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Classroom Management , Mindset & Motivation , Podcast Articles   |   May 7, 2017

How to respond to rude, disrespectful student attitudes

By Angela Watson

Founder and Writer

I’ve written A LOT about behavior management: creating a strong, positive classroom culture and being proactive, as well as what to do about extreme student behaviors and how to undo your classroom management mistakes .

I’ve talked about how to avoid getting discouraged by these kinds of behaviors, and how to  not give up on apathetic kids.

But I haven’t addressed practical responses in the moment to student attitudes:

• How should you respond to the little things students do that are rude, disrespectful, or just annoying?
• What should you do for minor behaviors that don’t necessarily warrant some kind of consequence, but that you can’t let slide every time?
• Is there a way to keep kids from eye-rolling, teeth sucking, muttering under their breath, and so on?
• What do we do about bad attitudes?

I don’t want to settle for trite, rehashed info, so I reached out to Robyn Jackson , founder of Mindsteps Inc , because I knew she could take this conversation to a deeper level. Robyn was a National Board Certified English teacher in Maryland, just outside of Washington DC, and has since been an administrator, adjunct professor, consultant, and speaker. She’s been championing equity, access, and rigor for over 15 years.

Robyn is seriously one of my favorite experts in the education space, because she has a deeper understanding of human behavior and motivation than anyone else I know, and she always keeps it real. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her speak in person a few times and I just hang on her every word–there’s so much good info there. She has this lovely way of uncovering the root problem and also calling you out on your own mess instead of allowing blame-shifting.

I highly recommend using the audio player below to listen to the full interview,  but even if you’d rather read, grab a pad of paper because you’re going to want to take notes.

Want to listen instead of read?

Listen to season 5 episode 14 below, or subscribe in your podcast app., is it even possible to create a class culture in which kids don’t get an attitude or disrespect you over minor things (especially at the secondary level).

Absolutely. In fact, how depressing would it be if that weren’t possible? I don’t just believe it’s possible, I’ve seen it, and I’ve seen it with all kinds of kids.

I spend a lot of time in schools, and I’m in all kinds of schools — urban schools, suburban schools, rural schools, schools in the US, schools in other countries. I’ve seen it happen, but creating that kind of classroom culture is not easy. I don’t have anything like, “All you have to do is ___ and you can have that kind of culture.” There are a lot of things that go into it, including not just the personality of the students, but the personality of the teacher.

One of the things I shrink from whenever we talk classroom management issues is espousing a particular strategy because those strategies work if you have a particular personality. They don’t work with some personalities. We often don’t factor in who we are when we’re thinking about grabbing strategies and applying them. There is no key that says if you’re this kind of personality, this strategy will work, and if you’re that kind of personality, this strategy will work. It’s a lot of trial and error.

The teachers I’ve seen pull off this off created a classroom culture that is a good fit for their own personality and the personality of the kids involved. I think that both are really important, and I think it’s often a missing link that people have when they’re trying to figure out how to create that classroom.

They think there’s some magic bullet: “I must not be doing something right,” or “I saw another teacher,” or “I read something that this teacher said, and it worked for them. Why isn’t it working for me?” We don’t factor in who we are and how much of a difference that plays in whether or not a strategy will work.

What are appropriate consequences for kids who show disrespect?

I think we have to distinguish between disruptions and disrespect, because not every disruption is disrespectful. I don’t think teachers should tolerate disrespect, ever . That always has to be addressed. But a disruption may not be a sign of disrespect. I think we have to be really clear about the difference. I’m trying to think of a clean, easy distinction, but oftentimes there isn’t one. One person’s disruption is another person’s disrespect.

But typically I consider: Is the child trying to challenge my authority in the classroom? Is the child doing something in direct disregard for something that I’ve directly told them to do? That feels more like disrespect. Is a child being a teenager? Then that’s a disruption.

So disrespect I never ignore. Disruptions, I may or may not ignore them. I may not directly address them right away because I might be able to redirect that student, or I may be able to get that student re-engaged. I think that that’s the difference. We have to be really careful about how we interpret student behavior, because a lot of times in our frustration, we end up interpreting things as disrespect that were never intended to be disrespectful.

How do you keep yourself from taking students’ misbehavior personally?

I still struggle with not taking it personally, even though I know better. Somebody’s attitude rubs me the wrong way or does something that I feel is disrespectful when really there’s something else going on, and rather than taking the time to figure that out before I respond, I just react, and say, “Hold up. No. Wait a minute.”

Especially now, because a lot of times when I’m teaching or doing demonstration lessons, there’s a lot riding on that demonstration. I’m coming in and showing people how to do something, and I’m the supposed expert. And when somebody does something that’s a disruption or is blatantly disrespectful, it’s hard for me to step out of, “Wait a minute. You are challenging me. You are a 13-year-old. How dare you?” Or, “Wait a minute. I’ve got to show people that I know what I’m doing, so I can’t allow you to have any ground in my classroom.”

Those are short-term solutions. And you might be able to quash the rebellion in the moment, but you have lost the war, because classroom management/discipline is supposed to be about helping our students become better at managing the learning and managing themselves.

When we sacrifice that bigger goal for a temporary win, we create other problems down the line, and it doesn’t even feel good to us. It doesn’t. We think it’s going to solve that issue of that, “I feel disrespected,” and it doesn’t. It doesn’t solve either of the issues. It just quashes the rebellion at the moment.

How do you show the class you’re in control without escalating the situation?

When you make the wise decision to not escalate things in the middle of class and to address it later, it’s tough when the student tries to get the last word. There’s something inside of us that finds it hard to walk away from something like that. We immediately worry that our other students are going to think, “Oh no. Look, he got away with it.”

This is a hard situation, and it’s hard to take the long view of things. Students won’t think that he got away with it if you are effective in that post-classroom conversation, and the next day he comes to class and he’s well-behaved. So you have to think about it from that perspective and remember: don’t sacrifice the war because you want to win a small skirmish. You’re fighting a bigger war.

I hate to use war language when we’re talking about dealing with children, and I say “children” but I mean teenagers. I taught secondary–I’m not talking about third-graders here. I’m talking about that 16-year-old who’s being a jerk in class and doing it for attention, and at that moment, he is being disrespectful, right? So how do you deal with that?

The first thing is that you have to keep in mind the longer game.  Is the goal of that exchange to prove to the other students that you’re in charge, especially when so many things can go wrong, or are there other ways to show students that you don’t tolerate that kind of behavior?

