How Does Your School Deal with Students who Misbehave?

Schools and classrooms are full of all types of students, introverts, extroverts, bookish, geeks, popular and not the so popular. Students are individuals, and they all have different personalities and nature. This makes teaching fun and challenging. Teachers get to handle all kinds of students, and hats off to them as they succeed in maintaining order in the classrooms. Sometimes, water does go over the head. Unruly students can turn the things upside down. This, in turn, becomes a problem for everyone. Different schools have various strategies to deal with such kind of students. The old school method called detention which proves effective until date. Discipline is very important as it makes students better individuals. It helps make them follow rules and regulations and laws of the country. Discipline is paramount in very school and classroom. Misbehaviour or disorderly students bring about havoc. Before taking adverse action, the teachers and the schools should try to reason out why the student misbehaved in the first place. Dishing out punishments without talking to the student only makes things worse. It creates a rebellion in the student. And over time, the school and the teachers will not be able to handle it.

Reason for Misbehaviour

Child psychologists agree that many students misbehave because they want attention. It may be caused by stress, anxiety and boredom. Discipline issues also arise when parents do not do their part. It has been observed that children of parents having a relaxed and carefree attitude often have disciplinary problems. Children need to know what is right and what is wrong. They need to respect the people around them no matter if the persons are younger or older to them. It is the parent's responsibility to teach children from the very beginning how to behave with people. If the child is wrong, the parents should talk to them immediately. By doing so, they are making the child aware that the behaviour was bad or not appropriate. Children need to be informed about good behaviour and bad. While good behaviour is appreciated and recommended, bad behaviour is irresponsible and can bring about chaos. Parents, teachers and schools need to inform students about the rules and regulations. They should be made aware of the implications of breaking the rules. Before taking any drastic action, the teachers and the school should talk to the student. Some common types of misbehaviour in classrooms are rudeness, note passing and not paying attention. Teachers get irritated when students don't pay attention. They say that they have put in hard work, but it gets frustrating when students don't pay attention, thus, teachers lose their cool. It has also been observed that students misbehave when teachers give too much attention or favour some students and leave out the rest. Teachers should give equal attention to every student.

What Can Teachers and Schools Do

When a student is caught misbehaving, teachers should not jump the gun and pass the verdict immediately. Instead, they should investigate as to what led to the student to behave as such. Teachers shouldn't send the student to the principal's office or sign the detention slip. They should give the student the opportunity to talk. While doing so, teachers should listen and not argue and question. They shouldn't ask for an explanation because it only creates bitterness in the student. Here are some ways of handling such kind of problems:

-    Treat the student respectfully. Don't scold or yell at the child in front of the classmates.

-    Be straight with the student. The teacher should say that the behaviour is unacceptable.

-    Don't pick on mischievous students. Treat every student the same. No special treatment for anyone.

-    If the problem seems to be out of hand, talk to the parent. Make the parent aware about the student's behaviour.

-    Every school should have a discipline plan and strategy.

-    The principals and vice-principals should follow up on the plans and strategy and come up with new ideas or ways to tackle misbehaviour.

-    Teachers should engage every student. They should keep a keen watch on the disorderly ones.

-    Every problem should be handled with fairness. The punishment should not be too harsh.

Teachers should make the students aware that certain types of behaviour will not be tolerated in classrooms and the schools. There should be an open discussion to involve every student. They should give inputs on how misbehaving students should be taken to task. Students should be made aware that unruly behaviour can upset the whole system.