This document outlines the technique of positive framing to correct student behavior. It discusses six rules for positive framing: 1) live in the now, 2) assume the best, 3) allow plausible anonymity, 4) build momentum and narrate the positive, 5) challenge students, and 6) talk expectations and aspirations. The goal is to frame corrections and praise in a positive manner that guides students to improved learning and behavior.

1. POSITIVE FRAMING
TECHNIQUE 43
Making interventions to correct student
behavior in a positive and constructive
way

2. Positive Framing argues that your interventions will be
far more effective if they frame positively.
Example: If David is off task, it will not be sufficient merely to
praise Kelsey for being on task. Rather, you should correct
David in a positive manner.
The greatest power of Positive Framing is
its capacity to allow you to talk about
nonconstructive behavior consistently and
correct it positively so that you guide students
to improved knowledge and action.

3. Positive Framing
Make corrections consistently and
positively. Narrate the world you
want your students to see even
while you are relentlessly
improving it.
It corrects and guides behavior by
following six rules

4. Rule #1
Live in the
Now
• avoid harping on what students can no longer fix.
• you should focus corrective interactions on the
things students should do right now to succeed
from this point forward.
Example:
• Say, “Keana, I need your eyes forward,” not, “Keana, stop looking
back at Tanya.”

5. • Don’t attribute to ill intention what could be the
result of distraction, lack of practice, or genuine
misunderstanding.
Rule #2
Assume
the Best
• One particularly effective way to assume the best
is to thank students as you give them a command.
This again underscores your assumption that they
will follow through. “Thank you for taking your seats
in 3-2-1…”

6. Allow students the opportunity to strive to reach your
expectations in plausible anonymity as long as they
are making a good-faith effort.
Rule #3
Allow
Plausible
anonymity
Example:
“Some people didn’t manage to follow directions
the whole way, so let’s try that again.” When there is
no good-faith
This method allows administer many consequences
while preserving anonymity:

7. Rule #4
Build
momentum
and narrate
the positive
Example:
In the world of sports, momentum, the force that
drives some teams forward to great achievements
on a tide of energy, is sometimes known as “Big Mo.”
Everybody wants Big Mo, but only some people
know how to get it to show up. Compare the
statements two teachers recently made in their
respective classrooms:

8. 1.Teacher 1
(Stopping before giving a direction) I need three people. Make sure you fix it if that’s you!
Now I need two. We’re almost there. Ah, thank you. Let’s get started
1.Teacher 2
(Same setting) I need three people. And one more student doesn’t seem to understand the
directions, so now I need four. Some people don’t appear to be listening. I am waiting,
gentlemen. If I have to give detentions, I will.
Review the example of teacher 1 and teacher 2 now ask yourself which
behavior is displayed in your classroom and why?

9. Perception, it turns out, is reality. Great teachers
conjure Big Mo by normalizing the positive. They
draw attention to the good and the getting better.
Narrating your weakness makes your weakness seem
normal.
Example:
If you say, “Some students didn’t do what I asked,”
you have made that situation public.
Now your choice is consequence or countenance.

10. Kids love to be challenged, to prove they can do
things, to compete, to win.
Rule #5
Challenge
SO CHALLENGE THEM
•Against other groups within the class
•Against other groups outside the class (the other homeroom)
•Against an impersonal foe (the clock; the test, to prove they’re
better than it; their age—“
Example
“Ms. Austin said she didn’t think you guys could knock out your math tables louder than her
class. And they’re sitting across the hall right now. Let’s show ’em what we’ve got.”

11. Rule #6
Talk expectations
and aspirations
Talk about who your students are becoming and where
you’re going. Frame praise in those terms. When your class
looks great, tell them they look like “college scholars,” and
you feel as if you’re sitting in the room with future
presidents, doctors, and artists.
The goal in the end is not for them to please you but
for them to leave you behind on a long journey
toward a more distant and more important goal
than making you happy. It’s useful if your praise sets
a goal larger than your own opinion.
Example
Finish an activity by saying, “If you finish early, check your work. Make sure you get 100 percent today

12. Keep their eyes on the prize by constantly referring to it.
Keep positive by avoiding two things
1. Rhetorical questions. Don’t ask questions that you don’t want an
answer to
Example:
Don’t make a charade by asking, “Would you like to join us, David?”
Just say, “Thank you for joining us on the rug, David.”
2.
Contingencies. Don’t say, “I’ll wait,” unless you will. The point is that
you won’t. “We [or I] need you with us” is much more productive,
positive, and strong.