Accommodating+Students+with+Aggression

=Preventing and Responding to Students with Anger and Aggression= By: Sarah Bollinger

Making sure that our students are being taught in a safe and comfortable learning environment is one of our main goals as a teacher. Having students that have anger management issues can pose a threat to the safety of our classroom and our campus as well. Learning strategies to prevent and respond to students with anger and aggression issues can help prevent dangerous situations and keep our learning environments safe and comfortable for our students.

Being able to spot these types of students in the classroom can be difficult, but there are a few signs you can look for. According to the article, Angry and Aggressive Students (2008), there are two types of adolescent aggression: proactive and reactive. The adolescents initiating proactive aggression are preforming the aggressive behavior to obtain some goal or outcome. The students engaging in reactive aggression, however, are responding to perceived threats around them. Students with proactive aggression are acting out with a purpose. It is reasoned, and has a goal behind it. An example is a gang member or bully who wants control. Students with reactive aggression are typically not reasoned, and are basing their anger on a misconception. An example is thinking that someone is giving them a dirty look, when really they are not. While both types of violence occur due to different purposes, they both can involve very serious physical violence.

Dealing with students with anger and aggression takes a whole school approach. This is not something you can do on your own; it takes support from administration, counselors and other teachers. Teachers and staff should keep in mind that most secondary school students are non-aggressive and typically behaviorally skilled. They want to follow rules and are too afraid to act out. According to the article, there are a few strategies that can help keep this group of non-aggressive students as large as possible (Larson, 2008):

 On the other hand, we do have 10-20% of students that are "behaviorally at risk" and apt to act out on this type of behavior at school. Students that show signs of aggression at young ages are likely to have more issues as they get older. Helping them deal and cope with these strategies at a young age can help them with their future. According to the article, we can use these strategies at school to help those at-risk students:  
 *  ** Energize the code of conduct. ** Ensure that the discipline policy specifies the rights and responsibilities of students and staff members, identifies desirable and unacceptable behaviors, and is actively taught to all parties. A well-designed, rigorously enforced code of conduct is the strongest tool for growing the base of nonaggressive, behaviorally skilled students.
 *  ** Reduce overcrowding. ** Large numbers of students in limited spaces increase the potential for tempers to flare. Staggered starting times and bell schedules and multiple lunch periods can ameliorate these conditions to some degree. In areas of high student density — such as hallways, common areas, and lunchrooms — keep the ratio of supervisory staff members to students as high as possible.
 *  ** Provide a classroom-level conflict resolution curriculum to all students. **
 *  ** Communicate with feeder schools. ** The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Aggressive middle level students become aggressive high school students with impressive consistency. Acquire and use the discipline and intervention data from feeder schools to prepare behavioral supports. It is better to have preventive supports in place and reduce or remove them as necessary than to be forced into a reactive position after an incident.
 *  ** Use office disciplinary data to guide interventions. ** Those data can show administrators the frequency of aggressive behaviors, locations of problems, types of aggressive problems, students involved, and staff members who are making referrals.
 *  ** Provide skills training to chronic fighters. ** Many frustrated administrators make the mistake of believing that the promise of seriously aversive consequences — such as suspension, citation, and expulsion — will convince a student to control his or her aggressive behavior. It is important to remember that managing excessive anger requires cognitive and behavioral skills that must be systematically learned over time. Consequently, anger management skills training is an important component of an effective school wide discipline plan

It is important to realize that students with severe behavior problems typically make up about 3-5% of our school population. Due to the safety of our students, it is important to have up to date Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP's). These are required by all teachers involved with the behaviorally at-risk student. If these are not filled out correctly, there could be major legal implications.

Lastly, it is so important that we adhere to discipline policies regarding fighting at school. If students know the consequences of such behavior, they will be less likely to engage in it at school. Get involved with administration to go over discipline strategies so that there is a firm set of rules for all students to abide by.

Citation:

Larson, J. (2008). Angry and aggressive students. // Education Digest //, // 73 // (7), 48-52. doi: EBSCOhost http://0-web.ebscohost.com.patris.apu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=125&sid=84fb56c5-80b7-4a98-8bb7-bea4596f593b%40sessionmgr115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=trh&AN=31203808

 