Is that child naughty, or doing the right thing the wrong way?

“Morning year 5’s, please stay seated, and copy today’s to-do list in your planner as I write it upon the board!”
“Gage! What are you doing out of your chair?”
This is such a typical response as a teacher!  Students walking when they should be sitting, talking when they should be listening, calling out when they should be raising their hand. No matter how many reminders you give them, these low-level offences continue to happen, and usually from the same few ‘naughty’ students.  The question, however, is are those students deliberately trying to be naughty, or just doing the right thing the wrong way?

Gage!

Let’s go back to Gage, one of my repeat offenders.
“Gage! What are you doing out of your chair?”
Gage: “Mr K, I just wanted to get the markers for you so that you could write on the board.”

Here’s my question, is that child naughty, or is that child trying to do the right thing, just in the wrong way?

So many teachers would only see the negative in that scenario, and be quick to sanction Gage, labelling him as naughty.  

In my view, Gage was trying to be a young gentleman, however, he just did it the wrong way. Gage is in year 5 after all; he has plenty of life-long learning still to do.

But what do you do in this scenario as a teacher? Do you sanction Gage for breaking the rules, knowing he didn’t mean to, or do you let Gage off, knowing the other students could use the same excuse, creating a rule-breaking, excuse giving, epidemic? 

My response:

“Gage, thank you for showing kindness.  That is absolutely beautiful of you, and I would like you to keep being the kind person that you are. Just remember, my instruction was to stay seated, and next time I would appreciate it if you followed the instruction. Perhaps the next opportunity you get to help me, you could ask me first.”

I see many teachers sanctioning students like Gage without listening to the child’s reasoning. Unfortunately, the effects it can have on this child may be detrimental! 

By focusing on the negative behaviour, the child starts to think negatively. They start to think they are ‘bad!’

How it works:

Notice what my response to Gage entails. I had a strong focus on his positive intentions, making sure Gage knows he is ‘good.’ I then followed by reminding him about the class rule and ended with another option for him if he were to find himself in that situation again.

My focus was to train Gage’s behaviours by focusing on his positive intention, guiding him to use those intentions during appropriate times. And, I can reveal that after months of regular and consistent ‘training,’ Gage’s ability to use his good intentions at appropriate times improved. 

Be patient with students like Gage, be kind, and be a role model. Show them and train them to use their good intentions accurately.

Read here to learn how to teach honesty and understanding different perspectives.

Happy learning,

Educationalist