CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Dealing with disruptive student

School context
My practicum IV took place in an elementary school, LEscale et du Plateau, in
Charlesbourg. This school belongs to the School Board in the north-east of Quebec, CS
des Premires -Seigneuries. The school is situated in an affluent area in Charlesbourg.
The majority of students attending the school live in the schools neighbourhood. The
school offers intensive English to all students of grade 5 and 6. This year, there is one
group of grade 5, one group of grade 5-6 and one group of grade 6. The three groups
spend 1/3 of a school year in intensive English, which represents 35 periods per cycle of
nine days. I spent all my practicum with grade 6 students. These students had their first
intensive English experience last year as grade 5, from April until the end of school year.
Description of the problem
Surprisingly, in the grade 6 group that I taught, there were more discipline issues with the
girls than with the boys, who seemed to be more withdrawn and quiet. One girl, in
particular, was very easy to spot from the very first class. She was very disruptive and did
not really react to my comments. She seemed not to be interested during the course and
she did not make any effort to speak English. She used to clown around making
unnecessary comments which were not inappropriate, but simply at the wrong time. I
asked my associate teacher if there was anything special that I should know about this
student, whether she had any health or family problems. A famous psychologist, Egide
Royer, makes a clear correlation between difficult behaviour problems and family
problems of the young students ( Vie Pdagogique, 2009 p.4 ). My teacher mentioned
that, occasionally, she had had some discipline problems with this student and that she
was one of the weakest students in the class. I also decided to interview a homeroom
teacher of the student, in order to know if the student was acting the same way in her
class or if it was just with me. I learned that she had been experiencing the same
problems at the beginning of the year but since she started to develop a relationship with
the girl it was a lot better in class.
Analysis of the problem
As Spencer Kagan and the co-authors of the book Win-Win Discipline describe in the
chapter focusing on the seven different positions, this girls behaviour corresponds
perfectly to the one of an attention- seeking student. Whatever she was doing she wanted
everyone to notice her, starting from the teacher and finishing with her classmates. As
Kagan aptly observes by recognizing and validating students need for control by, for
example, allowing students many choices, we prevent disruptions because students do not

have to be disruptive to fill their need for control (Kagan, 2004, p.7.7). The truth
behind attention-seeking students is that a student that will not get positive attention will
find a way to get it in a negative way. Therefore, from the very beginning, it is important
to occupy this kind of student. Hence, I asked the girl to distribute papers, clean the board
or to be my personal time keeper. It was relatively easy to control her disruptive
behaviour with the small tasks she was given. Interestingly, if I had not given her the
attention that she expected from me on a regular basis, she managed to find ways to
disturb. However, when she received enough care, she was satisfied and stayed quiet
for the rest of the class.
I also realized that if she was an attention-seeking student, it would be crucial for us to
get to know each other. Kagan refers to that as same-side chat, an essential pillar that
supports Win-Win Discipline. In fact, the teacher feels and communicates to the
disruptive student that the teacher is on the same-side with the student, wants to team up
with the student, identifies with the student, and understands where the student is coming
from (Kagan, 2.3). Therefore, I asked the girl if she had some problems, if there was
something that bothered her and maybe that was why she was impolite to me. I explained
to her that she, as a student, was very important to me and I did care about her and
wanted the best for her. According to Hayden, there are five essential classroom
management strategies and one of them is Talk to your students (Hayden, 2010). The
author suggests to talk to students when we see them in the hall, in the yard or at the
grocery store. It is also very good to congratulate them and tell them that we appreciate
their kindness or help. In fact, this lets them know that we really do care about them.
I also asked the student about her opinion on English. She answered that most of the tasks
were difficult for her and she did not understand many activities. In fact, I could see that
the student often struggled and some of the tasks were a great challenge for her. Very
often she would decide that she was not capable of doing anything before even looking at
the paper. In chapter 7, Kagan refers to a psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who
justifies this kind of attitude toward learning when the tasks that students are working on
are too easy or too difficult for them. Vygotsy describes the same aspect as zone of the
proximal development (ZPD). That is where differentiation should be introduced. I also
realized that it would be important to match this student with stronger learners who will
motivate my student rather than discourage. Hagman and Hayes noticed that weak
students working individually are likely to give up when they get stuck, whereas working
cooperatively, they keep going (Hagman and Hayes, 1986). Moreover, I noticed that this
girl did not have many friends in class, therefore, learning with different partners could
be very beneficial to her. Johnson&Johnson and Holubec observed that by using
cooperative learning activities, we help students not only to develop cross-curricular
competencies to achieve their potential, but most importantly to cooperate with others
(Johnson&Johnson, Holubec, 1984). During team work, I more often checked for the

team of my seeking-attention student. I frequently approached her making sure that she
followed the task and she was not neglected by the group. However, I was aware of the
fact that students, at all ages, are very sensitive to what they perceive as unequal
treatment. Forsyth and McMillan stated in Practical Proposals for Motivating Students
that when students believe that their teacher favours some students over others, conflict
grows in the classroom, and their trust in the teacher declines (Forsyth, McMillan, 1991).
Therefore, I had to be very careful with my strategy. I had to make the student feel
special and to be unnoticed by other students. I could feel that the student felt that she
was someone special to me and her behaviour became less and less inappropriate.
Certainly, there were days that I had to remind the student about discipline but these
moments were less intense and lasted for a very short period of time. Sometimes a wink
would be enough to put her back on the right track and sometimes I had to discuss with
her after the class. Nevertheless, I was amazed by how a student-teacher bond eliminated
most discipline problems.
I could notice that I had less discipline problems with her and that we created a special
bond that we both needed. The girl had a need to be noticed, accepted and appreciated
and I had a need to have a disciplined student in my class and, above all, a need to be a
motivating teacher.
Reflection
One of the simplest ways to begin to establish a sense of belonging is by smiling and
making eye contact. Students perform better when they believe that they can depend on
the teacher and their classmates. Teachers should build a trusting relationship by helping
and encouraging students and also by stopping inappropriate behavior. Valenzuela states
that school teachers place more emphasis on teaching subject matter, and some tend to
place less emphasis on serving as coach, mentor, counselor, or cultural mediator. The lack
of opportunity to develop personal relationships and the variety of teacher and student
personalities create alienation. Students want to be listened to and respected as human
beings with wants, desires, fears, and emotions (Valenzuela, p.20, 1999). When schools
serve students well, students develop a sense of self-worth and competence and come to
expect to succeed at school.

References

Forsyth, D. R. and McMillan, J. H. "Practical Proposals for Motivating Students." In R. J.

Menges & M. D. Svinicki (eds.) College Teaching: from Theory to Practice. New
Directions for Teaching and Learning # 45. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1991.
Hagman, J., and Hayes, J. "Cooperative learning: Effects of Task, Reward, and Group
Size on Individual Achievement." Technical Report 704, ERIC Document
#278720.Alexandria, VA:US Army Research Institute for the Behavioral
Sciences, 1986,
Hayden, K. (2010, December 28). Top Five Classroom Management Strategies They
Really Work. Retrieved from http://www.brighthubeducation.com/classroommanagement/3318-top-5-strategies-from-veteran-teacher/
Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., and Holubec, E.J. "Cooperation in the Classroom." Edina,
MN: Interaction Book Co., 1984.
Kagan, S., Kyle, P., Scott, S. (2004). Win-Win Discipline. San Clemente: Kagan
Publishing.
Valenzuela, (1999) Subtractive Schooling: U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of
Caring.
Vie Pdagogique (2009) Rencontre avec gide Royer.