No matter how brilliant we are at teaching and reinforcing our expectations, there will be times when students fall short. It is important that we document these situations, big and small, so that students get the support they need AND so that we can address behaviors early on, before they become a crisis.
The guiding question when determining if an undesired behavior is a minor/classroom-managed behavior or a major/office-managed behavior is, "Can instruction continue?" Sometimes the situation is still unclear, however. Behavior definitions can be found HERE to help you decide. It is important to consistently and objectively define behaviors in order to prevent inequities in our discipline process. Vague definitions, particularly of the "Three Ds" (Disrespect, Disruption, Defiance), are one of the culprits in disproportionate disciplining of students in certain groups.
If a student is displaying an undesired behavior but you are able to continue instruction while addressing it, or have students briefly work independently while you speak to the student in the hall, etc, it is a "Classroom-Managed" behavior. These are documented with our Behavior Alert Form/BAF.
If instruction cannot continue - or in most cases if you need to call for assistance with removing a student - the behavior is an "Office-Managed" behavior and must be documented in SIS. Call the main office for assistance in the moment, but be sure the incident is reported in SIS as soon as possible. Even if a student is removed to the office/admin/etc, it is your responsibility to document the behavior.
Parents cannot support you in preventing behavior issues if they don't know what's going on. Both BAFs and SIS referrals require parent contact to be made and recorded in the Contact Log in SIS.
Documentation helps us provide Tier 2 supports such as counseling groups, scheduled breaks or buddy classrooms, and Check-In/Check-Out. It also supports our case if more severe consequences or more restrictive placements are needed. Without your support in documenting behaviors and parent contact, we are not able to provide the supports you and your students deserve.
Please be sure to fill out forms completely! There are no optional questions. Please note: the WHITE copy comes straight to Ms. Brown's box - never goes home. Be sure to press hard enough to be visible on all three pages.
The basics: Student first and last name, teacher name, date and time of the incident. Make sure these are all complete and accurate, and that the date and time are when the behavior occurred, not necessarily when you're completing the form.
While there are some cases where "all day" is appropriate, BAFs are not used for behaviors over multiple days. If a student does [behavior] on Monday, their parents should receive a BAF Monday - not two weeks later with three dates on it.
Others involved/Location: These help us find trends and hotspots, hopefully before things escalate. Since a BAF is typically responding to one incident of minor behavior, it usually does not make sense to have more than one location checked. If a student is in intervention when a behavior occurs, you can note that in the "Other" area. Make sure the "others involved" selection makes sense, too - if the behavior noted is "Defiance", "teacher" is probably going to be checked off...otherwise who is the student defying?
Perceived Motivation: don't get hung up here - it is really just your perception/best guess. This helps guide our responses. If a student is seeking attention with a behavior, and our response involves a whole bunch of people coming to fuss at them...Then we're inadvertently rewarding the behavior with attention. Almost every behavior will fall into one of these categories.
Behavior: Check off the ONE behavior you are responding to AND write a brief description. If you are having trouble finding the right descriptor, consider whether a BAF is the best response at this time (eg, is 'sleeping' usually a discipline issue? or a home situation?). Especially with the Three Ds, consider what behavior is the main concern. While making noises in class may be disrespectful, your biggest concern is most likely that it's disrupting instruction. Saying "I'm not doing this dumb paper" is disrespectful and may disrupt the class, but the biggest concern is probably defiance.
Finally, under Actions Taken, share anything you may have done prior to the BAF to address the behavior. Parent contact (and logging it in SIS) is required for all BAFs.