I’ve come to believe there is a cause for every behaviour, be it positive or negative. If we focus for a moment on the negative behaviour, the suggestion is that when a student is “misbehaving” it is because they are expressing a need for something. The key to addressing the misbehaviour would therefore lie in identifying what it is they need or are missing.

Could it be addressed using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Maybe it’s related to mismatched learning styles or stages of mental development, or even where they currently are with their own cognitive load. Perhaps the task being asked of them is outside their zone of development, which either becomes too hard or too easy. Perhaps it’s boredom. Perhaps it’s just something that has happened to them earlier that day.

This attached mind-map was created a few years ago after a conversation relating to all the things that could be affecting students when they walk into the classroom. Poor behaviour could be any one, or more than one, of these factors — or something else entirely.

It’s something I need to keep in mind about every single student, each of whom may very well have an entirely different combination to work with on that particular day.

This mind map is by no means complete or definitive, but a starting point from which to begin the thought process.

I’d be keen to hear what you think and start a discussion that will help change the way we handle discipline issues in a positive way for the benefit of the student(s) in question, the class as a whole, and the wider community.

http://mrhenstock.edublogs.org/2016/06/05/factors-affecting-students/