It is hard to teach what you do not know.
I recall entering a classroom one time where the teacher asked me to observe circle time. The class was having a hard time attending and learning during this crucial part of their preschool day. I noticed the chaos, saw the behaviors and wondered what the circle time expectations were. I asked the teacher during our debrief conversation, “So, tell me the rules of circle time.” She paused and could not tell me a clear answer. She (the teacher) did not know the rules and expectations and routines within the circle time routine. It was in that moment that she and I realized that teaching the very minute routines of circle time would be her crucial next step. How would children ever know how to behave if their teacher didn’t even know how she wanted them to behave. Assume the students know nothing and you have to explicitly TEACH, MODEL and PRACTICE everything!
Using the Prevent Teach Reinforce Framework, your team can determine what needs to be taught. Use this chart from the PTR book to support your plan. ptr-yc_goal_sheet
- Identify the child’s challenging behaviors to decrease. (A paraeducator is an excellent resource for this as they can take notes while the teacher leads the environment).
- Select ONE challenging behavior to target. (Choosing only one at a time is important so that the team and children do not get overwhelmed).
- Operationally define this target negative (STOP) behavior
- observable (seen or heard)
- measurable (counted or timed).
4. Identify the child’s desirable behaviors to increase.
5. Select ONE desirable behavior to increase.
6. Operationally define this target positive (GO) behavior
- observable (seen or heard)
- measurable (counted or timed)
TEACH children about that new behavior OUTSIDE the MOMENT of the behavior. This can happen before or after the behavior has shown up.
Teaching should include two important components:
MODEL- when in doubt draw it out, act it out or use visual or cues to demonstrate it
and
PRACTICE– your student will not be able to do the new behavior perfectly right away so embed specific times to practice the skill, allow them to adjust by rewinding if they are not doing the behavior as expected. Allow a chance to pause and regroup if they need a break to realign their behaviors. The practice phase should be a flexible time when kids are trying to put their new skills and strategies to work and teachers are trying to catch the smallest bits of progress and note them. This leads to the next important component of teaching: PRAISE!
PRAISE- kids when they recover, make one step closer, do something part of the way, or even make a slight effort and of course PRAISE them if they did it!
If you miss one of these four components, you miss a lot so when teaching new behaviors to kids make sure you TEACH, MODEL, PRACTICE and PRAISE!
(Child in Bloom, 2025, Mattson)