Sunday School: Best way to handle disruptive behaviour in the classroom.

 

Best way to handle disruptive behaviour in the classroom.

Disruptive behaviour is consistent disruption caused by a learner in the classroom; this behaviour disturbs teaching and prevents fellow learners from learning. Many times, this disruptive behaviour in the classroom is planned or purposeful. This behaviour can include yelling when the teacher is teaching, talking, laughing, crying, and commenting during the lesson.  This is a consistent pattern of disruptive and defiant behaviour in the classroom.

Causes of disruptive behaviour in the classroom:

There could be numerous reasons why the learner is acting disruptively in the classroom.

Attention seeking: Some learners crave attention, which they do not seem to get at home. They think being disruptive and defiant is a great way of getting attention from the teacher. This, too, could be a way of them trying to reach out and saying that they are in need of attention.

Lack of concertation: As we know and understand, not all learners have the ability to sit and listen during class; some just do not know how to. Their minds are constantly racing, and this disrupts their learning process, in turn disrupting those around them.

Frustration: Most learners dislike the idea of being slower learners than others. Their inability to catch up or to perform as they desire academically can make them feel frustrated in the classroom, and the outcome could be disruptive behaviour.

Dysfunctional home life: Home life shapes and makes a child's life. If a child comes from a dysfunctional home, then what more can one expect from a child? A child copies what they see at home.

How to handle disruptive behaviour:

Stay calm at all times: Never lose your cool in front of the learners. Keep calm, no matter how disruptive the learners’ behaviour may be. Act on the behaviour promptly and calmly, do not yell at the learner or leaners that Stay calm at all times. Never lose your cool in front of the learners. Keep calm, no matter how disruptive the learners’ behaviour may be. Act on the behaviour promptly and calmly; do not yell at the learner or learners that could give them a freight; and I am sure you do not want your learners to be frightened by you.

Separate the behaviour from the learner: We tend to think that Tommy is a naughty boy because he doesn't listen, but we understand that Tommy is not a misbehaving boy; rather, he is a good boy who has no knowledge of how to deal with his emotions at present; he has at this moment decided he does not want to listen.

Set clear rules and expectations in the classroom, as discussed in the blog below.

https://littlelambsofchrist.blogspot.com/2023/10/classroom-routine.html

Learners must understand the consequences of disruptive behaviour, as discussed in the blog below.

https://littlelambsofchrist.blogspot.com/2023/10/sunday-school-maintain-discipline-in.html

Deal with the disruptive learner: Separate the learner and communicate with him/her about his/her behaviour at the very time he/she is displaying it; do not wait. Take him/her or both learners outside and communicate calmly how the behaviour they portray in the classroom is not good for him/her, the class, and the teacher. Come up with a solution. If this were to happen next time, how would we confront the situation?

Communicate with parents: Ask the learner to take you to their parents after church; let them know that you, she, or he are going to have a discussion with her or his parents about his behaviour in the classroom. He or she must understand this.

Write your learners letters: I used to do this in the early stages of my teaching, but I do not do it any more well, I think, because we have a big Sunday school group. Write letters to every child expressing your love for them, what you like about each of them, and how you have picked certain characters or qualities that make them special. They

Star of the month: Give the disruptive learner a role to play in the classroom. Make him or her the “star of the month” the star of the month, help the teacher hand out worksheets, crafts, and snacks, and help the teacher with whatever the teacher needs help with. This always works; it helps the child believe that they are a star, that they must be an example for those in the classroom, and that they are indeed a star. A teacher must constantly and equally recognise and praise learners to affirm that they are indeed good.

 

It can be frightening for children to express their emotions and feelings with a person they do not know, for some acting or behaving erratically is the go to. This is why we teach, we teach alternate behaviours, we teach them that they have a choice in how they react in any situation; behaving disruptively is a choice. If there are any changes in a child’s disruptive behaviour do praise them, and go as far as communicating it with their parents. Encourage, and affirm learners to choose calm and manageable behaviours. We as teachers, must always be consistent, consistency in how you treat each of them and how consequences not punishment of disruptive behaviour is applied.