Classroom Community Cahpter of Choice Chapter Four Responding to Misbehavior

This chapter seemed like it would be the most useful for me to read so I could get some ideas about students' misbehavior and how to implement consequences for that choice. Right away the simple fact that incomplete or weak lesson plans could be the culprit of incidents of misbehavior need to be recongnized and corrected. If students are finished with independent work for example and then left with nothing to do, they will undoubtedly find something non constructive to fill up that empty time. Instead of asking the question what am I as the teacher going to be doing the entire class period, a teacher should be asking the question what their students will be doing. Therefore, it is important to do an exceptional job at creating plans that will minimize this problem or correct it all together. An example from the chapter is that you want to get those other students engaged in the activity even if you just call on a few to do a problem on the board as a part of guided practice, you need to consider what the rest of the class will be doing. Have the rest of the class work out the problem too either on a white dry erase board or in a math notebook. This will decrease the possibility that any disruptive behavior will arise because the entire class is engaged in working the problem. Boredom, unclear limits, and a sense of powerlessness are also contributors of disruptive behavior. You never want to attack the dignity of your students by attacking them personally. Pinpoint the undesired behavior not the person. Linda Albert an educator gives four causes of misbehavior: attention seeking, power seeking, revenge seeking, and avoidance of failure. She breaks down specific examples of each one which I found to be very helpful. She also gave the teacher's typical reaction to the misbehavior, what the student's legitimate need is, and strategies to address that need. This chapter also offered great strategies for dealing with minor and major disruptions. I thought these were brilliant. Some I have done, and others are new to me, so I welcome the opportunity to use someof these new strategies when the situation arises.