PBIS and Classroom Management with AI

TL;DR

(Instructional Guidance, Transcript, and Prompts below)

AI can be used to strengthen Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) by helping teachers create tools that promote self-reflection, collaboration, and consistency in student behavior management.

Strategies for Using AI

• Clarify Expectations: Teachers use AI to generate behavior rubrics outlining key indicators and performance levels. These rubrics help students understand expectations, reflect on their actions, and set improvement goals.
• Encourage Reflection: The process includes sections for teacher appreciation and student goal setting, fostering positive communication and a growth mindset rather than punitive feedback.
• Build Team Collaboration: AI assists in developing group-based PBIS tools where students track team scores, share accountability, and reflect weekly on how they can support each other, integrating gamified motivation and peer cooperation.
• Engage Families: AI can also generate clear, supportive parent letters that explain the system and invite families to reinforce positive behaviors at home.

Outcome

This approach uses AI to simplify planning, create structured and consistent tools, and foster a collaborative culture of reflection and improvement—benefiting classroom climate, behavior, and learning engagement.

Instructional and Pedagogical Implications

Pedagogical and Implementation Strategies for Using AI in PBIS

AI can strengthen classroom management within PBIS frameworks by supporting collaboration, reflection, and consistency. Teachers can co-develop behavior rubrics with colleagues and students to build shared expectations and ownership. Reflection should be embedded in daily routines, using tools such as “Something I appreciate about you” and “What I will try next” to promote growth mindset and self-awareness.

Organizing students into teams encourages peer accountability and empathy while fostering positive group dynamics. Teachers can gamify progress tracking to motivate collaboration and celebrate improvement rather than perfection. Consistent behavioral categories and clear communication with families ensure continuity between classroom and home expectations.

AI serves as a co-planning partner—use it to draft tools like rubrics, reflection forms, and parent letters, then refine them collaboratively to fit developmental and contextual needs. The goal is not to automate management but to enhance professional practice, helping teachers focus on relationships, positive reinforcement, and student engagement.

Using AI to Implement PBIS Strategies

Teachers can use AI to design and refine tools that support PBIS practices. AI can generate behavioral rubrics that define expectations, reflection prompts that encourage student self-assessment, and letters that explain the process to families. Teachers can adjust these outputs collaboratively to match their students’ needs and school culture.

AI can also create templates for team-based scoring and reward systems that promote cooperation and shared responsibility. By using AI to streamline planning and documentation, teachers can devote more time to guiding reflection, modeling positive behavior, and strengthening classroom relationships.

Full Transcript and Prompts

Let’s talk classroom management. And specifically, let me show you a couple of ways, a strategy that we can use AI to help us improve our own classroom management, help students reflect on their behaviors, and set goals and strategies for improvements.

What I’m going to show you is a multi-part process for helping to clarify expectations for students, helping them to um reflect on their own behavior, self-monitor, and to collaboratively help one another as well.

This strategy is going to be embedded within a PBIS system, the positive behavior intervention system strategy.

Step 1: Create Behavior Rubric

What we’re going to do first of all is we’re going to use the AI to create a rubric of various behavioral indicators levels and then provide some student and teacher reflection on it.

Use AI to Create a Rubric of Behavior Expectations

So here’s the first prompt of this strategy behavioral rubric for second grade. You’ll modify as you need to.

PROMPT

I would like a behavioral rubric for 2nd grade students to help them self-monitor behavior. The rubric should have at least 5 categories of behavioral indicators and 5 levels per indicator. Format this rubric as a table.

After the rubric, include a place for teacher comments titled “Something I appreciate about you” and a place for student comments titled “What I will try next”.

After the comment section, add a table to put the scores for each indicator and a total score. Follow this with a scoring guide with positive messages for each range of scores.

Likely this is something you’re going to work on with your colleagues and you might even work on developing the indicators with your students as well so that they have some buy into the overall process. So, we need a rubric.

Include Reflection for Teacher and Students

Then, below the rubric, we need a place for the teacher and for the student to do some reflection.

For the teacher, we’re going to say, “Something I appreciate about you.” Because even the kids that are naughty, there will be something that we can find that say, “You know what, naughtiness aside, I still like you and I like this about you specifically.”

