Reflections on Classroom Management: Disrespect in the Classroom – Part III

In my last post Reflections on Classroom Management: Refusal in the Classroom – Part II, I reflected on the refusal in Mr. P’s class and different strategies to build relationships which may be helpful to Mr. P in turning “refusers” in to “participants”.

In this third and final post, Reflections on Classroom Management: Disrespect in the Classroom – Part III, I reflect on the practice of individual focus on a singular student’s disrespectful behavior.

I 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.

The final scenario I reflected on concerned Mr. R. and his one disrespectful student, J.

Mr. R is a 9th grade World History teacher and he is concerned about a disrespectful student in the class. When Mr. R confronted the disrespectful student “J” about her attitude, she smirked, rolled her eyes, and muttered under her breath.  The principal has made an announcement that no one should send students to the office and that all discipline problems should be handled in class.  Mr. R has tried to contact J’s parents but has had no success.  J continues to show disrespect daily.

Just as a teacher’s attitude and behavior can affect classroom culture, a disrespectful student can change the entire climate of the classroom; from a positive learning environment to a negative one.

This negative climate can permeate, silently undermining a positive culture, and giving other students implicit permission to be disrespectful as well. The way in which the teacher handle’s such a student is critical and can mean the difference between keeping —and losing— control of the class.

Mr. R’s difficulty with a singular student seems to require an individual solution. One such solution may be precise praise. Precise praise speaks to making positive reinforcement a strategy for the classroom while also separating mere acknowledgment from praise. Perhaps if Mr. R caught J doing something right, and came to her for the explicit purpose of positive reinforcement through praise, it would help shape J’s future behavior because the positive feedback would encourage her to continue to strive to meet Mr. R’s high expectations.

However, sometimes there is a need for critical feedback, and that feedback may be more impactful if it is delivered privately. There is power in privately delivered feedback. If the critical feedback is delivered privately, it will allow Mr. R and J to be the only ones to share in that feedback and allow any negative or embarrassing feelings to subside more quickly than if J felt she had to take defensive action for the benefit of her classmates.

J may also be more willing to correct negative behavior if she believes the privately delivered feedback was individual to her, for her, and only for her – making her feel special. However, whether the feedback is critical or positive, when the precise feedback is delivered it needs to be authentic to be memorable and genuine to be effective.

Second, Mr. R could take advantage of private feedback by perhaps establishing a set of prompts to remind J when she is exhibiting disrespectful behavior. This could help draw J back into a cooperative posture.  Using a positive tone (the same tone that was hopefully delivered in the private feedback sessions) will add a bit of individuality for J when constructive feedback has to be delivered in public.

In conclusion, it is essential for a teacher not to take disruptive behavior personally. While students who are disruptive in the class have many motivations, rarely are those motivations malicious or its roots against the teacher personally. In other words, the teacher could be anyone if identical internal, external, and environmental factors remained constant.

The ability to stay calm, be polite, and treat even the most trying and disruptive of students with respect are necessary tools for every educator’s tool kit. Listen to what the disruptive students have to say and know that behavior is a form of communication.

Leave a Reply