??Bad Student??

How to help a ‘badly behaved’ student

I do not believe in the term “bad student” student, because I believe it is the environment around the student that instills a particular type of behavior, a child is not born bad, they are actually born innocent which is clear at a young age as they explore the world around them and are perplexed when being told off for the first time. The environment around may have a negative effect, but to look at the glass half full rather than half empty it also means that we have an opportunity to create a positive environment and instill good values, confidence, positivity, empathy, independence etc. Below are some tips that can help you:

Important note: You should always remain calm, collected, professional, and positive.

1) Find out why the student is behaving in that manner, talk to previous teachers, or request a file created by the school counselor, if required or available.

2) Approach the student in a positive manner and try to start a conversation with them not about why they are upset, it could be related to what they are doing at that moment (i.e. drawing, what are you drawing? Do you like drawing?).

3) Just like adults, kids sometimes need space as well, just monitor them from a distance, then decide when it is appropriate to approach them.

4) Is there a problem with the family, has something recently happened, was there a problem in the school or from a previous school…important questions to ask.

5) Talk to the counselor and maybe they can do an indirect observation, then together you can take the next step.

6) If the student doesn’t know how to explain their problem, provide options (writing, drawing, painting etc).

7) Speak to the student’s parents/guardians, if possible, to find out why they are behaving in a certain manner.

8) If it is something confidential, you must always tell them that you will have to document it and report it to the head of school (it could be serious).

9) Be balanced, there should be a reward scheme to boost the student’s confidence, just like there are consequences for not following the rules. Focus on the rewards, even if they are small, trust me it can make a big difference.

10) Simple things like telling the student they did a great job, see you tomorrow champ, high five, greeting them in the morning all go a long way.

11) Speak to the parents/guardians about getting the counselor involved, if needed, this will help document the progress. Have a meeting with the parents/guardians and counselor.

12) Create an IEP focusing on specific areas and possible outcomes (academic or pastoral). I believe solving pastoral matters will naturally help solve academic matters.

13) Always let the student know you have an open-door policy and if they ever want to talk you are there for them.

14) Never shame them in front of other people, deal with them in private.

15) Find out, do they even know how they are behaving, they may not even know what they are doing or why.

16) Try and get the student to reflect on their actions and allow them with your guidance to create solutions (if it comes from them, they are more likely to implement the changes and stick to them).

17) Make sure you document the progress alongside the counselor's documentation. This will help give you a visual on the student's progress and adjust any areas if required, and provide it to other schools if the child moves, so they know how to plan and support the student in the best possible way.

18) Don't simplify your expectations, just modify them until you feel the student is ready, if the student sees that you have simplified his expectations, it may deepen their already negative situation.

19) Focus on developing skills that help deal with emotions and coping with problems.

20) Model how one should behave if something happens that you don't like (you would be surprised how much students pick up indirectly), set an example.

21) Help the student set weekly goals and help them write their own success criteria, so they know when they have achieved it. You can gradually add if you feel they are improving.

Please feel free to add any points of your own from your experience.

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