Essay on The Benefit of CHAMPS for Classroom Management

📌Category: Education, School
📌Words: 1253
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 22 June 2021

CHAMPS is an acronym that stands for Conversation, Help, Activity, Movement, Participation, and Success. Conversation in a classroom is the level of conversation that you will permit. Help is how students will receive help from the teacher if needed. Activity means the lesson, task or objective being taught. Movement is the level of movement that is permitted throughout the lesson. Participation is the way that students will look and sound to show that they are participating. Success is the student’s ability to follow the CHAMPS expectations (Minnear, 2015, p.28). CHAMPS is intended to help classroom teachers develop positive classroom management that is proactive rather than reactive (Evans, 2016, p. 9). Classroom management is one area that both new and experienced teachers struggle. Using CHAMPS, a teacher can display clear expectations and improve the overall behavior of the classroom. 

There are five recommendations to CHAMPS classroom management (Evans, 2016, p. 30-31). The first recommendation is to identify the problem behavior and what it is that is reinforcing that behavior. The second recommendation is to modify the classroom environment to address problem behaviors. The third recommendation is to teach new skills which will improve the classroom environment. The fourth recommendation is to draw on relationships with colleagues and the student’s families for guidance and support. The fifth recommendation is to assess school wide behavior with school wide strategies or programs. When utilizing these five recommendations and when it is implemented by the entire school, the student behavior tends to increase substantially.

The CHAMPS model is developed to solve the problem that exists in many schools and classrooms. According to Evans (2016, p. 1) the number of ISS and OSS cases in schools was rising and teachers were spending more time redirecting students, the quality of instruction becomes less productive. This decrease in the quality of instruction not only negatively affects the students who display problem behaviors, but the whole class. Evans (2016, p.4) also states that a common cycle occurs when teachers try to implement behavioral change in a classroom. The cycle is that a teacher tries to control a problem behavior, this problem behavior continues, the teacher gets frustrated, and the problem behavior ultimately worsens. When implementing CHAMPS for classroom behavior, it works to break this cycle which improves the behavior of the class and ultimately the quality of instruction. 

CHAMPS classroom management can be extremely beneficial to students with problem behaviors. According to Cornett et al. (2009), student’s behavior and achievement is connected. Having the ability to manage students with problem behaviors is also important for teacher retention. Cornett et al. (2009) also found that “ Nearly half of new teachers leave the profession within five years, many citing student misbehavior as a primary reason for leaving.” (p. 93). For this reason, it is important for teachers to deal with negative behaviors in a positive but consistent manner. According to Minnear (2015) “Students who feel valued are more likely to be motivated to engage in appropriate behaviors. Teachers feel more connected to students and provide students with a model of caring social communication.” (p. 30).   According to Evans (2016) “To increase the chances that the flow of instruction is maintained, teachers respond in a brief, calm, and consistent manner building a plan that allows the student to learn and exhibits appropriate behavior.” (p. 83). These are a few of the main reasons that implementing CHAMPS in classroom management is so important for both students and teachers.

Classroom misbehavior will happen occasionally regardless of how well CHAMPS is implemented. Minnear (2015) stated the following:

In the CHAMPS approach, an effective correction is one that reduces the future occurrence of the misbehavior, does not disrupt other students from their work, treats students with dignity and respect, does not reduce student motivation to show positive behavior, and does not jeopardize the positive student-teacher relationship. (p. 30)

Correcting students’ behavior is necessary, but it is also important that when it is done, it is done in a way that helps the student and is not simply punishment. Furthermore, according to Evans (2016) simply punishing a student does not decrease the problem behavior. There are many teachers who use punishment as the only method of classroom management. This can be attributed to the fact that teachers are not being trained to facilitate social-emotional learning, even though there have been numerous studies of the benefits (Trader, 2020, p. 5). It is important for teachers to be educated on proper social-emotional learning. Correcting will be necessary on occasion and it is important to correct in a manner that is in line with the CHAMPS classroom management strategy.

Having clear expectations is an important aspect of classroom management. Using the CHAMPS model, classroom expectations are repeated until they are deep rooted (Trader, 2020, p.10). Students should be taught these expectations daily and the information should be reinforced frequently. These expectations that are set by teachers should be individualized and tailored to meet the needs of the classroom (Trader, 2020, p.9). Minnear’s 2015 dissertation stated that “Communicating the expectations involves actively teaching and reviewing the specific CHAMPS expectations before the class activity or transition, observing student behavior during that time period, and providing immediate feedback to students about their progress in meeting behavioral expectations. (p.29). Another method that is often used is having other students in the classroom model correct expectations until all the students are comfortable with the expectations of the classroom (Trader, 2020, p. 10).

Another critical aspect of CHAMPS classroom management is observing student behavior. Observing the classroom for behavior and student interaction is important, as is collecting data to determine whether the classroom management plan is working (Minnear, 2015, p. 29). Without observing classroom behavior and collecting data, it will be extremely hard to determine if the current method of behavioral management needs to be modified. According to Minnear (2015) the observation included narrative records, event coding systems, and observational rating scales to collect data (p. 32). 

While the CHAMPS model of classroom management is remarkably effective, there are some limitations. One of these limitations about CHAMPS according to Minnear (2015, p. 52) is that much of the research done was in rural white communities. Another limitation is that the research may be skewed by the relationships that the teachers have with students (good or bad). Another limitation according to Evans (2016, p. 32-33) is that a lot of the research involving observations consists of 3–5-month observations which might not be enough. The study also relied on the perception of the teachers which can be unreliable. Finally, there was an assumption that the teachers that participated in the research were fully implementing the CHAMPS model which may not have been the case.

Much of the positive social-emotional learning that students receive begins in early childhood. According to Trader (2020, p. 1-3) early learning is where students can learn physical, intellectual, and social competencies that are needed for school readiness. Students who have not developed socially or emotionally often struggle to form meaningful relationships with peers in school. When students do struggle to develop social-emotional competencies teachers are there to bridge that gap for the students. In these situations, early intervention is necessary, and the intervention should be individualized to the student. Using the CHAMPS model, it makes these interventions more effective. CHAMPS also allows for a framework for teachers, counselors, and parents to follow when trying to promote positive social-emotional development.

In conclusion, if CHAMPS is implemented properly it can be an extremely rewarding model for teachers to use for classroom management. Much of the CHAMPS model’s effectiveness depends on how well it is implemented. According to Minnear (2015, p. 102) when the program is implemented with fidelity it has a much more favorable outcome for both teachers and students. When teachers or administrators learn new techniques, it can be difficult to translate that new knowledge into the classroom because of things like lack of recourses or resistance to change. Due to the challenges with implementing CHAMPS, it is recommended that there be follow-up training and assistance for teachers. Although there may be difficulties when a district or teacher first attempts to implement the CHAMPS model, the students are generally more engaged and perform better academically (Evans, 2016, p. 104).

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