Watch Out for Bigfoot! – I live in the rural Midwest half the year and love to walk through the woods. Once I heard a rustling sound on my walk. When I stopped, it stopped. When I walked faster, it did the same. I ran for the house, sure a big bear or hairy woods monster was hot on my trail. When I got home and heard the same sound as I ran up the stairs, I realized I was hearing the sound of my big fat thighs rubbing together in my big fat walking shorts. No Bigfoot to blame – just me. If you are looking for the cause of General Troubles (aide to General Chaos) in your learning community – disruptive behaviors that happen on a consistent, continuing, and daily basis with more than just one or two of your children – the problem may be you.

Salute! – If there are consistent and continual harmful behaviors happening with a large majority of a class, the teacher needs to look at the safety of the physical, emotional, and educational environment she has created. It could be a problem with General Chaos – we all know him well. He visits classrooms on rainy days, picture day, and “Oh, Look! Melissa’s grandma is here with two piñatas and a clown for her birthday!” days.

What to Look For – When disruptive and harmful behaviors are widespread in the community of learners, teachers need to review the quality of the environment they have created. Each facet of environment must be reassessed:

Physical:  security, safety, cleanliness, maintenance, lighting, air, nutrition, health, firm limits on harmful behaviors, and use of a good behavior management system

Emotional: warmth, humor, acceptance, respect, protection of rights, assignment of responsibilities, celebrations, and strong family connections

Educational: professionalism and training of staff; suitability of setting; and organization of systems of the learning process  

There’s Always a Thomas or Two – (I use the name Thomas for all my examples of questionable behavior because I have a personal family Thomas and do not want to offend any sensitive Teachers of Thomases or parents of Thomases). If you have a child who eight times out of ten is the cause of disruption of the learning process for the whole class – the one the other children tell their parents about; the one whose name you seem to find yourself calling out daily in a negative voice; the one who loves and secretly works for General Chaos – be kind. He needs your positive attention when he’s doing something right (notice and compliment him when he’s breathing really well if you can find nothing else uplifting to say). Hire him away from the General and give him a difficult, distracting job like Napkin Captain or Chair Washer so the rest of your community can carry on with learning.

Looking for a behavior management system that may help? Here comes VMAN!

Next Blog: VMAN! Superhero of the Preschool!