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Strategies for dealing with kids who get physcially aggressive with teachers- Part 1- Establishing the classroom climate
Filed Under Goals, The way I see it
Strategies for dealing with kids who get physcially aggressive with teachers- Part 1- Establishing the classroom climate [7:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1493)
A. Introduction
It’s important for teachers to know how to protect themselves from those few students who deal with the vicissitudes of life by being physically aggressive. We’ve all heard those stories about teachers who get hit, punched or have something thrown at them. Fortunately, there are strategies that we can use in the classroom that will help reduce the possibility of that.
As some of you might know, I’m a special education behaviour specialist and have taught teenagers in jail, in open custody facilities, in vocational schools as well as in regular high schools. I’ve been teaching troubled, troubling and troublesome kids for over twenty years now and have learned or should I say have had to learn strategies that have kept me safe and happy in the classroom.
What have I learned over all the years? I’ve learned that the most important thing I can do to keep myself safe in the classroom is to prevent problems before they start. How do I do this- by establishing a positive classroom environment.
Ironically enough, I learned this lesson early in my teaching career when I was teaching young offenders in jail. The classroom I was to teach in had been set up by someone else so it didn’t reflect me as a person at all, and a guard was to sit in the classroom to protect me from my students-that was hardly conducive to a positive learning environment. So, I decided some changes had to be made.
You can imagine what happened when I first asked to have the guard removed from the classroom. I just wanted it to be me and the kids. The powers- that -be (I can’t remember exactly who that was) were more than a little reluctant to do that. But, fortunately Stu Auty who was my supervisor supported me in this request and the guard was gone, replaced by a large red emergency button that I could push if there were any problems. The guard now sat in an area down the hall, away from the classroom. That worked well.
Why did I want the guard gone? Of course I knew why the guard was there, I’m not stupid. But I felt that the guard brought the jail and everything it represented into the classroom, and I didn’t want that. As long as jail was in the classroom, the classroom environment wouldn’t be a positive learning environment. I wanted a safe, positive learning environment and that’s what I got. The red emergency button was there for safety, and the classroom environment was positive because the guard was gone.
Although I’m not teaching in jail anymore, I still want a safe, positive learning environment. In someways teaching in a regular high school today is scarier than teaching in jail- there’s no red emergency button and guard down the hall. You’re on your own more.
B. Establishing Classroom Climate
Establishing a positive classroom climate is essential for a safe, positive learning environment, and establishing classroom agreements are one of the ways to do that.
I used to call the classroom agreements rules, but rules seem so top down, and I don’t want that. Some kids see red when they see the word “rule”. I want them to see green instead. I want students to buy into the classroom code of conduct, not rebel against it.
At the beginning of the semester we establish our behaviour agreements. Basically it boils down to attentive listening, appreciation, mutual respect and right to pass. You can view my PowerPoint for elaboration.
I want the classroom agreements to be a result of collaboration so that the students will be more likely to buy into the code of conduct.
This is what I do
1. Tell students that since they are in grade 9, 10 or whatever, I know they’re experts at knowing what makes a classroom work because they’ve been in many so classrooms2. Set up a placemat group activity that will ellict the students’ expertise
3. Ask students to take a few minutes to think about what makes a classroom work and then jot those things down on their section of the placemat
4 Have students share their thoughts with group members
5. Place four pieces of chart paper on the wall labeled mutual respect, attentive listening, appreciation, and right to pass. It’s amazing , everything seems to fall into these four categories.
6. Have each student choose two or three things that they think are the most important and write each one onto a separate sticky note
7. Ask students to place their sticky notes onto one of the four pieces of chart paper according to where they think it belongs
8. Discuss the results of the activity with the class noteing how everything falls into one of the four categories
9. Add my own stickies if I see that something has been omitted. I’m part of the class too.
10. Thank the students for their expert input and tell them that I think that what we have here will make our classroom work and ask them if they agree. Most will say they agree and that’s what I want.
11. Have students create posters illustrating the classroom agreements.
12. Review the agreements next day using the powerpoint presentation I made. That’s when I make sure everyone understands what kinds of behaviours each agreement includes.
