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Danielle de Jong; Annoeske Buist; Emily Schappert; and Thomas Godts
Case Study 1:
Bobby is an eighth-grade student who has had behavioural and self-regulation challenges since he was four years old. When his mother noticed he was aggressive toward his younger sister, she had him screened by the school district. Even though Bobby was placed in an at-risk per-school program, his behavior remained unchanged. At this point he started seeing the school counselor on a weekly basis. During second grade, Bobby was recommended for the special education program.
As an eight-grader, Bobby still challenges authority, and he is defiant and disobedient. Bobby continues to struggle in both his academics and in his social environment. Bobby could benefit from multiple supports and strategies in the classroom for improvement in his behavior, academic progress, attendance, and socialization. (Lare, n. d.)
Learning how to prevent and manage behavior is an everyday part of classroom life for a teacher. This could include dealing with less serious behaviours (e.g., interrupting, not working, wandering around the classroom, constantly talking, etc.) to more serious issues (e.g., students teasing, harassing, and/or bullying other peers and members of the school community). (Shek & Sun, 2012) Behavioral issues affect the whole classroom as they can interfere with other students’ learning and take up a lot of teacher time. (Scholastic, n. d.)
In 2019, EAB conducted a survey about disruptive behaviour in the primary classroom. More than 1900 educators all across the United States participated and revealed the increase of behavioural issues in the classroom within the last three years. The three most common classroom disruptions were tantrums, unresponsiveness and bullying. It is estimated that approximately 144 minutes a week, which concludes to 14,5 school days a year, of instructional time are lost due to behaviour disruptions.
THINK AND IDEATE
Re-read the case study above and discuss or write your answers to the following questions:
- What impact might Bobby have on the classroom?
- What types of interventions might you use if you found out that Bobby was going to be a student in your 8th grade class?
