Skip to main content

The Gift of Behavior

     If a picture is worth a thousand words then what's the value of an action? How do we quantify that? Have you ever sat and just people watched? It's something my dad loves to do. He gets a kick out of watching people hurry about and interact with each other. I have often caught myself sitting and observing the people around me. I find myself wondering what they're thinking. What is going on inside their head that has caused the particular expression being displayed on their face at that moment. It intrigues me. It all serves as communication. Every facial expression, movement, word, or disengagement communicates something. But what if words can't be found? What if the way someone chooses to communicate makes it difficult for anyone to see, hear, or try to understand them and in fact causes the exact opposite...causes people to stop listening, engaging them, or trying to understand them? This is what is happening in classrooms across the country. I know it is not isolated to my classroom, my school building, or my district.
 
 In our classrooms we have students who exhibit behaviors that are undesirable. They don't know how to communicate in an appropriate way and so they communicate in the only way they know how...through misbehavior. It is frustrating to deal with misbehavior especially if it continues for a length of time. It drains your teacher's heart and creates a classroom environment where the learning is disrupted.
Brown Christmas Present With Red Ribbon 
 What would you think if I told you to look at this behavior as a gift? I know this is a crazy thought, but hang in there with me as I explain my thought process. If behavior is a form of communication then I can track it. I can collect data which will lead me to patterns and trends. I can then use that information to put plans into action to address the behavior. Misbehavior is not a gift any teacher ever asks for. However, if we change the way we look at it, then maybe we can work to understand the behavior. Maybe the behavior is stemming from a gap in their learning and the behavior is a way to avoid failure. By using my data I can put strategies into place which will address their learning needs.

     We need to be asking ourselves to look deeper into the behaviors our students our exhibiting and look for answers, ways to help support them. There are so many reasons why a student misbehaves and none of those reasons are because they like to be in trouble, because they don't care, or because they want to ruin your day. None of us like to disappoint people and our students are no exception. When we take these excuses out of our conversations then we can start to look for the real reasons behind what they are trying to communicate.

     We are their advocates. We strive to meet our students where they are and teach them according to what they need. If we are looking at the whole child, then we have to encompass their behavioral needs into the planning. Many times I think we view behavioral needs differently than academic needs. We think of behavioral problems as the job of someone else. We feel our 'job' is to teach and someone else needs to come 'fix' the behavior issue. If we identified an academic need we would immediately start researching and planning strategies to support our student and encourage progress. We can do the same thing when we identify a behavioral need. Look for strategies which will support your child and encourage progress in that area of need. I join forces with a team of people to help develop behavioral supports for my students. I pull from my OT, PT, resource teachers, speech-language teacher, fellow general education teachers, administration, my PLN group, as well as the student's family. Together we make a plan and we implement it. We modify and adjust as we go through the journey of correcting the behavior. It is a process, but it also rewarding. We look at every piece of data as a gift that is going to help us reach the next stage of progress.

     The students who are misbehaving are communicating with you. What are they saying? What are they trying to tell you? Most importantly...are you going to take the time to listen to them? They may not be communicating the way we would like them to, but they are communicating. There's no doubt about that! Look at the gift they're offering and decide what you're going to do with it.


                          Liz Savage





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ahhhh It's Math Time!!!!

     I don't know about you but for me math time was my least favorite part of school.  I hated it with every part of my being!  Literally... I loathed it!  Why you ask?  Because I was not a good math student, or so I thought.  Math was where I felt less than equal to the other kids in my class.  Way less equal, like not even on the same page as the others.  I was that kid in the pictures from way back in the day sitting on the stool with the "Dunce" hat on.         Everyone seemed to be able to answer the questions that the teacher asked and I was still calculating the answer in my head or on my paper.  I know I wasn't the only one feeling that way, but the pressure to be able to respond as quickly as some of the other kids were was frustrating to say the least!  I can remember many times thinking to myself, "How can people like math?"      When I started teaching I was determined to not l...

Let's Talk Classroom Environment!

     For many years now I've had my own personal opinion about classroom environments.  I'm of the opinion that if we have to send our children to school for six plus hours a day, they should feel comfortable there!  It makes sense right?  No one would want to be forced to stay in a place where they didn't feel comfortable.  So it's no surprise that when I got my first teaching job the classroom environment was one of my top priorities.        Now, I will say that my first classroom was warm and inviting, and I know the kids felt comfortable.  However, today I know far more and have had the benefit of many hours of sitting in conferences that were both enlightening and uplifting.  I've discovered through personal experience and continued education that children react to their environments.  We know this to be true.  We've had those talks with administrators and kid talk teams .  Ever heard the comment, "Wel...

Are You Truly Ready?

    I recently read a blog entitled "What's My Name?" by Matthew Arend.  It was so thought provoking!  The author shared a childhood memory of meeting a beloved baseball team while on vacation with his family.  He and his brother stood in the lobby of their hotel for hours asking for autograph after autograph until one player asked them the question: "What's my name?"  When they couldn't tell him, he politely refused the autograph.  The players reasoning was that if you don't know my name then why should I give you my autograph?  Great point, right?       In education we spend a lot of time focusing on our classroom, curriculum goals, personal goals, building goals, and district goals.  Hours and hours are spent in preperation for open house.  We take time to thoughtfully arrange our classrooms.  We make goody bags to welcome our new students.  We spend many hours getting our lesson plans ready for the first fe...