Teaching Students who are aggressive

What is the physical aspects of child’s behavior

This child will often antagonize others and is drawn to physical fighting or verbal arguments. She might be the "class bully" and have a few real friends. He chooses to solve problems by winning fights and arguments. Aggressive children often threaten other students. These learners often fear the aggressor, who delights in showing herself as a fighter, both verbally and physically.

Are Parents to responsible for this

Your children can be aggressive for many reasons, some of them related to conditions that may be hereditary or home environments that are unhealthy. However aggression is not "handed down" from parent to child. Too often parents of aggressive children who are aggressive themselves should be honest with themselves and recognize that while they are not responsible for these behaviors in their children, they may be part of the problem and certainly can be part of the solution. 

Are schools enviornmentally positive

It is often seen that a positive school or learning climate is best achieved when there is respect and recognition of individual strengths, not merely academic proficiency or performance. Now characterized by effective relationships with all stakeholders, good communication is imperative. I really believe that it should be started early in the school year, contact should be maintained throughout the duration of the instructional period. I have a wonderful win-win solution while face-to-face communication is best, especially when delivering sensitive information, other forms such as telephone, email, snail mail, websites, notices home, and school agendas can also be used. You might find that a positive educational environment means cultivating liasions with a wide variety of community members including, but not limited to, community health, local law enforcement, and other mental health professionals. Furthermore, efforts should be made to initiate and take part in workshops and events that engage discussion between parents, students, and teachers about appropriate behaviour in and out of school. Remember prompt acknowledgement of concerns with a swift remedy helps set the tone. I know that if nothing is done, then that lack of accountability emboldens others to go ahead with their bad behaviour. You may find that when there is avoidance and denial, bullying emerges.

Career Development Workshop

You can experiment within all school professional development activities, workshops, seminars, or conferences, training should cover topics like verbal deescalation skills, management of aggressive students, conflict and bully recognition, as well as the law and individual rights. Verbal deescalation skills focuses on different non-verbal and verbal techniques that, when practiced, enable an educator to appear calm, self-controlled and confident while still maintaining the ability to give clear, assertive instructions in highly emotional or animated situations. Topics covered should include tips and techniques on posture, placement of limbs, eye contact, tone, volume and pitch of voice, use of appropriate language, speech delivery and concepts like personal space, confrontation, arguments, and audiences.

Management direction of aggressive students outlines particular guidelines regarding the type of classroom environment, expectations and rules, as well as best practices for learning strategies and supervision requirements.

Many teachers believe that conflict and bully recognition increases an individual’s awareness of and ability to distinguish bullying from other forms of conflict. Topics to be covered include the sources of conflict, the signs of pending conflict, steps to take to solve conflict that include acknowledgement, definition, information, goal setting, strategy, timeline and expectations as well as the steps to take if conflict continues.

?Some strategies to use with special students include

1. When you sense and avoid too much movement and convey non-aggressive intentions in your body language – avoid waving arms as this can exacerbate confrontation.
2. Use pauses between responses. No matter what using a form of tactical pausing can reduce the chances of confrontation and also shows respect as this demonstrates that you are reflecting on what they are saying.
3. It is very important to remember that silence can be very effective.
4. Another way is to show genuine concern and help the pupil to take control of the situation.
5. Don’t be afraid to avoid an upward spiral of confrontational behaviour. Do not try to mirror their mood. One way for example, if they shout avoid the temptation to shout louder. It is a good idea to match the mood level while showing some heightened response.
6. It is important to know that positioning is key – standing at right angles to the pupil or alongside them may be less threatening. Avoid squaring up. I want to stress here that an angry pupil has a large personal space bubble around them. You will find that normally the space bubble or zone of comfort is about 50cm around us. I would say that standing inside that zone or too close with an angry pupil can exacerbate the situation. However, standing too far away and by appearing to retreat by moving away from the pupil might be seen as a sign of weakness.Needless to say that by standing in this position, you avoid excessive eye contact as that is often threatening.
7. My only request is that do not get pulled into a power struggle – keep responses low key and do not allow the situation to escalate.
8. It is a good idea to always model the behaviour you expect to see.