Surface behaviours, such as talking, whispering, passing notes, doodling, teasing and talking back are normal day to day interruptions that are a normal part of developmental behaviours (Levin, Nolan, Kerr, Elliot & Bajovic, 2014). Despite the terrifying horror stories, these are the type of interruptions that teachers face on a daily basis. To deal with these types of disruptive behaviours, teachers can use non-verbal or verbal interventions to deal with the issue. There are many ways to communicate non-verbally, such as simply looking, positioning your body and gesturing towards the disruptive student. This is surprisingly effective and it allows for classroom activities to continue without interruption. Verbal interventions include reminding the student that their behaviours are disruptive to their peers and to their own educational success. It is important however, to positively phrase and even use humour when directly reminding a disruptive student of the classroom rules (Levin, Nolan, Kerr, Elliot and Bajovic, 2014) In addition, this website offers good prevention and intervention techniques for new teachers to manage students who are misbehaving.
According to Levin, Nolan, Kerr, Elliot and Bajovic (2014), physical arrangement of the classroom is crucial in managing misbehaviour.
Retrieved from Google images. I have personally always liked this U shaped desk arrangement, as it allows the teacher to see every student and therefore they are able to minimize disruptive behaviour. Also, desks do not have to be moved for group work, as students can work with their neighbour or, chairs simply have to moved into the middle of the U to conduct group work.
As expressed in Drake, Reid and Kolohon (2014), the Ministry of Education in Ontario recommends that teachers considering the individual learning styles of each student - whether that is an auditory learning, visual learning or a kinesthetic/tactile learner. I believe that, by changing your teaching style to cater to student's individual needs would be helpful in managing misbehaviour. Many students probably act out as a form of resistance or because they are not interested or do not understand the course material. Thus, by catering to student's different learning styles, disruptive behaviour could be minimized.
With every good wish,
The above video is an example of a problem solving circle, another effective tool in managing misbehaviour. As the video illustrates, a problem solving circle brings the classroom together to discuss the student's perception of their work ethic, as well as discussing ways that they themselves could do differently/better to improve their learning. An important question to ask your students is "What will you do?" This is a student-directed strategy in which students can evaluate their behaviour and thus, on their own, work to improve that behaviour.
Hope this was a helpful post!
Miss Roberts
Work Cited
Drake, S., Reid, J. & Kolohon, W. (2014). Toward a new story of curriculum, instruction and assessment. In Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21st century learner. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press.
Levin, J., Nolan, J., Kerr, J., & Elliott, A., Bajovic, M. (2015). Principles of Classroom Management: A Professional Decision-Making Model – Fourth Canadian edition. Toronto, ON: Pearson.
