Classroom Management: Creating a Positive Learning Environment

4 - Managing Misbehaviour

4 Managing Misbehaviour Li Wai-shing Knowing how best to respond to unwanted behaviour is among the most difficult decisions teachers have to make. Should the child just be ignored? reprimanded? punished? counselled? given special treatment? Docking (2002) Synopsis As the above quotation indicates, responding to misbehaviour in the classroom is a very demanding task. This chapter suggests that teachers should formulate their own personal plans for managing student misbehaviour. It also outlines four levels of intervention to stop difficult behaviour, ranging from the least disruptive strategies of non-interference to non-verbal intervention, and from verbal intervention to the use of logical consequences. Practical and effective strategies and measures for each level are introduced to equip teachers for daily classroom practices. Objectives After reading this chapter, you should be able to: • formulate personal plans for managing students’ behavioural problems; • understand the basis for non-intervention and intervention measures; • understand the continuum for managing students’ misbehaviour; • use intervention strategies to deal with students’ misbehaviour; • employ logical consequences when students choose not to change their undesirable behaviour in the classroom. 64 Classroom Management Pre-Reading Reflection and Discussion • Why does a teacher have to take his/her own personality into consideration in formulating a personal plan for classroom management? • It is often said that the ultimate goal of classroom management is to help pupils to become self-disciplined. Why is this goal so important in managing pupils’ behaviour? • Do you believe in the effectiveness of punishment? If so, in what ways can it be useful for controlling misbehaviour? Why are some forms of punishment not allowed in the classroom? • Do you think it is practical for a teacher to follow a continuum of strategies in dealing with off-task behaviour? What are the possible drawbacks of doing so? • In what ways can teachers avoid verbal confrontations with pupils? • When teachers use logical consequences, how can they avoid pupils perceiving this as punishment? Introduction No classroom is completely free from behavioural problems though, of course, some have more than others. Quite often teachers are quick to respond to misbehaviour by verbal intervention and reprimands which can have an adverse effect on student learning and ruin a classroom atmosphere. What is often forgotten is that the goal of classroom management is not to control students but to prepare them to become self-disciplined. Teachers’ interventions often provoke negative responses in students and lead to more confrontation, but this can be minimized if teachers adapt their reactions to the seriousness of the misbehaviour: unless serious disruption continues, no verbal intervention or logical consequences should be employed in the first instance. It is sensible, therefore, for teachers to adopt a continuum of intervention strategies from the least intrusive proactive intervention skills to the most intrusive verbal intervention. In the following example, at the start of an academic year Ms. Wong faced a class in which she knows there are some students who are very difficult to deal with. She tries to tackle different sorts of behaviour problems using a single approach, which is hardly likely to have any positive impact on the class. It was only later when a colleague, Ms. Leung, suggested that she should analyse the students’ misbehaviour and employ different kinds of intervention skills that she became more confident in managing this class. Let us look at Ms. Wong’s classroom to see how developing a personal plan and utilizing a variety of intervention strategies would help her. Managing Misbehaviour 65 Classroom scenario Ms. Wong had been teaching her Primary 6B for about five minutes during which, in general, her pupils were attentive — but then some pupils began to lose interest in her lesson. A boy sitting in the front row near the door seemed to be searching for something inside his desk; at the other side, a girl was combing the hair of a girl sitting in front of her; and a few pupils were talking to each other. When Ms. Wong asked the class a question, a boy started to shout out the answer without raising his hand. While Ms. Wong was trying to decide what to do, another student in the far corner shouted an answer. Ms. Wong immediately yelled, “I can’t teach you any more!Would you please behave yourselves!Your behaviour is just shameful!” The atmosphere changed abruptly and the class seemed to be at a standstill. It took five minutes to restart the...