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Extraordinary Emotional Issues Some strong emotional reactions may be short term and the impact short lived, such as a feud with a friend, anxiety over a test, or a fight at home. Or they may represent long-term, cumulative, and more significant psychosocial issues, such as being convinced one is a failure, homelessness, abuse, or mental […]

External Physical Causes The environment of the class itself may be a mismatch for certain students, and a simple change of the environment can reduce or eliminate problems for them. The most obvious variable is the degree of structure in the class (Colarusso & Green, 1973). High-structure environments leave students less choice in what activities

Internal Physical Causes Sometimes seemingly inattentive students in fact don’t hear well. They fail to carry out directions not because they’re daydreaming or willful; they simply mishear key words. We have known inattentive students to be diagnosed with hearing loss after several years in primary school and after much energy went into behavior modification and

Value and Culture Clashes Cultural clashes between teachers and students may underlie resistant behavior. This cause should be considered in classes where students’ home life has strong ethnic roots in a culture different from the teacher’s. In addition to ethnicity, another cultural dimension to be aware of is tacit rules—unspoken cues and habits—of different socioeconomic

A Need for Fun and Stimulation Fooling around with friends is natural and healthy. Children would almost in- variably rather fool around than do their work, so teachers should expect that and not resent it. (Truth be told, we were probably like that too. And it never completely goes away for some of us; watch

Do they know how to do what I am asking them to do?” In Lost at School (2008), Ross Greene goes into depth about teaching particu- larly resistant students the skills they are lacking. He combines positioning the behavior as a problem to be solved, being empathetic with the student, and making a plan with

Students Not Knowing How to Do Expected Behaviors Students bring to school both the manners and the cognitive habits they have learned elsewhere. Failure to meet teacher expectations for lining up without running, listening to directions, lining up their work neatly on paper, or for putting materials away in an orderly way may simply come

Unclear Standards, Expectations, and Consequences A more serious and more common cause of inattentive or disruptive behav- ior is unclear expectations and consequences. The intricate web of mutual un- derstandings that goes with them may not be clearly established between the teacher and students. We have yet to find a teacher with widespread discipline problems

Are we checking for understanding frequently across all students to ensure they are getting it as instruction proceeds? Using the same format or activity structures day after day (too much lectur- ing, too many worksheets, low-level questioning, or something else) may also induce boredom and acting-out behavior in some classes. Consult Chapter 20, “Differentiated Instruction,”

Do they have time to process and make sense of them? Using the same format or activity structures day after day (too much lectur- ing, too many worksheets, low-level questioning, or something else) may also induce boredom and acting-out behavior in some classes. Consult Chapter 20, “Differentiated Instruction,” which highlights variables that can be manipulated