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Disruptive Learners
What is meant by disruptive?
A disruptive student is the rowdy or naughty student who tries to break the classroom rules through his misbehavior.
Ex: He may chat during the teacher's lesson presentation, move from his seat, quarrel with his mate next to him, make noise, cheat answers during exams and so on. He is the student who always gets into troubles with his teachers or with his friends inside the classroom because of not respecting the classroom rules.
The problem:
This problem may arise out of:
1-The physical arrangement of the classroom.
2-Boredom.
3-Frustration.
4-Lack of interest.
5-Trasitional periods.
6-Lack of awareness.
7-No eye-contact.
8-Group work size.
9-Group work composition.
10-Limitted planning time.
11-Cultural and linguistic barriers.
12-Lack of access to equipment, materials and resources.
Dealing with this problem of disruptive students is a huge problem for many teachers. Classroom management classes and theories do not prepare you for what happens when you are left all alone with a class full of thirty children or teenagers.
How to handle disruptive learners in class:
Learners often comment on how they hate being told what to do and given orders. Empowering questions and expectations force them to make a decision about their own behavior that holds them accountable to it.
When a student is being disruptive and talking while you are talking, instead of yelling, “Stop talking,” simply say, “I think you are really amazing and funny, but I would really appreciate it if you could respect me and your classmates enough to not talk while I am talking.” This initial interaction changes the standard, but respecting them before demanding respect.
If the problem continues, then new conditions arise. At the next infraction, in the same tone of voice, say, “We agreed that we would respect each others, so I am going to need you to decide if you would like to stop talking while I am talking or choose to stay for detention?”
By giving students choices, they feel empowered to make their own decisions. They do not always choose the right one, and this is not the end all for dealing with all disruptive students, but it is a good place to start.
A strategy steps to handle that misbehaviour:
I advise the teacher to follow the steps below:
1- Be patient, smile and calm down.
2-Disgnose the learner's misbehavior.
3-Develp a strategy to handle it in terms of creating an educational situation that relates to the lesson that is being explained.
4-Implement it.
5- Reflect and evaluate it.
Teachers can also communicate appropriate levels of dominance by
exhibiting assertive behavior. Assertive behavior is the ability to stand up for one's legitimate rights in ways that make it less likely that others will ignore or circumvent them.
Assertive behavior:
Teachers display assertive behavior in the classroom when they:
1-Use assertive body language by maintaining an erect posture,
2-Use an appropriate tone of voice, speaking clearly and deliberately in a pitch that is slightly but not greatly elevated from normal classroom speech.
3-Persist until students respond with the appropriate behavior.
Steps of another strategy to handle this problem:
1-Defining the target behavior.
2-Determine if the misbehavior out of disability or it is classroom based. Vary your communication styles to address multiple- intelligences and different cultured learners inside your class.
3-Defining the desired behavior.
4-Developing the data-collection system
5-Teaching the students how to use the self management system.
6-Implementing the system through teaching your learners the method of:
Self-instruction,
self-recording,
self-monitoring
self-reinforcement,
self-evaluation,
and self-punishment.
7-Evaluating the effectiveness of the system.
8-Identifying functional reinforcement and fading the use of the self- monitoring procedure. 