Webinar, Managing Disruptive Behavior

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Brian van brunt brian.vanbrunt@wku.edu 

Rogerian
Genuineness and congruence (What is this?)
Unconditional regard
Grace and Mercy

Students are striving, in the only ways that they perceive as available to the, to move toward growth, toward becoming.

How Rogers Applies
  • Students do not seek conflict
  • Students overwhelmed with stresses and often do not see choices and obstacles
  • Empathetic listening, genuine caring and positive support

Covey
  1. Be proactive
  2. Begin with the end in mind
    1. Be aware of the goal
  3. Put first things first
  4. Think Win-Win
    1. Create an environment in which the student feels safe expressing ideas
    2. Work together to create new opportunities
  5. Understand then be understood
    1. Seek context of behavior, seek commonality
  6. Synergize
  7. Sharpen the Saw

MI or MET (motivation?)
  1. Listening/guiding
  2. Guiding
  3. Direction/Informtion

Motivational Interviewing
  1. Express empathy. Respect freedom of choice and self-direction. Listen more than talk. Subtle attempts at attitude change, but change is up to the student
  2. Develop discrepency; raise awareness
  3. Avoid argumentation – if it feels good to say it, don't say it
  4. Roll with resistence, with the goal of shifting student perceptions. Ambivalence is normal, not pathological
  5. Support Self-efficacy (Bandura). Student can be persuaded that his change is possible

How MET Applies
  1. See situation from student's eyes (Rogerian empathy)
  2. Help student understand their actions will not lead to a desired outcome
  3. Avoid arguing, roll with the students when they push emotionally
  4. Look for positive connections to build from

See Prochaska andd DiClemente (change?)
Precontemplation > comtemplation > prepartion and action > maintenance or relapse > prcontemplation

How Change Theory Applies
Students fail o achieve change because profs focus efforts on action stage too quickly (skipping precontemplation, contemplation and preparation)
Many of the furstations we face when working with students can be explained by P nd D
Students must first have the desire to change before they will take action steps to achieve change

Immediate response – address in-class disruptive behavior immediately, but take the time out of class to address underlying attitude/preparation/expectation concerns

Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (Ellis) A-B-C
Activation events
Rational and irrational Beliefs
Emotion and Consequences
Our reactions become so familiar we don't think about them; these automatic reactions are badhabits
Minimize an activating event
Recognize the old habit taking over
Remain calm

Remember your goal

Avoid
Shock or challenge
analyze motives
over-react
distract
threaten

Things to remember when working with distruptive students
  1. Work as a team – counseling services, ec
  2. Consult department head or student's advisors, campus conduct officer
  3. Don't feel like you have to address violent threats in the moment; if challenged, class can be ended or student dismissed
  4. After class, address behavior with department or campus
  5. Professor always wins – grades, roster
  6. Prof retains ability to set grades based on syllabus; include participation/professionalism as part of student's grade
  7. Set expectations for classroom behavior early and in syllabus
  8. Consider a first class discussion where you allow students to have input in classroom standards and manners. They are often stricter than you. Classroom responsibility.
  9. Don't give disruptive student behavior energy to increase. Take the wind out of their sails
  10. Consider rolling with odd questions/accusations, avoiding argumentation and staying focused

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