Top Ten Classroom Behaviors & Solutions
Teachers deal with common, reoccurring disruptive classroom behaviors on a daily basis. As a teacher, it is useful to have solutions and/or prevention strategies in place ahead of time, in order to diminish the occurrence of these behaviors. I worked with a small group of my peers in order to come up with a list of ten of these common behaviors that occur in early elementary classrooms, as well as solutions to these problems. The list along with the solutions is located below.
1. Frequent use of bathroom
Students in the elementary classroom often ask to leave class to use the restroom. This can be very disruptive, especially during instruction times. It may be helpful to establish a signal between the student and the teacher in order to eliminate instruction time interruptions. This may be as simple as instructing the student to make eye contact, then do the chosen signal that has been established, then waiting for a yes or no nod from the teacher. If you choose to have bathroom passes in your classroom, it may be useful to set a limit per day for passes. This limit can be universal, for the entire class, or it can be individualized depending on the needs of each student. The limit per day forces the student to decide whether the bathroom trip is really necessary.
2) Constantly seeking attention
Elementary age students often love to seek attention from their teachers. As a teacher, it is difficult to give each student the one on one attention that they seek while still accomplishing all of the goals for the day. It may be helpful to establish regular means of giving students attention that do not take away from instruction time. For younger students, assigning classroom jobs is a great way to give positive attention in a consistent way. Students feel important when they have a special job. Star sheets are also a great way to give students positive attention. These are sheets on which you write out specific good behaviors that you observed. Having a star of the week is also a great way to give students positive and consistent attention.
3) Tattling
Tattling is a common problem in early elementary classrooms. Students often look to the teacher right away when any sort of problem arises. In order to help diminish the amount of tattling that takes place, it may be beneficial to have a classroom meeting regarding the appropriate time to ask a teacher for help. You may want to create a step by step procedure for the students to follow when a problem arises. For example: Are you physically hurt? If so ask the teacher for help right away, if not, follow these steps- 1. Ask the person who is bothering you to stop: "No thank you" or "Please stop that is bothering me." If the person does not stop- 2. Try to get away from the situation 3. Ask him to stop one more time 4. ask the teacher for help. It is important to teach your students the appropriate way to respond, instead of just telling them not to tattle.
4) Talking out of turn
Talking out of turn can be very disruptive in the classroom. It is important to establish a class rule such as, "You must raise your hand to speak during instruction time." It may also be helpful to establish a whole-class reward and penalty system for hand raising and talking out of turn.
5) Personal Space
Early elementary students often want to be very close to the teacher, and as a result they have a hard time staying out of the teacher's personal space. It may be helpful to have a class conversation about personal space using some sort of analogy. I like the analogy of the "bubble" around my body. You can have the class conversation about staying out of other people's bubbles, and then when students get into your personal space you can remind them to move away by saying, "you are in my bubble." As students get older you can start to talk to them about personal space and respect.
6) Crying
Crying is common in lower elementary classrooms, and the reason for the crying is often insignificant. I have observed many teachers who use the phrase, "Please act like a 2nd grader. Second graders don't cry at school." It is important for teachers to find the best statement that works for them, but often students do want to live up to your expectations, so they will try not to cry.
7) Bullying
Bullying can be a problem in the classroom, even at the lower elementary level. It is important to have a class rule regarding respect which encompasses bullying. There should be no tolerance for bullying in the classroom. My current mentor teacher has a classroom rule that requires two "put ups" for every put down. Instead of punishing students for bullying, she instead tries to teach them to be positive instead of negative.
8) Constant motion
Lower elementary students are often on the move, and this can become disruptive during instruction time. In order to minimize the distraction caused by constant movement, teachers may want to keep on task time short. It is also important to allow breaks for movement. This can be done using Brain Gym. It may also be helpful to allow students to sit on exercise balls, which allow movement while remaining at the desk.
9) Clingy
Some lower elementary students can be very clingy. It is important to establish boundaries at the beginning of the year, so that ' students do not think that it is okay to cling to the teacher during the day. I am not saying that you should not hug students, but instead that you should teach them when this type of contact is appropriate as well as when it is not appropriate.
