Chapter 11 page 254
Responding to more serious misbehavior. Serious misbehavior requires more than a nonverbal
and/or verbal response. Instead, teachers must impose a consequence. Unlike the responses to minor
misbehaviors discussed in the previous section, consequences are more intrusive and therefore should be
used only when addressing more serious misbehavior. Recall that when students persist in minor
misbehaviors despite the teacher’s warnings, the teacher can treat this as more serious misbehavior.
When developing and selecting a consequence for more serious misbehavior, a general guideline for
teachers is to be sure that the consequences are logically related to the misbehavior. A consequence is
logical if it meets three criteria known as the three R’s (Nelsen, 1996). First, the consequence is directly
related to the child’s misbehavior. Having a student stay after school to write a summary of lecture
material missed while talking is directly related to the misbehavior of talking; staying after school to erase
the chalkboards is not. Second, the consequence is respectful to the student and to the rest of the class. The
consequence is not intended to hurt or humiliate the student. Indeed, the teacher may give the misbehaving
student or students input into possible consequences. Third, the consequence is a reasonable consequence
that help students correct their mistakes and learn what to do next time, not merely make them feel bad.
Reasonable consequences are not also excessively severe given the nature of the misbehavior. Some
examples of reasonable consequences that meet these three criteria are described below:
Ɣ Amanda, a third-grade student, draws all over her desk during seatwork time. As a consequence, her
teacher requires her to stay in the classroom during recess. The teacher expresses disapproval of
Amanda’s actions and explains why it is important to treat school property with respect. Then Amanda
is required to clean all the writing off the desk. This consequence meets the three-R’s criteria. Cleaning
off the desk is related to the misbehavior of defacing the desk; Amanda must undo the harm that she
did. The consequence is respectful because the teacher spoke with Amanda privately and didn’t demean
or embarrass Amanda. Finally, having Amanda stay in and clean off her desk is a reasonable response
to the misbehavior, whereas having her clean all the desks in the classroom would have been excessive.
Ɣ At the end of the school year, Josh, a seventh grader, writes mean comments about Billy in Tom’s
yearbook when they are in the hallway. Billy finds out and tells the teacher because he is very upset.
The teacher requires Josh to cross out the comments in the yearbook and write a note of apology to
Billy, making it clear that he understands that the note was hurtful and inappropriate. Again, this
consequence also meets the three R criteria. The consequence is related to the misbehavior, as the
teacher requires Josh to try to undo the harm that Josh did. The consequence is respectful to Josh in
that she did not humiliate him (or Billy) in front of the entire class or school; rather, only those involved
with the situation (Josh, Billy, and Tom) are affected by the consequence. And the consequence is
reasonable in that it is an appropriate fit to the misbehavior.
Some teachers are comfortable relying solely on the concept of logical consequences for dealing
with more serious misbehavior. Other teachers prefer a plan with a little more structure. There are many
effective classroom managers who develop a hierarchy of consequences—a sequence of consequences of
increasing severity that the teacher uses with repeated serious misbehaviors. The goal of a hierarchy of
consequences is to allow the teacher to strike a balance between being consistent yet flexible enough to
consider the situation and the particular child. An example of a hierarchy of consequences appropriate for
elementary age students is: (1) warning the student (2) assigning the student to a 10-minute time out, (3)
having a conference with the student after school and applying a logical consequence, (4) a note or phone
call home, and (5) sending the student to the principal’s office. The teacher initially responds with the
lowest consequence in the hierarchy. After a second misbehavior, the teacher applies the second
consequence, and so on.
A slightly different hierarchy that is more appropriate for high school is as follows: (1) warning
the student, (2) having the student stay one minute after class, (3) having a conference with the student
after school and applying a logical consequence, (4) a note or phone call home, and (5) assigning a student
to after-school detention. A consequence does not need to be severe to be effective. Although requiring a
middle or high school student to stay one minute after class is not a very severe punishment, it has the
effect of minimizing time that students can socialize between periods, and thus it can be effective for the