123. Ask students if anyone would like to display their posters. I let them choose where, but ask that they make sure that each wall has some posters on it.It’s interesting to see and hear what happens. Students will start to remind each other of our classroom agreements by saying things like no put downs, attentive listening , mutual respect and right to pass when someone is behaving inappropriately. It’s much more effective to cite the classroom agreements than to say stop talking while I’m teaching or stop calling him names etc. I even hear my students cite the agreements outside of the classroom when they’re walking in the halls . I love that because I want them to be proactive and advocate for themselves in and out of the classroom.
The classroom agreements we’ve established set the stage for and support a safe, positive learning environment. That’s a good first step. The next thing I do is work at maintaining that positive climate or vibe. I’ll talk about how I do that in my next post. Look for it sometime next week.
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42 Responses to “Strategies for dealing with kids who get physcially aggressive with teachers- Part 1- Establishing the classroom climate”
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Great ideas!
[...] including establishing rules (though she prefers to call them “agreements”). Read the entire post. Sphere: Related Content « B-mod camps are [...]
[...] I think that the term ‘edupunk’ fails to capture what the DIY reform movement is all about. The most important aspect of the reform is changing the nature of student-teacher relationships. Instead of a top-down classroom hierarchy where the educator creates the rules of the classroom and controls content, the classroom needs to be an interactive community where interactions between students and educators drives curriculum. A great example of this is the behavior management techniques discussed on Elona Hartjes’ blog: [...]
Thank you. I am entering my 23rd year but I am always looking for ways to refresh my teaching and do better.
Donna,
Your welcome. I know exactly where you’re coming from. I’m always looking for ways to keep it fresh. Please feel free to share ways that you’ve kept things fresh. I’m sure that lots of us would appreciate the tips.
Elona,
I really liked your slideshow, but it has been removed. Could you email a copy to me?
Thanks!
Elona,
Great suggestions and ideas… I would love to borrow/use your PowerPoint with my 7th graders, but I can’t figure out how to upload it… Could you possibly email a copy to me? Thanks in advance.
Hope you’re having a wonderful summer.
Laura,
I’ll email it to you as an attachment.
Hi, Elona. I would love to borrow/use your powerpoint with my middle-schoolers, but can’t get it to upload. Can you please email me a copy? Thanks so much!Please send it to both of my e-mail address (home and work). Thanks!
Very interesting stuff. I’ve been teaching science for 18 years, 8 of them with special ed kids. I practice a lot of what you preach, but love the fact that I can now use a powerpoint. Thanks! This is also the first time in my entire life I ever came across another Elona. . .and here I thought I was unique!!
Love the slideshow and would like to use the activity in my 7th grade classes. Please send it to me. I work at a school that had a schooting last year and need to make changes.
Thanks
Marion
Marion,
I tried to email you the slideshow but your email address didn’t work for me. Please send me another address so I can forward the slideshow to you.
Please try this address. Hopefully it will work.
Elona,
Can you please send me your powerpoint. This will be a great start for me as I embark on a new school.
Marion,
For some reason, the email is still bouncing back. Maybe your email is filtering it. I sent it to my hot mail account and it made it through. Do you have a hotmail account?
Julia,
My email bounced back. Do you have a hotmail or gmail account, I think it works with those.
Thanks for the concrete advice. I’m a second career ’specials’ teacher headed into a school that has had behavioral problems in the past. I plan to put to work your strategies in the upper grades and with my middle school students. Being on a cart has its own problems and having a handle on behavior will make the transition from class to class better.
Thanks for the practical ideas. I’ve used a similar method, but the power point slides would be a great visual addition. Can I also get it emailed to me. Thanks for the help!
Kathi,
Your welcome. I’d be delighted to email yu a copy of the slide show.
Hi Elona,
Great advice. I’d like to get a copy of your powerpoint presentation. You have some great ideas and I’d like to pass it along to some of the teachers that I supervise. Thanks.
Deb,
Thanks. I’d be delighted to send you the slideshare power point.
I just wanted to let you know that I used this with my juniors today. I organized them a little differently, I always put my rules as “Respect yourself, respect others, take responsibility” but it worked. I’m always unsure how to approach 11th graders, since they should know how to behave but of course, that doesn’t mean they do it. It was interesting to see their responses and see some kids I know from the past as “troublemakers” putting things like “everyone be quiet when others are talking”.
