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Promoting Positive Behaviors

An Elementary Principal’s Guide to Structuring the Learning Environment

By: Paul G. Young

Foreword by Gail Connelly, Executive Director of NAESP

A hands-on guide for optimizing schoolwide management and increasing student achievement!

This handbook for principals provides practical recommendations that affirm best practices for administrators and help school leaders achieve a cohesive and cooperative teaching and learning environment. Readers will find preventive procedures for everything from establishing a daily schedule and making announcements to monitoring behaviors for field trips and assemblies. This comprehensive resource also includes recommendations for:

Revitalizing instruction
Supervising the morning playground
Communicating expectations to students
Using student incentives and recognitions
Building relationships with parents
Establishing a student council, and more

Full description

Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-4
ISBN: 9781412953047
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2007
Page Count: 136
Publication date: April 08, 2014

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Description

"Paul Young identifies key elements of school structure that every principal must have in place before strides in student achievement and parent engagement can be fully realized."
—Bonnie Tryon, Principal
Golding Elementary School, Cobleskill, NY
President, School Administrators Association of New York State

"Young shares practical ideas that can be implemented in rural, suburban, or urban schools to greatly impact school climate, staff morale, and student achievement. This volume should be in every elementary school principal's professional library."
—Mary Q. Grant, Principal
Takoma Educational Center, Washington, DC
Past President, District of Columbia Association of Elementary School Principals

A hands-on guide for optimizing schoolwide management and increasing student achievement!

Here is an authoritative, commonsense resource for busy principals who face the challenges of establishing and implementing processes that promote positive student behavior and improve schoolwide performance.

This handbook offers valuable lessons from Paul G. Young's experience as a successful elementary school principal and provides practical recommendations that affirm best practices, anticipate potential problems, and achieve a cohesive and cooperative teaching and learning environment. Readers will find procedures for everything from establishing a daily schedule and making announcements to monitoring behaviors for field trips and assemblies. This comprehensive text also includes guidelines for:

Revitalizing instruction
Supervising the morning playground
Communicating expectations to students
Using student incentives and recognitions
Building relationships with parents
Establishing a student council, and more

Organized around the daily and annual school schedule, Promoting Positive Behaviors is sure to be referenced again and again by aspiring, novice, and veteran administrators.

Key features

Indispensable guide for teachers and leaders
Identifies and troubleshoots potential student misbehavior
Provides chapter summaries and templates for solving problems
Organized around the school schedule with procedures for before school, morning instructional block, lunch and recess, afternoon block, school departure
All day tips for teachers, leaders, and students
Helps new teachers meet biggest challenge—classroom management
Helps principals retain high-quality teachers

Author(s)

Paul G. Young

Paul Young, PhD, a retired elementary principal, is currently the Executive Director of the West After School Center in Lancaster, Ohio. He began his career as a high school band director and then retrained to become a fourth grade teacher before advancing to an elementary principalship in 1986.

He served as President of the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators (OAESA) in 1997 and was elected to the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) Board of Directors in 1998 (the only person elected by write-in ballot). He became president-elect in 2001-2002 and served as the national president during the 2002-2003 school year. He retired in December 2004. Since retirement, he has served as an advocate for the advancement of equitable and affordable afterschool programming for all children.

Dr. Young completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music education in 1972 and a Master of Music degree in trombone performance in 1973, both from Ohio University-Athens. He earned a PhD in educational administration from OU in 1992. Young has taught undergraduate music classes at Ohio University-Lancaster for more than 25 years. He continues to teach private trombone lessons. He is a strong advocate for the arts. He is the past president of the Ohio University School of Music Society of Alumni and Friends.

Dr. Young is the author of Mastering the Art of Mentoring Principals, You Have to Go to School, You’re the Principal: 101 Tips to Make it Better for Your Students, Your Staff, and Yourself and Mentoring Principals: Frameworks, Agendas, Tips, and Case Studies for Mentors and Mentees. He has also written numerous articles about music, the arts, student management, and the principalship for professional journals.

