The Management of Student Behavior and the Need to Reach the Roots - Coursework Example

Behavior: Need To Reach The Roots School Scenario: The school that is being surveyed has a population of 360 It has a system of co-education. The school is located 40 kilometers from the centre of the city. The school has all the necessary study and sports resources available for children. The staff is well trained and meet every week to discuss the progress of children. The students are from the different ethnic backgrounds and are from middle class families. Most of the students have parents who are working and show concern for their children. The school is situated in beautiful surrounding and has adequate space for play and extra curricular activity. However, it is found that the material facilities were not proving enough for the success of educational goals of the school. The history and the current scenario: The school was established in the year 1982. The mission of the school was to provide world class education with the aim of developing and shaping students to become complete human beings rather than just focusing on their education. The school has been doing good with the ideas and the plans that were implemented by the founders. The staff of the school is a senior staff working since the establishment and believe in following the same ideas that were implemented when the school was established. Only three teachers are new and they are efficient in their job of handling students. The staff has meetings with parents every month and the discussion mostly focuses on the performance of their children in school. The teachers used to have meetings every week with their management staff to discuss the progress of the curriculum, behavior problems in classrooms, measures for improvement and overall performance of the class. However, the solutions were never discussed. The meetings were taken in a very mechanical way and there was no fruitful interaction between the teachers and the management representatives. Teachers who have joined recently were not encouraged to share their thoughts or opinions. The classes are functioning on strict disciplinary rules and have set guidelines for behavior. The students who perform well in their studies are rewarded every month and get recognition throughout the school as their photos are published in school monthly magazine. Looking at the above picture, it won’t be wrong to think that the school is doing good. However, even after doing their best to manage the school successfully on every level, the management is facing some serious issues. The major problem was the increase in complaints about bullying, drop in the performance of students, rude behavior in class and complaints from the parents regarding lack of attention towards their children. The school management did its best to study the situation of the school and find out the solution to the problem. However, as the teachers and the staff were unable to find the time to analyze the problem and as there were chances of the facts getting twisted, the external team was invited to study the current practices of the school and provide a plan to improve the situation. The study took about a month and then the plan was created and presented to the management to make some improvements. The results of the study surprised the management. It was all a result of lack of organized efforts and unequal treatment towards students and the staff. The findings of the study: Ti understand the root cause of the problem, it was necessary to talk to people from all the departments of the school. The interviews were conducted with all the teachers, management representatives, staff members and students. Six students were selected from every class out of which 2 were who performed high, two who were not able to perform even average and two who performed average in the class. These students were asked about there experience at school, the interactions with their teachers, their schedules at home and a general interactions with their parents. 1. The school was functioning on attitude of ‘I am not responsible for the problem’. No one was ready to take the responsibility of the increasing violence, rude behavior and declining performance of the school. This led to fragmentation of the whole functioning of the school. There was no unity or understanding among the people from different departments. There was a clear lack of communication. Eventually the meetings with the management and parents became just a formality and there was no genuine interest in the outcome. 2. The teachers who joined recently were finding it difficult to cope with the old ideas of strict discipline and behavior methods. However, because of the lack of enthusiasm and support shown by the senior staff, they started getting discouraged about communicating their ideas and principles. 3. The emphasis was more on the study and the performance of the students and not on the behavior. The students were feeling that their needs were not being fulfilled and their problems are not cared for. Students who suffered bullying were losing interest in studies and were becoming recluse and fearful. It was also found that there was no harmony in the relationship between the classmates. They were not encouraged to interact and help each other with their problems. 4. The in-depth and one to one interview with the students revealed that the students who were not able to achieve even average scores in their studies were either frustrated with the emotional bullying in the school or are troubled due to the personal problems at home. The problems had different nature like violent father, fights between parents, emotional maladjustment at home or lack of affection and attention by mother. These problems were hampering their the performance and the emotional growth of some of the students. 5. The school organization was getting in problem as there was no record of the behavior patterns of the students, teachers and the staff members. The records and the files were maintained for the performance of studies and the sports related activities. However, there was lack of record of personal experiences of teachers with the students and the behavior patterns of the students. This made it difficult for the teachers who joined recently to understand the needs of the students and the class as a whole. All the above problems needed immediate attention and change. The new approach: School is a place where children have their first experience of being social. It is the first opportunity to make friends, become social, have a guide to teach them to write, read and speak well and to have an experience of learning. It is the duty of the adults to make the experience of being at school fun, productive and satisfying for children. Children are there to be nurtured, shaped and encouraged to transform into a learned and responsible human beings. However, it is possible only when the teachers, staff members and the management representatives really care. The new approach that is proposed is the spiritual approach towards transformation. Human being is made up of not just mind and body. He is a made up of emotions, behavior, soul, mind and body. So if one is looking for a solution to the problems, the problem has to be tackled from the roots, not just on surface. The practices proposed needs to be implemented not only by teachers but also by staff members and the management representative. The new ways to be implemented at school: Confucianism approach: Confucianism is a way of dealing with the classroom management (Hue and Wai-Shing 2008. p.28). It helps teachers to look at the students with genuine and spiritual understanding. 