Pam Ponders

When kids can’t learn they often resort to being badly behaved!

There are only 2 directions children can follow when they haven’t a clue what’s going on in class. They can’t read properly, so their chance of surviving in class is severely curtailed. The direction they follow is to become an increasingly troublesome behaviour problem. Their intelligence is used in a destructive way. These kids are clever, but grossly under-educated. They can’t use their brains to extend their knowledge because they haven’t got sufficient foundations to build on. They don’t have confidence in their abilities because their abilities have never been explored. It’s just assumed that because they fall behind in their work there must be something wrong with their level of intelligence.

I have such a boy who’s just started in my classes… He’s out of control in mainstream school. He’s violenct, confrontational, foul mouthed. But school say he’s bright! How do they know? He can’t read properly or do basic arithmetic! He’s 10 but has the knowledge of a 7 year old…

It’s amazing that they school aren’t questioning why this child, who they consider to be bright, is achieving at such a low level and why things are going so wrong.

But that doesn’t enter their heads… It’s far easier, because of the boy’s increasingly bad behaviour, to make that the reason for his under achievement. Can’t possibly be something they’re doing (or not doing!), can it? Actually, he isn’t without academic ability, but the school’s results certainly aren’t indicating that…

The other children who can’t cope in class simply ‘wither away’ and almost become invisible. I met such a child…

I was in a year 3 class the other day and all the children had laptops, working on maths games to do with fractions – they had to colour a flag in various colours depending on which fraction was indicated. As I watched this little girl she simply clicked on and off one or two squares, time after time. I quietly approached her and asked if she understood what to do. She shook her head and I noticed she was nearly crying… it’s heartbreaking to see a little kid like that. Such a quiet, unassuming little girl but hadn’t a clue what she was doing…

The little girl didn’t even have a clue what a fraction was but after a few minutes she had the hang of things and was colouring her flags happily! An intellingent child who just needed a bit of a push… She wouldn’t have caused problems for the teacher, but just become a ‘low achieving statistic’! Poor little girl!

Endless data is collected these days but isn’t it rather pointless unless it’s used for the children’s benefit? To help them achieve or challenge their learning?

Just quickly that reminds me of a major behaviour problem of a few years ago. A tiny little guy – about 5 or 6 years old with seriously deteriorating behaviour. I was called into the school and just on the off chance I asked him if he’d read to me. He was delighted and brought a book. His reading was remarkable – unbelievable for such a little guy. I asked the school what age his reading assessment indicated. They hadn’t done one – but when they did the assessment he had a reading age of a 10 year old! Incredible. An infant with upper junior ability… cater for that and problem solved! Hardly rocket science is it?

Ask yourself ‘why?’ if you’re facing problem behaviour. It may be due to lack of behaviour management skills, but also ineffective teaching. A lack of differentiation in lessons can lead to problem behaviour. Practise differentiation and meet children’s learning needs – you’ll save yourself from a lot of stressful situations!

Liz Marsden is a successful children’s behaviour management specialist who uses her expertise in her own classes and also to train teachers, student teachers, classroom assistants and parents to manage children’s behaviour effectively and confidently. Visit Liz’s website where you can access her down to earth behaviour management advice which you can easily implement and see immediate results.