Several years ago, there was a student in my class that was constantly challenging my authority, being disrespectful and was a constant disruption to the learning process, not only in my class, but several others as well. I was a young teacher, still trying to establish my own values and beliefs, and had not put much thought into building a strong program for dealing with chronic behavior problems, I am sure I would not have had quite as many problems with this student.
Since my class is only a half-year class, I did not know the student until midway through the year. I had heard stories from other teachers about his behavior in class, and they had tried to talk to his parents and hold meetings with him that focused on his behavior prior to the beginning of my class. From what the other teachers had said, he had controlled his behavior for the first few days after their meeting, but returned quite quickly to his defiant self. When he entered my class, he tried desperately to demonstrate his power in class, by belittling me, saying rude comments about me, and constantly leaving his seat. Within the first few days of class, he was sent out of class several times, earned a lunch detention, and was about to take the next step, which was a long detention. As the semester progressed, his behavior in class deteriorated, and no matter what I did, or any other teacher, nothing really changed his attitude or performance.
Looking back, there are several things that I would have done differently to handle this student. Dr. Wolfgang outlines a plan on how to deal with chronic defiant behavior, and I should have followed a plan similar to his. The first thing I should have done was to call his parents the first day he was removed from class. Dr. Wolfgang discusses that this is a crucial step because it gains their support early, and also establishes a history of your efforts to control the student’s behavior (Laureate Education Inc, 2008). When I did call his parents later in the quarter because he had earned an after school detention, I was told that they support my decisions and actions, but still, the student’s behavior did not change. From there, I should have set up a parent/principal conference, but instead, his other teachers and I tried a staffing meeting to try to get him back on track.
During the meeting, the student was brought into the room, and we had a round table discussion about why he had been brought in, how he felt about his behaviors in class and what he could do to work on them. It seemed to be more of a “shape up” type of meeting, but really did not establish any plan for him to follow in order to change his behavior in class. What we could have done during that time was establish a behavior contract or steps for him to follow when he is being defiant. Behavior plans are essential for students with rebellious behavior because it helps them shape their attitudes and performance into a more positive form. Failure to help a student change is not beneficial for anyone involved. After all, Jones and Jones point out that teachers often build Individualized Education Plans (IEP) for students who are struggling academically, but very seldom do we build IEP’s for students who are struggling behaviorally. They go on to say that, “Everyone loses when we fail to develop individual behavior change plans for students who’s behavior is disrupting the learning environment,” (Jones and Jones, p 389, 2007).
For his behavior plan, it would have been essential to teach him to think before he acts, and to teach him that his actions would have serious implications in the near future. “Kids live in so much in the here and now, they’re not reflective about their behavior. They don’t think about this action I’m doing now, what’s going to be the long-term affect. It’s just they do it because it feels good or their angry at the moment,” Laureate Education Inc, 2008). Dr. Wolfgang. In order to set up his behavior plan, a straightforward approach to building one can be found at http://k6educators.about.com/cs/classroommanageme3/a/createcontract.htm. At this site, they discuss some key points focusing not only on how to build the contract, but also how important it is to hold follow up meetings to see how effective it is and if it needs to be changed at that point.
As the year progressed, it became more evident that he made it his personal mission to irritate and harass as many people as possible, both his fellow students and his teachers. In that process he also learned when to stop just before the serious consequences were given for his actions.
He is currently a freshman in high school, and he still struggles with this issue. After seeing how he treated his teachers and peers, it was no surprise to me when I saw after two months of this school year, he had been suspended twice for fighting with upperclassmen. Unfortunately his behavior has not changed, but had all of his teachers put forth more of an effort to build an IEP for his behavior, maybe he would be a different person now.
References:
Jones, V., & Jones, L. (2007). Comprehensive classroom management: Creating communities of support and solving problems (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom 8th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program thirteen. Interventions for Severe and Chronic Behavior Problems [Motion picture]. Classroom management to promote student learning. Baltimore: Author.
Travis, it is unfortunate that your old student continues to exhibit disruptive behavior in the classrooms and is now getting involved with fights with upperclassmen. This situation seems to require immediate interventions. I hope the parents, teachers, counselors and school administrators are getting involved to help this student. Otherwise, it may be a very long 4 years ahead. Developing a plan that teachers and parents can implement consistently is key. I agree with you that at the meeting, a plan should have been developed. This would have been more effective meeting for all rather than a "shape up" meeting. It's difficult to gather all the players in one meeting and therefore, when meetings do occur, it's important to set goals and ways to measure how the goals are being met or not met.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteDid you have a meeting with the student to discuss his inappropriate behavior before having to send him out of class?
Early in my teaching career, I often immediately contacted parents when students would repeatedly exhibit inappropriate behavior because I was following my rule/consequence chart (e.g. two warnings and then a parent contact). The results were often what you experienced, the behavior would change for a short time but there was no lasting change. It was at that time that I started using behavior contracts and working directly with students before escalating to parent and administration involvement.
My objective was to have students discover that their behaviors were counterproductive for reaching their own goals and to then to have them come up with solutions.
With the typical rule/consequence lists that many teachers utilize, some students will continually push the issue to the thin line before a serious consequence. The problem is that every day the educator is required to give the requisite warnings and to endure the inappropriate behavior at least a few times. I find that after engaging a student in developing an individual behavior contract, they will often do whatever they can to avoid having to go through the process again.
The case you mention sounds like it is severe and I hope that his teachers, administrators and parents get together soon to develop a comprehensive approach to help this student before he ends up in very serious trouble.