For me, I think that if you let it go right then and there, as bad as that feels, and you settle it when you talk with that student later on, and then that student comes to class the next day and is well-behaved and the students see that that student is being respectful to you — then what students are going to think is, “Whoa. She must have let him have it in that other conversation. She’s not somebody you mess with,” and they leave it alone.

If you don’t settle it in that follow-up conversation, then that’s when students start getting the idea that that behavior is tolerated. Students are always watching, yes, but you aren’t tolerating that behavior now. What you’re not doing is getting in the last word, and eventually that student looks ridiculous, especially if you remain calm and you remain in control of the classroom.

That’s the struggle: Remaining calm, because I know what that feels like in the moment. I’ve had those situations where you’re sitting there and you’re thinking, “Oh no. What are the kids going to say? Do I respond? Do I not respond?” And unfortunately, there’s no manual for this because kids come up with all kinds of things that we’re not prepared for. There’s no way to prepare for it other than this:

At all times, remain calm. At all times, remain in control. You don’t worry so much about what the other kids are going to think, because you are in control, even of that situation. It’s one thing if that student is doing something and you’re cowering in a corner. It’s another thing if students see you choosing to ignore that behavior. It’s not that you are tolerating or they can get away with it. What students will see is that you’ve made a choice to ignore that behavior.

How do you show students you are CHOOSING not to engage?

A long time ago I wrote a couple of blog posts, and the title of the series was, Are You a Discipline Problem? And it was directed at teachers. It wasn’t to blame teachers, but it was to make this point: A discipline problem is anything that disrupts instruction. Anything. Which means that a child can be a discipline problem, but it also means that a teacher can be a discipline problem.

When you choose not to escalate the situation as a teacher, you choose not to become a discipline problem, because the moment that you start getting in the last word with that student, you now are playing that student’s game. What you’re trying to do is get the student on your page, not get on the student’s page. If the teacher follows up with the student, gets that student back on track, then that’s what the class is going to see–that’s the permanent, lasting effect that students will notice.

You can make it clear to the other students that you are choosing not to engage . Even in how you ignore, you can look at the student sadly, shake your head, and then keep moving with what you’re doing and get everybody back on track. And that will look like you’re just, “Poor pitiful little thing. You have no idea what you’re in for when I talk to you after class.” You can do that, and that shows that you remain in control.

If the student’s trying to get you to react, and you do, then you’re playing his game. You just have to remember: W ho’s in charge? I am. That means you just let the “last word” stuff go, even though it feels horrible to do so. But you don’t have to just let it go and act as if it didn’t happen. You can acknowledge it without engaging in it.

You can look at it and shrug your shoulders and keep moving with what you’re doing. Then everybody knows you saw it, you’ve chosen to ignore it, and you’ve handled it without escalating it.

How do you find a “teacher look” that works consistently? 

Some teachers are tough teachers. I’m the kind of teacher that I could stop a kid in his tracks with a look. I’ve looked at kids before, a kid started getting smart with me, and I looked at her, and she immediately said, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” But that’s who I am, right?

There are some people who haven’t found their teacher look yet, or whose look isn’t as ferocious, and so they shouldn’t try the look. Because if kids don’t buy your look, if there’s no conviction behind it, then all students are going to do is say, “You can look at me all you want … ” That can escalate things.

So whatever you do, commit to it, but make it fit who you are. Some teachers look disappointed, some teachers look sad but not cowed. Some teachers look at them and say a certain word. “The look” can mean a lot of different things. It could be there’s just a look, or maybe it’s body language.

Or maybe you respond with humor. Some teachers might say, “Aw, do you need a hug?” and then the rest of the class laughs. So you have to figure out who you are, and that’s why it’s so important to do something that’s consistent with your personality, and not try to be the teacher with the look, if that’s not who you are. You have to find what works for you.

Will ignoring disruptive behavior just make it worse?

There’s a way to deal with the behavior without escalating it, without saying a word, that lets everybody know the student is going to be dealt with. He has not won, and everyone including him knows it–you’re just choosing to ignore it.

And if you make the choice to ignore it obvious, that’s the difference. It’s when we don’t make that “ignoring choice” obvious that there’s a problem. When kids aren’t sure: “Are you ignoring it or did he beat you into submission with his words? Which one is it?”

So I think it’s important that you have to make that choice obvious, however you choose to do that, but you don’t have to engage it or escalate it.

I think that’s the thing that they don’t teach us about deliberate ignoring:  you don’t ignore it as if you don’t see it . You’re just ignoring it as if, “I’m not going to deal with it at this time.” And is students see that choice, then you are still in control of your classroom.

What happens when you try to tell parents about a behavioral situation, and they think you should accept being treated like a doormat?

Oh, no, never, never, never. Not just because “no one deserves to be treated like a doormat,” I just think it’s hard for kids to learn in that kind of environment where they feel like they’re in control of the classroom. It just hurts you and it hurts the kids, so never accept being treated like a doormat. But what do you do instead?

As a teacher, I had parents cussing me out, I had parents slamming down the phone and hanging up on me saying, “You handle school, I’ll handle home. If you can’t do your job, why are we paying taxes for you?” I’ve had parents come up to the school and lay me out. I’ve had administrators who have capitulated to parents’ demands.

I’ve also had the other side of the coin as an administrator where parents are calling the school, and the child can do no wrong, and how dare you? I’ve had parents get off the phone with me, leave work, and drive up to the school in order to just yell at me in person.

I’ve learned over the years that there are a couple of things you can do to enlist parent support:

1. Be proactive. At the very beginning of the year, outline what the expectations are, and also explain how you’re going to support that student. 

That way the idea of handling it in-house is re-couched as, “When things get out of line,” or “If things get out of line, here’s how I’m going to help and support your child. And here are the ways that you can help me support your child,” so that you lay out the expectations: “When I give you a call, this is the script, this is how I expect you to handle it.”

You lay it out before things go badly, so that you have precedent there, and it’s not the first time parents are encountering your expectation for their support. You’ve laid out what that looks like to you, you’ve had that conversation with parents ahead of time. You can do that at back-to-school night or in other ways.

2. Get the story to the parent before the child does.

If something happened in school that day, make the call home. Email is not enough, because parents may not read their email before they talk to their child, so you really want to get to the parent. Whoever gets to the parent first controls the story.

3. If you can’t get to the parent first and s/he is angry, let the parent vent BEFORE you talk.

When parents are yelling at me like it’s my fault, I don’t interrupt. I let them vent, and when they are done yelling, then I will come in and talk. I’ve been yelled at by a lot of parents because I hold my kids at pretty high standards, and not all parents are supportive of that. So let them vent and hear them out, because in their complaints you’ll always find the way to their hearts.

