Activity 2.6 What can we do about disruptive behaviour?
1. Eshe plays with her friend well and in a small group, she likes being the center of attention and she tries to get the students attention by dropping her pencil on the floor near to them or poking their chair with her foot. Thus, Eshe's disruption of the lesson is a defense mechanism for her to gain attention or a means to make her the center of attention. The Teacher's approach could be better. The Teacher compounds the issue by yelling at Eshe and putting her outside of the classroom. By yelling at the student the Teacher creates a more volatile situation that would only encourage Eshe to become more defensive. There has to be a lot of one-on-one counselling and that type of behaviour is unacceptable and I will put her to sit at the front of the class. The Teacher must always keep her engaged in the lesson by asking her questions and having her participate in the lesson.
2. The Teacher could stop Eshe from misbehaving by continuing with on-going counselling. Probably have meetings with Eshe's Parents and get them involved. If those methods does not help, they will need to get medical or psychological intervention. They are seeking to find the root cause of the problem.
3. Rewards could be used to improve Eshe's behaviour by positive reinforcement which is always encouraged but you do not want her to become totally dependent on it. The reward should only be that, recognition in front of her class can occur but you don't want the other students to become dependent on it. The reward system should be where she's having positive feedback so that they can balance the behaviour at school. The rewards should be a proportionate response to an expected type of behaviour so you do not want to over reward Eshe. Reward should be proportionately based.
4. The school needs to have a policy. They should have A Behavioural Step Programme where you identify the level of unacceptable behaviour and then determine what type of intervention is needed. They would develop a Behavioural Step Programme where you have behaviour categorized. For example, A mildly disruptive student will be counselled and progress monitored. A student who is more disruptive will be counselled and placed into a smaller class grouping. Students who are even more disruptive you can get the Parents more involved or get the Child Study Team involved. The Child Study Team is a body within the infrastructure of the School or the School's District that would help to manage these types of cases.
5. The Teacher will benefit from a Teaching Assistant in the classroom to help manage the challenged students. The Teacher should receive some type of formal Sensitivity Training as well. Frequent meetings with the Parents should also take place in order to establish a Team Approach with the student. The Parents have to become involved because it is something they have to reinforce at home so that the child is getting the constant support at home as well. The Teacher needs to get the Parents involved every step of the way.
