I recently reflected on the practice of setting and maintaining high behavioral expectations in the classroom. I spent some time reflecting on these concepts through the specific lens of producing responsible behavior in the classroom.

This reflection was prompted after listening in on a few conversations being had by veteran teachers. After listening to several conversations I began to reflect on my approach to handling those behaviors now that I have more than an academic understanding of classroom management.

I seem to begin every reflection concerning behavior with the same question “What is this student trying to communicate through this behavior?” I believe all behavior is a form of communication and decoding the communication of behavior is important. Students are crafty, and they know how to get, or get out of, something by ‘behaving’ in a certain manner (the function of behavior).

The first scenario I reflected on encompassed a classroom narrative by “Ms. S”.

Ms. S has an extremely disruptive class and she is both frustrated and concerned about the students’ classroom behavior. Ms. S has employed a rewards system and tried to follow through with consequences for bad behavior, but the students are still disruptive. Ms. S often becomes so frustrated with the student’s behavior that she admits to sometimes ‘losing her cool’ by yelling at the students. Ms. S has even gone so far as to drop a book on the floor because she thought the loud noise would get the students attention.

Disruptive behavior in Ms. S’s classroom looks like the student’s:

• Calling out
• Leaving their seats,
• Talking with other students during instructional time
• Making inappropriate comments both to the teacher and to other students
• Not following directions

 Ms. S has tried such consequences as:

• Writing students’ names on the board for talking after several warnings,
• Threatening to contact parents for disruptive behavior,
• Threatening to ‘write-up’ students for not following directions,
• Detention for students throwing objects or not complying with instruction; and,
  
• The removal of a student’s desk from the class for making faces and causing other students to laugh.

Ms. S has even gone so far as to hold students after the dismissal bell because she had not verbally dismissed the class and when the students began to leave regardless of her verbal commands to remain seated, she physically blocked the student’s egress.

Disruptive behavior can adversely affect the classroom environment and negatively affect the learning experience of students. Although it is ideal to prevent disruptive behavior before it begins, there are times when active measures must be taken once disobedience has become classroom culture.

Since Ms. S’s classroom exhibits almost every disruptive behavior imaginable and from all students, it can easily be assumed that Ms. S is frustrated, tired, and discouraged regarding her student’s classroom behavior—it can also be easily assumed that her students know this.

To change this classroom culture, Ms. S’s first action needs to be an evaluation of herself. Taking inventory of your own emotional consistency as a teacher is important. When a teacher consistently manages his or her emotions it encourages student learning and achievement by creating a safe environment of calm and learning. Since teachers are the leaders of classroom culture, the teacher’s emotions dictate classroom culture.

There are several strategies to help a teacher maintain emotional consistency in the classroom:

1. Walk slowly towards the problem situation to give a moment or two to regain composure before addressing the problem,
2. Ensure that the words used in a problem situation condemn the behavior, not people,
3. Make sure to take the relationship out of any corrective action;
4. Be conscious and cautious of tone and non-verbal signals; and,
5. Avoid globalizing the problem situation or behavior.

It is important to avoid showing the students that their behaviors have flustered the teacher in any way. While easier said than done, when a close read of one’s own behavior is done, the results can inspire meaningful behavior change for the individual as well as meaningful classroom cultural change.

Promoting a learning environment steeped in respect, scholarship, and accountability requires the classroom to possess a certain cultural competence. Like with all competencies, students arrive to the classroom at different places. Just as we differentiate for content, we too must differentiate for cultural competence with the goal of getting students on the same page.

This is especially important as secondary school focuses more on collaborative learning as an instructional method. Collaborative learning activities require students to have an open mind, a healthy respect for others who hold both similar and opposing opinions, as well as for students to feel safe enough to express thoughts, viewpoints, beliefs, and ideas in the classroom.

However, what happens when the collaborative group has different opinions? Often conflict erupts and needs to be quelled. While conflict management and conflict resolution are often used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. Conflict management generally refers to an individual’s conflict “style” or their reaction to conflict while conflict resolution utilizes the skills employed to resolve a conflict.

I mention this distinction because when classroom disagreements between students arise, the student behaviors are typically conflict management behaviors and the teacher behaviors are typically conflict resolution behaviors.  Understanding this concept as a teacher allows you to help your students learn to operate in an environment of productive — respectful disagreement.

I assure you from personal experience, as someone who use to do mediation work for the EEOC in Atlanta, that respectful disagreement is rare. It is so critical to teach students to agree to disagree, focus on the problem, not the person, and not to personalize uncomfortable feelings.  It is easy to get caught up in disagreements over values, judgments, and beliefs; especially ones held close. It is vital to teach young people how to navigate those disagreements, and sometimes the cognitive dissonance that goes along with disagreements over such personal issues, with mutual respect.

In the end, conflict is merely the inability to communicate effectively, tolerate differences of opinion, and a strong penchant for personalizing the problem – making the person the target of the conflict, not the problem. These deficits create intractable positions and an “us” versus “them” mentality, making conflict resolution virtually impossible.

This is why I believe that fostering communication, a safe space for disagreement, and a culture of openness and tolerance in the classroom is so important. If students learn to manage their emotions in the face of differing opinions as well as learn to pay attention to the feelings (not just the words spoken) of the other person, they will be much more able to manage conflict stress, while remaining calm and moving towards amicable solutions to problems; even if the solution is agree to disagree. If students are taught these skills early, they will most certainly carry this skill set into their adult lives, and perhaps there will be fewer cases to settle at the EEOC.