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STUDENT BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT, JOHN JOSEPH AND KYM BROWN, 2001 The key to successful student behaviour management lies primarily in the student’s capacity to engage with the classroom curriculum. Classroom behaviour and curriculum learning outcomes are influenced by a number of factors including:
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Teachers may have major influence over some of these factors, ranging to very little influence. Whatever, influence and responsibility are most effective when shared. When picturing students who exhibit chronic patterns of disruptive classroom behaviour a compound of contributing factors usually arises. For example, a student may come into the classroom in an angry mood due to an incident at home. She may have no recess or lunch, be teased by classmates and find the science lesson irrelevant. Teachers may label this person a trouble-maker and use time-out extensively so that others in the class are not disrupted. How does a student in this situation find the internal character and resources to create new, positive dispositions? There are literally tens of thousands of students who attend schools on a daily basis that fit this kind of scenario. Where do teachers find the time and resources to construct attachment and learning programs for these students? In this section we will address two key areas – an understanding of how behaviour is learnt and some classroom strategies for managing low to medium level disruptions. Students who consistently disrupt classrooms require skilled and persistent intervention programs. These programs are beyond the scope of this paper. |
Understanding how behaviour develops Human behaviour is complex and the subject of hotly contested oppositional views. We take the view that all behaviour is learnt, and through consistent use, eventually committed to long-term memory to be drawn on in times of crisis. Behaviour is purposeful. It is employed to respond to current scenarios. What may appear as a poor choice to one person may also appear as the only solution to another. Another major factor emerges when considering behaviour - that of the current chemical mix in the brain. Behaviour may move rapidly from logically sequenced steps to irrational, impulsive actions. When the human brain needs to react emotionally to a crisis situation it finds it difficult to engage the rational mind at the same moment. Hence behaviour has a duality:
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