I hated it when parents yelled at me and screamed at me. If parents are being disrespectful, they’re cussing you, they’re calling you outside of your name, you can stop the conversation until they can calm down, and then solicit some support.

But in most cases, they’re like, “I don’t know why you keep calling me. I feel like I’m doing my work at home. If you can’t handle it … ” If it’s that kind of thing, hear it out. In that is a plea for help.  Basically, that parent is saying, “I am having enough struggle controlling him at home. I don’t need more of this.”

4. E nlist parents as partners rather than tattling on their kids.

I think that’s the most important thing. Parents may be accustomed to the school calling home about their child, and it feels like you’re tattling, or it feels like you’re saying their kid’s not a good kid. So I try to talk about what I’m doing and why I’m doing it, and use the language of the goals that the parents have for their own children.

How do you convince parents that the consequence you chose was appropriate and get their support?

Once I had a situation with a father in which he didn’t believe the son should be suspended. I said, “I know this feels like punitive for your son and you don’t think he deserves it, but let me talk to you about what I’m hoping. Tell me what are your hopes for the kind of young man that you want your child to be.”

And he started talking to me about that, and then I said, “You know, I have some of those same hopes for him, and this is why I think it’s really important that he is suspended, because this isn’t punitive. I want him to learn a lesson, and I think we’ve gotten to the point where the only way he can learn this lesson is that he have a consequence that’s dire. And in giving him a consequence on this level, we save him from having to face an even more dire consequence later on. We have to get this behavior out of him.”

And so I talked to the father not just as, “Your child did this, and therefore he’s having this consequence,” but also shared the thinking behind the consequence. I’m not asking him to handle something, which I think puts a lot of parents on a defensive kind of posture. I’m saying, “Here’s what I’m doing in support of the type of child that I think we’re both hoping that your son becomes, and here’s what’s behind it.” And every time I’ve done that — and I’ve had to do it quite a bit — I’ve secured the support of the parent.

When you don’t have the support of the parent, when it seems like they feel their child can do no wrong, you need to talk about the discipline not as a punishment. You connect it to the goals that the parent has for the child, to the challenges the parent may be having with the child. When you show the parents that this is not a punishment (that’s what they’re protecting their child from, punishment), you’re teaching them that this is another learning opportunity.

And when you do that sincerely, it’s really hard for parents to resist someone who cares so much about their child that they’re taking the time to apply the discipline, even when the parent doesn’t agree.

What happens when your approach totally backfires — how do you figure out what you should have done differently?

One of the things that I find really challenging is that people will bring situations to me and they’ll say, “What should I have done?” And the truth is, I don’t know. I wasn’t there.

And quite frankly, things happen so quickly in the classroom, it’s hard to do a postmortem. It’s hard to say, “You handled this correctly,” or “You did it incorrectly.” There are just so many moving parts.

When I see teachers out there who are sincerely trying to support students, I wish that I had a tactic, a magic word, something that I could give them that works every time, but I’ve not found it.

When I can’t find the magic thing that works every single time, I always fall back on the principle that I should change my perspective and look to discipline as another learning opportunity. It’s something that I would treat with the same rigor that I use when planning any other lesson.

When I’m planning my consequences and my responses, I plan it with the same intention that I would plan a learning activity. I think about what I want the child to ultimately learn from engaging in this disciplinary activity with me or working with this child to manage behavior.  It relieves me of some of the natural, human feelings around how the child is behaving at that moment.

And it’s a hard thing to hold onto. I’m not perfect at it. But every time I’ve done it that way, I have found a way to reach the child. And every time that I haven’t done it that way, I look back with regret on how I handled things.

No time to finish reading now? Download the audio and listen later on the go!

How do you respond when nearly half the class is talking over you.

I stop. I mean, what’s funny is, it’s not just kids. It happens to me when I train teachers, too. I stop. I just stop. Sometimes it may take four or five minutes, depending on the class. If I’m walking in cold, I might not do this … but I’ll tell you what I don’t do.

I don’t say, “I’m not going to talk as long as you’re talking,” because then they’re like, “Fine. We don’t want to hear from you anyway, thank you.” So I don’t set myself up for that response, but I stop and I talk about why .

I try to make a case for why what I’m saying is more important, and try to secure their respect. But I don’t talk over kids. I don’t just keep going, especially when it’s half the class. And I don’t try to say anything smart either because that’s just a setup. I just stop. And when people get quiet, I start talking again.

How do you respond to profanity — when kids are just casually conversing with each other and you hear a curse word?

Oh, no. I’m old-fashioned. People have to work on their own tolerance. Nowadays the language is so profane, but my kids know how I am about this from the beginning. A lot of times I don’t have to say anything. A lot of times it’s just a part of how they speak, and they catch themselves, and they’re like, “Oops.”

When I was younger, when I first became a teacher, I was trying to charge 10 cents every time somebody cursed, but that creates a lot of problems, so don’t do that!

What I try to do now is just set an atmosphere in the classroom where kids know that’s not appropriate, and then when it happens, I just stop, and I say, “Can you rephrase that using the language of the classroom?” And kids do, and they apologize, because they know that that’s not something that I really like in the classroom.

What do you do when a student refuses to comply with a really simple request, like “put your phone away” or “sit down”?

When a student refuses to comply with a simple request, most of the time there’s a bigger issue at stake. It’s not just about the request–there’s something else going on. And a lot of times it doesn’t have anything to do with you on that particular day. They’re going through something else.

So if they refuse to comply with a simple request, I’m not going to stop instruction until I force them into submission. I’m going to get instruction going and then check in with the kid, because if not, that’s how you get those blow-ups . That’s how you get the kids who just go off.

If it’s a simple request like “put your phone away”, and they don’t do it, I move on. I say, “OK, I’ll deal with you in a second.” I get everybody else moving so that the learning in the classroom doesn’t stop, and then I deal with that student.

The exception is if it’s become a big disruption (like if they’re loudly playing a game on their phone, and it’s interrupting everybody else’s learning), because then I’m going to have to deal with it right away. They’ve created a bigger issue. But if it’s just simply, “My phone’s out. I’m not putting it away right now, and you can’t make me,” then let me get everybody else started so I as the teacher don’t become the discipline problem. And then once I’ve got everybody moving where they need to go, then I’m going to go deal with that student, and at that point, it’s not about the phone.

One of the things I learned from Cynthia Tobias, who has this great book on strong-willed children , is when strong-willed kids don’t comply with a simple request, ask the question, “How come?”

