This paper tries to remind teachers that we have to look beyond the behavior and solve the real cause of disobedience. Patience and calmness lies at the core of understanding the students.
If students don’t like a subject and misbehave in class, there is no solution in sending them to the principal. Maybe for a session or two they would keep calm but afterwards they would start again. Repeating the procedure will make them realize that they can avoid the class by behaving badly . This is called negative reinforcement. The purpose is to reduce the behavior by engaging the students in the teaching – learning process. We can assess easy, funny tasks and after they finish it we have to praise them immediately. The appreciation must come right after the task so students can get the sense of fulfillment. The students notice they can be part of that class and the positive reinforcement, which is the praise, will motivate them onwards. The consequence is that they will be willing to be part of the classes and they have to be supported to do so, irrespective of the correctness of their answer. Thus, the three direct actors will benefit: the disruptive child who experiments a sense of achievement, the group of children who can learn in a productive environment and the teacher who can conduct the learning process more smoothly.
A disruptive student may lack various pieces of knowledge so there should be much need of support for the child to give proper answers. The teacher’s correction should be offered delicately, and after a while the praise should be uttered only when the task is well done. We can still motivate them with positive phrases, like: “I know you can do better”. This method is called positive reinforcement. Both positive and negative reinforcements aim at decreasing the behavior but, while the positive one tries to give a new perspective for an undesired stimulus (a subject they don’t like/understand) the negative reinforcement teaches the students that if they continue the behavior they will avoid the stimulus (being sent to the principal, consequently not attending class).
The students’ behaviour is always a means to attract attention, especially bad behavior. A student can unconsciously behave badly when they have to cope with problems within the family or the group of friends. In addition, the changes in their body could also determine them to act out, for them not even acknowledging the rudeness in their voice, the misdemeanor, the decline in their concentration or their learning acquisition. They need to see that teachers stay calm and manage their misconduct and that teachers don’t hold any grudge on them.
Teachers can conceive observation sheets in order to identify the behavior, to determine if it needs to be changed and to decide what to do. We have to keep in mind always to address the behavior and not the students so as not to lower their self-esteem. We should collect some data about the students’ conduct taking into account several aspects:
- Repeatability
- Duration: per session and per occurrence
- Stability
- Trend
When we address the behavior, we must pay attention to what triggers it. We can do that by briefly taking notes and then we can keep track by filling a chart. After some classes we analyze the chart and come up with a hypothesis. Afterwards we think about the intervention plan and we continue to monitor the behavior during the intervention. This part should focus on finding activities to stimulate the student to actively participate in class. Moreover, the case ought to be presented to fellow teachers to notice which subjects the child misbehaves at, what activities he/she prefers and the exact language and gestures the child uses to attract attention.
If the behavior is dangerous to self or to other people then we should apply the School’s Rules and speak to the parents, too.
Reference
www.coursera.org/course/behaviorprinciples