Increasing Respectful Behavior through Verbal/Physical Recognition and Mini-Lessons with Ninth through Twelfth Grade Students in Family and Consumer Science and Special Education
Author: Baker, Melissa
Date: 2011-05-00
Type: Dissertations/Theses
Subjects: Student Behavior,Recognition (Achievement),Role Playing,Action Research,Special Education,Behavior Change,Behavior Problems,Observation,Check Lists,Surveys,Parent Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Homework,Interpersonal Communication,Intervention,Positive Reinforcement,Family Life Education,High Schools

The purpose of this action research project report was to improve students' respectful behavior. A total of 80 students of the teacher researchers participated. The included 26 Fashion & Apparel 1 students, 45 Childcare & Development 1 students, and 9 World History high school students. Teacher Researchers A and B ran their study from August 23rd, 2010 until October 15th 2010; Teacher Researcher C ran the study from August 10th, 2010 until December 17th, 2010. Students' disrespectful behavior included not doing homework, being off task, missing materials, lack of participation, talking out of turn, being tardy, speaking with negative intention, swearing, wearing inappropriate clothing, truancy, public displays of affection, verbal altercations, and physical altercations. The three tools used to document evidence of these behaviors included an observation checklist, a parent survey, a student survey, and a teacher survey. Based on the student and parent surveys, the most agreed upon disrespectful behaviors that subjects believed to be disrespectful in school were speaking with negative intention, swearing, and talking out of turn. The teacher researchers most observed behaviors were not doing homework, being off task, and missing materials. The teacher researchers chose to implement three interventions, including physical recognition, verbal recognition, and mini-lessons examining respectful and disrespectful behavior. Physical recognition included giving out raffle tickets, candy, and school supplies that rewarded students who were showing respectful behavior. Verbal recognition was provided by the teacher researchers to positively reinforce students exhibiting respectful behavior. The teacher researchers noted that "positive classroom environments have been associated with academic achievement" (Fraser, 1991, Wang, Haretal & Walberg, 1994, & Wentzel, 1994, as cited in Burnett, 2002, p. 8). In addition to recognition, teacher researchers conducted discussions and role plays, with mini lessons on respect. The teacher researchers tried to elevate students' awareness of their behavior since studies have shown that "in educational settings, self-monitoring has been found to improve on-task academic behavior and disruptive classroom behavior" (Freeman & Dexter-Mazza, 2004, Hoff & DuPaul, 1998, & Shapiro et al., 2002, as cited in Axelrod, Zhe, Haugen, & Klien, 2009, p. 325). One of the most notable results of the study was that not doing homework went from a top concern during pre-documentation to not making the top 6 of 12 behaviors noted during post documentation. However, talking out of turn became the most notable behavior during post documentation, and was not in the top four during pre-documentation analysis. The teacher researchers believe that during the interventions, students discovered others as well as themselves exhibiting disrespectful behavior, that during pre-documentation were unrecognizable as disrespectful. The following are appended: (1) Observation Behavior Checklist; (2) Parent Survey; (3) Student Survey; (4) Teacher Survey; (5) Charger Cash; (6) Respect & Responsibility Min-Lesson; (7) Respect-Disrespect Role-Play Lesson; (8) Role Playing 1; and (9) Role Playing 2. (Contains 5 tables and 36 figures.)