KAPPA DELTA PI RECORD • FALL 2006 39 GATEWAYS TO EXPERIENCE

The challenges of classroom man-agement can cause teachers, as well as administrators, much distress. Though a great deal of advice is available on behavior management, the sheer volume of information may be overwhelming—adding to an educator’s angst. After years of working with chil-dren and adolescents with behavior problems, this practitioner developed an easy-to-remember acronym for techniques in classroom manage-ment. The acronym PRAISE can assist educators in planning, organiz-ing, and evaluating successful behav-ior management. Being Proactive, using Reinforcements, Assessing and analyzing the Intent of misbehavior, being Sincere, and Empowering stu-dents are the keys to a positive and structured classroom environment (See Table 1). The acronym serves as a quick guide to the appropriate steps in helping a student with challenging behavioral problems. The guide is not intended to be an exhaustive review. Further research, study, and practice will strengthen the success of these ideologies and their application. Proactive Proactive (the “P ” in PRAISE) be-havior management is the primar