The Challenges Of Classroom Behavior In The Modern Khmer School
As Cambodia becomes more and better educated and when those who have been educated have children; they will want a modern approach to education. Especially, if their children are not performing up to their abilities and are being punished without results or those results are creating more troubling behavior.
As a teacher it is not the student whose classroom behavior is above approach and their grades reflect it. Those students move through our systems without a hitch as we joyfully watch them move gracefully from one grade to the next. It is not those children that stick in a teacher’s memory. It is the student that sits in the back if allowed, and makes inappropriate jokes, talks while a lesson is taught, cause fights and basically is a bad and lazy student. These students fail. When a student fails it is not his/her fault it is ours as teachers. As a teacher it is also one of the greatest joys to modify their behavior so that these students succeed. When they receive their first 100% on a spelling test on and their own, their confidence soars. Those are the students a teacher remembers most fondly.
The teacher’s attention
is a powerful way of managing a student’s behavior
. All students want the teacher to be interested in them and some will settle for any kind of attention. Dealing with inappropriate behavior within the classroom you must first not reward the problem student. By reward, I mean giving that student attention for their misbehavior. The more this student misbehavior the more attention he/she receives. All students value the teacher’s attention. An also the endless negative cycle starts.
is a powerful way of managing a student’s behavior. All students want the teacher to be interested in them and some will settle for any kind of attention. Dealing with inappropriate behavior within the classroom you must first not reward the problem student. By reward, I mean giving that student attention for their misbehavior. The more this student misbehavior the more attention he/she receives. All students value the teacher’s attention. An also the endless negative cycle starts.This endless negative cycle can be stopped by redirecting your attention to the positive rather than the negative behavior in your classroom. By using your attention are reward those students who are doing their task and ignoring students who are acting up just to receive it changes the dynamic of the whole classroom. When the students learn that they will be given your attention for positive behavior, then they will behave in proper ways to get it. One simple way is to tell the student who is behaving properly next to the student who is misbehaving that he/she is doing a good job and that he/she is a good student all the while ignoring the other and then move on to the next task.
There will be students who will not respond to those positive measures and need a more resourceful approach. For these students use a warning procedure. First praise the appropriate behavior around the student. When this does not work tell the student their behavior is not appropriate. Give a warning then describe the behavior, (closer is better than across the room), and then tell the student the consequences of such behavior. Do not get into a conversation with the student or give them any more attention then it requires. “Sok Han, this is a warning. No more drawing. Do your English workbook
.” Praise the students who are working on the assignment to take away the attention just give to Sok Han. If the student does not respond calmly say “Sok Han on mark. I do not write his name on the broad because too much attention would be given to that student. I just write S or SH. If the student does not comply with your request the student is given another mark. This is done without comment while continuing giving praise for appropriate behavior. The punishment is not hitting or kneeling on a hard knotty fruit, but taking away something the student values. I find break time is the best. I have the students stand and stare at a wall in the office. It is not a pleasant place for students to be.
.” Praise the students who are working on the assignment to take away the attention just give to Sok Han. If the student does not respond calmly say “Sok Han on mark. I do not write his name on the broad because too much attention would be given to that student. I just write S or SH. If the student does not comply with your request the student is given another mark. This is done without comment while continuing giving praise for appropriate behavior. The punishment is not hitting or kneeling on a hard knotty fruit, but taking away something the student values. I find break time is the best. I have the students stand and stare at a wall in the office. It is not a pleasant place for students to be.Using your teacher’s attention can be your most effective tool in handling problem
student behavior. When this is applied consistently your results will become magnified through out the classroom and the enjoyment of watching students easily journey from one grade to the next will give a great deal of joy.
student behavior. When this is applied consistently your results will become magnified through out the classroom and the enjoyment of watching students easily journey from one grade to the next will give a great deal of joy.By: Steven Cramer
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Reference :
- Norton University Newsletter, September 2010 / January 2011, Page: 75.