So I say, “Put your phone away,” and then the student just doesn’t do it or says no, and then I say, “How come?” calmly. And a lot of times that gets them talking so I can find out what else is going on. They’ll say, “I’m talking to my mother — my grandmother is sick,” or “I don’t feel like it.” “OK, why not?” You get them engaged in conversations that can help you figure out what’s going on and help you deal with the real issue, and not make the phone the issue.

How do you respond to kids who are volatile and belligerent when they’re spoken to about their behavior — those who can’t accept correction?

Oftentimes I’ll say, “We can’t continue to do this. I have a job, and you’ve got a job. And a lot of times you’re reacting in ways that, to me, feel out of proportion for what I’m asking you to do. So I need to know what’s going on with you, and we’re going to have to figure out something else that you can do instead, because that particular reaction doesn’t work. You’re allowed to have a reaction, but let’s find one that will work in the classroom. ”

Then we figure out something that works. With some students, I’ve had to do “antiseptic bounces.”  So I might say, “OK. Our arrangement is that if you’re getting to the point where you feel like you can’t behave in this classroom, then you can go sit in the back of Ms. So-and-So’s classroom and finish your work there, and Ms. So-and-So knows you’re coming.” The student goes in her room, and sits in the back. I’ve found that that works with some of the really volatile students.

Others have a safe word that they say when they feel like they’re about to go off. And when I hear that word (it’s something that’s just between me and the student), I say, “OK,” and I back off. The student then gets himself together and we address the issue when he’s calmer.

I have to work it out with the student so that we have an agreement. Then once you have that agreement, you can hold them accountable to the agreement , even when you can’t hold them accountable to the behavior   and to the behavioral expectations of the classroom.

What’s the most important thing you try to remember about student behavior, attitudes, and disrespect?

You have a bigger end game than that moment when you feel disrespected. And you’re not just teaching that student: every student who witnesses it learns something, too.

So, you have to be very careful about how you respond to student behavior and address it. Because in that moment, whether you realize it or not, you are teaching. You want to make sure that you’re teaching the right lessons in every interaction. It’s not just that student: everybody’s watching, and everybody’s learning.

I think when you take that principled approach, you cut down on a lot of the disciplinary issues that happen in the classroom so they never even come to the surface. You never even have to deal with them when you set up a classroom in that way.

Want to learn more from Robyn Jackson? Visit  mindstepsinc.com , or check out her (amazing!) book, Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching .

This post is based on an episode from my weekly podcast, Angela Watson’s Truth for Teachers . A podcast is like a free talk radio show you can listen to online, or download and take with you wherever you go. I release a new 15-20 minute episode each Sunday and feature it here on the blog to help you get energized and motivated for the week ahead. 

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I was curious as to if Robyn ever came to schools to do trainings or presentations with school personnel?

Respect is not just a vague concept. This is an important life skill and the sooner kids will learn it, the sooner they will learn to build successful relationships. So, I admire the work you have done here teaching parents the importance of respecting their children and nurturing these skills in their kids. I am really grateful for the parenting tips you have collected here. Can add just a little bit? I have this article about teaching respect as well. And the activities that your kids will have fun with. Care to take a look here https://aliciaortego.com/teach-kids-respect-activities/ ?

Loved this! I listened in June ’23 after a really difficult year. I’m a specialty teacher that sees all the kids in the school but not every day. Discipline for me depends on so much! But, I love the idea of not becoming a discipline problem…which I’ve felt but not understood how to put into words. Thank you so much.

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A Matter of Respect

CHALLENGE: There is a decline in (lack of) respect for public education.

A persistent challenge, a lack of support, making way for more respect, a more just future.

Premium Resource

• Online and in-person comments from students, parents, and those outside of teaching who question teachers' choices about curriculum and personal risk mitigation.
• A lack of administrative support for challenging classroom conditions.
• Failure of decisionmakers to recognize and listen to teacher expertise.
• Blame for student underachievement without recognition of the post-pandemic trauma students and teachers face.

Some of the disrespect is rooted in the privatization of education and excluding educators as experts in their own field. I'm with kids seven hours per day yet no one asks me (or teachers in general) about what kids need.

Investing in and showing respect for teachers and the work they do is something each of us can play a part in.

1. Ask Questions and Listen

2. develop and support teacher expertise, the 'teachers as heroes' discourse at the start of the pandemic faded quickly., 3. advocate publicly, reflect & discuss.

➛ What routines, resources, and practices in the workplace help you to feel most respected as a professional?

➛ For school leaders, think about the concrete ways you provide autonomy and respect to the educators in your building. What's working well? Where might you improve?

Allegretto, S., García, E., & Weiss, E. (2022, July 12).  Public education funding in the U.S. needs an overhaul.  Economic Policy Institute.

García, E., Kraft, M. A., & Schwartz, H. L. (2022, August 26).  Brown Center Chalkboard: Are we at a crisis point with the public teacher workforce? Education scholars share their perspectives . Brookings Institute.

Hsieh, B. (2023, March 16).  Rehumanizing the teaching profession .  [Blog post]. The ASCD Blog.

Jacobson, L. (2023, May 10). Enrollment in U.S. schools hasn't bounced back since pandemic, data shows.  The Guardian .

Meehan, K., Friedman, J., Magnusson, T., & Baêta, S. (2023, April 20) .   Banned in the USA: State laws supercharge book suppression in schools . PEN America.

Betina Hsieh is a professor of teacher education at California State University, Long Beach, and a former K-12 educator. She is current president of the California Council on Teacher Education and will be the next Boeing endowed professor of teacher education at the University of Washington in 2024.

ASCD is a community dedicated to educators' professional growth and well-being.

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Lack of Respect a Growing Problem

Assessment model print, good argument essay.

The writer of this argument essay focuses on the need for respect in school and out.

Title: Lack of Respect a Growing Problem

Level: Grade 9, Grade 10

Mode: Persuasive Writing

Form: Argument Essay

Completed Rubric: Lack of Respect a Growing Problem Rubric

Blank Rubric: Argument Assessment Rubric

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Student Model

Have you ever talked back to a teacher or other school official only to find yourself in the office with a referral and day of ISS? If you have, you’re not alone. These days Northern has more students in ISS for disrespecting authority and fellow students than ever before. Clearly, we need to find ways for teachers, administrators, and students to respect one another. Principal George Miller commented, “Disrespect has been a major issue in schools, and I definitely see it as a problem." This disrespect comes in many forms. It can be as simple as talking back, refusing to do homework, not throwing away your trash at lunch, being disruptive, or simply catching an attitude with a teacher, administrator, or other staff member. According to Miller, “It’s not only what you say, but how you say it. Some students seem to think that they can say and do what they want; it’s almost like a mind-set.”

