Hello again!! Sorry, I am not keeping this post up to date. I am forgetting about it more often now that we are full-time teaching. But, anyways the article about the challenging behaviors was long but very informative. I was skimming through the first time looking at headings and such, and every behavior I saw I thought “oh, yes that’s definitely so-and-so in my class.” I felt like it was important for me to read what it said about each specific behavior. Even if I did not have a child in my classroom right now that is exhibiting that behavior, I thought I would eventually come across it and would need to know how to handle it.
I did end up focusing in on two of the behaviors though, and they were noncompliance and aggressive behavior. When I was picking a child to use in my case study, I had it narrowed down between two. One has trouble complying with what we ask him to do, and the other shows major aggression to us as teachers and the other students. He more so shows aggression towards himself. I ended up choosing the child with aggression issues, but I still wanted to find a way to help the other child.
As I read about the noncompliance behavior, I determined that this child in my class is definitely passive in his noncompliance. He never says anything to us, like he won’t do as we say, but he will just continue to do what we asked him not to do or he won’t do what we ask him to do. To me, this is one of the most frustrating things to deal with as a teacher. It is a major respect issue for me, and I find myself getting very frustrated with this child. My goal is to try some of these interventions, see if it helps, and to not get so worked up over this behavior!!
It is hard when we get frustrated with our students. When you said you were reading and in your head you thought oh this is so and so and this is so and so it made me think how important it is for us as teachers to be life long learners. Although college courses provided us with an amazing amount of knowledge, this is the time where we can apply the knowledge. I am seeing how critical it is to keep reading and keep seeking new information.
Amanda –
I can appreciate you saying that everytime you read an article now, you think of a specific student or situation in your class. This is definitely one of the benefits of being “in our field” full time now.
In the past few months, I have gotten to know each of my students on a very individual and personal level. Therefore, every reading of an article or a discussion post causes me to think back and reflect on specific students. The way this semester runs is extremely advantageous – just being in the classroom and seeing with our own eyes what we have just been “talking” about for the last few years.
For example, similar to you with the “noncompliance” issue, I keep reading about students who are “nonrespeonsive” – not defiant or argumentative, just nonresponsive. I have a student who is not mean, or aggressive, just simply won’t do as I ask him. He will just sit and stare or ask to use the bathroom. It has been hard for me to take the time to spend solely on persuading him that the activities we are doing are worth his time and effort. (Any suggestions are welcome!)
Great post –
Melissa