Classroom Behavior
There are many reasons teachers are leaving the profession.
One of those reasons is classroom behavior…BOTH teacher and student behavior.
The pressures, demands, excessive expectations, negative and hostile culture in which many teachers and students find themselves these days are causing behavior in the classroom to also get out of control.
In a school district in Florida, a large group of teachers quit stating that student behavior was out of control and unbearable.
Since then, many prominent persons in the district, including the sheriff and local school board members have publicly stated their opinions about students in the district. These opinions have included many “childish” behaviors such as name calling and suggestions for “whipping students’ a****”.
As adults, we must be the role models for children, and this kind of behavior is just not acceptable.
Teaching is the hardest job there is nowadays!
So many critics and so little respect. Too many expectations and not enough support.
And being a kid is hard too with all the pressures from social media, high stakes testing and socio-economic challenges at home.
All of these pressures are playing out in the classroom and manifesting in extreme human behaviors like violence, insolence, aggression, belligerence and defiance stemming from human emotions such as anger, frustration, anxiety, depression, sadness, grief, fear, jealousy, rejection and especially an overwhelming feeling of not being or doing enough.
What can we do as teachers, as parents, as ADULTS to help turn this classroom behavior around from a negative to a positive? And YES…IT STARTS WITH US!!!
The word behavior derives from the Middle English word havour, meaning possession and related to the Old French aveir, to have.
Taking a closer look at the verb, to behave, we see that it is a reflexive verb from the French se porter (also the Spanish comportarse).
So, what does all this mean?
A reflexive verb means that the action of the verb reflects back onto the subject or person.
As well, porter or portar means to carry.
So, literally, behavior is how we “carry ourselves” through life.
Behaviors derive from choices we make and the actions we take.
In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, there is something called a Behavior Chain:
Trigger – Thought – Action – Consequence
And so much can get distorted or derail in that sequence, especially when stress and outside pressures come into play.
Negative input leads to negative thoughts… leads to negative actions…
leads to negative consequences and behaviors..
There is way too much negativity in schools and outside of schools today!
We have got to turn the negative out and bring the positive in.
To use an old cliché, we must BE THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE in the world.
To break the pattern of behaviors from negative to positive, we must develop new habits in the classroom.
Habits that nurture and accentuate the positive. Things like kind words, kind thoughts, kind actions, kind behaviors.
I would LOVE to see Longfellow’s poem posted in the front of every classroom and in the lesson plan book of every teacher:
“Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine, Kind words, and Kind deeds.”
Maybe in an environment like this, both teachers and students would feel more respected, valued, loved and calm.
Maybe the pressure would be off and they could relax and not be triggered by negativity.
Maybe with love and kindness, behaviors would change.
Again, as hard as it may be, if we are determined enough to change, we can.
We just need to start with a conscious choice to have kind thoughts, kind actions and kind consequences – behaviors.
I’m holding on to hope because without hope, we give up.
Here’s to kinder, more nurturing and supportive classroom behaviors starting now!
Check out these resources and inspiration to help teachers and students get into the true school SPIRIT!
“Classroom Rules Poster” by BarbaraLN is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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