We need to change that mind-set. We must find ways to keep teachers from becoming the target of student disrespect which interferes with teaching and learning. "Teachers who try to be friends with students sometimes get walked all over,” said senior Michelle Donnelly. Junior Phil Reinhardt observed, “The teachers that are too nice end up having no respect in their classroom.” Of course, there are always some students who don’t respect any teachers, friendly or not, and refuse to do homework, sit through a single class period, or listen to a word they say. Senior Jamie Schartner said, “I lose respect for teachers when they have the policy of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ ” Sometimes a teacher has a teaching style that causes a lack of respect. For example, a quiet and independent student won’t necessarily enjoy it when a teacher grades for classroom participation and assigns a lot of group work. This kind of clash could be avoided by evaluating and adjusting the teaching approach.

Its not just teachers, but administrators as well. Administrators must model respect in the tactics they use to deal with students sent down to the office with referrals for talking back, being tardy (another form of disrespect), and a number of other referral-worthy actions. Many times, administrators have to step in when there’s a problem that the teacher can’t handle, making them appear to be the bad guys. This means that most of the communication between the administrators and students is in negative situations, causing a bad relationship and, therefore, a lack of respect. We need more ways for administrators to interact with students in positive situations.

Students often don’t respect other students either. They need to learn to treat eachother as they would want to be treated. Instead of starting verbal disagreements which may eventually lead to physical fights during and after school, students need to understand viewpoints and lifestyles that are different from their own. Junior Emily Gigger pointed out, “Students are praised by fellow classmates when they act out and make fun of teachers and other students.” This approval from their peers only encourages them to continue with their actions. Students should develop a sense of self-confidence and come to rely on there own sense of right and wrong in these instances. Often, students don’t respect those in lower grade levels, especially the freshmen, simply because they’re younger. On other occasions, it’s a “he said, she said” dispute and best friends are fighting because of something another person said. “I think that students should respect their classmates, no matter what their differences,” commented Schartner. A foundation of respect for all would eliminate most conflicts.

There have to be some solutions to help students gain respect for society in general, which includes administrators, teachers, and fellow students. Obviously, more positive communication and understanding is needed between students and authority figures. So what can be done? For starters, each side has to try harder to see things from the other’s point of view. In addition, everyone needs to think about what they can do personally to help improve the situation—and then do it. As they often say, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." We need to take that first step.

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• 110.36.c.9.D
• 110.37.c.9.C
• 110.37.c.9.D
• LAFS.910.W.2.5
• LA 10.2.1.a
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Opinion: Students disrespecting their teachers needs to be acknowledged

“You’re a terrible teacher. No one cares about school.”

Well, that’s definitely something a teacher never wants to hear during his or her career.

Those words have been uttered by students before, believe it or not. This is a troubling epidemic that must be acknowledged and handled carefully.

As kids, we were always taught to respect your elders and people in authority. In the school setting, that includes all teachers and administrators. However, I’ve noticed that some students seem to have never heard anything like this, and disrespect their teachers.

Teachers have a simple job: to teach students material and make sure they understand it. They don’t deserve to deal with rude students that try to make their lives difficult. As students, we don’t deserve to learn in a negative environment. Teachers don’t pick on students just out of boredom or bias. They single people out to discipline them and make sure the learning environment stays focused.

Students who disrespect teachers are, to put it mildly, extremely inconsiderate. This is not only to the teacher, but to other peers in the classroom. Students are at school to learn, not to hear their fellow classmate(s) talk smack to the teacher. As a junior, it’s crucial that I am focused and learning as much information as I can from the teacher to pass the classes and tests, but I definitely don’t need teachers dealing with disrespectful kids in the middle of lecture. It takes away all the attention from learning.

Phones are a rather big issue in this case. There’s been a consistent problem with students constantly on their phones during class and not paying attention to the teacher lecturing. This is a sign of disrespect in the fact that the students totally disregard what a teacher has to say, as if they don’t care at all. The worst part of this is if a student refuses to hand over the phone when specifically requested by a teacher. In one of my classes, my teacher told one girl, who had been on her phone the entire class time, to put it on his desk. The girl simply smirked and put it away in her pocket, only to have it out again a few minutes later. This attitude is that of one who doesn’t think a teacher should ever tell her what to do. These are people who typically think they can do anything, and no adult has the right to tell them otherwise.

In another class, which was combined AP and honors, there was one notorious student who would always talk back to the teacher in class with no shame. Whenever the teacher called on her to read a passage, she would look at the teacher with scorn and refused to say anything, or would say “Mister, are you serious?”

Don’t get me wrong- I’m not singling out my own school by using my anecdotes. This is happening everywhere, not just in one or a few schools. There are students’ videos on YouTube of their fellow classmates bullying teachers. On YouTube, I searched “student bullies teacher” and I watched a video titled “Female Teacher Bullied & Harassed by Entire Class in Chicago.” It is an absolute disgrace and horror to see students treat a teacher this way by making horribly rude comments. I noticed that at one point, a student held up a desk over the teacher’s head. Additionally, the person recording the video made no attempt to help or console the teacher, and even laughed at students’ antics.

The sad thing is that some teachers just give up trying to change the students. It is so much effort put into trying to help the students, who just don’t see that, and even if they do, the teacher’s efforts are usually disregarded. The students think that they’re the ones who are right. Eventually, teachers have used so much wasted effort that it seems futile to try any more.

Luckily, a majority of students that I’m acquainted with are well-mannered and respectful in class, but there’s a special few who just aren’t.

Calling a student’s home to report to their parents only goes so far. Teachers should, in the face of disrespect, keep their cool and remain respectful. Teachers also should not just ignore the contempt from students; they should try to strictly combat it. Being too lenient doesn’t work and will only make things worse as students don’t see a limit to their actions. Students like these must be disciplined.

The classroom should not be a stage for a power struggle between student and teacher. What happened to respect? We need to speak up and bring it back. Teachers, or anyone for that matter, don’t deserve rude treatment like this.

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When it comes to teachers, respect takes many forms – and all matter

There’s been a great deal of discussion recently about Australia’s teachers and the challenging workplace conditions they’re facing. This includes the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan , which has generated important conversations about teacher shortages.

One of the significant issues raised by our own research , and that of others , is that teachers aren’t feeling respected or appreciated for their work. But what does this mean, and what can be done to change it?

In May this year, we surveyed almost 5000 teachers across Australia to ask them about their working conditions. Their responses provided insights into the ways disrespect is impacting teaching across the country.

Overall, seven in 10 teachers don’t feel respected, and it has significant implications for teacher retention.

