Entry # 7: Brad II: A new attitude
and strategy produce some positive results

I am as high this weekend as I was low last Friday. I found a strategy that, at least for two days, has worked with "Brad." [Read Ellen's first diary entry about Brad here.]

The week started off much as the week before had. Brad was continuing his disruptive, unruly behavior and was driving everyone in the school crazy. At one point, the nurse had to chase him around the school for 20-minutes before he would take his Ritalin.

We had switched Brad to a teammate's advisory, hoping that would produce some change. It didn't.

The resource teacher finally reported for work, and she instructed us to collect all of our documentation and to continue to document all of his inappropriate behaviors for the week. She is looking into getting emergency placement for Brad in a self-contained room since he already has an existing IEP, but she needed the documentation from us. I already had four pages of notes on Brad, and my teammates had similar records.

I thought a lot about Brad last weekend and the first few days of the week. I began to think about how he was making me feel, and the overwhelming emotions that surfaced were anger and irritation. According to Linda Albert in her book, Cooperative Discipline, the way we feel when a student acts inappropriately gives us clues about the student's goals for the misbehavior. Once we understand why the student is doing what he is doing, it is easier to find the appropriate strategies to deal with him.

"Pushing all my buttons"

Feeling angry is a clue that the student is seeking power, and irritation is a clue that the student is seeking attention. As I thought about it, I understood that the bulk of Brad's behavior was done in front of peers and adults in as loud and wild a manner as was possible in order to get our attention. Once he had our attention, he directly refused to comply with our requests to stop, causing most of us to go thermonuclear. This little boy was pushing all of my buttons, and he knew it.
I had willingly been giving Brad control over me and my classroom. I can't blame him; after all, I am responsible for my own actions. I began to understand that although I could not control him, I could control what I did and said. A new plan and attitude were created.

I resolved on Thursday morning that no matter what Brad did, I would ignore him. When he reported to third block ten minutes late, I pretended he hadn't entered. I gave the teacher's aide a piece of paper and asked her to record everything Brad did, but not to interfere with his behavior in any way.

Brad did everything but get naked during that class period. He ran up and down the aisles, played with another student's hair, put the aide's glasses on, inched towards the door as if he was going to walk out, and even climbed behind the aide on her chair. We said nothing.

The rest of the class looked at me like I was crazy. I explained to them that our business was much too important to be interrupted by those who were not interested in learning, so we were going to go on as usual. I could have kissed every one of those students who, although they occasionally giggled to themselves, completely ignored his antics, even when he would try to bother them. We froze him out completely.

Brad's behavior intensified.

"I've gotta go peeeeee!"
"Uh, oh, I just went potty on myself!"
"I don't care if you ignore me, you can't stop me!"
"I'm leaving to go to the assistant principal."

Throughout the period, Brad continually asked me to go to the bathroom, to go to the assistant principal's office, and to go to the security guard's desk. I continued to ignore him.

An amazing turnaround

Then, an amazing thing happened. Instead of walking out, he sat down. By the end of the class as I was dismissing students by name, he came up to me and said, "Can I go too, Mrs. Berg?" He waited and waited as I called every other student's name, asking to go but not leaving until I gave him permission.

I wondered what would happen the next day. Would there be any change, or would I have to endure another round of circus behavior?

On Friday, Brad came on time, complete with paper, pencil and book. He sat down quietly and raised his hand to ask questions. For the entire period, he didn't get out of his seat or blurt out. He was a little squirmy, but I have no problem with that; I know what a hard time he has staying still. He didn't do any of his assigned work, but I think controlling his behavior was work to Brad.

"We have some power in the classroom"

What have I learned? It is not good enough to rely on what we have "always done." If I had continued with the same old strategies that had worked for me in the past, I know there would have been no change in behavior with Brad. I know some teachers believe that students should simply act appropriately because we tell them to, but the reality is that many will not. We are the adults, and we have the responsibility to change what we do to meet the needs of all students, not just the ones who sit still, behave appropriately, or "get it" the first time we explain a concept to them.

I cannot make anyone do anything, but I can change the conditions in my classroom to try to influence their decisions. The librarian at my school once told me that the real teaching begins when a student is having problems.

In an earlier entry I wrote about the difference between knowing and understanding a concept. Although I have read the following passage by Haim Ginott and knew that the information was valid, I didn't understand it completely until this week:
"I've come to a frightening conclusion that I'm the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized."

We cannot control everything, and we certainly cannot control anyone else, but despite what the pundits and politicians say, we do have some power in the classroom. It is the power of what we, as professionals and human beings, choose to do in response to various situations.

Understanding that point has made all the difference in the world to Brad.

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COMMENTS:

I had the same kind of day this Friday. I have my own "Brad" in my last block. I came home with a huge headache. I tried to ignore him as I have in the past, but I always bust. I am going to try Ellen's tactics. Maybe it will work for my kid. I will let ya'll know.

Melba from Texas

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Melba:

I am sorry to hear you have a similar child in your class! I know how stressful and aggravating it can be to have to spend so much time and energy on one child. I know with "Brad" I often wanted to give up, just send him to the office and not deal with him any more. However, one thing prevented me from doing just that: someone in the building made a comment about what Brad was going to be like as an adult. Trust me, the picture of a still uneducated, uninhibited Brad chilled me to my bones.

Teaching is a fabulous profession, especially when we have the little darlings that do all of their work and follow our directions without question. However, the longer I teach the longer I realize that our true calling is to reach the children who don't fall into the perfect student category.

Brad still has his moments, and it's still no love affair between us, but he does manage to spend a full class period with me, and he's started turning in some homework.

How is it going with your Brad? Don't give up! It's up to us to find that one thing that will work. Good luck!

Ellen Berg Turner MEGA Magnet Middle School St. Louis, MO