Article Review #1
Cassandra Parks
Upper Iowa University
An article titled A Fresh Look At Behaviour Management In Schools written by Tim Taylor and Geoff James discussed an alternative to traditional behavior management by taking a “solution focused approach” as opposed to “problem focused methods” and the benefits that come along with it (Taylor). After having a student with severe behavioral issues (including physical violence) and trying an array of behavior management strategies (none of which worked), Tim Taylor contacted Geoff James, who had previously assisted with challenging children at the school where he was working, for some advice. James used an “inquiry based approach focused towards solutions rather than problems” formulated by Steve de Shazer and Inso Kim Berg (Taylor). This strategy focuses on what a student knows he or she can do well and has a positive attitude toward; and helps the adolescent recognize how strategies they already use can be applied to other parts of their life they may be struggling with.
The student is coaxed to recognize when a behavior issue may arise prior to it getting out of control and diffuse the situation on their own. In this instance, the child excelled at football and wanted to play with the other children, however, the other children did not want to play with him because of his behavioral issues. After talking for quite some time, the boy decided that when he was feeling an outburst coming on he could depart the classroom and take a few cool down minutes in the hallway. Taylor briefly explained to the other students in the class that this would be occurring and stated that he never had issues with the other children making a big deal of the situation. By the end of the year the boy had grown into quite the mature young man and was playing football with the rest of the class just as he had hoped. This article was written a decade after the initial incident. Taylor says that he has stayed in contact with the student and he is doing excellent in school at “A level” (Taylor). Clearly this method was effective with this student, and in the article Taylor says that this has worked just as well with many students in subsequent years.
Taylor went on to say he had continued using this method for years and it has been effective with many children with a great range of behaviour issues. He did acknowledge that at the time of the incident, he was working in an area of exceptionally low income where behavior challenges were quite varied, however, in the past, many other commonly used strategies almost always worked for children until this one child in particular simply would not respond. Though this was in a community predisposed to these issues, I think this strategy could be used in almost every classroom. Taylor and James state many advantages to this solution focused approach such as less stress, lower dropout levels, money saving, and creating more productive learners.
I do see how this method could work and Mrs. Wigant has mentioned a similar strategy that has worked with many of her students. Simply boosting one’s confidence about any one thing in paricular can make strides in attitude improvement which can then lead to better behavior. Also, involving the child in the process of deciding what would be the best solution to their situation holds them accountable by making them feel as if they have control over the decision. Probably the most obvious downfall of this would be finding the time to engage in students and their personal lives to find that connection. A major struggle currently facing teachers is the high workload as pressure put on teachers to teach more students in larger class sizes and sometimes even classes outside of their experitse. Increased class size has also led to a decline in personalized and one-on-one teaching situations. Teachers report that they simply do not have time to give the individualized attention needed in these situations. It has become easier in some instances to exclude the child and label them “at risk” so they can get help in a more one-on-one environment. I think if we could take a few more minutes of our time to work one on one with each student, the outcome would be more than worth the effort.
All in all, I could see myself using this or a similar approach to classroom management in many situations. I always like the teachers that made some attempt to relate to me and make it known that I mattered. We have read about the effect that teachers who care can have on their students. Afterall, this is why I am going into the teaching profession. I would like to have an impact on children’s lives and know that somehow somewhere along the way I bettered their lives. If I could teach them something as practical as how to interact with others and control their emotions and behavior, I could want nothing more.
References
Taylor, T. (0). Retrieved from
The article did share a great idea. I loved how the teacher discussed how the student rated his or her own performance and then established where they wanted to be. I agree with you that a large problem is finding the time to establish the rapport and conversation with problem students. Why do you think we have so few after school programs for struggling students? What if teachers were asked to work every other summer to assist around 10% of the students?
ReplyDeleteI think the burn out level is so high especially in the districts that need the most help because of the daily struggle with learning an behavioral disabilities. Especially those that occur more commonly in the low income neighborhoods. There is often little or no support from home which leads to bigger issues. I have a friend that teaches middle school English at a school in a low income area and this is one of her hardest struggles. She dedicates far more time than I think many teachers might be able to take on in their first few years of teaching. She says that the payoff has been huge though, and even though she can't change everyone, the few students she has impacted has been worth all the effort.
DeleteI liked the idea that was shared for the strategy for the student. I think using a cool off period is a great tactic for students and it gives them a chance to reset and refocus. It was very effective for the student in this article and keeping him focused for playing football too.
ReplyDeleteIs using a cool off period something that all students should be allowed to use at school?
I don't know that I could make that decision at this point. I can say as a mother of a child that age, it does help when she gets upset to send my daughter to her room for a while (or remover her from whatever situation she is in) and let her think for a few minutes before discussing the issue. I don't think there is a guaruntee this could work for everyone effectively.
DeleteIt is important as a main message out of this article to never give up on our challening students. As educators it is our job to find any way possible to meet our students needs on positive teacher-student relationship level and do everything we can to make them successful. If you were iike Taylor, what methods would you have used to deal with your own "Kyle" student? WOuld they have been similar or different methods from Taylor?
ReplyDeleteFrom the brief description given of his behavior, I would say that this would have been one of the methods I would attempt. I don't know if this would be the first method. I do agree that as educators we must never give up and always show an interest in helping the child. I can remember children when I was in school that teachers clearly just wanted to push off on someone else and I think ultimately effected the kids in a negative way.
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