PBIS Lesson Plan - Template Included

They’re all prime times for the same reviews of the same PBIS expectations. Teachers start up the same presentations and recite all the proper ways to behave in classrooms and hallways and cafeterias to the same disinterested groups of students who have heard this particular sermon before. 

Safe, respectful, and responsible is the common refrain in my own classroom where I’ve reviewed these tenets too many times to recall, but the lesson doesn’t always sink in. It is in these moments of floundering with the same tired lines that PBIS lesson plans can freshen your approach to these reviews.

What are PBIS Lesson Plans?

PBIS lesson plans can be approached from two different perspectives: onboarding and ongoing. During the onboarding phase, usually near the beginning of the school year, the lesson plans are vital in communicating the expectations of both the classroom and the school building. 

It is during this time that students are introduced to the approach that works for your school and the lesson plans are geared toward internalizing the simple PBIS examples that you have established as a school. 

Throughout the year, the ongoing phase is simply when those same expectations fit into the ecosystem of your class: responsibility becomes the expectation for arriving to class prepared while respect becomes the expectation for group projects and class discussions and everything has a through line of safety down to the protocols for hall passes. 

To conclude, PBIS lesson plans are whatever you need them to be for whatever you deem appropriate and necessary for your students.

Why You Need Consistent PBIS Lesson Plans

The need for consistency in your PBIS lesson plans is the same concept as the need for consistency in literacy and mathematics instruction. Without consistently revisiting these standards for behavior, students cannot be expected to remember and adhere to them.

Schools often confuse consistency with conformity and this is where PBIS tiers refreshers like those presentations mentioned earlier typically come from. Every teacher presents the same set of slides produced in school colors with students engaging with anything but the expectations.

While direct instruction has its time and place in a classroom, PBIS review day is neither the time nor the place. The consistency you need in your classroom comes from engaging students in the process of defining the expectations and what it means for them each day in your room. 

It comes from allowing them to teach each other and to hold one another accountable; it comes from students practicing the behaviors during the process! You could even include your students in the process of reteaching your PBIS expectations.

Your PBIS Lesson Plan

As you dig into planning your own PBIS lesson, the key component is student involvement. These lessons are a prime opportunity for students to work in a variety of settings as there are adaptable components.

They can be completed individually, in groups, and as a whole class to give each individual student chances to work where they may be comfortable and in situations where they can become more comfortable. In order to get students involved, it is vital for them to have input on the expectations and what they look like in your room. 

For example, students can work with a small group to make a list of what your PBIS expectations may look like to a person visiting the room. Once they’ve established this list, they can confer with other groups to add or delete as necessary before discussing the draft lists as an entire class. 

Another key to your PBIS points in your school is student autonomy. Getting them involved in the process and having them discuss is one thing but allowing your students to truly set the expectations is another. 

This can also be an opportunity for your students to see that you trust them to complete a task and to listen to their ideas in a controlled setting with lower stakes. The independence and freedom to contribute to classroom norms and procedures will go a long way toward having students invested on a daily basis. 

Creativity is another important aspect of your PBIS lesson plan. From having students design posters or writing situational sketches and acting them out, PBIS lessons give you and your students the opportunity to try new things and to see what works. The flexibility in the lesson can help to inform you about other potential ideas you have for your specific content area.

A pleasant surprise that most teachers report is that students typically have the same views that teachers do. My students once decided that safety in the classroom was sometimes as simple as hanging their backpacks on a hook under the table instead of throwing them on the floor. 

That went into our chart of actions without any prompting from me in the front of the room. With the trust that I gave them, they were not only involved but ended up with a lot of the same standards and protocols that I would have given them.

Getting Started With PBIS Lesson Plans

Referring to the PBIS Lesson Plan template provided here can be a great starting point for building the community that you want to see in your classroom. 

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Sharing that vision with your students and allowing them to contribute their own ideas throughout is going to enhance and enrich their experience and help them to build the interpersonal relationships that PBIS already assists with. 

As with any other lesson, remember to make it your own and your students will embrace it.