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.
What would you think if I told you to look at this behavior as a gift? I know this is a crazy
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
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.
What would you think if I told you to look at this behavior as a gift? I know this is a crazy
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
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