Challenging behaviour.
Photo by: Stefan Tell
Hopefully you will not encounter behaviour like this in your classroom. However, you can sometimes feel like you’ve done ten rounds in the ring when you get home at the end of a busy day.
There are some classes that as a group, or because of the behaviour of specific individuals, you are likely to encounter challenging behaviour. Challenging behaviour is a label which sounds politically correct but describes less than perfect behaviour.
As a classroom teacher you will need to deal effectively with this behaviour to avoid loosing the class. I have seen this happen to a couple of teachers and it is not a happy thing. The teachers ended up feeling like they had failed,lost credibility and face.
This can be a real knock to self confidence and it takes courage to get back up in front of a class again. If this ever happens to you try and put it in a good perspective and be philosophical. The whole thing could be a learning experience, even if you learn that you never want to loose control of a class again!
The following are a number of interventions and approaches to managing challenging behaviour:
1 Planning
Much of the success in behaviour management comes from prevention rather than cure. If you carefully research and plan your approach to each class and the individuals that present challenging behaviour, you are much more likely to reduce the probability of disruptive behavior in the first place. At the least thorough planning should help you to reduce the impact of any behaviour if it occurs.
For example, before I actually teach a class I will carefully look at the special needs register and make note of any issues that the children may have. Often the SEN department will have an action plan in place for that child. The action plan or IEP (individual education plan) should have details of strategies that work or dont work for the child. It will be tailored to help with the child’s problems . If you are teaching lower ability classes definitely check out their IEP’s. Another example of planning might be to look at the schemes of work and talk to SEN classroom assistants who know the kids well. You can then provide resources that are at the right level for the pupils and so you avoid unnecessary frustrations.
This type of planning will help you get routines in place to help your classroom run smoothly.
2 Have your own sets of rules and communicate your expectations of the class.
3 Follow the schools behaviour policy.
If all the teachers in a school stick together and follow the policy, it has a much better chance of working. If you are new to a school , make sure you are familiar with the behaviour policy so that you can enforce it if necessary.
4 Keep things light and sidestep minor disruption with humour.
A certain amount of minor behaviour can be dealt with by the teacher making light if the behaviour but addressing it if it continues. Humour Can be a great way to disarm a provocateur in a non confrontational manner. As an example, I taught this boy called Tom ,who had developed this attention grabber. By letting go gigantic farts just when you got to an important point in your lesson or when you had just settled the rest of the class. The first time he did his trick in my class the fart immediately caused mayhem. Kids moved because of the stench and some started to gag. I made a humorous comment about him eating beans for dinner and “beans beans good for your heart, the more you eat the more you fart”. This got the class laughing and gave me enough time to open the windows and door to let the gas escape. I quickly moved back to the point I was about to make and the lesson went on without a major disruption. 15 minutes later Tom had built up enough gas to trump again. At this point I asked him to take his gas outside and stay there until he was sure he could come back in without farting. After a cool off period, Tom realised I wasnt going to take any more disrupting from his overactive bottom and rejoined the class, fart free for the rest of the lesson. As a footnote to the story, I heard that Tom had soiled himself while trying to disrupt his English lesson. What goes around, comes around!
If kids do not respond to your actions start to use the school behaviour policy.
If effective warn and use detentions, a threat of parking or removal to time out.
Tell them that you will call home and talk to their parents.
5 Praise good behaviour.
Reward pupils who do what you ask. Give them praise, and your attention.
Photo by : Dave Hogg
6 Try to keep the pace of the lesson high.
If the kids are kept busy and on task, the have less time to get involved in trouble.
7 Put trouble makers outside the door for a few moments to cool off.
Leave them for a bit. They may even ask to come back in. Use this as an opportunity to remind them of the behaviour you expect and get them to agree before they re-join the class.
8 Use a reward system.
For example , use stars on a chart against the kids names. Have incentives for good behaviour like sweets or a voucher for the best behaved.
9 Plan stimulating and interesting activities into the lesson. Tell interesting stories.
10 Build a treat like part of a video or a quiz as a reward for getting work done and good behaviour.
11 If kids do not respond to your interventions:
Park them in a neighbours class or send them to time out or the “holding facility “.
12 Do not get in to arguments with pupils.
The rest of the class will love this and you might create a Marta culture. Keep it short and business like. If they are not prepared to play by the rules, send them on their way.
13 If things get out of hand:
Call for backup and then pass the problem up to year heads,form tutors,parents , senior teachers and the head if necessary.
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