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Managing Behavior Problems In The Classroom – Student misbehavior is always considered one of the biggest concerns and challenges for PE teachers, especially students and NQTs. Fortunately, we are not alone, as schools and educators around the world have shared their struggles and documented how poor behavior has significantly impaired classroom progress. .
Student misbehavior distracts both teachers and students from their studies, leading teachers to spend more time on behavior management than on student learning. In 1979, Sieber estimated that the average teacher responded to behavioral problems about 87 times a day, or 16,000 times a year, a number that may be similar to today’s schools or possibly worse. . Subsequently, the challenge of managing behavior has been described as “the most distressing aspect of the profession” (Gal, 2006, p.377), and contributes to teacher dissatisfaction, stress, burnout and early retirement. As a result, it has been suggested that many principals tend to recruit teachers primarily based on their ability to manage behavioral issues. Therefore, it is invaluable for physical educators to clarify the different classifications of misbehavior and have a range of behavior management tools [1-6].
Managing Behavior Problems In The Classroom
In school, teachers are expected to encounter a wide range of misbehavior, most of which is the same in both classroom lessons and physical education. The most troublesome and frequent misbehaviors are relatively mild but repeated disturbances that have a disruptive effect in class, including talking, distracting others, and arriving late. Meanwhile, more serious disturbances are less common but no less important, “because even one instance of this type of incident is too many” (Krech et al, 2010). These include aggression, bullying and dangerous behavior, which can be more difficult to detect because they can be shielded by students. In PE lessons, reported student misbehavior was largely similar, but had a slightly broader list due to the physical nature of the subject [6-10]. For the purpose of clarification, student misbehaviors in general education and physical education lessons were compiled from the literature to create a chart, ranging from mild to severe disorders [see Figure 1].
Behavior Problems In School: Teacher & Parent Strategies
To address these misbehaviors, a series of standard models and techniques can be found in behavior management texts, encouraging proactive planning, excellent management skills, and good relationships. positive relationships between individuals. Proactive planning requires teachers to provide students with structured lessons, starting with establishing clear expectations, rules, and routines, followed by building and implementing lessons Lessons are well planned and presented, appropriate to students’ needs and interests. . In research by educators, student achievement and attitudes are linked to teachers establishing clear expectations, rules, and routines at the beginning of the school year. Therefore, teachers should clearly state their expectations of students in the first few lessons of the year, clarifying any possible misunderstandings and the consequences of misbehavior [5-12].
There are many ways to set expectations for your classroom. However, a very simple set of expectations that covers all types of behavior is:
This should be one of the first things you do at the start of your first lesson and should be revisited throughout the school year as needed (especially after a long break or with younger students).
Additionally, establishing rules and routines during the first lessons will give students consistent expectations for how PE lessons begin and end, from queuing, changing and equipment handling and storage procedures, all of which contribute greatly to the classroom. control [5, 7, 12].
Are You Sabotaging Your Classroom Management?
Good management skills (combined with proactive planning) have been identified as an effective method for dealing with basic misbehavior that is repetitive in nature and includes nonverbal cues. language and speech. Nonverbal signaling is a non-intrusive, non-confrontational strategy that has been highlighted as an essential management tool that teachers should possess because it is unlikely to cause any negative effects. Examples of nonverbal signals include the use of physical distance, maintaining eye contact, teacher staring, silent waiting, hand signals, and body language [6, 13- 15].
Physical proximity involves teachers moving into the area of student misbehavior to convey the message that their inappropriate behavior has been noticed. Meanwhile, maintaining eye contact and teacher gaze can deter misbehavior because they illustrate student awareness and teacher control without compromising study environment. When speaking to the whole class, it is essential to wait for silence before speaking to your students, this has been recognized as an easily achieved non-verbal control technique, complimented by use hand signals (e.g., pointing a finger to the lips to signal silence or raising a hand) or body language (e.g., crossing arms to signal waiting and anticipation). As a result, non-verbal cues have been recognized as subtle yet effective techniques for managing basic misbehavior, which can help minimize the noise in your lessons and reduce student stress. teachers [5, 12, 14, 15].
Despite the use of nonverbal cues, sometimes the simplest and most effective approach to managing student misbehavior is to tell the offending student to stop; This has been called verbal signaling. In the literature, general consensus and guidelines on verbal cues suggest that teachers should remain calm and polite in the face of any disturbances, using a positive approach to correct and direct them. This can be achieved by talking privately with the student(s) about how their behavior is unacceptable, the impact it has on others and then offering positive alternatives. by clarifying appropriate behavior and motivating the task. Additionally, you can start by asking students why they were stopped and talked to, and have them reflect on their behavior and whether it was consistent with class expectations.
If the situation continues and requires the student to be reprimanded, teachers have been advised to lessen the sanctions by denying the behavior rather than the student and emphasizing that the misbehavior continues will force teachers to provide punishment while emphasizing student autonomy, e.g., “If you choose to continue behaving this way…” [5, 9, 12].
Tier 1: Classroom Management (start)
To maintain and develop positive interpersonal relationships with students, teachers need to be firm, consistent, and fair, demonstrating that they care about their students’ work and lives during and outside school. This requires teachers to be receptive, confident, caring, relaxed, in control, professional, humorous, in charge of the class, inspirational, motivating and passionate about their subject. If teachers adopt these characteristics, use good management skills and proactively plan lessons, the foundation of control and discipline will be established in lessons. If forced to punish a student, literature strongly opposes the use of coercive and aggressive disciplinary measures such as yelling, threats, physical exercises as punishment.
, criticism and sarcasm, it is believed, reduces a sense of responsibility, distracts students from their studies, damages self-esteem, and can escalate misbehavior [5, 13, 16-18].
Regarding student sanctions, the above micro-level strategies (nonverbal and verbal cues) are most effective for handling primary misbehavior and some secondary misbehavior. While more serious and aggressive behaviors will require macro-level guidance through school behavior policies [6, 12]. All schools are different in this area, some schools still allow detentions, whether during breaks or after school, which must be done on the same day. While others prefer a more relational approach, such as restorative justice conferences in which the student(s) engage in a more detailed discussion of the situation in an effort to resolve the problem and prevent recidivism. This must be overseen by the Head of Department or a member of senior management. Other strategies include calling home and meeting with parents to discuss their child’s behavior and establish a behavior improvement plan.
When rewarding students, you should also follow school/department policy. However, one of the most effective forms of reward in school is recognized as positive comments. This is important in promoting positive interpersonal relationships, enhancing student self-esteem and reducing off-task behavior, including recognizing good behavior, praising high standards in work and appropriate attitudes [12, 13, 17, 18). The best use of extrinsic rewards has been described as informative, often involving the teacher providing specific and personal feedback on student performance on a given task [18-19 ]. Other meaningful reward methods include sending emails or calling home to share student achievements, which helps build positive relationships with both students and parents.
Managing Student Behavior
If you don’t know your school and/or department’s policies on rewards and punishments, make sure you get a copy, highlight the important information, and pin it on your desk as a reminder. constant reminder.
Once you are familiar with your school’s behavior policy, you should use the Misconduct Taxonomy (Figure 1) to establish a clear hierarchy of sanctions that adhere to policies and resources. your school’s data. For example, for basic initial misbehaviors (mild disorders), the first step may be a nonverbal signal, the second step, an anonymous verbal signal, i.e. “Still waiting for one more person!”, third step, a private verbal signal. will include talking