1. No one is unchangeable: Teacher’s attitude is extremely important. If teachers have a mental attitude that everyone is different and have unique value, then they can help and support students to grow according to their natural talents and behaviors rather than expecting them to be equal in everything. 2. Introducing love and warmth in class: Laughter is extremely important aspect of life. It displays love, maturity, understanding and friendliness. Teachers have to be genuine as children are very sensitive and they can gauge fakeness very clearly even if we think they cannot. Care and empathy are important to gain their trust, confidence and attention. 3.overall development: Overall development of the students should be the aim. The teachers should discuss not just studies but also stories, knowledge, daily news, inventions and tv programs so that the students feel that the teacher is just one of them. Social development is very important and relationship has to be nurturing and satisfying. 4. Being a role model: Children imitate adults and are influenced by their behavior. Being aware of facial expressions, what they are saying and also how they are saying it is important for teachers as they are the people who set an example for students. Punishment and reward approach: There are also other approaches like punishment and reward approach. This is particularly helpful to tackle the disruptive and chaos situations in the classrooms (Evertson and Weinstein 2006. p.64) . Punishment and reward system can work successfully where the reward given to a student will be taken back on disruptive behavior. Sometimes, to give a taste of immediate reward, it can help to reward even a small amount of good behavior amongst the students who are more active in disrupting the class. First a formal guideline should be given so that the students know what is going to be rewarded and what is going to be punished. This practice makes communication transparent and removes the chances of bias. More importantly, this system should be equally implemented throughout the school. Clear Guidelines for behavior patterns: Giving proper instructions and time warning to the students help them in understanding what is expected from them. Assigning group leaders with responsibility for activities and instructions of the class helps in keeping the class disciplined and chaos free as students know who to contact when they need help(Grossman 2003. p. 79). Giving a feedback while group discussion helps a lot as they know that they are being watched closely. Rules have to be precise and clear rather than vague. Short and positive rules help in encouraging positive behavior (Grossman 2003. p. 86) Tackling Bullying problem: Reaching the roots of behavior that leads to bullying is important if we are to prevent it. Bullying has a major long term negative impact on life(Morrison 2007. p.2). Whether its social, physical or emotional bullying, we have to understand that children who are bullied are always crying out for help to be protected and only school authorities can do it. Bullying can make children to take drastic steps and can prove to be life threatening. (Morrison 2007. p.9). Bullying can be defined as repeated and intentional psychological or physical oppression of a less powerful person by a more powerful person or group of persons (Morrison 2007. p.10). Thousands of students suffer bullying every year and this in my consideration has to be stopped by the school (Morrison 2007. p.16). Family plays an important part in the behavior that leads to bullying. We need to conduct programs where we can understand the relationship that the students have with their parents as positive relationship develops a harmonious behavior in schools while insecurity at home leads to bullying. (Morrison 2007. p.9). All the school authorities should be pledged to fight bullying as children find it embarrassing to report bullying (Morrison 2007. p.67). Staff and Teacher care: The 1989 Elton Report found that communication between the staff is responsible for success of the school(Rogers 2000. p.14). Positive changes in all the areas of school are possible only when the staff communicate and takes actions accordingly (Rogers 2000. p.16). It is extremely important to respect the child in everyone. Even adults have a child inside them and so even they seek appreciation, fun and celebrations. So if children need encouragement and fun in school, then so does the staff. Small activities like birthday celebrations, fun contests, tea parties and sessions of laughter can help to circulate a positive and energetic environment among the staff. This can help them to think school as their family and not just a job. The staff should follow the common rules towards the students behavior issues. When the students realize that they are being treated equally, they take the rules more seriously and respond positively (Rogers 2000. p.44). Exercises that helps deep awareness: Every morning before the classes begin, the students and teachers should practice yoga breathing for at least 5 minutes. Taking deep breathing exercises relaxes the mind and the body and makes you happier and relaxed (Khalsa 1998. p.86). It has the potential to cleanse negative thoughts and emotions. Yoga helps in building confidence and self-awareness. VELS: Learning with the aid of The Interpersonal Development steps help students to gain a positive interactions with peers and hence develops interpersonal skills. It helps students at different stages of their life to develop their awareness about their emotional needs, changes in the physique, difference in themselves and others and the gender differences. It also helps to respect the uniqueness of different gender, culture and physical built (VELS 2007). These were the findings and the solutions to the problem that the school was experiencing. It was necessary to take a spiritual approach towards change because with the advent of machines and computers, man is losing his touch with emotions and feelings. Schools are becoming victims of stress, disharmony, lack of love and impossible expectations. To make schools a place of love, care, encouragement and healthy relationships it is time to implement spiritual approach of transformation References: Evertson, C. and Weinstein, C.( 2006) Handbook of classroom management: research, practice, and contemporary issues Routledge, 2006 Grossman, H.( 2003) Classroom behavior management for diverse and inclusive schools Rowman & Littlefield. Hue, M., and Wai-Shing L.( 2008) Classroom Management: Creating a Positive Learning Environment Hong Kong University Press, 2008 Khalsa, S. (1998). Fly like a butterfly: yoga for children Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. Morrison, B (2007) Restoring safe school communities: a whole school response to bullying, violence and alienation Federation Press, 2007 Rogers, B. (2000) Behaviour management: a whole-school approach by SAGE, 2000 VELS, Victorian essential learning standards (2007), Interpersonal Development Retrieved May 18, 2009 from website http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/essential/personal/development/index.html (updated September 11 2008) Read More