Creating Positive Elementary Classrooms

Creating Positive Elementary Classrooms: Preventing Behavior Challenges to Promote Learning includes straightforward, feasible, and evidenced-based strategies designed to prevent behavior problems in K-5 classrooms. With an exclusive classroom focus, this practitioner-friendly book encourages teachers to be proactive in classroom management and guides them through the process of setting up their classrooms to maximize learning while focusing on prevention of behavior challenges. Its emphasis on catching behavior problems before they occur enables teachers to run their classrooms more efficiently and experience less frustration, while also increasing student learning. A well-organized, systematic, and predictable teaching environment helps to prevent challenging behaviors, and this book presents ways to achieve this type of classroom environment. Using real-life classroom scenarios, this guide equips teachers with management techniques that break the common cycle of frustration, aggression, rejection, and hostility, so they can create positive elementary classrooms.

Stephen W. Smith is professor of special education at the University of Florida. Dr. Smith teaches graduate courses in special education research, emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), and preventing behavior problems in classrooms. He is the author of 20 professional books and book chapters and has presented over 200 professional papers and research findings at many state, regional, national, and international professional conferences. Dr. Smith has received three teaching awards and a University Research Award and has served twice as a UF Distinguished Research Professor. He was awarded the 2018 Distinguished Researcher Award from the American Education Research Association, Special Education special interest group. Dr. Smith is a panel scientist for the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences and is on the editorial board of numerous professional journals in education and special education.

Mitchell L. Yell is the Fred and Francis Lester Palmetto Chair in Teacher Education and professor in special education at the University of South Carolina. Prior to moving to South Carolina, Dr. Yell was a teacher in the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota for 12 years. Dr. Yell has published 136 journal articles, 7 textbooks, and 38 book chapters and has conducted numerous workshops on various aspects of special education law, classroom management, and progress monitoring. In 2020, he was awarded the Researcher of the Year from the Council for Exceptional Children.

1 Prevention as the Foundation for Managing a Classroom: An Introduction

2 Creating a Positive Classroom Environment

3 Structure and Organization for Effective Classroom Management

with Dennis Cavitt and T. Rowand Robinson

4 Preventing Problem Behavior Through Effective Teaching

with Mark Samudre and R. Allan Allday

5 Conducting Meetings in the Classroom

6 Responding to Student Misbehavior

with Michael E. Rozalski and Gerda Kumpiene

7 Specific Prevention and Intervention Techniques

8 Providing Students with Skills to Independently Make Wise Behavioral Choices

9 Understanding and Fostering TeacherStudent Relationships to Prevent Behavior Problems

with Christopher L. Van Loan, Michael J. Marlowe, and Daniel V. Poling

10 Putting It All Together

References

Index

About the Contributors