Case Study – Class Dynamics

8^th grade Career Exploration class, most are at or below grade level, limited parent involvement. The social dynamics of a few groups impacts the entire class.

4 boys feed off one another, disruptive. Ringleader is intelligent, humorous, and social.

4 girls are a giggly clique, laughing at inside jokes, making fun of another girl

1 girl who doesn’t fit in, rejected by others.

The teacher has tried individual conversations and proximity. The goal is for students have self-control, engagement, inclusion, and more kindness.

• Use Other-oriented Induction.  Induction addresses your goals of students’ self-control, inclusion and kindness. Communicate your values clearly. Particularly use “other-oriented” induction to stop mocking rudeness. Tell the students “We are not rude to one another in this class. How would you feel if ….  Let’s redo that conversation.” Tell them “We will not roll our eyes at each other because it hurts feelings and is disrespectful and harms relationships (including marriages, so it is a bad habit to develop)” or “No one has a right to make another person feel unworthy.”

• Use behavior specific praise. Think about what behaviors you want to see and catch them being good. Use public praise so that others can overhear and learn from it.
  • Individuals: Find specific students to praise about those behaviors. “I noticed how cooperative you were.”  Work toward catching the most problematic students being good.
  • Whole Class: “I really appreciate how there was significantly less rudeness.  We have a little way to go, but good progress!”
  • Remember the praise to reprimand ratio because it spreads the praise throughout the entire class, not bringing unwanted attention to one student.

• Use humor (theirs and yours). It is not surprising that the “ringleader” of the disruptive group is an intelligent, humorous, social child. Highly intelligent children tend to be more humorous. Middle schoolers are increasing in use of humor (especially mild sarcasm) but are still learning how to use humor (when, what, how) appropriately, so expect some lapses when it isn’t appropriate.  This is developmentally normal; they are learning social boundaries for humor and need your occasional guidance. When their humor is inappropriate you can express appreciation for their sense of humor, but briefly explain why it isn’t appropriate right now (i.e., use induction).  Humor works like recess – it lifts the mood and re-energizes students and teachers.  But it can also sometimes get out of control. Some teachers have a brief period at the beginning of the class to share jokes, then its time to get down to business.  This allows for the benefits of humor, but also keeps it within teacher-controlled boundaries.

• Determine whether the student is rejected or neglected.  Neglect means that the child is not highly liked, but also not highly disliked by classmates. Neglect is generally not a problem; as long as a child has a friend outside of your classroom, they will fare OK in your classroom.  Rejection means that the child is not highly liked, and also highly disliked by classmates.  Rejection is a problem; it is linked to sadness, loneliness, low self-worth. Teachers can change a child’s peer status by building the students’ reputation with classmates.  This is best done by pointing out something you like or admire about the student to others. (This doesn’t have to be a big show, just a short, clear statement of “I like how you ….” Loud enough for other students to hear.)  Also, seating a rejected child next to a widely-liked, prosocial classmate can increase the rejected child’s peer status, just by proximity. You may want to pair the prosocial classmate with the rejected classmate during group work (you can prep this by letting the prosocial classmate know why you are doing this, such as “target student” doesn’t seem to have a lot of friends in class, so I’d like to have her work with you, so that you can help her fit in better. I know how kind you are …”

• Give the boy who is a “natural” leader responsibility in the classroom. One example is the role of “Norm warden” that keeps others in the group on task. Students find it fun being this role. Give the boy ringleader this role to build his “earned” authority and positive influence on the class. This can also work for the rejected girl to build social status, shifting other’s perspectives of her. However, this would have to be done thoughtfully because the “rejected” girl could become more rejected if her role makes her obnoxious toward classmates.

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