Policy and politicians

The expectations for teachers to account for their work have expanded in recent decades. Communicating students’ achievements is important, but the excessive requirements for teachers to collect and report data, then to justify the ways that they teach, can be demoralising.

A driver of this has been the narrow performance measures assessed by the NAPLAN program. NAPLAN was introduced in Australia in response to expansions of global testing programs such as PISA.

Excessive reporting and compliance requirements, as well as the narrowed curricula, have cascaded down from the standardised testing regime in this country and had concerning impacts .

These performance pressures find their way into policy development and the political discourse.

Read more: Listening to non-native English-speaking teachers could help solve the shortage

One example of this was seen in the lead-up to the recent Victorian state election. When promoting their proposed education policy, which included the introduction of a mandated phonics program aimed to improve literacy results, the opposition spokesman for education described the policy as “ending the era of guesswork”.

Comments like this imply teachers were not previously informed by experience, expertise, or ongoing professional development. Concerningly, this kind of language undermines teachers’ expertise and influences the public narrative.

This type of rhetoric has been abundant in Australia, and our study showed the impact – just one in 10 teachers felt politicians respected them.

Teachers are experts. They care about children and their learning. They’re professionals with deep knowledge and experience, but too often this isn’t reflected in policies, nor the associated political and media commentaries.

And to add insult to injury, while the use of “evidence-based” approaches are pushed heavily by policymakers , in Australia education research receives less than 1% of research funding .

From the newspaper to the classroom

Research has shown that teaching receives more negative media attention than other professions . These adverse sentiments work their way into the professional relationships that teachers navigate every day in their classrooms. Negativity about teacher quality translates into a lack of trust in teachers’ expertise.

Our research found that in 2022, seven out of 10 don’t feel respected or appreciated, despite the fact that in 2019, public opinion research suggested that there were high levels of respect for teachers, and a 2020 follow-up survey  found this improved due to teachers’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This disconnect highlights a gap between what we think and how we behave.

Read more: Jason Clare has a draft plan to fix the teacher shortage. What needs to stay and what should change?

Teachers have told us that one way that they feel disrespected is from the excessive monitoring of their work. The expectations for them to justify and explain their decisions about curriculum, teaching approaches and classroom management are high.

Alongside this, they report they’re frequently questioned, challenged, and even abused (including physically).

In our survey, teachers described such things as constant emails from parents, students’ disregard for expectations of behaviour and basic courtesy, and a sense of individual entitlement that compounds with the competition that’s inherent in our education systems.

As a society, most people agree we need to respect and appreciate teachers, but often this doesn’t seem to translate into action. In the bustle and rush of our lives, we engage less with school communities, and are less likely to notice or acknowledge the many, many positive experiences that most children have at school.

Why it’s important right now to increase the respect

The situation for teachers in Australia right now has far-reaching consequences. Teaching has just been added to the National Skills Commissions priority list , and teacher shortages are already having damaging effects  on the education of children and young people.

Our research shows teacher retention will be a crucial ongoing issue, with seven in 10 teachers saying they plan to, or would like to, leave the profession. If we can make changes so that we don’t lose those currently considering leaving, and possibly also entice back some teachers who have already left, it might make a significant difference.

Everyone in the community should consider these issues as a wake-up call. We can all do more to respect and appreciate teachers.

A place to start is to recognise that teachers deserve to feel safe in their workplaces and valued for their expertise, and this needs to start with respect.

Let’s also remember that, ultimately, the working conditions our teachers are experiencing are the learning conditions of our children and young people. If we don’t improve the ways we respect teachers, their education may suffer.

We need to stop blaming teachers for failings that are out of their control. We need to trust them, and value their training and expertise. We need to believe they’re teachers because they care about our students and our communities.

We need to uphold basic expectations of safety and courtesy for our teachers, so they’re not exposed to disrespect and abuse that we wouldn’t accept elsewhere.

If we can do these things, we might help break down the constraints that stop teachers from embracing their innate passion and creativity. They’ll continue to improve their practice and do the best for their students, because it’s in their nature to do so.

These actions to enhance respect will result in more positive and productive relationships between teachers and students, as well as with colleagues, and parents.

These relationships are the foundations that will enhance students’ wellbeing as well as their educational achievement – and will ultimately strengthen our society.

• teacher shortage
• Teacher Workforce Action Plan
• respect for teachers

Fiona Longmuir

Senior Lecturer, School of Education, Culture and Society; Co-leader, Education Workforce for the Future Research Impact Lab

Kelly-Ann Allen

Associate Professor, School of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Education

Michael Phillips

Associate Professor, School of Curriculum Teaching and Inclusive Education

Listening to non-native English-speaking teachers could help solve shortage

We can partially solve the teacher supply crisis by first recognising the problems and taking action, including making processes easier for international educators.

Bad writing or hidden disability? What NAPLAN fails to tell us about poor writing standards

Missing in the discussion about low writing achievement among students is the impact of writing disabilities such as dysgraphia.

Draft plan to fix the teacher shortage: What needs to change?

There’s an “unprecedented” shortage of teachers right across Australia. Education ministers have released a plan to try to address it.

What AERO’s report of writing development in Australia doesn’t want to talk about

The Australian Educational Research Organisation’s failure to acknowledge NAPLAN’s flaws, nor draw on significant existing research, reflects a lack of respect for English teachers.

Initial teacher education: With the profession in crisis, let’s not waste the chance for change

A change of federal government in Australia presents an opportunity to focus on schools as a whole and help create a sustainable environment for teachers to thrive.

You may republish this article online or in print under our Creative Commons licence. You may not edit or shorten the text, you must attribute the article to Monash Lens, and you must include the author’s name in your republication.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

Republishing Guidelines

https://lens.monash.edu/republishing-guidelines

• problem behavior

Student Classroom Misbehavior: An Exploratory Study Based on Teachers' Perceptions

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4. challenges in the classroom, table of contents.

• Problems students are facing
• A look inside the classroom
• How teachers are experiencing their jobs
• How teachers view the education system
• Satisfaction with specific aspects of the job
• Do teachers feel trusted to do their job well?
• Likelihood that teachers will change jobs
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• How teachers experience their jobs
• Lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Major problems at school
• Discipline practices
• Policies around cellphone use
• Verbal abuse and physical violence from students
• Addressing behavioral and mental health challenges
• Teachers’ interactions with parents
• K-12 education and political parties
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

In addition to asking public K-12 teachers about issues they see at their school, we asked how much each of the following is a problem among students in their classroom :

• Showing little to no interest in learning (47% say this is a major problem)
• Being distracted by their cellphones (33%)
• Getting up and walking around when they’re not supposed to (21%)
• Being disrespectful toward the teacher (21%)

Some challenges are more common among high school teachers, while others are more common among those who teach elementary or middle school.

