1. PROMOTING
INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOR
IN THE CLASSROOM

2. Six Characteristics of
Intelligent Behavior Promotion
in the Classroom

3. Intelligent Behavior
The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge,
especially toward a purposeful goal.

4. Creating, Imagining, and
Innovating
All students must be encouraged to learn
Student’s should be discouraged from saying “I can’t”
Students must be encouraged to not rely completely on
outside sources
Teachers must offer constructive criticism in a way that the
student understands the criticism (and does not take the
criticism as how they view themselves)
Students need to learn how to value feedback
Students must learn to value their intuition and realize they
are capable of learning anything they put their mind and
heart in.

5. Examples of supporting this
characteristic in your
classroom
Give writing assignments that let the student
express their personality and values
Use open ended questions where there is no
right or wrong answer
Use positive reinforcement, for example: when a
student is wrong, instead of saying “no” point out
something they said right and thank them for
giving it a try

6. Listening with Understanding
and Empathy
Psychologists believe that listening to others, empathizing
and understanding points of views is one of the highest
forms of intelligent behavior.
Empathic behavior is the opposite of egoism (which is
important for conflict resolution)
Listening and understanding thinking is used in class
discussions, brainstorming activities, think tanks,
community meetings, advisory councils, board meetings
and even legislative bodies
Sharing thinking, exploring ideas, and broadening
perspectives is done by listening to the ideas and reactions
of others

7. Examples supporting this
characteristic in your
classroom
Conducting class meetings for students to share
their opinions and ideas
Reminding students of how this will be valued in
the future

8. Managing Impulsivity
Students start out in school without impulsive control
Impulsive control is to develop an act of thinking
before doing
Students can be taught to think before shouting out
an answer, wait their turn, raise their hands to be
called on before answering, and think before
beginning a project on task and before coming to a
conclusion without the correct evidence
Research show that the quality of one’s emotional
intelligence is a significant prediction of success in
the workplace

9. Examples of supporting this
characteristic in your
classroom
Routinely expect a show of students hands
before acknowledging a response to the question
(such as the classic count to five before calling
on a student)
Do not encourage shouting out (ignore or correct
this student)
Encourage positive reactions to students with
impulse control
Show disapproval if a student continues to act
out and not use thinking/ impulse skills

10. Remaining Open to
Continuous Learning
Intelligent people are always learning
Intelligent people will openly take in new
information
They will not be firm to sticking to only what they
know and follow
They will take new ideas from everyone, when
offered
Eager to learn and find new ways

11. Examples of supporting this
characteristic in your
classroom
Try other peoples ideas
Attend workshops, classes and use what you
learned in your classroom
Listen and apply other teachers techniques

12. Drawing on Knowledge and
Applying it.
Students should be drawing on knowledge and then
applying it to new situation.
Teachers aim to prepare students for the “real world”
in their classroom.
Students should apply school-learned knowledge to
real-life situations.
Students should develop skills on how to use
knowledge and apply that knowledge to new
situations.
Students must practice problem recognition, problem
solving, and project-based learning.

13. Examples of supporting this
characteristic in your
classroom
Project-based learning in foods/nutrition class,
for example; students working on a personal
dietary plan and implementing practice in their
everyday lifestyle.

14. Finding Humor
Humor can release creativity and provides high-
level thinking skills.
Anticipation and visual imagery are formed.
Creative young people succeed on finding humor
when problem solving.

15. Examples of supporting this
characteristic in your
classroom
Rewrite a familiar song to incorporate facts your students
are learning. (For example, rewrite "Row, Row, Row Your
Boat," replacing the simple lyrics with more difficult
synonyms from your students' vocabulary list.)
Put up a bulletin board and invite students to bring in
humorous portrayals of a subject they're studying. (For
example, jokes, cartoons, limericks, and so on.)
Create puns and mix metaphors when discussing a subject
of study, and have your students create their own. This
exercises their creativity as well as checking for
comprehension. In the words of humor educator Joel
Goodman, "Humor and creativity are intimately related --
there is a connection between HAHA and AHA."

16. In teaching for thinking, teachers need to be interested in
how students produce knowledge rather than how the
students merely reproduce it. Intelligent behavior is
performed in response to questions and problems, the
answers to which are NOT immediately known. Teachers
must be interested in focusing on student performance
under those challenging conditions that demand strategic
reasoning, insightfulness, perseverance, creativity, and
craftsmanship to resolve complex problems.

17. Resources
• Chapter 3- Secondary School Teaching
• www.ascd.org