Okay, so I looked through the article on classroom management as it pertained to discipline in middle school, as opposed to elementary and high schools. I'm sure someone has had to have figured this out by now, but the reason why there are so many discipline and behavior problems in middle school is because kids are at the age where they are coming into their own as individuals, and they want to assert themselves as authoritative figures among their peers. By acting out or generally getting into trouble or causing trouble, it's the student trying to make a statement to his or her peers that they are in charge and won't be told what to do. It does usually backfire on them in the end, when they run into disciplinary problems, both in school and at home, but most of these students are "living in the moment" and do not weigh in the potential consequences of their actions.
This is a situation I ran into quite a few years ago, back in my own "wild" years. I was hanging out at the bowling alley when a couple teenagers were having an animated "discussion". It looked like they were going to get into a big fight, and I had earned my own authoritative position at the bowling alley, so I could mediate and prevent a brawl if I had to. I told them if they wanted to fight each other and have it out, I would take them next door and let them do it, with no witnesses, and the winner would have to take me on next. I don't know if it was the lack of witnesses or having to face me that discouraged them, but they broke up their disagreement and went their separate ways (at least for the time being). Anyway, the point is that some of these kids will only act out and misbehave with witnesses around for proof of their bravado and masculinity/womanhood (depending on who is involved, of course). If there is no one around to see, they're not so tough and acting so big, and this is a general rule of thumb, at least in my experience. Now I don't know if this approach would work in the position of being a teacher (a bit of a rogue approach), but it seems to me that if the student is taken out of the position of being able to show off, they aren't going to do anything stupid that would get them in trouble.
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I believe there is a lot of truth in what you are saying here Paul. I have a student in three different classroom settings, Writing, Reading, and Study Hall. He isn't well behaved in any of these settings, but in Reading he has 19 other peers to act out in front off, so it's no surprise that he gives me the most trouble in Reading. In Study Hall he rarely has more than 8-10 of his peers around him and he does much better. Having an audience or a stage to perform on is huge to kids that aren't receiving enough attention at home. The trick is finding ways to offer positive attention to these students, but in school you'll always receive more attention for what you do wrong than what you do well, this is way so many middle school kids seek out attention by acting out. When it's attention they seek the quickest fix is acting out.
ReplyDeleteYes, and middle school kids are trying out the roles that they might someday fill. They are not sure who they are yet...so playing different parts is one way they can see how others react to them. It is not so much they believe who they are...they just want to see how we (and other adults) react to them.
ReplyDeleteMiddle level people talk about giving young adolescents ways to "safely rebel"...part of which is what the adults in their lives choose to land on. We can't (and shouldn't) make a big deal out of everything...so let's choose the important things to "but them about"—in other words, don't worry about the little things (the way they dress) versus the important things (how they treat others).