I am observing a second grade class that has a total of
twenty-one students. Out of the twenty-one students there is only one child who
seems to have behavioral problems. In my first day of observing my cooperating teacher warned me
about this student and told me to keep an extra eye one him. For the past week,
this student has been nothing but trouble. He punched a student in the face
because “by accident” one of the students stepped on his fingers during circle
time. Another incident occurred when he hit a girl in the forehead with a ball
during recess. He was sent to the principal’s office and the principal then required
that the parents come in for a conference.
It would appear that this child is taught at home that “if anyone
bothers him or hurts his feelings he has the right to hit them in self-defense.”
It seems to me
that sending him to the principal’s office all the time isn’t working since he
continues to misbehave. At this point, when the students are working together,
he has to be excluded because he doesn’t know how to work nicely with his
classmates. What do you think is the best thing for the teacher to do at this
point? Do you think that this
problem will be become worse when he
gets older? At the same time, do you think his parents have an impact on this
behavioral problems? Has anyone else experienced a similar situation? If so, how did your school district handle
this issue? I look forward to hearing
your responses.
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI think that this particular student is acting out for attention. He might not be getting enough attention at home; therefore he acts out in school. I agree that sending him to the principal’s office is not working because he might want to be sent there, or is doing it to get attention. He could also be bored or not understanding what is going on in the classroom, which leads him to become disruptive in the classroom.
Remember in Dr. Rosado’s class when he told us that story about the boy in one of his schools that was continuously sent to his office but one day Dr. Rosado found a way to keep him out of trouble with the comic books he kept in his office? I think that somehow maybe you or your cooperating teaching can find something that interests the boy and gives him a reason to behave, just like the boy in Dr. Rosado’s story. This might be easier said than done, but it is worth a shot.
I do think that the parents are part of this boy’s behavior problem, especially since they are teaching the child that it is okay to defend himself with physical actions. He should be taught that problems can be dealt by using his words not fists. I do think that if this behavior continues he will have problems when he gets older.
I hope this helps,
Donna
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with Donna, that the child is acting out for attention. Most often the case of a child being agressive is a struggle for attention, which can be a result of parents not giving their children enough at home.
In my experience as a camp counselor, I have dealt with many different personalities of children, and MANY aggressive children. I once had a child, who was constantly a problem in the group, throw a stick at her group members when she was upset, and then ran off and hid in the bunk to avoid being yelled at. When I walked in, rather than approaching her with anger I sat with her and asked her what was going on. She proceeded to tell me how she's been angry, and felt lonely ever since her mom passed away when she was seven. Three years later, the effects of her mom passing caused her to feel threatened and disliked by others, which was a trigger of her anger. From that point on, her anger issues were still present, but were handled in a much calmer way, because she trusted me enough to talk to me when she felt that way.
Not to say all bad behavior comes from sad backgrounds like my experience, but I feel the worst approach to take is anger because by doing that you are pleasing the child with your reaction. The fact of the matter is that you never know what goes on at home, and for some kids, your classroom is their escape; a safe haven.
Hope this gives a little more insight,
Amber
Hi Amanda, I am actually taking a course this semester called behavior management, and we have been learning about these types of challenges. I hope some of this helps….
ReplyDeleteSo far, we have learned, that teachers should keep all kinds of EVIDENCE to greater understand WHY is the behavior occurring? SO, as teachers, we should monitor for instance, how frequently the behavior occurs. We should look for what special educators and psychologists call the “ ABCS” of behavior: Antecedents, consequences and behaviors. Antecedents are all of the things that are before a SPECIFIC behavior occurs. A behavior HAS to be seen, and measurable. Then, a consequence is something after a behavior occurs. Remember things from classes from psychologists like Skinner and Pavlov? There are different types of reinforcements. Positive reinforcements for instance, increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring again. A simple example: Parents deliver ice cream after homework has been completed, so the completion of homework is INCREASED in the future. There is also negative reinforcement, for example the child completes their homework, so now the parent REMOVES chores ( something unpleasant). Then, the likely hood of doing homework is now increased. There are many different types of reinforcements and there both positive and negative types of punishments. Children always have a reason for their behaviors: avoidance, attention, automatic reinforcement, tangible, etc. Ways to record data to greater understand the behavior would be your direct observations, but also indirect data like interviews with the parents and other teachers. A behavior plan can be used both general and special education students. Also it may be beneficial to look up, the response to intervention model ( RTI), the three tiers, for academic struggling is also the three tiers for behavior plans. Sending the child to the principle could be reinforcing for the child, so this method does not work, it be an avoidance strategy or automatically reinforcing (attention) to the child. Even if the teacher and parents use different methods/ view things differently there should be some sort of conference, sometimes people do not realize behaviors are being reinforced, and these behaviors that should not be reinforced, otherwise the problems could continue. Also on that note, I you don’t know the home background. I have observed at several schools, where the parents themselves seriously did not understand these concepts because they themselves have challenges- cognitive delays, substance abuse, histories of being in jail, etc. Question: Have any of you learned these types parental histories, and what do you think a teacher can do about it?
Some teachers use things like marble jars, to track every time the students have done something good. There was one teacher I know of, you did this method for the whole class but also for one specific child. She used the jar all of time, and she also had a student with severe behavior challenges, so much so that other students began to fear the student. So, the teacher used a different color for that student. When they behaved appropriately, a marble went in. Not only could the student greater see positive reinforcement, but then the whole class could see it as well, and then it made the students less afraid. Meghan
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the student is acting out for attention because they must not be getting much attention at home. I don't think the situation should be approached with anger either, because it could just push the child away even more. Maybe sending the student to the guidance counselor could help, to try and figure out what the root of the problem is. I also think that the parents aren't helping the situation either when they say their child should act out in self defense no matter what the case is. I think if this student continues on this path, with the same advice from his parents, it could get even worse when he gets older. Eventually, it will interfere with both his academic and his social skills as well (if it already hasn't). I think to get to the real reasons as to why he is acting out, you need to figure out if anything is going on at home, or if anything is really bothering the child.
Hope this helps,
Nicole
Amanda
ReplyDeleteDealing with behavioral problems can be difficult in a classroom setting especially when the problem is rooted from the home environment. Of course this does not mean that the teacher should give up and continue to send the child to the principals office, because it becomes a routine and the punishment does not phase the child in a serious way. Of course the classroom does not revolve around this student and the teacher must attend to her other students, but there are many different ways that can help balance this student out. Right now he is being excluded from a lot, by not being able to play with his classmates participate in fun activities and after a while a child might get frustrated and want to act out.
One thing is if the problem is coming from home than it is going to be harder for the teacher to actually make change.
The only thing is to actually have a personal meeting with the parents and the child and explain the incidents, some parents will think there is nothing wrong because he acting upon the actions that are being presented to him. But the teacher job is to explain the way things are run and how this behavior will effect him in the long run with continue in his future.
This is really difficult subject and I agree with the other comments above it may be soemthing bigger that is happening at home, sit with the child and try to see what is going on inside. He craving that attention it not to bad to actually give him a little one on one and figure out why.
Hope this helps
J.
I don't agree that sending a student to the principal's office is something that should be used as a method of discipline. It keeps students out of the classroom, as well as lets them know that if they are bored, or don't want to be bothered they can just act up and be sent to the office. This goes back to our original discussion regarding how there should be more one on one attention in the classroom. Many times children with behavioral issues need to be approached differently however it can not be done if the issue is not first noted. I do think the problem will become worse if it doesn't begin to be addressed at an early age.
ReplyDeleteDiana