Rude, Disrespectful language

Authentic Case Study from our ECHO: Prosocial & Positive Classroom Climate project.

6^th grade Science classroom – 16 students total. Some of the students frequently use rude, threatening and disrespectful language to each other. The teacher has tried – appealing to empathy, modeling alternative communication, using counselor’s office to discuss behaviors.

• Collect data about this situation to gain understanding. Consider questions such as: when is this happening the most? Is it during transition time? How many students are involved? Is it the same students every time? Does an activity lead to certain behaviors?
  • Increase your use of specific praise – especially when you see students behaving prosocially.
    • Publicly praise the “ring-leaders” of a group so everyone can see and then hopefully adopt positive interactions.
    • Follow one negative comment with four positive comments.
    • Three-step prompting: 1- tell them what you expect, 2- give them opportunities to do it, 3- then use behavior-specific praise when it occurs.
  • Explicitly teach social skills, such as conflict resolution: “Did you like it when…?” “Put yourself in their shoes…”
    • Focus on building empathy and recognition of leadership skills, it will lead to kindness.
    • Students may be out of practice and have different norms reinforced at home. Explicit instruction on the desired skills may be warranted.
  • Be thoughtful about seating arrangements and group formation.
    • Potential grouping strategy: Pre-arrange students into “seasonal” groups labeled as Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. They are aware of who is in each of their regular working groups. Have a student who might not be having the best day pick which group arrangement they want to work in that day.
    • Have students find something that they have in common with their classmates and use this as a grouping strategy – have students sort themselves into groups based on something they like (e.g., favorite sports team, favorite food). They might be surprised to learn that a classmate likes the same things they do, which can allow positive connections to form.

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