10) Trouble transitioning
Some students have trouble transitioning from one activity or subject to another. This is a common issue, and many times it is not the student's fault. It is important to give class warnings when you are planning on transitioning. For example, when you are planning on moving from one activity to another, it is helpful to always give a 5 minute warning.
1. Frequent use of bathroom
Students in the elementary classroom often ask to leave class to use the restroom. This can be very disruptive, especially during instruction times. It may be helpful to establish a signal between the student and the teacher in order to eliminate instruction time interruptions. This may be as simple as instructing the student to make eye contact, then do the chosen signal that has been established, then waiting for a yes or no nod from the teacher. If you choose to have bathroom passes in your classroom, it may be useful to set a limit per day for passes. This limit can be universal, for the entire class, or it can be individualized depending on the needs of each student. The limit per day forces the student to decide whether the bathroom trip is really necessary.
2) Constantly seeking attention
Elementary age students often love to seek attention from their teachers. As a teacher, it is difficult to give each student the one on one attention that they seek while still accomplishing all of the goals for the day. It may be helpful to establish regular means of giving students attention that do not take away from instruction time. For younger students, assigning classroom jobs is a great way to give positive attention in a consistent way. Students feel important when they have a special job. Star sheets are also a great way to give students positive attention. These are sheets on which you write out specific good behaviors that you observed. Having a star of the week is also a great way to give students positive and consistent attention.
3) Tattling
Tattling is a common problem in early elementary classrooms. Students often look to the teacher right away when any sort of problem arises. In order to help diminish the amount of tattling that takes place, it may be beneficial to have a classroom meeting regarding the appropriate time to ask a teacher for help. You may want to create a step by step procedure for the students to follow when a problem arises. For example: Are you physically hurt? If so ask the teacher for help right away, if not, follow these steps- 1. Ask the person who is bothering you to stop: "No thank you" or "Please stop that is bothering me." If the person does not stop- 2. Try to get away from the situation 3. Ask him to stop one more time 4. ask the teacher for help. It is important to teach your students the appropriate way to respond, instead of just telling them not to tattle.
4) Talking out of turn
Talking out of turn can be very disruptive in the classroom. It is important to establish a class rule such as, "You must raise your hand to speak during instruction time." It may also be helpful to establish a whole-class reward and penalty system for hand raising and talking out of turn.
5) Personal Space
Early elementary students often want to be very close to the teacher, and as a result they have a hard time staying out of the teacher's personal space. It may be helpful to have a class conversation about personal space using some sort of analogy. I like the analogy of the "bubble" around my body. You can have the class conversation about staying out of other people's bubbles, and then when students get into your personal space you can remind them to move away by saying, "you are in my bubble." As students get older you can start to talk to them about personal space and respect.
6) Crying
Crying is common in lower elementary classrooms, and the reason for the crying is often insignificant. I have observed many teachers who use the phrase, "Please act like a 2nd grader. Second graders don't cry at school." It is important for teachers to find the best statement that works for them, but often students do want to live up to your expectations, so they will try not to cry.
7) Bullying
Bullying can be a problem in the classroom, even at the lower elementary level. It is important to have a class rule regarding respect which encompasses bullying. There should be no tolerance for bullying in the classroom. My current mentor teacher has a classroom rule that requires two "put ups" for every put down. Instead of punishing students for bullying, she instead tries to teach them to be positive instead of negative.
8) Constant motion
Lower elementary students are often on the move, and this can become disruptive during instruction time. In order to minimize the distraction caused by constant movement, teachers may want to keep on task time short. It is also important to allow breaks for movement. This can be done using Brain Gym. It may also be helpful to allow students to sit on exercise balls, which allow movement while remaining at the desk.
9) Clingy
Some lower elementary students can be very clingy. It is important to establish boundaries at the beginning of the year, so that ' students do not think that it is okay to cling to the teacher during the day. I am not saying that you should not hug students, but instead that you should teach them when this type of contact is appropriate as well as when it is not appropriate.
10) Trouble transitioning
Some students have trouble transitioning from one activity or subject to another. This is a common issue, and many times it is not the student's fault. It is important to give class warnings when you are planning on transitioning. For example, when you are planning on moving from one activity to another, it is helpful to always give a 5 minute warning.