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Deep Dive Paper

During the last semester I have learned a lot about students with exceptionalities. I have

gained some insight in how to approach a student’s behaviour and what could be causing or

triggering certain behaviours. It has been important for me to know that when a student is

exhibiting a behaviour, they are trying to communicate a need. The student may not have the

necessary skill to tell me what they need in that moment and therefore exhibit a certain

behaviour that is not appropriate. Many of the prescribed readings on this subject have been

insightful and meaningful but the author that made the biggest impact for me in this area is

Ross Greene.

Ross Greene has been a motivating and eye-opening author during this class. He

discusses in the article Collaborative Problem Solving can Transform School Discipline, that

changes the way we, as teachers and schools, approach discipline can have a dramatic decrease

in behaviours (Greene, 2011). When first reading that statement, I wanted to know more about

how I could incorporate this into my own teaching practice! Greene states that the discipline

strategies that most schools have of giving negative consequences for student’s behaviour, like

detention, is not working (Greene, 2011). I honestly believe this is the case because in my PSII

practicum I observed that the teachers would give detention for any inappropriate behaviour. I

also gave two students detentions for inappropriate behaviour. I however did not feel good

about doing it and after observing the results of these detentions, I did not give any other

students dentition. Did I see a change in their behaviour? No, I did not, the outbursts, constant

talking and interjecting continued to occur. I was at a loss to understand why this kept
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happening and began to second guess myself as a teacher. I thought I had tried everything and

was just accepting that the classroom would be chaotic and hectic because once one student

started, they riled up the others. I tried pulling them aside and asking them if they needed

something specific from me in class to support them better and I did not get an answer. It was

not until my last week of practicum that I had one student open up to me and say that all the

other teachers disliked them so they reacted in class the same way as they expected me to

react the same way. I was so shocked! I told that student I enjoyed having them in my class and

told them that I really enjoyed the conversations we had from our chatting and talking. I did say

that the constant interjecting is inappropriate and if they have something to include to please

raise their hand as I can then see that they want to say something. I realized that after some

major relationship building with the student(s) I was able to really understand them, and after

the class went a little more smoothly. I was also trying to engage the class in more group

discussions to allow for more talking time. After my experience and reading this article, I came

to the conclusion that detention and negative consequences have no real purpose in the

classroom.

Greene states there are two major truths when it comes to students who may lack a

skill, this being “challenging students aren’t always challenging. They’re challenging when the

demands being placed upon them outstrip their skills to respond to those demands” and

“challenging episodes are actually highly predictable” (Greene, 2011). This makes me think that

I may have been missing something throughout my time in PSII. In the case of my talkative

student(s), I believe there was several unrealistic demands being placed upon them. Firstly,

Covid has really affected students’ lives and I think they are relying on school to be more of a
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social aspect. Although school is a place to learn, it is where most students see their friends for

longer periods. Secondly, there was unspoken demands placed on the student who needed to

conform to the normative box the previous teacher placed them in. For me being a student, I

did try to emulate my TA, but also tried to find my own way in teaching. Lastly, I do not think I

had realistic expectations of the students. I have never worked in middle school before and in

my PSI I never had the same experience, so going into PSII I was hoping it would be the same.

As a student teacher I have been trying my best to implement fair and reasonable

expectations and consequences. I am still learning, so reading articles based on classroom

management and student discipline strategies can be so helpful. I really wish I had found

Greene’s theories before going into my PSII because I think it would have been more helpful to

me and benefited my students. I saw first-hand how detention did not change student

behaviour, so when reading Greene’s strategy on collaborative problem solving, I was very

intrigued. Teachers and administrators work together with the student to pinpoint behaviours

and brainstorm strategies they can use to support the students (Greene, 2011). When creating

these strategies Greene discusses that a student will do well if they can, they prefer to do well,

the behaviour needs to be discussed based on the child’s individual development, and behind

every behaviour is a lagging skill (Greene, 2011). He then goes into discussing how

implementing Plan A will never work because this is “imposing the will of adults” on to the

child, but the teacher instead needs to try using Plan B and Plan C (Greene, 2011). These are the

alternate strategies that do not come to mind first. Teachers need to shift their thinking when it

comes to discipline to successfully diminish the challenging behaviours a student may be

having. In my PSII, my TA was constantly using Plan A and it rarely worked. I could see first-hand
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negative consequences were not working, and I wanted to explore other methods I could use to

have better communication and cooperation in my classrooms!

Greene has several insightful strategies when it comes into collaborative problem

solving and discusses strategies teachers can use to decrease the number of challenging

behaviours. In the concluding paragraph of the article, there are a few testimonials from

schools and teachers that praise Greene’s strategy and this not only encouraged staff to work

closely together but they started to listen to students (Greene, 2011). As teachers we are there

to teach and give students information, but I think sometimes we forget that these are also

humans trying to pave their way and build their own personality and beliefs. It is not only

important that we listen to them when they are trying to communicate to us, whether that is a

challenging behaviour or saying it directly. I believe it is our job to understand each student to

support their learning. I now have a renewed appreciation for teaching, and I am inspired to get

back into the classroom to interact with students, get to know them and practice Greene’s

strategies to have meaningful student/teacher learning relationship.

References

Greene, R. W. (2011). Collaborative Problem Solving can Transform School Discipline. Phi Delta
Kappan, 93(2), 25–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172171109300206