Where is the behavior coming from?

 

Challenging student behavior can be disruptive, stress inducing, and difficult to manage in a classroom setting. Negative student behavior can come from many external or internal factors. Student behavior may be attributed to the classroom environment or may be due to a psychological, biological, or medical condition. When trying to understand why a student is acting a certain way, it is key to examine all aspects of a child’s well being. Finding the root cause can significantly aid in the design and application of an intervention that best meets the students needs. 

 Pinpointing the Behavior

Teachers wear many hats and one of the most important is being a detective. At times, student behavior can be frustrating, challenging,  and difficult to not take personally. But, there can be many underlying reasons a student is acting out. For example, a student has been assigned a math page to complete. You notice the student is not working on their assignment and is actively distracting others. After a few observations and a review of the student work, you realize that the student is not on task because they don't feel confident and are unsure of how to answer the questions. With a few minor adjustments, you can structure this time to better meet the needs of the student by giving them the support they need. Once the student feels confident in the material, they are less likely to distract others and be off task. This is just one example of underlying factors that can contribute to a student's negative behavior. Others may include; 

• Lack of social/emotional skills
• Poor structure classroom environment
• Teacher student relationships
• Peer relationships 
• Outside factors such as poverty and trauma 

What is RTI? Making Sense of Many Acronyms.

RTI stands for Response to Intervention. RTI identifies students who may need additional support academically or socially/emotionally and is the sidekick of education. RTI begins in the classroom with the teacher. If a teacher notices a student struggling or needing additional support, she will brainstorm ideas to better support this student. Once a teacher has tried a variety of strategies, with little to no success, she can bring the student to a building level team. The team, which is made up of different stakeholders, including the principal, instructional coach, social worker, and special education teacher will suggest interventions that may benefit the student based on both data and observations. The team will continually meet, to ensure the student is improving in their area of need. 

References: Unsplash. (n.d.). 100 Classroom Pictures: Download Free Images on Unsplash. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/s/photos/classroom