Controlling Aggressive Students

From Tom Petersen

1. Keeping student behavior in bounds calls for the teacher to employ preventative procedures and to be consistent in classroom discipline practices.

2. Using contingency contract helps an aggressive student identify the specific behaviors that need to be improved.

3. Helping the student realize how he communicates with others is as important as what he communicates.

4. Get the student to think about the differences among aggressive, passive and assertive behavior by involving him in an open-minded, problem-solving activities.

5. Build the student's social decision-making skills be teaching him a method for solving problems that involves critical thinking, such as Mary Stark's five-step approach:

• identify the problem
• list solutions
• consider alternatives
• make a decision
• evaluate the results

6. That a preventative approach to behavior problems by teaching social decision-making skills to groups of students.

7. Know what pushes your buttons when you are dealing with angry students. What specific actions or words make you respond on an emotional level.

8. Use "verbal-judo" rather than any physical force. Here are five key points to remember:

• give the student the last word
• let the student save face
• separate the student from other students, taking him away from an audience
• do not make ultimatums that cannot be implemented
• provide the students with alternatives

9. Use physical force ONLY when the student is physically assultive to protect your safety or the safety of others.

10. Develop proficiency by getting training in Crisis Prevention. There are several programs available to teachers that offer certification (and low cost insurance).

See Video "Managing Oppositional Youth" by Arthur L. Robin, Ph.D. & Sharon Weiss. Ph.D. 1997 Specialty Press, Inc. 300 NW 70th Avenue, Plantation, Florida 33317
954.792.8100 Fax 954.792.8545 Cost $29.95