Posts

Showing posts from July, 2012

Dealing with an Angry Student: Tips for Avoiding the Power Struggle Trap

Image
In today’s schools, angry and even aggressive classroom behavior seems to be affecting all teachers equally; troubled and/or angry students are no longer a concern just for special education teachers. Being prepared for managing this challenging behavior is by far the best word of advice that any teacher can follow. When teachers are unprepared for, and easily influenced by, these kinds of behaviors, they often mirror the angry behavior. For instance, the child yells and the teacher yells louder. Mirroring the child’s distraught behavior is the surest way for finding ourselves immersed in a power struggle with the student. On this blog post, you will find some guidelines for a safe intervention, so that you are not caught up in confrontations and power struggles with students. 1.      Do not take the angry behavior and/or hostile remarks personally. Students who fling foul language and threats at the teacher are trying to get a reaction from the teacher. Simply put, the child is