Dealing with classroom incivilities

PROBLEMATIC and testing behaviors of students can be unfortunate experience on the part of teachers who deal with children every day. Some of these immature, irritating, or thoughtless behaviors or “classroom incivilities” include: noisy conversations, fighting, inattentiveness, playing with classmates and other forms of disregard for classroom rules. These behaviors tend to disrupt the teaching-learning process because they distract other students and teacher in class.

In order to limit or deal effectively with these behaviors, it is important to understand the factors that cause or facilitate them. Students can engage in problematic behaviors because of many varied reasons ranging from health problems, personal or family problems, adjustment or developmental issues (e.g., “immaturity” or self-esteem issues), or general academic difficulties. These factors are not controllable, but instructors who feel those are issues are at play can certainly refer students to the appropriate support services on campus such as Health Services and Counseling and Psychological Services.

Whatever the cause of misbehavior of students is, negative attention from teachers can lead to more negative student behavior. Research shows that teachers who use negative motivators (e.g., fear, guilt, embarrassment) experience more classroom incivilities than teachers who use positive motivators (e.g., encouragement, praise). It is observed that students who receive more negative attention from teachers experience increases in problems with emotional regulation, concentration and disruptive behaviors. Hence, in order to reduce behavioral problems, teachers should learn to direct positive attention toward students with whom they may be having regular negative interactions.

Reducing incivilities among students can be possible through numerous strategies a few of which are: Define expectations at the outset. Undoubtedly articulating your policies and their rationale in a respectful tone can curb undesirable behaviors. Use the first day to create the right climate for productive interaction. Highlight the policies in the student manual and model the behaviors you’d like to see.

Allow student participation in setting ground rules. Having students participate in setting the rules for classroom behavior and interaction might not be feasible for every class but it has the benefit of making the students more invested in the rules. Ask the students to reflect on classes with bad discussions or other students’ behaviors that have been distracting and not conducive to their own learning. Use that list as a starting point for your ground rules. You as the teacher of course, retain final decision power. Meaningful engagement has obvious benefits for student learning and performance, but it can also bring some side benefits with respect to student behavior in the classroom.

By Pilita B. Sabit