And a place for the students as well: “What I will try next.”

Okay, so we’ve got rubric. We’ve got a comment section.

Create Self-scoring Guide

Then we need a scoring guide with some positive feedback for each range of scores. So let’s start there.

Let me grab all of this and jump over to ChatGPT. Drop it into place and go. It will take a moment to do this.

As it’s thinking, you will need to consider different ways that you can set up this rubric. For example:

• Are there some specific areas that you want to address in your classroom with your classroom or classroom management?
• Are there some consistencies across your colleagues, which is a best practice as well? So every kid in every classroom has the same understanding of what constitutes desired behavior.

Then you can also work with this on your students and have them score themselves. Review the rubric, score themselves and reflect on what they would like to do, some improvements they’d like to see.

Okay. ChatGPT has created it for me for me, developmentally appropriate.

Frankly, this looks a bit like a mess because it’s formatted the table in HTML, which is a little awkward, a little weird, but we can fix that. I’m just going to say…

PROMPT

Prepare this as a Word document for download with formatting.

So, it’s going to think for a moment. And while it’s thinking, I’ve already done this. So, let me just show you what it came up with. And it’s pretty nice, actually.

Rubric Review

So, here we have our behavioral rubric. We’ve got our indicators down here. We’ve got our five categories and what the criteria are for each level, each score per category. Very nice.

Then we’ve got our teacher comments and student comments. We’ve got our scoring tables where the student can add up or you can add up the scores, and then something to say about each level, all the way up from an amazing job.

And if the student gets the lowest possible score, let’s make a fresh start. We’ll work on it together. Okay?

So, we’re don’t have to tell kids,

• “You’re a bad kid.”

We can say,

• “Look, you kind of blew it here, but let’s keep going, and I will help you.”

Which is a very nice way to frame some of those behavioral, for lack of a better term, behavioral criticism. “You need help. I’m here to help you. Let’s do it together.”

Okay, so that’s part one. Now, part two.

Step 2: Embed Behavior Rubric in PBIS

The follow-up within the same discussion thread is we want to embed this into a bigger system, a gamified system. And we want students to work collaboratively around shared behavioral goals. So it’s not just “Here’s what I do and here’s how I did,” but “How can we help each other?” which also promotes better behavior, better collaboration, cooperation, etc.

Prompt for Gamifying the PBIS Behavior Rubric

PROMPT

I want to embed this rubric into a PBIS system. Students are organized into teams of 4. Each week, we will add up the team points by student and indicator. Format this as a table.

Follow the scoring table with a scoring guide for the entire team per indicator, plus a total points received by the team. Format this scoring guide as a table.

For each range of scores, suggest a positive feedback comment and propose 2 rewards.

At the bottom, include a place for students to make a comment.

Title this “How we will help each other next week.”

So we’re going to embed this into a PBIS system. We’ve got kids in teams of four. Every week we’re going to add them up. We’re going to do a scoring guide. Very similar things to what we did for the individual. Then for each range, positive feedback and propose two rewards.

Now, I’m not going to give any ideas to the AI about what those rewards might be, but I think that that’s an area where you’re going to want to think pretty carefully and maybe even work with the kids. “Hey, if your team scores here, what would be a good reward?” or here or here or here or all the way down because obviously you want the rewards to get bigger and more desirable the higher number of team points.

Then we’re going to follow it up as before with reflection.

And the reflection is this for the team to do their own scoring and then come up with a single sentence of how we will help each other next week. We’re going to do it on a Friday. “How can we help each other next week” and get some shared responsibility in there.

Creating the Rubric for Collaborative Behavior Management

So there’s our behavioral rubric, and go.

So this takes some initial planning. If you want specific indicators or specific rewards, you will simply include that into the prompt for the highest level. These are the rewards for the next level. These are the rewards. And we’re going to have it create that tool for us that we can use with our students.

After this, we’re going to have one last thing to do.

Interestingly, it did not display it. It went ahead and just gave me the download right away. That’s fine. Here is what it produced.

Weekly behavior, team, week of, etc.

Then we’ve got a place for each indicator, each student scores, and a total for that indicator and a place to put in the overall points.

So, how do they do? Here are our ranges, feedback, rewards for each group.

