Canter’s Behavior Management Cycle: A Case Study
Michelle Chandler
Grand Canyon University: EDU-536
December 15, 2012

Effective teachers know that by motivating students to grasp directions quickly they can stay focused on instruction, which is critical to the learning process, and less time will be exhausted on noncompliant student behavior (Canter, 2006). Otherwise, students may not be able to concentrate on or benefit from the lesson plan because the student or students that are misbehaving continue to disrupt the class. Speaking out of turn, chatter amongst students, getting off task, sleeping during class, using cell phones or other types of technology and yelling across the classroom are all examples of disruptive behavior. Disruptive behavior can even escalate to issues much more severe such as threatening the safety and welfare of other students or teachers in the classroom. The first step, and most important for a teacher is to identify the disruptive behavior and address the inappropriate actions of the student in a professional manner. Moreover, a teacher should take action as soon as they first notice the student misbehaving. Stopping one student’s disruptive behavior will demonstrate to the other students that misbehaving in the classroom will not be tolerated or they will face consequences. There are many ways to effectively manage disruptive behavior in a classroom. Although, one method has proven to be most successful for teachers and that is Canter’s Behavior Management Cycle. Ryan is a fourth grader at North Star Elementary School and his teacher is Miss Smith. Lately, Ryan has been misbehaving in class. Ryan’s father is a single parent and works double shifts just barely scraping by. The majority of the time Ryan is left in the care of his 14 year old brother Rick. Rick is usually in his room listening to music or hanging out with his friends all of whom tease Ryan when he is home. Ryan’s dad barely interacts with him because when he is home he is sleeping. Ryan’s home environment is not encouraging because no one pays attention to him and is a large reason why Ryan has been acting out in school. Ryan has been loud in class and talks to his friends while Miss Smith is focusing on facilitating the lesson to the rest of the students. The constant disruption is causing Miss Smith to lose control of the classroom and in addition students that are generally compliant are having difficulty concentrating on the lesson at hand. Miss Smith has been trying to address Ryan’s behavior for weeks now. During their meetings, Miss Smith and Ryan have discussed his inappropriate behavior and review the classroom rules, specifically about being a caring and respectful student, that were established the first day of school. After several unsuccessful attempts of trying to talk with Ryan about his behavior, including a phone call to his father, Miss Smith is at her wits end and looking for guidance on how to possibly handle Ryan’s behavior from a different approach. Miss Smith discusses the situation with the other fourth grade teachers and Miss Thomas suggests that she follows the steps of Len Canter’s Behavior Management Cycle. She explains to Miss Smith that the program is specifically designed to address behavioral issues and more importantly the academic achievement of all students. The first step in the Behavior Management Cycle is to effectively communicate explicit directions. When teachers want students to act a certain way they must be clear and precise in what they expect from their students. The more detailed they are with the directions the more likely the students will be motivated to follow the rules and procedures (Canter, 2006). The next day in class, Ryan calls out of turn while another student is responding to a question from Miss Smith. Miss Smith quickly interjects and tells Ryan to be quiet. Ryan giggles and proceeds to chat with his friends. Miss Smith becomes irritated and asks Ryan to explain to the class what he is doing wrong. Ryan responds that he is talking. Miss Smith quickly realizes that perhaps she was unclear in what she expects from her students. She thought maybe Ryan and the rest of the class did not understand what being quiet really means (Canter, 2006). She tells the class that while Ryan is correct in that he is talking out of turn, she explains that there is more to the rule. Miss Smith clarifies that when she or a classmate is speaking students must be sitting in their seats listening without talking and that they are not to interrupt at any time. She continues by telling the students that if they would like to contribute to the class discussion, they must first raise their hand. When, Miss Smith calls their name, then and only then, are they allowed to speak. As Miss Smith explains the direction in a very precise manner she goes over and stands near Ryan. She places her hand on Ryan’s shoulder and asks him if he understands. Ryan responds yes. Miss Smith asks Ryan to reiterate his interpretation of the rule to the class. Ryan explains to the class what exactly Miss Smith expects from the students when she or other classmates are talking. Miss Smith applauds Ryan for his accuracy and encourages him and the rest of the class to use the proper protocol when wanting to speak in class. The second step in the Behavior Management Cycle is to incorporate behavioral narration. Behavioral Narration allows teachers the opportunity to reiterate the directions in a positive manner encouraging students to strive to do exactly what the teacher expects of them (Canter, 2006). The next day Miss Smith is reviewing math facts with the class. She tells the students that they will begin a fun game once everyone is quietly seated and ready to begin. She immediately scans over the class and applies the two-second rule (Canter, 2006), acknowledging Lea, David and Stephanie because they are quietly sitting in their seats waiting to begin the game. Miss Smith looks over and sees Ryan still standing by his chair talking with his friend. Once again, Miss Smith recognizes several more students complying with her instructions. Then she notices that Ryan has taken his seat and the class is ready to begin the game. Miss Smith instructs the class that she will divide the class into two groups, boys against the girls. The students do not need to move their seats as she will keep score on the white board. She explains to the students that she will ask a multiplication question and the first student to raise their hand, quietly while remaining seated will be asked to answer. Miss Smith asks the class, “What is 12 x 4?” She scans over the class to see who is following her rules. Instantly she notices Ryan and two other boys are jumping out of their seats waving their hands trying to get Miss Smith’s attention. She sees Samantha sitting quietly and raising her hand patiently. Miss Smith says, “Samantha you are sitting in your seat quietly raising your hand.” After Samantha tells the class the answer is 48 Miss Smith scans the class to see that each student is sitting quietly in their seats before asking the next multiplication fact. The third and final step in the Behavior Management Cycle is to take corrective action. When a teacher finds that they have implemented the first two steps of the Behavior Management Cycle and still have students that are being disruptive, they can take corrective action through direct verbal statements or disciplinary action (Canter, 2006). Miss Smith proceeds to ask the class the next multiplication fact and this time Ryan answers without being called on. Miss Smith looks at Ryan and asks him why he has responded without being called upon. He tells her that she did not call on him the last time and he raised his hand. Miss Smith told him that he was not sitting quietly as well. She also told Ryan that if he called out the answer again he would receive 5 minutes off of his recess and if he did it again he would receive 10 minutes off of his recess. After a couple more times of Ryan continuing to call out the answer Miss Smith told him that he would be losing 10 minutes of recess. From that point on Ryan remained in his seat and quietly raised his hand, as did the rest of the class, and no one spoke unless Miss Smith called their name. The students understood that if they did not comply with Miss Smith’s rule they would lose recess time and they certainly did not want that to happen. The three steps in Canter’s Behavior Management Cycle were used to correct Ryan’s disruptive behavior. First Miss Smith communicated explicit directions to ensure that students clearly understood what she expected from them. Secondly, she used behavioral narration to support students that were working on task. Finally, Miss Smith resorted to taking corrective action when Ryan would not comply with steps one and two. In the end, the program benefited all the students as Ryan’s behavior was quickly brought under control and it effectively established an environment that promoted academic success.

References
Canter, L. (2006). Lee Canter’s Classroom Management for Academic Success (1 st Ed). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.