The Students

Education and Schools.

Lets See How Much Time We Can Waste

The Four Major Causes Of Misbehavior

If we could learn to handle the misbehaviors resulting from these
four causes, the majority of our classroom discipline problems would be resolved.

Attention:
Most students gain attention through normal channels. However, for
some students, misbehaving is the only way of gaining attention. Most commonly, these students are the ones who speak out without
permission, arrive late for class, or make strange noises which force class or teacher attention. They are all misbehaving for the purpose of gaining attention. Attention is the need which must be met. If they cannot get attention in appropriate ways, they will misbehave.
Remember, giving attention reduces potential problems and cures
current ones. You can identify Attention as the cause for
inappropriate behavior by the feeling the behavior generates within you. When Attention is the reason for the misbehavior, you will
generally feel Annoyed.

Power:
We all have the need for power. Students express this need by open
dissent, by refusal to follow rules, or by being controversial.
Remember, these students usually feel defeated if they do as they are told. They truly feel that more power is the answer to all their problems. If they cannot gain power in appropriate ways, they will fight to gain it in inappropriate ways. You can identify Power as the cause for inappropriate behavior by the feelings the behavior generates within you. When Power is the reason for the misbehavior, you will generally feel Threatened.

Revenge:
There are some students who find their places by being disliked,
feared, or hated. Failure has made them give up trying to gain
attention or power via socially acceptable methods. Unfortunately,
they find personal satisfaction in being mean, vicious, and violent. The purpose of their misbehavior is revenge. They are also the students who write on desks, beat up classmates, threaten younger students, cause constant controversy, mark rest room walls, and damage others' personal property. If you have students who fall into misbehaving because they are seeking revenge, realize that only appropriate success will change them. You can identify Revenge as the cause of inappropriate behavior by the feeling the behavior generates within you. When Revenge is the cause of the misbehavior, you will generally feel fearful or Angry.

Self Confidence:
Students who lack self-confidence honestly expect failure. They
frustrate teachers because they are often capable of handling their studies successfully. Again, only success can change these students' academic self-image. You can identify Lack of Self-Confidence as the cause of the inappropriate behavior by the feeling the behavior generates within you. When Lack of Self-Confidence is the cause of the misbehavior, you will generally feel Frustrated.

Some students love to challenge a teacher.

These students are generally not interested in the subject and somehow the interest has to be created before the student settles down to work co-operatively.

Asking Questions...Often innocent questions are used by students to set the teacher up.

Understand the interest of students to find out something about a teacher's private life.

When teaching try not to to be smart tracked by a snide comments designed to lead teachers off track. The student always asking questions may need something more than just an answer.

This is often a call for attention and somehow this has to be controlled without losing the students right to ask questions, and one needs to also respect the other students right to learn.

Arguing...There is the student who insists on arguing every statement from 'Good Morning' to 'Have you started yet?' and the continual on and on is distracting and annoying and if asked to leave, more back chat follows..Avoid confrontations and don't get led into arguments with the students as these are usually designed to waste class time.

Attitude...There are older students who have an attitude problem. You turn up full of enthusiasm and one smart remark puts you back and suddenly, you are pushing work at the students to keep them busy. Students with an attitude are displaying another problem...their own inability to mould to what is expected.

Incident developers...There are always one or two in each class that somehow seem to have an incredible ability to instigate incidents that create catastrophy, from inate situations to sometimes volatile ones, and the targets are generally the more loving and gentle teachers who get targetted because they are seen as not able to cope.

They degenerate some potentially successful teaching situations and once the incline is reached, it becomes difficult to enthuse the students again, or rather it is possible but difficult.

Behaviour Management...Schools need to implement behaviour management programs that support teaching staff, and this is what is being done in many schools.

Difficult Students (and Teachers too.)

These are found equally in the better schools as in the schools where problems are expected. Nestling within the classes are some students that are difficult to teach. They cause disruptions and are always the ones getting most of the attention.

1. The attention getter. This one starts talking from the moment the class begins and talks at the teacher asking question after question. You answer and move to the next question and the first one's hand is already up.

2. The Sneak. This one incites others and it takes a while before you somehow catch on that the student reprimanded is not the culprit. The true problem is the quiet one you have never seen ,or heard, do anything out of place.

3. The Whiner. This student is always complaining. If you send them to the school nurse all the time you are wasting their class time, if you don't, you can be reprimanded for lack of care. They always have something wrong with their body, their book or writing materials.

4.The tittle tattle. This one is always telling tales and would be the company spy if this was permitted. Everything you do or say gets back to someone somewhere sometime and having one in the class becomes a chore, as suddenly you have to watch more carefully everything you say..not that you wouldn't in today's world anyway

5. The Sexist. Always listening for things you are not saying and waiting for something that can be made an issue of.

6. The Threatener. . This one threatens one's own identity..'You are not doing this properly.." and suddenly you are not sure whether you are or not.

Teachers are always getting threatened and are afraid to speak out because of repercussions. Male teachers are especially vunerable .

7. The Toilet Goer. This one constantly goes to the toilet. If you don't let them go, you are not considerate of their needs and they may have a problem. A problematic girl will always hang her head and mention her 'periods' and immediately you feel guilty. Currently I am solving this by having students write their name down and time out, and in, every time and blaming it on 'school requirements'. It has lessened the times out for some and at least gives me a permanent record in my day diary of who was out and when.

8. The Give-me-a-Hearing. This one is always calling out or if you have managed to train them to putting hand up first, like I have now done, the hand is always up.

Teaching is like climbing a mountain...

.. but when you get there the view is always worth it.

Rise Above the Pettiness of the Day.

It is easy to say this but it can be done.

I find resorting to my dreams and beliefs about myself and why I started teaching helps.

Bear in mind that the day you are not feeling the best is the day the difficult student is not feeling too good either, and this is the day that you have to plan alternate behaviour to counteract the negative.

Ensure you are in total control of yourself and it shows in your dress and demeanor.

Ensure your lesson is thoroughly prepared or find a task sheet that has rigorous detailed insructions on it for the class to do. hard workers with a task to accomplish in a set time do not have time to distract too much.

If there is a school management plan, get rid of the objector the moment he or she swaggers in despite the 'But what did I do now???" wail.

......and start immediately.

The Seven Secrets to Success..

http://www.emode.com Be proactive Be ambitious Be systematic Be enthusiastic Be thoughtful Be imaginative Be self-sufficient