Table of Contents

Forward by Gail Connelly, Executive Director of NAESP

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

Purpose of This Book

Overview of the Contents

1. Beginnings: The Day and the Year

Introduction

Plan for Effective Morning Playground Supervision

Allow Recess in the Morning

Form a Safety Patrol

Teach Expectations to Students While Lining Up After the Bell Sounds

Build Relationships With Parents

Teach Children to Move Quietly Through the Hallways

Lock the Doors

Structure Homeroom Activities

Provide Universal Breakfast in the Classroom

Make Morning Accouncements

Check Bookbags and Homework Planners

Do the Shirts and the Pants Touch?

No Talking During Emergency Drills

Establish a Student Council

Establish Student Incentives and Recognitions

Empower Staff to Develop Schedules

Learn All Students' Names

Establish an Effective Intervention Assistance Process

Structure Effective Meetings

Check Mail and Messages at Least Three Times Daily

Establish the Schedule and Goals for the Day

Concluding Thoughts

Explanation of the Structural Analysis & Assessment Checklists

Checklist #1: Beginnings: Structural Analysis and Assessment

2. Early Focus on Learning and Instruction

Introduction

Escort Students to and From Special Classes

Establish Procedures for Restroom Breaks

Practice Entering and Leaving Assemblies

Develop a Substitute Handbook

Time on Task

Establish Inclusion Practices

Establish Procedures for Referring Students to the Office

Fully Utilize Volunteer Services

Teach a Code of Conduct

Common, Grade-Level Planning Increases Student Achievement

Concluding Thoughts

Checklist #2: Learning and Instruction: Structural Analysis and Assessment

3. Midpoints of the Day or Year

Introduction

Equip Yourself for Playground Supervision

Teach Manners and Hygiene

Facilitate Efficient Food Serving Lines

Schedule Recess First, Eat Afterwards

Speak With Inside Voices

Practice Forming Lines

Structure Playground Games

Monitor Students' Behavior and Eating Habits

Establish Procedures for Indoor Recess Supervision

Take Pictures and Use Recorders

Establish Contingency Plans for Crisis Supervision

Teach Children to Speak in Complete Sentences

Develop a Conflict Mediation Program

Concluding Thoughts

Checklist #3: Midpoints: Structural Analysis and Assessment

4. The Second Half of the Day or Year

Introduction

Reading Can Be Taught After Lunch

Create an "Adam Plan"

Supervise Student Suspensions

Write Notes and Return Phone Calls

Teach Multiple Intelligences

Show Evidence of Student Learning

Allow Children to Draw

Serve Fruit and Vegetable Afternoon Snacks

Don't Get Tired and Let Down Your Guard

Give Attention to Customer Service

Eliminate Loitering in the Hallways and Office

Utilize Homework Planners

Communicate With Parents

Concluding Thoughts

Checklist #4: The Second Half: Structural Analysis and Assessment

5. Endings: Dismissal and Wrap-up of the Year

Introduction

Monitor Bus Pickup and Drop-Off Locations

Ride School Buses

Delineate Walking Students From Parent Pickups, Bus Riders, and Others

Walk Students Home

Share Positives With Parents

How Effective are Detentions?

Eliminate Clutter Throughout the Campus

Establish Curb Appeal

Eliminate Gum

Prepare the Classroom for Custodian Cleaning

Establish Procedures for Determining Student Classroom Placements

Reflect and Take Action on Important Issues

Be a Master Motivator

Coordinate Learning Opportunities With the Afterschool Program

Concluding Thoughts

Checklist #5: Endings Dismissal and Wrap-up of the Year: Structural Analysis and Assessment

Summary Comments

Recommended Readings

Index

Reviews

"Paul Young identifies key elements of school structure that every principal and staff must have in place before strides in student achievement and parent engagement can be fully realized."

Bonnie Tryon, President
School Administrators Association of New York State

"Young shares practical ideas that can be implemented in rural, suburban, or urban schools to impact school climate, staff morale, and student achievement. This volume should be in every elementary school principal’s professional library."

Mary Grant, Principal, Takoma Educational Center
Past President, District of Columbia Association of Elementary School Principals

"This book addresses the many benefits of a well-structured school and provides educators with valuable lessons to identify, understand, and capitalize on their strengths to positively shape school structure and improve teaching and learning."

From the Foreword by Gail Connelly, Executive Director of NAESP

"Offers examples from the author's experience as a successful elementary school principal and tips for overall school and student management."

The Bookwatch, June 2008
Midwest Book Review

Other Titles in: Student Behavior | Principalship

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