Proactive or Reactive?

Proactive or Reactive? Your Choice.

Sometimes I wonder what we are thinking as teachers. I have sat in classes where teachers spend more time redirecting and correcting behavior than teaching the lesson. This is especially true sometimes of teachers dealing with early childhood and special needs students. It is such a time waster and becomes a source of agitation to the teacher, students who are on task and even the offender. When a teacher is constantly focused on negative behavior it hurts more than it helps. The targeted student just becomes more agitated and either rebels or intensives the negative behavior to get more negative attention. I remember attending a seminar, where the facilitator talked about how to avoid this trap.

Proactive Choices in Dealing with Undesired Behavior

The teacher needs to determine why the student is engaged in the behavior. Sometimes it is anxiety because of lack of confidence in their ability to do the task. They seek to escape the task by avoidance. A student may be defiant, or refuse to work, put their head down on the desk, or have an emotional outburst. Extinction is an approach that can be used to deal with undesired behavior. If a student is in the habit of disrupting the class to get a attention. Ignoring the student is one way to maintain control of the lesson. Generally, undesired behavior should be viewed with disinterest and not annoyance. Also, consistently giving negative consequences as a result of the undesirable behavior makes this more effective. It is important to be consistent. 

Choosing to remain calm and in control is also a key. Positive reinforcement for desired behavior shows that student what they must do to get the teacher's attention and affirmation versus negative attention. Instead of embarrassing the student a teacher can plan an intervention. Small groups with peer mentoring is very helpful, especially if a code of conduct is explicit and enforced. Conducting a survey is also helpful, it gives a student a chance to communicate their needs discretely. Under no circumstances should a teacher embarrass or humiliate a student, making him or her feel inadequate. Our job as teachers is to find creative ways for everyone to learn. If a teacher fails to plan, a teacher plans to fail.

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