A Disturbing Student
Vignette #6
Context
After a few months of my teaching in the first year of secondary education, a new student, who was transferred from another school, joined our class. He had behavioural problems and while being in our school, he showed no interest in acquiring any concrete knowledge. The student caused problems with disturbing comments and passive learning attitude, which encouraged other students to follow his example. In certain situations, he was unpredictable. The instructions in this class have become awful and stressful for me, since I had to deal with psychological and pedagogical approaches, of which I was not entirely capable. I have noticed that sometimes he responds whenever I punish his behaviour (send him out from my class).
Dilemma
I am not fond of punishing students because I don’t believe that in the long run that would solve the problem. What other approaches might work?
Choices
- consult the relevant literature about punishment in education (How to search literature -tool 35; Effectiveness of sanctions - tool 1)
- discuss the situation with colleagues (Talk to colleagues - tool 9; Peeling the onion - tool 24)
- discuss common approaches to misbehaviour with parents (Talks with parents - tool 8)
- consult an expert in emotional and behaviour problems to find a common solution