• Cellphones: 72% of high school teachers say students being distracted by their cellphones in the classroom is a major problem. A third of middle school teachers and just 6% of elementary school teachers say the same.
• Little to no interest in learning: A majority of high school teachers (58%) say students showing little to no interest in learning is a major problem. This compares with half of middle school teachers and 40% of elementary school teachers. 
• Getting up and walking around: 23% of elementary school teachers and 24% of middle school teachers see students getting up and walking around when they’re not supposed to as a major problem. A smaller share of high school teachers (16%) say the same.
• Being disrespectful: 23% of elementary school teachers and 27% of middle school teachers say students being disrespectful toward them is a major problem. Just 14% of high school teachers say this.

About eight-in-ten teachers (82%) say their school or district has policies regarding students’ use of cellphones in the classroom. Of those, 56% say these policies are at least somewhat easy to enforce, 30% say they’re difficult to enforce, and 14% say they’re neither easy nor difficult to enforce.

High school teachers are the least likely to say their school or district has policies regarding students’ use of cellphones in the classroom (71% vs. 84% of elementary school teachers and 94% of middle school teachers).

Among those who say there are such policies at their school, high school teachers are the most likely to say these are very or somewhat difficult to enforce. Six-in-ten high school teachers say this, compared with 30% of middle school teachers and 12% of elementary school teachers.

Most teachers (68%) say they have experienced verbal abuse from their students, such as being yelled at or verbally threatened. About one-in-five (21%) say this happens at least a few times a month.

Physical violence is far less common, but about one-in-ten teachers (9%) say a student is physically violent toward them at least a few times a month. Four-in-ten say this has ever happened to them.

Differences by school level

Elementary school teachers (26%) are more likely than middle and high school teachers (18% and 16%) to say they experience verbal abuse from students a few times a month or more often.

And while relatively small shares across school levels say students are physically violent toward them a few times a month or more often, elementary school teachers (55%) are more likely than middle and high school teachers (33% and 23%) to say this has ever happened to them.

Differences by poverty level

Among teachers in high-poverty schools, 27% say they experience verbal abuse from students at least a few times a month. This is larger than the shares of teachers in medium- and low-poverty schools (19% and 18%) who say the same.

Experiences with physical violence don’t differ as much based on school poverty level.

Differences by gender

Teachers who are women are more likely than those who are men to say a student has been physically violent toward them. Some 43% of women teachers say this, compared with 30% of men.

There is also a gender difference in the shares of teachers who say they’ve experienced verbal abuse from students. But this difference is accounted for by the fact that women teachers are more likely than men to work in elementary schools.

Eight-in-ten teachers say they have to address students’ behavioral issues at least a few times a week, with 58% saying this happens every day .

A majority of teachers (57%) also say they help students with mental health challenges at least a few times a week, with 28% saying this happens daily.

Some teachers are more likely than others to say they have to address students’ behavior and mental health challenges on a daily basis. These include:

• Women: 62% of women teachers say they have to address behavior issues daily, compared with 43% of those who are men. And while 29% of women teachers say they have to help students with mental health challenges every day, a smaller share of men (19%) say the same.
• Elementary and middle school teachers: 68% each among elementary and middle school teachers say they have to deal with behavior issues daily, compared with 39% of high school teachers. A third of elementary and 29% of middle school teachers say they have to help students with mental health every day, compared with 19% of high school teachers.
• Teachers in high-poverty schools: 67% of teachers in schools with high levels of poverty say they have to address behavior issues on a daily basis. Smaller majorities of those in schools with medium or low levels of poverty say the same (56% and 54%). A third of teachers in high-poverty schools say they have to help students with mental health challenges every day, compared with about a quarter of those in medium- or low-poverty schools who say they have this experience (26% and 24%). 

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Student Classroom Misbehavior: An Exploratory Study Based on Teachers' Perceptions

Rachel c. f. sun.

1 The University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Education, Hong Kong

Daniel T. L. Shek

2 Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

3 Public Policy Research Institute, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

4 Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Macau

5 Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY 40506, USA

This study aimed to examine the conceptions of junior secondary school student misbehaviors in classroom, and to identify the most common, disruptive, and unacceptable student problem behaviors from teachers' perspective. Twelve individual interviews with teachers were conducted. A list of 17 student problem behaviors was generated. Results showed that the most common and disruptive problem behavior was talking out of turn, followed by nonattentiveness, daydreaming, and idleness. The most unacceptable problem behavior was disrespecting teachers in terms of disobedience and rudeness, followed by talking out of turn and verbal aggression. The findings revealed that teachers perceived student problem behaviors as those behaviors involving rule-breaking, violating the implicit norms or expectations, being inappropriate in the classroom settings and upsetting teaching and learning, which mainly required intervention from teachers.

1. Introduction

Student misbehaviors such as disruptive talking, chronic avoidance of work, clowning, interfering with teaching activities, harassing classmates, verbal insults, rudeness to teacher, defiance, and hostility [ 1 ], ranging from infrequent to frequent, mild to severe, is a thorny issue in everyday classroom. Teachers usually reported that these disturbing behaviors in the classroom are intolerable [ 2 ] and stress-provoking [ 3 ], and they had to spend a great deal of time and energy to manage the classroom [ 4 , 5 ]. Obviously, student misbehaviors retard the smoothness and effectiveness of teaching and also impede the learning of the student and his/her classmates. Moreover, research findings have shown that school misbehavior not only escalated with time but also lowered academic achievement and increased delinquent behavior [ 6 , 7 ]. To lessen these immediate and gradual adverse effects of student misbehaviors, it is of primary importance to identify what exactly are these behaviors inside classroom.

In the literature, different terms have been used to describe problematic behaviors of students. For instance, Stewart et al. [ 8 ] referred student misconduct to disciplinary violations in school, for instance, tardiness, vandalism, fighting, stealing, and drinking on campus. When there are explicit rules and regulations in school and classroom, violation of these is apparently a “misbehavior or misconduct or discipline problem.” Nevertheless, a particular behavior is viewed as problematic may not necessarily be rule breaking, but inappropriate or disturbing in the classroom setting. For instance, daydreaming in class, not completing homework, talking in class, lesson disruption, bullying, and rudeness to the teacher are named as “problem behaviors” [ 9 ], “behavior problems,” [ 10 , 11 ] or “disruptive behaviors” [ 4 , 12 ]. These behaviors referred to “an activity that causes distress for teachers, interrupts the learning process and that leads teachers to make continual comments to the student” [ 13 , page 60], or “the myriad activities which disrupt and impede the teaching-learning process” [ 14 , page 43]. Noting that school misconduct is one of the manifests of the problem behavior syndrome [ 15 – 17 ], the term “problem behavior” was used to refer to all externalizing behaviors that violate explicit rules or implicit norms, disturb the classroom order, and irritate the process of teaching and learning in this study.