It’s rare to find strategies that aren’t too elementary-oriented, so it was good to hear an approach that high school students can buy in to!
Penelope,
I usually get my students to make posters and ask them to put their work around the room. I tell them that the posters are like road signs that remind us of what our behaviour ought to be. They can make that connection.
I’m so glad it worked for you.
Hi Elona,
Great tips and thanks for your time in sharing it. I couldn’t download the powerpoint slide, could you please email it .It will be very useful for a substitute also, I suppose. Thanks.
We’re taking the poster idea a little more technological and I photographed them “acting out” on of the rules for one of those “motivational” posters.
Penelope
I love it. That’s a great extension of what I usually do. I just might do that too.
Thank you so much for sharing this.
Please send a copy of your powerpoint. I would like to share it with new teachers.
Thanks,
Carolyn
Hi,
Please email me a copy of your Powerpoint.
Thanks,
Bruce
Elona,
Please email me a copy of your PowerPoint.
Thanking you in advance,
Sue
Elona,
Please email me a copy of your PowerPoint.
Thank you,
Joanne
Elona,
I’m sharing your site with my Special Education Practicum teachers. Please email me a copy of your PowerPoint.
Thank you!
Heidi Bach
Hi Elona, I’d love to use/borrow a copy of your powerpoint. Please send it as an attachment if possible to my web site. Thanks so much…
Great article Elona with an interesting strategy for making up the class procedures..I will be trying the post it notes myself next semester.
( I use a similar technique but use the 1-3-6-whole class strategy to get to the same end)
The “pass ” option is one of the most powerful aspects of the classroom procedures. My experience is that it is used a few times by the “difficult student” and when he/she recognises that the teacher actually allows this without judgement, she/he becomes confident to have a go at answering questions and allowing themselves to make mistakes.
Invariably the students come up with a rule that is something like ” no humiliating others”…generally referring to me, the teacher. It is a great tool to use when breaking tension and thus avoiding aggression.
Thanks for your article…a good reminder.
Andrew,
You’re absolutely right about the pass option.I’ve only had a student use it once this semester. Mind you, they keep asking me if they can pass on something but when it comes down to it they don’t. They just need to know they can if they feel too threatened.
Hi,
I wuld love a copy of your powerpoint. This is my first year teaching. I am second grade at a challenging school. My students are very disrespectull to me and other students. I will start using your strategies.
Thanks
Can you email me a copy of your powerpoint? I’d really like to use this in my class, I’m struggling mightily with my 6th graders. My students are very disrespectul to me and other students.
I’m gonna try to push reset on my school year and start over, maybe if I give them a clean slate they’ll give me one too.
I am at a new school with students whom could benefit from your powerpoint. Please email a copy of your powerpoint. Thank you!
WOW. It is so interesting to read about every one’s experiences! I have two requests. Could you elaborate on the “pass” idea and also, of course, send me the power point?! I am an ESL teacher in an alternative high school and trouble is brewing over issues of respect for others. Thanks for the insights! Tracy Sharp
Tracy,
I’d be delighted to elaborate on the “pass” idea. I tell my students that if I ask them a question during class, they have the right to say “pass” and that simply means they do not need to answer at that moment because they are not ready for one reason or another to answer or comment on the topic at hand. I will come back to them later when they have had a chance to gather their thoughts. If the question is deemed to personal by the student he or she can just pass and not have to contribute later.
When I first introduce the pass idea, my students test me to see what I will do. Once they trust me, I hardly ever get a pass response.
I tell them they can’t use pass all the time just to avoid participating because participaton is one of the requirements of the course and gets evaluated.
Honestly, it’s not the problem one might think it could be. Just set up the parameters when you introduce it.
I’ll forward the SlideShare to you right now.
Elona
I would really appreciate you forwarding me the “Classroom Agreements” power point presentation to my email address. I plan to use this my first week of teaching next week. I think the ideas are fantastic!
Regards
Maree
Thank you for all you wonderful insights. I work in a school confronted with gang violence, Its always great to learn new tools for encouragement and building self-esteem.
Thank You!
(1st year teacher)
I am working with teachers to establish effective classroom climate; please forward your power point. I am also working with teachers to establish effective discussion groups, so if you have resources to share; I would appreciate.