Thursday, August 1, 2013

How to Handle Student Misbehavior

In the course of being a teacher, you will often run into students who need a little more attention than others. Problems students often cause disturbance in the class and most of the time do not perform well. So what is the proper way to handle such students?

Approaching the Student

First, you would want to talk to the student, in private. Do not let the student be seen by his or her classmates being singled out of the group or else these classmates may gossip about him in the wrong way. He could be embarrassed in front of them and this may worsen the situation. While walking around when they are taking a quiz, or perhaps doing boardwork or when they are making a project you can tell him, discreetly, to meet you in the office after school.

Introduction Phase

The next step would be to introduce yourself to your student. Tell him or her that you are his teacher and show him or her that you can be trusted since if your student can't trust you, how will he or she confide in you? Treat him like a friend. Ask him about his hobbies. Short talks about stuff that he likes can lead him to trust you instead of fearing you. Ask your student how his social status is. Does he have many friends? What are his hobbies? What does he do in his spare time? You may also give him or her a contact number so if he or she has any problems he or she can call you, whenever possible.

Probing the Root Cause

Preferably only when you are sure that the student is ready to open up to you can you ask probing questions to enlighten yourself on the root cause of the problem. Some common problems among misbehaving students are lack of financial support, emotional instability, heartbreaks, and lack of motivation. Going to the root of the problem will enable you to come up with the appropriate solution to the problem.

Monitor the Situation

Once you have your solution ready, do not just implement it and walk away. You still have to monitor the situation so you can be sure everything is going well. A positive sign that you may see will be a change in the behavior of the student. But, if the behavior doesn't change, then your solution may not have been the best one.

Guidance Counseling

One type of solution would be to go to the guidance counselor. Students often associate going to the guidance office with something negative, like they made a mistake or violated the rules, and that they were going to be reprimanded. To clear this misconception in the mind of the student, you may explain the objectives of going to the guidance to the student.

Home Visitation

When nothing else works, then you can visit his parents so you can have an idea of his home environment. Problems can be caused by poor home environment, and only when you have an overview of the situation can you plan out a more appropriate solution to the problem.

I hope this article helped you in any way. Godbless.