented in chapters 7 and 8.)

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Expectations 137

Figure 5.1Three-Step Process for Communicating Expectations

The three tasks described in this chapter are designed to ensure that you will be readyfor the rst day of school with clear expectations and lessons for teaching those expectationsto students.

NoteEven if you are starting this pro-gram partway into the schoolyear, it is critical that you attendto the tasks in this chapter. Clar-ifying and teaching expectationsis especially useful for any activi-ties and transitions during whichstudent behavior has been con-sistently problematic.

At rst glance, this may seem tooelementary for high school students.How-ever, think about effective high school orcollege coaches. Coaches start the rstpractice by going over the basic expec-tations: Attend every practice and gameif you are not physically sick. Successfulcoaches drill their athletes in the sportsfundamentals throughout a season, teach-ing and reteaching the basics as necessary.If students need instruction to know howto function as a member of a basket-ball team, then it is reasonable to assumethey need instruction on how to functionresponsibly in a chemistry class (Bell, 1998; Paine, Radicchi, Rosellini, Deutchman, &Darch,1983; Sprick, Garrison, & Howard, 2002).

Three tasks are presented and explained in this chapter:

Task 1: Dene clear and consistent behavioral expectations for all regularly scheduledclassroom activities.Task 2: Dene clear and consistent behavioral expectations for the common transitions,both within and between activities, that occur during a typical school day.Task 3: Develop a preliminary plan, and prepare lessons for teaching your expectationsto students.

The focus of this chapter is on student behavior in individual classrooms. However, oneother related area needs to be addressed: student behavior in the schools common areas.

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138 Discipline in the Secondary Classroom

Although this important consideration is not specically covered in this program, studentsneed to know the behavioral expectations for common area settings (hallways, cafeteria,restrooms, bus waiting areas, buses, assemblies) and with substitutes. If your school hasnot claried schoolwide expectations for these areas, ask your principal what you shouldteach your students about responsible behavior in these settings. For more information ondening and teaching behavioral expectations for common area settings, you may want topreview one or more of the following programs:

Sprick, R. S. (1994). Cafeteria Discipline: Positive Techniques for Lunchroom Supervi-sion [Video]. Eugene, OR: Pacic Northwest Publishing. Cafeteria Discipline providesguidance to a schools staff in how to organize the cafeteria, teach students appropriatecafeteria behavior, and train supervisors to circulate, praise good behavior, and correctmisbehavior.Sprick,R. S. (1994).STARTonTime! SafeTransitionsandReducedTardiness [Multimediaprogram]. Eugene,OR: PacicNorthwest Publishing. STARTonTime! supplies informa-tion on how to develop and implement procedures for supervising halls and restroomsas a unied staff, teach students appropriate hallway behavior, and dramatically reducetardiness.Sprick, R. S., Garrison, M., & Howard, L. (2002). Foundations: Establishing PositiveDiscipline Policies [Video]. Eugene, OR: Pacic Northwest Publishing. Foundationsguides a school-based leadership team to involve the entire staff in implementing aproactive and positive approach to managing student behavior. This three-volume setteaches data-driven decision making, how to set priorities, and how to increase studentand staff motivation.

Task 1: Dene Clear and Consistent BehavioralExpectations for All Regularly Scheduled

Classroom ActivitiesThe rst step in dening your behavioral expectations for classroom activities is to make alist of the major types of activities your students will engage in on a daily (or regular) basis.Your list might include topics like these:

Opening/attendance routines Class meetingsTeacher-directed instruction, lecture Tests/quizzesDiscussion Labs/stationsIndependent work Peer tutoring sessionsCooperative groups Cushion activitiesPartner work

The idea is to identify specic activities or categories of activities for which you will havedifferent behavioral expectations. For example, you may choose not to list teacher-directedinstruction and discussion as different items if your expectations for student behavior areexactly the same in both. However, you would list them as two separate items if you requirestudents to raise their hand before speaking during teacher-directed instruction but allowstudents to speak up whenever they wish as long as they do not interrupt anyone else duringdiscussions. You will likely have the same classroom activities, and thus the same set of