Teaching Students to Self-Monitor Their Academic & Behavioral ...

Series on Highly Effective Practices—Self Monitoring 15. Teaching Students to Self-Monitor Their Academic & Behavioral PerformanceThe ability of a student to self-monitor his or her performance is a natural step towardbecoming independent, which can only happen when students take responsibility for their ownbehavior and essentially become “agents of change” (Hanson, 1996; Porter, 2002; Rutherford,Quinn, & Mathur, 1996). Self-monitoring is defined as the practice of observing and recordingone’s own academic and social behaviors (Hallahan & Kauffman, 2000; Rutherford, Quinn, &Mathur, 1996; Vaughn, Bos, & Schumm, 2000). Being able to self-monitor reflects a shift fromreinforcement by others to self-reinforcement of appropriate behavior (Hanson, 1996). There area number of systems of self-recording and self-monitoring procedures that stem from socialskills and behavior management programs; however, self-monitoring can also be used effectivelywith academics (Hanson, 1996; Rutherford, Quinn, & Mathur, 1996). Furthermore, selfmonitoringcan be used both to assess where students are functioning academically andbehaviorally and to improve academic or behavioral performance (Carr & Punzo, 1993;Rutherford, Quinn, & Mathur, 1996).Self-monitoring is a strategy that can be used with students of all ages and disabilities(DiGangi, Maag, & Rutherford, 1991), is relatively unobtrusive, appeals to students, and isinexpensive and relatively quick to implement (Carr & Punzo, 1993). Self-monitoring has beenshown to be effective in increasing more appropriate behaviors, increasing on-task behavior inthe classroom, boosting completion of homework assignments, improving both academicperformance and social skills, and reducing disruptive behaviors (Blick, & Test, 1987; Carr &Punzo, 1993; Hallahan & Kauffman, 2000; Rutherford, Quinn, & Mathur, 1996; Schunk, 1997;Smith, 2002; Trammel, Schloss, & Alper, 1994). In addition, self-monitoring actively engagesthe student as a participant in improving his or her behavior (Blick & Test, 1987), thereby

Series on Highly Effective Practices—Self Monitoring 2increasing his or her investment in the process. Finally, self-monitoring techniques is aneffective tool for generalizing and maintaining skills over time, because students can performthem any time and in any setting without needing an adult to help them (Blick & Test, 1987;Rutherford, Quinn, & Mathur, 1996). However, students first need to be taught how to selfmonitortheir academic and social behaviors.To be successful self-monitors, students need to learn to keep track of what they aredoing and how they are thinking so they can adjust their behaviors and thoughts in order to meetgoals or complete tasks (Porter, 2002; Smith, 2002). The first step in teaching students tomonitor themselves is to select and clearly define a target behavior (Carr & Punzo, 1993;Stainback & Stainback, 1980; Vaughn, Bos, & Schumm, 2000). Next, a student or observerrecords instances of the behavior to provide evidence of the problem and its frequency (Carr &Punzo, 1993; Schunk, 1997; Vaughn, Bos, & Schumm, 2000). The next step is to set learningand performance goals and identify consequences for meeting or failing to meet their goals(Schunk, 1997; Vaughn, Bos, & Schumm, 2000). There is then a cognitive component to selfmonitoringbehavior that requires students to talk themselves through a set of instructions (selftalk)for completing a task or to ask themselves a question or series of questions about theirfeelings or behaviors (Brophy, 1996; Kamps & Kay, 2002; Porter, 2002; Smith, 2002). If astudent is monitoring his or her on-task behavior, for example, he or she may ask “Am I ontask?” when a timer goes off and tally the answer on a recording sheet. As the student learns tomonitor his or her performance on a regular basis, the timer is phased out (Blick & Test, 1987).Students can also be taught to ask themselves questions about their academic learning andperformance, such as asking, “How many math problems have I completed in the last 10minutes? How many are correct?” (Carr & Punzo, 1993). If the goal is to monitor reading

