It would be wrong to say that teachers should deal with the disruptive behavior of students. If anything, they should be encouraging positive behaviors by allowing them to learn from experiences and role models. All forms of punishment are recommended to be avoided because research has shown that students who are taught what is right from wrong rather than punished to be taught tend to be more successful and productive.
Teachers like to approach students professionally because that is what they have been dealing with all their life. An institute ERP has prepared them to professionally behave around students and parents. Yet, when it comes to managing the behaviors of students, they cannot approach them and expect children to directly obey. This entire expectation in itself is wrong since kids have no idea about professionalism, and high school students would not want to be disciplined if a disruptive behavior characteristic is already present in them.
Hence the question remains, how can then students learn to behave better in a classroom? First, we have to understand what encourages or causes such behaviors.
The reason behind disruptive behaviors
Students have been lately attending all classes through an LMS portal. This learning management system might have multiple features to satisfy different demands, but these features are far from enough to be completely substituted with offline or traditional classes. Students have become isolated staying home for such long durations, isolating themselves during the pandemic, and being precautious even in offline hybrid classes because of the post pandemic effects. It has deteriorated their mental health and affected some of the students’ behaviors. Here are some other reasons;
- Lack of attention from the family members, especially parents and siblings. Emotional instability leads children to take adverse steps.
- Being bullied in a classroom, or outside a classroom by senior students.
- Disliking a subject or a subject teacher.
- Being the bully themselves.
- Insecurity towards self, especially the development of body image issues lack of self-esteem, and low confidence levels.
- Being an attention seeker due to emotional issues.
- Personal life troubles, and long-term effects of undiagnosed mental health problems.
Ways to deal with it
Teachers can address the behaviors of classrooms in multiple ways, here are a few helpful ones;
Formulating strategies
Some of the behavioral imbalances can include being disrespectful towards the teacher and other classmates, rudeness in responses and conversational patterns, and general disruptive nature during ongoing classes. The following methods of strategies can guide teachers;
- Understand the core reason why the child is behaving in such a way. Talk to their friends, parents, or other class teachers for hints.
- Decide the step-by-step process of how you can help the child to resolve and get over the issue. It not only helps the student to calm down and behave better but also improves the relationship between the student and the teacher.
Also read: Tips for a Safe and Respectful Classroom
Take actions
Immediately after formulating a strategy, educators should put their plan into action as soon as possible. They can do this by;
- Composing themselves before acting out in a certain manner. Remember that being angry toward the student will neither help you nor the child, it will only frustrate the student more. Acknowledge your frustration first, and then the child later.
- Focus on fixing the characteristic of the student by disliking their misbehavior, and not the child.
- Allow the student to explain themselves. Most of the time Children Act out of line only because they seek attention.
- Avoid giving punishments because it makes the student vengeful, and be even more misbehaving during your classes simply out of spite. Punishments can also harm the emotional health of the student, and reduce their confidence and self-esteem levels.
- Choose a problem-solving approach. This would mean having a one-to-one conversation with them, recommending them to a counselor, or helping them get into therapy.
- Try to listen to your students first, and speak only to respond respectfully in an understanding manner. Remember that they lack proper guidance from an adult who is willing to understand them for the sole purpose of helping them.
- Set explicit disciplinary rules or guidelines which every student will follow in your classroom. This is addressing a problem before it even arises so that students are aware of your expectations from them.