Theoretical

Reasons Why Some Children Misbehave
Sometimes students in classrooms act out in ways that may be disruptive and challenging. There are reasons that a child may act this way and the key is to find out the "why" in the situation. It is important as an educator to ask questions of the student, family and other people involved to find out "why" the student is behaving in these ways. Instead of assuming that the child is just a problem and expect them to behave in a different manner, we must find out the root to why the child may be acting this way. Once we understand why a child is acting the way that they are, it is much easier and more effective to figure out techniques to handling the situation. Some reasons that a child may misbehave are that children need to feel like they belong if they do not have this sense of acceptance they may act out, some children are looking for attention whether it is good or bad attention, they may misbehave if they feel inadequate or lack confidence, they may not feel well, they may be upset, disappointed or discouraged, they may feel unloved or might even be adjusting to a new setting or circumstance. There are some practical ways that educators can effectively handle these situations. Here are some resources that can help an educator do just that.

Behavioral problems in children can generally be divided into three categories: (a) problems that are normal for the child's developmental stage and will resolve spontaneously as the child matures; (b) problems that began as a normal developmental phase, but have been enhanced by external stresses and will require some level of intervention to resolve; and (c) problems that indicate a more serious underlying mental health problem.

This book talks about all of these categories of behavioral issues in depth. [|Manual of Family Practice] Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Clinical Manual/Handbook/Quick Reference Steiner, Elizabeth, 2002

This is a PDF file that has many practical ideas for helping the educator deal with difficult situations. [PDF] Why Children //Misbehave//

Observant teachers know that problem behaviors in students are often a reflection of unmet needs. []

// To Know and to Be Known //by Parker Palmer Written by a practicing Quaker, this premise of this book is that 'teaching is to create a space where obedience to truth can be practiced'. In order to create that space, we need to lead our students to know the world not through an objective, scientific, and distanced study, but a personal knowing. This book is mostly theoretical. Palmer takes great inspiration from the ancient desert monastic fathers, and it is not difficult to imagine him as one of them! I Palmer tends to redefine words and then continue to use them with his definition, which for me was not helpful. Though I didn't agree with all of his perspectives, I found it to be a thoughtful and carefully-written book. Some thoughts that were meaningful to me were: -'Curiosity and control create a knowledge that distances us from each other and the world...but a knowledge that springs from love will implicate us in the web of life; it will wrap the knower and the known in compassion...it will call us to involvement, mutuality, and accountability.' (9) -"We cannot settle for pious prayer as a preface to conventional education. Instead, we must allow the power of love to transform the very knowledge we teach, the very methods we use to teach it" (10) -in classrooms the focus is always outwards, not on the teacher and students as part of reality; people become able to function in an objective way while hiding their true passions, prejudices, darkness; this style of teaching gives teachers power, and with power comes security; we want to avoid knowledge that calls us to change; truth requires that we act on it; we must not teach if we are not willing to act on the truth (Ch. 2) -"The knower who advances most rapidly to the heart of truth is the one who not only asks, "What is out there?" ...but "What does this encounter reveal about me?" (Ch.4) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">-Three major characteristics of a space for knowing: Openness (remove barriers to learning and those which we hide from the truth behind), Boundaries (create and maintain the openness and quality of the space) and Hospitality (receive each other, including strangers or strange ideas. Hospitality is not an end in itself, but should be practiced in order to allow vulnerability and painful things possible) (Ch. 5)
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