We see that in the best of times, disruptive student behaviors are challenging to effectively act on as well, And now, we see that this is compounded by our current reality: a traumatic time during which many of us are just trying to hang on and stay in the profession, especially that has reduced our patience, taxed our energy, as well as increased our reactivity. So maybe we can think differently about these behaviors as well.
We see that maybe we can be proactive as well. We see that the first step in being proactive might be the easiest as well as identifying challenging behaviors as well as their effects on the classroom. They know exactly what I’m talking about as well. We see that challenging behaviors can manifest academically as well as missing deadlines, and plagiarism as well. We see that they can manifest socially as by side conversations, and defiance as well.
We see that they can manifest emotionally or apathy, and negativity as well. We see that they can manifest quietly or loudly as well. And more often than not, they can manifest repeatedly as well. This has to be taken care of in a Live teaching appor Online teaching as well. We see that while it can be easy to remain stuck in the first step of identification, to be proactive we must move to the second step of reflection as well.
We see that we must treat each behavior as both adaptive as well as communicative. This reflection is twofold: examining the student as well as ourselves. We see that students act the way they do because it serves them in some capacity as well. How is their behavior serving them is the question we ask? What is driving their behavior as well? At times, we see that this can be simple. Much more complicated is the task of examining ourselves as a responsible party in these exchanges as well. More often than not, we realize that these behaviors that challenge us mirror us.
Again, we see that these behaviors are both adaptive as well as communicative. How is the innate response to this student serving them? What is it about the behavior that grates on me so as well? We ask, what does this response communicate about them? Addressing student behaviors without this important step of reflection often for both parties is short-sighted at best as well as ineffective at worst. We see that once they have hypothesized underlying motives for the behaviors, as well as our contributions then to be proactive they must approach the student about the behavior as well.
We see that the most important consideration in this regard is our intention as well. They use restorative practices as a frame, reminding them that their ultimate goal is a relationship. This means they approach students with curiosity as well as humility. We see that curiosity allows them to ask questions and listen rather than fix or criticize as well.
We see that humility allows several benefits: One, they can let go of “proving the record” as well as instead build the relationship; two, they can speak with a language that demonstrates they also are taking responsibility; and three, it ensures that they are conversing with the student rather than coming at them as well. We see as in any situation where a human feels threatened, a student backed into a corner with accusations rather than invited into a relationship through curiosity as well as humility will close up or act out as well. After they have reflected and approached the student, we see the real work begins.
We see that this is where my integrity and trustworthiness as a teacher are tested as well as rightfully so by students demonstrating challenging behaviors as well. Did they mean what they said about wanting to take responsibility, as well as understand the student, as well as build a meaningful relationship with them? We see that to walk the talk, the next step in being proactive, here are some practices to connect with students as well.
We see that survey students with academic as well as non-academic questions: and use the surveys for one-on-one conversations, such as fun class trivia games, grouping as well as seating arrangements, sport, club attendance, etc. But most importantly, we can use the survey data. We see that the students who are surveyed without ever having that data shared with them as well as acted upon are just guinea pigs. We observe more, as well as talk less: we see that where students demonstrate different behaviors than they do in their class.
They must watch students interact in peer groups as well. We see that the biggest mistake we can make when dealing with challenging behaviors is seeing the student who demonstrates them in a vacuum as well. We see that they can complement students as well. We see that sometimes a light comment about cool new shoes is the only positive message that a student receives in a day as well. We see that compliments communicate to students that they are seen as well as support students. We see that while sometimes the root cause of challenging behaviors lies beyond an educator’s purview, often we see that it is related to some personal struggle with the content as well.
Sometimes the clear as well as consistent expectations, easy-to-follow directions, chunked instruction, continued check-ins, just-right scaffolding as well as differentiation. We see that the best pedagogical practices such as these mitigate the worst behaviors as well. We see that elevate students as well. Often, we see that students act out to earn attention as well. We see that offering students who display challenging behaviors leadership opportunities in class is a way to reframe their peer influence from class clown to class champion as well. This can help them achieve the desired class of well-mannered students as well.