Transcript Bus Driver Behavior Management Workshop July 29, 2005

WELCOME!!
2008 Southeastern States
Pupil Transportation Conference
Atlanta, Georgia
SESPTC Delegates
School Bus Driver
Behavior Management Workshop
July 16, 2008
Presented by:
Brad Holley – Administrator
Alabama State Department of Education
Pupil Transportation Section
“The number one problem on buses is not
discipline. It is lack of procedures and
routines.”
Teach rules and
procedures
sysemtatically
with:
Explanation
Rehearsal
Feedback
MAKE VISIBLE, YOUR
INVISIBLE
EXPECTATIONS!
RULES





Are expected norms of behavior.
Are the “Constitution of the Bus”.
Prevent or encourage certain
behaviors.
DO NOT CHANGE!
Are generally limited from 5 to 8.
PROCEDURES





Are ways of getting activities done on your
bus.
Make tasks routine.
Help achieve consistency, predictability,
and are time saving.
May change according to needs.
Have no prescribed number.
Things to remember about
rules:




Bus rules should be consistent with school
rules and/or board policy.
Rules should be stated and consistent with
students’ grade level and/or ability level.
Rules must be doable.
Rules should be easy to monitor.
And finally…


Rules should be consistent across
situations; they should not vary or change.
Rules should be stated positively.
TEACHING BUS RULES!
- PUBLICIZE
- EXPLAIN AND EXEMPLIFY
- ENFORCE CONSISTENTLY
PUBLICIZE



Post the rules on the bus.
Send copies of the rules home – one to be
returned with parent signature and one for
parent to keep.
Give students a copy of the rules.
EXPLAIN AND EXEMPLIFY


Discuss specific expectations.
For example: “Show respect to other
people on the bus”. For this rule to have
meaning to students, they must know
both what and how to do specific things
that show respect. What does respect
look, sound, and feel like?
MORE EXPLAIN AND EXEMPLIFY


Teach your riders to be responsible,
respectful, and resourceful.
Have the students generate specific
examples of how they would show
responsibility, respect, and resourcefulness
on your bus.
ENFORCE CONSISTENTLY!



Be firm, fair, impartial, and consistent.
Relaxing the rules sends mixed messages
to students about behavioral expectations.
Check to see if rules “say” what they really
“mean”. For example: Does “No Talking”
mean total silence or whispering?
PROCEDURES





Have procedures for almost everything.
A single presentation may not be
adequate.
“Telling” is not teaching.
Procedures should be consistent ways of
doing things.
Procedures do not lend themselves to
creative expression.
Steps Needed to
Teach a Procedure
1. Explanation
2. Rehearsal
3. Feedback
4. Reteaching
Explanation: “Show and Tell”



Define a procedure in concrete terms.
Give reason behind the need for the
procedure – usually to motivate students
to improve.
Demonstrate: Model the correct
procedures — “A picture is worth more
than a thousand words.”
Rehearsal: “Practice, Practice,
Practice……….”



Helps student learn appropriate behavior.
Provides feedback to the driver to see if
reteaching is needed.
Is crucial for whole-group or complex
activities—lining up at bus stop, exiting
the bus, etc.
Feedback: “How did we do?”




Your chance to tell students your are
please with their behavior.
Your chance to mention errors in behavior.
Your chance to stress the positive.
Your chance to review, state expectations,
rehearse again.
Reteaching: “One more time…”




Cycle through again.
Re-explain.
Rehearse again.
Give feedback again.
“The art of being wise is
knowing what to overlook.”





Children are not perfect.
Expecting perfection is unrealistic and
invites disappointment.
Children will talk.
Children will make mistakes.
Children will act inapropriately at times.
Use the “Faculty” Meeting Rule


Do not say or do anything to your rider
that you would not feel comfortable
having your supervisor say to you in a
group meeting.
Use discretion by simply talking to a rider
away from the rest of the riders or in a
quiet tone at his/her seat.
CATCH YOUR RIDERS
BEING GOOD!
Keep your face to the sunshine
and you cannot see the shadows.




There are probably as many positives as
there are negatives on your bus.
If we look hard enough, we will find
something negative, if that’s where we put
our focus.
The good news is that the same holds true
for the positives on you bus.
It’s all too easy to get frustrated and begin
focusing on “all that’s wrong.”
Effective bus drivers know that
focusing on the positives on
their buses will foster positive
behaviors, overshadowing and
eventually obliterating the
negatives.
FEEDBACK!
THREE POSITIVES TO ONE NEGATIVE!
MAKE “DEPOSITS” SO THAT
WITHDRAWALS ARE POSSIBLE
WHEN NEEDED.
“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am
the deciding element on my bus. It’s my
personal approach that creates the climate. It’s
my daily mood that makes the weather. As a
bus driver, I possess a tremendous power to
make a person’s life miserable or joyous. I can
be a tool of torture or an instrument of
inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or
heal. In all situations, it is my response that
decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a person humanized or dehumanized.”
This PowerPoint presentation may be found at:
www.alsde.edu
Click on Sections,
Pupil Transportation,
Publications,
and then School Behavior Workshop
Contact Information:
Brad Holley – Alabama State Department of Education
Phone: 334-242-9730
Email: [email protected]
THANK YOU!
HAVE A SAFE TRIP HOME!!!