Series on Highly Effective Practices—Self Monitoring 3comprehension, a student might be taught to ask, “What am I studying this passage for? What isthe main idea of this paragraph?” (Wong, 1986). Students will need to practice repeatedly eachof these steps and then implement them in actual social or academic situations. These steps caneither be taught by a teacher (Schunk, 1997; Smith, 2002) or with the assistance of peers(Gilberts, 2000). Students must be taught to self-evaluate their success each day (Vaughn, Bos,& Schumm, 2000). The probability of the internalization of these skills increases if the studentparticipates in a structured and predictable school environment. Finally, the teacher should beprepared to periodically introduce a scaled-down version of the original instruction, if there is adecline in these skills.To make self-monitoring most effective, strategies should be used constantly and overtlyat first and then faded to less frequent use and more subtle use across time (Stainback &Stainback, 1980). It is also important to ensure that students have learned the skills andbehaviors that teachers want them to perform as they are using the self-monitoring strategies. Tohelp maintain and generalize positive behavioral changes, self-monitoring should be combinedwith methods that allow students to evaluate themselves against their earlier performance and toreinforce themselves for their successes (Goldstein, Harootunian, & Conoley, 1994; Hallahan &Kauffman, 2000; Porter, 2002; Schunk, 1997; Smith, 2002; Stainback & Stainback, 1980;Vaughn, Bos, & Schumm, 2000). Cognitive strategies such as “self-talk” (e.g. “hey—good job”or “I knew I could do it”) are especially useful.Catherine Hoffman Kaser, M.A.

Series on Highly Effective Practices—Self Monitoring 4References and Additional Sources of InformationBlick, D. W., & Test, D. W. (1987). Effects of self-recording on high-school students’ on-taskbehavior. Learning Disability Quarterly, 10(3), 203-213.Brophy, J. (1996). Teaching problem students. New York: The Guilford Press.Carr, S. C., & Punzo, R. P. (1993). The effects of self-monitoring of academic accuracy andproductivity on the performance of students with behavioral disorders. BehaviorDisorders, 18(4), 241-50.DiGangi, S. A., Maag, J. W., & Rutherford, R. B. (1991). Self-graphing of on-task behavior:Enhancing the reactive effects of self-monitoring of on-task behavior and academicperformance. Learning Disability Quarterly, 14(3), 221-230.Gilberts, G. H. (2000, March). The effects of peer-delivered self-monitoring strategies on theparticipation of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Paperpresented at Capitalizing on Leadership in Rural Special Education: Making a Differencefor Children and Families, Alexandria, VA.Goldstein, A. P., Harootunian, B., & Conoley, J. C. (1994). Student aggression: Prevention,management, and replacement training. New York: The Guildford Press.Hallahan, D. P., & Kauffman, J. M. (2000). Exceptional learners: Introduction to specialeducation (8 th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Hanson, M. (1996). Self-management through self-monitoring. In K. Jones & T. Charlton(Eds.), Overcoming learning and behaviour difficulties: Partnership with pupils (pp.173-191). London: Routledge.Kamps, D. M., & Kay, P. (2002). Preventing problems through social skills instruction. In B.

Series on Highly Effective Practices—Self Monitoring 5Algozzine, & P. Kay (Eds.), Preventing problem behaviors: A handbook of successfulprevention strategies (pp. 57-84). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.Porter, L. (2002). Cognitive skills. In L. Porter (Ed.), Educating young children with specialneeds (pp. 191-209). Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.Rutherford, R. B., Quinn, M. M., & Mathur, S. R. (1996). Effective strategies for teachingappropriate behaviors to children with emotional/behavioral disorders. Reston, VA:Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders.Schunk, D. H. (1997, March). Self-monitoring as a motivator during instruction withelementary school students. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the AmericanEducational Research Association, Chicago, IL.Smith, S. W. (2002). Applying cognitive-behavioral techniques to social skills instruction.ERIC/OSEP digest. Arlington, VA: ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and GiftedEducation.Stainback, S., & Stainback, W. (1980). Educating children with severe maladaptive behaviors.New York: Grune & Stratton.Trammel D. L., Schloss, P. T., & Alper, S. (1994). Using self-recording, evaluation, andgraphing to increase completion of homework assignments. Journal of LearningDisabilities, 27(2), 75-81.Vaughn, S., Bos, C. S., & Schumm, J. S. (2000). Teaching exceptional, diverse, and at-riskstudents in the general education classroom (2 nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Wong, B. Y. L. (1986). Instructional strategies for enhancing learning disabled students’reading comprehension and comprehension test performance. Canadian Journal forExceptional Children, 2(4), 128-132.