Nuisance Behaviors




	ESE502 : The Class : Discipline : Techniques : Nuisance Behaviors

Nuisance Behaviors

Technique: Recognition and appreciation of individual differences allows a teacher to promote self control and teach the fine art of honing self discipline.
Procedures: Interest in human traits focuses on recognizing that students are individuals and many mannerisms and idiosyncratic behaviors are as much due to genetics as environment. This suggests:

learning to appreciate rather than change some student characteristics.
adjusting expectations. By understanding that some behaviors are aligned to student traits, we can avoid conflicts caused by asking the child to change the immutable.
Since the student has a life-long adjustment, put energy into teaching the student self management techniques.
Increase student awareness of the traits, framing the idea of traits as gifts and abilities, and like all gifts and abilities, there are positive and negative repercussions that go with them. The better the student understands and accepts themselves, the better the adaptation can be to “fit” self to others.

Informal Identification:
Activity level -- the amount and tempo of motor activity
Adaptability -- ability to modify an initial response in light of new information
Approach-withdrawal -- an person’s initial response to newness
Attention span -- the length of time an individual engages in less desirable self-directed tasks
Daringness -- fearful versus courageous responses to challenging or risky situations
Distractibility - the ease with which irrelevant events change ongoing difficulties
Diurnal-nocturnal-- whether a person functions better early or late in the day
Flexibility -- stubbornness or pliability in relationships with others
Intensity of reaction -- energy of a person’s response
Mood - usual or customary state
Persistence -- the tendency to continue an activity despite obstacles or difficulties
Reflectiveness -- the tendency to respond impulsively (spontaneously) or thoughtfully
Rhymicity - the regularity of function
Sociability -- an individual’s desire to be with or avoid contact with others.
Threshold of responsiveness -- the amount of stimulation required to evoke a reaction

From Grossman, 1990. pp. 296-97.

This list accumulated from several trait studies. Grossman 1990) provides the following assist in determining if a student behavior may be a trait:

The problem fits trait descriptions.
The behavior is present in all aspects of the student’s life.
The child has a history of behaving this way [she was stubborn from the moment she was born; he’s always been quiet].
The behavior does not appear to change much , even when appropriate techniques are used to modify the behavior.

Strategy	Behavioristic	Cognitive	Humanistic	Physiological	Psychodynamic
Program	Behaviorism	Essentialism	Existentialism	Perennialism	Progressivism

Source: Grossman, H. (1990). Trouble free teaching. Mountain View: CA. Mayfield.

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E-mail J'Anne Ellsworth at Janne.Ellsworth@nau.edu