I’ve come to believe there is a cause for every behaviour be it positive or negative. If we focus for a moment on the negative behaviour, the suggestion is when a student is ‘misbehaving’ it is because they are expressing a need for something. The key to addressing the ‘misbehaviour’ would therefore lie in identifying what it is they need or are missing.
Could it be addressed using Maslov’s Hierarchy of needs? Maybe its related to mismatched learning styles or stages of mental development or even where they currently are with their own cognitive load. Perhaps the task being asked of them is outside the zone of development which either becomes too hard or too easy. Perhaps its boredom. Perhaps its just something that has happened to them earlier that day.
This attached mind-map was created a few years ago after a conversation relating to all the things that could be affecting students when they walk into the class room – Poor behaviour could be any one, or more than one, of these factors or something else entirely.
Its something I need to keep in mind about every single student, of whom each may very well have an entirely different combination to work with on that particular day.
This mind map is by no means complete or definitive, but a starting point from which to begin the thought process.
I’d be keen to hear what you think and start a discussion that will help change the way we handle discipline issues in a positive way for the benefit of the student(s) in question, the class as a whole and the wider community.
http://mrhenstock.edublogs.org/2016/06/05/factors-affecting-students/