Dealing with defiant students: The new normal

This year my school has seen a rise in students with OBD (oppositional behavior disorder) along with other defiant behaviors.  To most people, when a student is insubordinate or refuses to comply,  it can make your blood reach the boiling point in under 2 seconds.  I've been struggling with how to deal with this behavior and have discovered many, many ways that don't work. 

Here are some of my mistakes: 1. Disciplined the student in front of his peers  2. Engaged in a futile back and forth argument 3. Used a non-neutral tone.  Note: while I am not someone who screams or yells, I can summon my stern teacher voice very quickly.  Most students know not to push me any further, but with students who are defiant it signals that round one has been won. 4. Spoke about the student's behavior to his teacher in front of the class, "So and so kept calling out and disrupting the class today."

Because I don't like to keep failing at something, I decided to do some research to find new tools.  Here are some techniques I am going to use:
I. Speak to the student so that the rest of the class doesn't hear and make eye-contact at his/her level. Use a calm and neutral tone.
2. Give him a choice, i.e. "If you continue what you are doing you will not be able to participate in our activity.  I hope you would like to continue with us; we value your contributions."
3. Try to find the student doing something correctly and offer a drive by praise ("You are using your mallets correctly.  Maybe you could help/show another student?"
4. Present clear boundaries: "If you cannot keep it together, please remove yourself from the situation and go to the chill out chair.  When you think you have it under control, please come back. "
5.  Actively listen.  Many times these students get very upset when other students say something they perceive to be mean.  As I've discussed before, even looking at another student is a criminal offense.  After a student calls out "Stop messing with me" or something along those lines, quietly go over to the student and allow him to tell you what is going on.  Rephrase it so that the student knows you heard his complaint: " I understand that another student is making you angry because he is saying mean things.  Did I get that correct?  Ok, then let's find a solution so that you don't get angry or interrupt the class by calling out.  You can either go to the time out desk and think of something or you can ignore it and come sit by me for awhile."

I am writing this the day after a student in second grade started calling out the famous battle cry, "Stop looking at me."  In front of the class I told him to go the timeout desk.  He sat there on the rug without moving.  I asked him again and Chief Sitting Bull remained.  I rang the buzzer.  But that was the trigger that made me think that that was the wrong approach.  There must be a better way.

The fact that Chief Sitting Bull remained cross--legged on my carpet, arms folded staring blankly into space--was an insubordinate action.  But was it really? Is this really what was going on?

I live strongly in the research-based world and I want to know the science behind everything. Don't put me in a workshop where we get cutesy acronyms to deal with stuff; show me peer-reviewed research, not blather from the latest consultant.  Here is what I found out from the planet Research.

 Students can also sometimes adopt defiance toward teachers as a deliberate strategy--because, in the past, this confrontational behavior seems to have 'paid off' for them in the form of reduced expectations for schoolwork or improved social standing with peers. The longer that a student has engaged in habitual confrontational behavior, the more time and energy a teacher will probably need to invest in specific strategies to turn that behavior around.

Maybe it's because this child has a history of negative interactions with adults and teachers. Furthermore, if an instructor has already decided that a student is generally defiant, the teacher may be overly quick to jump to conclusions, interpreting any ambiguous behavior on the part of the student (e.g., muttering in frustration during a test) as intended to be deliberately confrontational (Fisher et al., 1991). The instructor may then reprimand or criticize the student, triggering a confrontation.
 

I thought about the previous week when his teacher spoke about his behavior to me in front of the whole class.  "Well, you know X doesn't ever do what he needs to do and his behavior is terrible...." And I'm sure this kid, whom she has to see every day, makes her hair hurt.  As she was listing the awful things he does, I started to cringe.  Who would want to hear himself talked about that way?  Even people with healthy self-esteem would wither after hearing that.

 Teachers aren't 't trained to deal with these kinds of students, and it's perfectly natural to feel frustrated when one student can make it so miserable for the rest of the class.  But these kinds of kids are here now and we have to find a way to deal with them so that we don't feel like working as a Wal-mart greeter would be a step up. 

I am going to try these strategies next.week.   I will report back to let you know if anything worked.  If they don't work, I'll go back to the drawing board... or keep a bottle of my beloved single malt scotch tucked away in my desk draw.