DEALING WITH CHALLENGING STUDENT BEHAVIOUR Accessible Learning Services, Counselling, Student Rights and Responsibilities

AGENDA Dealing with Challenging Student Behaviour Increase in Challenging Behaviour Types of Inappropriate Behaviour What is Acceptable Behaviour? Rights and Responsibilities Strategies Next steps

INCREASE IN CHALLENGING BEHAVIOUR  Why are we seeing an increase in challenging behavior?  Many students lack resiliency skills  Anger is the “go to” emotion when attempting to solve a problem  “Underdeveloped” emotional intelligence  Increase in the number of students with a disability diagnosis where challenging behaviour may be a manifestation of the diagnosis (e.g. Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mental Health Disabilities, ADHD)  External pressure to succeed in post-secondary (e.g. family, society, peer group)  Greater focus on self-management of learning (blended learning/eLearn)

INCREASE IN CHALLENGING BEHAVIOUR  Why are we seeing an increase in challenging behavior (continued)?  Difficulty with transition from high school to college  When transitioning to college many external regulators of behaviour are removed (e.g. parents, teachers, paraprofessionals such as EAs)  May experience failure for the first time  Find themselves in a more crowded environment with larger classes, labs, social environment ? Your thoughts??

TYPES OF INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR  Verbal aggression  Disruptive behavior  Non-verbal aggression-hitting desk, etc.  Passive aggressive behavior (all or nothing thinking)  Self injurious behavior-disability related  Destruction of property  Smart phone use in class  Threatening s/social media/bullying  Writing assignments that note harm to self or others  Racialized and aggressive comments ? What are you seeing in your classrooms??

WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR?  Student Behaviour Policy as a guide  licies/Student+Behaviour+Policy.pdf licies/Student+Behaviour+Policy.pdf? What is acceptable in your classroom or work area? Depends on tolerance level/own norms/values? What is acceptable in your classroom or work area? Depends on tolerance level/own norms/values

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES  Student/professor rights and responsibilities  Professor has the right to manage her/his classroom  Students have the responsibility to adhere to the Student Behaviour Policy  No accommodation for inappropriate behaviour

STRATEGIES Strategies for Managing Challenging Behaviour Professor expertise with classroom management The empowered professor Establishing classroom norms Picking your battles/deflect power struggles Name, Explain, Teach (NET Strategy) Non-Violent Crisis Intervention (NVCI) strategies Restorative Justice model Strategies for professors-how to observe behaviour. Feeling comfortable with reporting Taking objective data on student behaviour Time of event Date Behavioural triggers

STRATEGIES - NET N aming the inappropriate behaviour. Yelling at the professor when you don’t agree with a topic being discussed. E xplaining the inappropriate behaviour. The impact on me, as your professor, is the disruption of my class, and the shift in focus from the content being discussed to your outburst. It disrupts my thought process as well. For your peers, it disrupts their learning and makes for a difficult learning environment. T eaching the appropriate behaviour. If you are angry or upset at content being taught, it would be helpful to leave the classroom temporarily while you manage your emotions, and/or speak with me after class about the issue. You can also me about your issue.

STRATEGIES – DE-ESCALATION DODON’T  Stay calm  Validate  Listen  Be respectful  Provide options  Be consistent  Isolate situation  Enforce limits  Check out from the CPI training manual  Say “calm down”  Overreact or underreact  Get defensive (manage your reaction)  Make compromises  Interrupt  Make false promises  Fake attention  Engage in a power struggle  Make judgements

STRATEGIES – RESTORATIVE JUSTICE  Giving the “offender” a chance to learn  A second chance  Rebuilds trust

STRATEGIES – INTENSIVE SUPPORTS  May involve contacting Manager of Student Rights and Responsibilities.  Behaviour policy  Restorative justice  For students with disabilities, may involve additional accommodation support.  Accessible Learning Services  Peer supports  May involve counselling support.

NEXT STEPS ? How can we continue this discussion? What questions do you have? What do you see as our next steps?? How can we continue this discussion? What questions do you have? What do you see as our next steps?

RESOURCES  Braden, S. W., & Smith, D. N. (2006). Managing the College Classroom: Perspectives from an Introvert and an Extrovert. College Quarterly, 9(1), n1.  Harrell, I. L., & Hollins Jr, T. N. (2009). Working with Disruptive Students. Inquiry, 14(1),  Noonan ‐ Day, H. L., & Jennings, M. M. (2007). Disruptive students: A liability, policy, and ethical overview. Journal of Legal Studies Education, 24(2),