Change Disruptive Behavior by Changing Teaching
Improve Class Management by Adding a Variety of Teaching Strategies
Oct 17, 2009
When disruptive behavior impedes learning in the middle school classroom, teachers need to reflect on their teaching methods and student learning styles to make changes to their teaching practice.
Use a Variety of Teaching Techniques
Changing the way one presents information takes time a great deal of effort. However, it is well worth the time if students are actively engaged in a lesson and if test scores rise.
The middle school teacher should try a variety of instructional styles to keep students on task. The Plasma Link Web Services provides glossary of Instructional Strategies that lists 988 types. With so many strategies available, a teacher should try to use a variety on the list to keep students engaged.
Break Lecture Into Smaller Chunks
There is a time and place for direct instruction or lecture. However, if students are behaving poorly and the teacher is lecturing for the whole class period, then something needs to change. One change a teacher can make would be in the mode of presentation of the subject area.
For the middle school class that has the typical 45 minutes in a period, teachers should consider lecturing only 20 minutes at a time. Middle school students have a short attention span. If there is any way to break up the lecture with a small group activity, this will help students to stay focused on the task at hand.
Using small group cooperative activities will allow students to work in small teams and learn cooperatively. This is very different from the lecture strategy, but middle school students tend to like this method. Busy hands usually mean engaged learners.
Change Poor Student Behavior by Focusing on Learning Styles
If students are not able to learn the material, their brains do not simply turn off. Their brains turn to thinking about something else. This "something else" is sometimes ways to disrupt the classroom because they are bored or frustrated.
Using one teaching strategy all the time will only focus on one type of learner, and the other types of learners will become disheartened. There are three basic types of learners: visual, auditory and hands-on learners or kinesthetic learners. Some students can learn by all three methods, but they have one that is their primary mode of learning. They key is to try teaching strategies that hit all three types.
Some teachers who have disruptive students only blame the students. However, sometimes the problem is the teacher. Teachers must look at their teaching practices to improve learning. Disruptive behavior is a red flag that learning is not taking place. Teachers need to take care of the disruptive behavior, but they need to look deeply at their teaching strategies as well.
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