Behavior Intervention Tips: Students Who Make Inappropriate Comments to Teachers

A positive learning environment is one where all of the students and the teacher share ideas while maintaining a level of respect towards each other. Ideally students should not make rude, inappropriate, or disrespectful comments towards the teacher or other authority figures in the building but there are some students who engage in that sort of behavior for any number of reasons including: having an emotional disability, having oppositional defiant disorder, an increased level of self-control, or an inability to communicate a need in an appropriate manner. When a student "talks back" to the teacher, refuses to comply with requests, or resorts to the use of profanity the entire learning environment is disrupted. The other students will become off-task and the focus is taken away from the teacher's instruction and often it is difficult to pull the class back to task once the situation has been dealt with.

While there is no easy fix when working with a student who continually makes inappropriate comments in class there are strategies that a teacher can use to help the student deal with his or her feelings in a more appropriate way and over time decrease or totally get rid of the negative behavior. It is important that the teacher establish clear expectations of appropriate behavior and communicates the consequences of not following the rules. The expectations and consequences should be followed on a daily basis. When a teacher deals with negative comments, he or she should try to remain calm and hold a private discussion with the student instead of correcting the student in front of the entire class. Teachers should avoid using language or tone that could embarrass a student or provoke him or her to become more angry. A verbal cue can be established to communicate to the student that he or she is being inappropriate. The teacher should not argue with the student to model the correct way to communicate.

It is also helpful for the class to follow a certain routine and decrease the amount of unstructured down-time. When students are allowed to be off-task and then suddenly expected to transition to work right away there is the potential that a student will become defiant. Another good tip is to seat students who are prone to inappropriate behavior near students who will serve as positive behavior role models. Teachers should try to reinforce positive behavior with verbal feedback. Whenever the opportunity arises, try to teach students the correct ways to deal with their anger or frustration. Some students who are rude or disrespectful towards staff are doing so because they don't understand the directions or feel that the work is too difficult. It is important for teachers to monitor students' progress throughout the class to make sure everyone is on-task and completing assignments correctly.