As behavior problems escalate under the ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL multi-tiered system of support, we are seeing more dumb ideas come forward on how to deal with behavior issues.
The new approach to addressing behavior problems is by categorizing those students as having mental health issues. It’s as if they’ve never been around kids/teens before.
Some kids push boundaries and break rules for various reasons that have nothing to do with having mental health problems. There needs to be consequences that are punitive, and that will increase depending on the infraction.
This isn’t an easy decision, and I can certainly understand the teacher or principal wanting some flexibility. But it needs to be fair, show the student that there are consequences to their behavior, and escalate in severity if the disruptive behavior continues.
I’ve seen plenty of fads that seek to change the behavior in some kids. Some are just ridiculous. Let’s take this one for instance.
Remember, these fads become products to sell to schools in order to profit off of what they are selling. So if it doesn’t work well, you wont hear it from them. You will hear it from outspoken teachers who will tell you it doesn’t work well in the classroom.
The article on MindShift hits on all of the failed fads going on in public education right now; Project Based Learning (PBL), and Inquiry Based Learning, etc. No wonder they have behavior issues, many of those classrooms are chaotic because it’s no longer teacher-centered. Many students report that in these student-groups, they goof off, they don’t talk about the academics, and the one kid who is self-motivated, and wants a good grade, ends up doing all of the work.
Inquiry based learning is another fad gone wrong. Kids who are left to discover math will need tutors to instruct them on how to work the math problems. You can expect tutoring services to pop up in areas where this failed fad is used. I know, I used to tutor those kids who weren’t getting appropriate instruction from their teachers in math.
What does this fad consist of? MindShift:
Pulling disruptive kids out of class didn’t work, so principal Micheal Essien developed the “push-in” system, which keeps students in class while counselors help them work through their issues on the spot.
“We were surviving,” Essien said honestly of the tone at MLK when he started four years ago. “Students weren’t learning because students were having challenges in the classroom with their own academic abilities and or behaviors. Teachers who were trying to teach were having a difficult time getting into lessons because they were dealing with behaviors. It was challenging to hold collaborative conversations among the teachers because all teachers could deal with in any setting was the overwhelming behavior.”
Of course it’s difficult! Where are the consequences? The teacher is forced to deal with the behavior in a classroom that is set up for chaos.
So their solution? Let’s hear from teachers who were brutally honest in their comments.
Andrea Jane
Pushing in also doesn’t work. What winds up happening is that students destroy classroom materials and the rest of the students need to be removed from the situation thereby disrupting THEIR education, all because of 1 child. The good of the 1, outweighs the good of the many all too often now.
Andrea Jane Yes I have witnessed this many times. What about the needs of all the other students who have to leave the class and stay out until the one disruptive student settles down?
It’s a nice idea, but totally unrealistic. Schools will never have enough funding and staff to implement a program like this. And, for teachers who teach highly specialized classes, how can someone jump in and take over the lesson? Not going to happen.
So let’s disrupt the rest of the class even more all while showing everyone that no consequences exist for bad behavior!
And how disruptive is that? Now all the other students have to listen to this kids meltdown AND his counseling session while trying to do their work? No. Pull out disruptive kids and if they can’t improve, send them to special schools. I’m not being cruel. I was an IEP kid and someone should have done the same to me. Stop being so accommodating. If schools had been harsher toward me from the get go, real life wouldn’t have slapped me upside the head so hard when I was done with school!
Meanwhile the other traumatized students in the class get to be more traumatized by a peer and silently stuff their trauma and anxiety. The problem remains that the system pretends that the loud, disruptive student is the only one that needed the pullout ignoring that the other 30 students needed the one student to calm down and reset in another setting.
I don’t think the general public realizes how badly behaved some children have become in schools. Much of the time it’s covered over, and not documented anymore. And, teachers that ask for help then face lower evaluations. The actual child gets away with the bad behavior. They often get rewarded. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
“Pulling disruptive kids out of class didn’t work” Yeah, it didn’t work for the students who were pulled out, but what about the majority who weren’t disruptive and came to school eager and willing to learn? Also, what schools have counselors or support staff who can help disruptive students “on the spot”? I guess it could happen if schools were funded in an equitable manner that aligns with the state constitution.
What happened to principals or administrators doing their job? Or in my case, I attended a high school south of Chicago. It was a tough school so we had Deans who administered the punishments. You were sent to the Deans office at Thornton Fractional North High School in Calumet City if you were disruptive in class. I’m not sure if it’s that way today, but students couldn’t disrupt a class without some serious consequences.
Back then the school population was diverse, kids came from broken families, and some were coming from parents who were using drugs with their kids. It wasn’t exactly Bel Air, CA. But there was discipline that made going to school relatively safe, given the challenges from some of the students.
Today those kids would have been treated as if they had some sort of mental health crisis. Maybe some of them did. If so, there needs to be social services, but you don’t allow the classroom to become chaotic or disrupted by the trouble makers, no matter what.
For students who struggle with learning disabilities, that may be a different issue altogether. But teachers are not miracle workers. Forcing them to use pedagogy that sets the classroom up for chaos is the first problem to address. Then giving teachers support when children are pushing boundaries, and purposely disruptive, is the next problem that needs to be fixed.
More families will leave the public schools if this continues. Parents want their children learning in a safe atmosphere where there is structure and discipline.
The kids who are pushing the boundaries need to know that their behavior will not be tolerated inside the classroom. This will benefit them as they get to the higher grades and will help them in life. As one of the commenters said: “Stop being so accommodating. If schools had been harsher toward me from the get go, real life wouldn’t have slapped me upside the head so hard when I was done with school!”
It’s better for kids to learn some life lessons when they are younger so life doesn’t slap them so hard upside their head when they are done with school.