I asked the AI to propose two. We might just select one out of those options and how we will help each other next week. So really good resource that we can use right away as a part of our strategies for include improving overall classroom management student behavior.

Step 3: Notifying Parents

But I think there’s one thing that we need to do with this if we’re going to institute something this major into our process and the way we interact with students.

Creating a Parent Letter with AI

One thing I would recommend we add to this is make sure the parents know what it is that we’re doing.

PROMPT

Now, I need a letter to parents to help them understand this process and its value. encourage home support for our initiative [because we need to explain it to them].

Now, if you already have a PBIS system in place, hopefully you’ve already communicated it to the parents, but if not, this is a nice way to keep parents informed and to garner their support.

Okay, each week, five areas, and rubrics. You would want to provide a copy of the rubrics with this letter so they can see the resources that you’re going to be using, what it helps them to learn, and how you can help your child at home.

Conclusion

A very nice way, a very nice approach for getting AI to assist you with your classroom management because ultimately we know that when students are engaged and interactive and using pro-social behaviors, they’re in a place where they’re able to learn.

And that ultimately is what we want them to do.

Thanks. I hope you found it useful.

Transcript Outline

Outline of Video Transcript: “Quick Tips for PBIS and Classroom Management”

1. Introduction to Classroom Management Strategy
   1. Purpose and Overview
      • Use AI to improve classroom management.
      • Help students reflect on behaviors and set improvement goals.
      • Support collaboration and self-monitoring among students.
   2. Connection to PBIS System
      • Integrate strategy within the Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS).
      • Encourage positive reinforcement and structured reflection.
2. First Step: Creating the Behavioral Rubric
   1. Purpose of the Rubric
      • Clarify behavior expectations for students.
      • Provide self-monitoring and teacher feedback opportunities.
      • Enable collaborative development of behavioral indicators.
   2. AI Prompt for Rubric Creation
      • Create a behavioral rubric for 2nd grade students.
      • Include 5 behavioral indicators with 5 levels each.
      • Add teacher comment section: “Something I appreciate about you.”
      • Add student reflection section: “What I will try next.”
      • Include a scoring table and positive feedback guide by score range.
   3. Teacher and Student Reflection
      • Teachers highlight student strengths (“Something I appreciate about you”).
      • Students set personal goals (“What I will try next”).
   4. Scoring Guide and Positive Framing
      • Provide positive messages for each scoring range.
      • Encourage growth mindset: “Let’s make a fresh start. We’ll work on it together.”
   5. Key Considerations
      • Collaborate with colleagues for consistent expectations.
      • Ensure rubric is developmentally appropriate.
      • Allow students to participate in defining expectations.
3. Second Step: Embedding in a PBIS Team System
   1. Team-Based Approach
      • Students organized into teams of four.
      • Weekly team scores tracked by student and indicator.
      • Focus on shared responsibility and teamwork.
   2. AI Prompt for PBIS Integration
      • Create a table for weekly team scoring by indicator.
      • Provide a team scoring guide with feedback and rewards.
      • Include two positive rewards for each scoring range.
      • Add reflection section titled “How we will help each other next week.”
   3. Student Reflection and Collaboration
      • Teams reflect on their collective behavior and set shared goals.
      • Encourage weekly reflection and planning on Fridays.
   4. Customization and Rewards
      • Teachers can define custom indicators and rewards.
      • Students may contribute ideas for desirable rewards.
4. Third Step: Communicating with Parents
   1. Purpose of Parent Communication
      • Inform parents about the behavioral rubric and PBIS process.
      • Encourage family support for behavioral goals.
   2. AI Prompt for Parent Letter
      • Generate a letter explaining the classroom management strategy.
      • Describe how the system supports student learning and growth.
      • Encourage collaboration between home and school.
   3. Supporting Materials for Parents
      • Include copies of the rubrics with the parent letter.
      • Explain how parents can reinforce positive behaviors at home.
   4. Outcome
      • Promotes engagement and positive behavior.
      • Fosters cooperation among students, teachers, and families.
5. Conclusion
   1. AI-assisted classroom management helps clarify expectations.
   2. Supports reflection, teamwork, and positive reinforcement.
   3. Enhances overall learning environment through engagement and collaboration.