Several scales have been developed to measure teachers' perceptions of classroom problem behaviors. For instance, in the United Kingdom, Wheldall and Merrett [ 10 ] used ten items, including eating, nonverbal noise, disobedience, talking out of turn, idleness/slowness, unpunctuality, hindering others, physical aggression, untidiness, and out of seat, to measure behavior problems among primary school students. Houghton et al. [ 11 ] also used these behaviors to measure secondary school students' behavior problems, with a replacement of eating with verbal abuse because they found that teachers did not perceive eating as a problem behavior among secondary school students whereas verbal abuse was a more relevant behavior problem.

However, the cultural relevance of these scales to describe and measure disruptive behavior among primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong Chinese classroom is a concern that should be addressed. For example, Ho and Leung [ 12 ] and Leung and Ho [ 4 ] modified Wheldall and Merrett's scale [ 10 ] by dropping disobedience, and adding six student behaviors commonly reported by local teachers in Chinese school settings. These included verbal abuse, forgetfulness, nonattentiveness, gambling, reading other materials, and doing other things. However, as these descriptors of students' disruptive behaviors were formed almost a decade ago, their validity and applicability to Chinese classrooms nowadays may be questioned. Some student behaviors that have not be mentioned in the previous studies, such as daydreaming, sleeping, looking out of window, playing with personal stuff in private, bullying, disrespecting, talking back, arguing, quarrelling or fighting with teachers, complaining, and lack of independent initiative were found by a recent study in exploring Chinese teachers' perceptions of students' classroom misbehavior [ 18 ]. On top of this, uncooperativeness, emotional disturbance, overactivity and withdrawal were also reported as student classroom behavior problems by Chinese elementary school teachers [ 5 ]. Although these two studies were recent, both were conducted in mainland China. It is thus argued that the scales developed in these studies as well as the findings may be limited to describing student problem behaviors in mainland China classroom, which is different from the pluralistic classroom in which Confucian and Western teaching and learning approaches are used in Hong Kong. As such, direct employment of an existing scale is hardly sufficient to tap all the classroom problem behaviors exhibited by students. It is, therefore, important to carry out a qualitative research study to unravel relevant and up-to-dated descriptions of the students' problem behaviors in Hong Kong classroom based on the views of teachers.

Apart from exploring different categories of student problem behaviors inside classroom, it is also valuable to identify the common ones and the disruptive ones from the teachers' perspectives. Existing research findings showed that, among various types of student problem behaviors, “talking out of turn,” “hindering others,” and “idleness” were commonly reported by secondary school teachers as the most frequent and troublesome misbehaviors in the United Kingdom [ 11 ] and Australia [ 19 ]. Similar to these findings in the West, “talking out of turn” was rated by both primary and secondary school teachers as the most frequent and troublesome misbehavior, followed by “nonattentiveness” and “forgetfulness”—two other typical students' disruptive behaviors in Hong Kong classroom [ 4 , 12 ]. In mainland China, “nonattentiveness”, “talking out of turn,” and “overactive” were reported as the most frequent and troublesome classroom behavior problems by the elementary school teachers in three provinces [ 5 ]. On the other hand, “daydreaming,” “talking out of turn,” and “playing with personal stuff” were rated as the most frequent classroom misbehaviors by a group of elementary, middle and high school teachers in another two provinces, while “daydreaming,” “slowness” and “talking out of turn” were the most troublesome classroom misbehaviors [ 18 ]. Apparently, “talking out of turn” is usually ranked as highly popular and disturbing student misbehavior across time and cultures and in different grade levels of students. With a specific focus on studying the problem behaviors of junior secondary students in Hong Kong classroom, this study attempted to replicate the previous studies in examining the problem behaviors perceived by teachers as the most common and disruptive. In addition, this study further attempted to investigate the most unacceptable problem behaviors in the eyes of teachers and the underlying reasons behind.

The primary goal of this study was to examine classroom problem behaviors among junior secondary school students in Hong Kong based on the views of teachers. The aims of this study were to (i) generate a list of categories of students' problem behaviors perceived by teachers in Hong Kong junior secondary school classroom, (ii) identify problem behaviors that were perceived as the most common, the most disruptive to teaching and learning in classroom, and the most unacceptable problem behavior and the reasons. Noting that the most frequent misbehavior can be somehow objectively observed, a particular behavior is regarded as the most disruptive or unacceptable depending on the teachers' subjective judgment and values, professional training, and years of teaching experiences. Therefore, this study recruited teachers with different years of teaching experiences and training background, in order to get a comprehensive view of the issue. It is a descriptive and exploratory qualitative research study. Academically, the present findings would add to the local literature, as recent research studies on this topic are scanty in Hong Kong [ 8 , 9 ]. Even though there were some studies, they were conducted a decade ago [ 4 , 12 ] and limited to focusing on the mainland China educational settings [ 5 , 18 ]. Practically, it was expected that the findings would have profound importance to counseling and guidance work in the school context.

2.1. Participants

Three schools, each admitting students having low, medium or high academic competencies, were invited to join this study. In each school, four teachers who had experiences of teaching junior secondary grades (Grade 7, 8, and/or 9) and/or were members of the school counseling team and/or discipline teams were invited to join an individual interview. In total, twelve teachers (5 males and 7 females) participated in this study. Four of them were members of the school counseling team and three were members of the discipline team. The average of their teaching experiences was 9.25 years (range = 1–22 years). Their participation was voluntary and written consent from the school principals and the interviewees were obtained prior to data collection. Issues of anonymity and confidentiality in handling the data were also clearly explained at the beginning of each interview.

2.2. Instrument

A self-constructed semistructured interview guide was used for each individual interview. In the interview guide, questions and prompts used to explore the interviewees' perceptions of students' problem behaviors and their management strategies in the classroom and school contexts. The interviewees were asked to define “problem behaviors” based on their own understanding and interpretation. They were invited to use real-life examples to further illustrate their views. The average time for an interview was 49 minutes (range = 33–78 minutes). Each interview was conducted by two trained interviewers in Cantonese (the mother tongue of both the interviewers and interviewees). The interviews were audio-taped with informants' prior consent and transcribed in verbatim after the interview.

As many questions were covered in the interview guide, only data related to the following questions were analyzed in this paper.

• In the classroom, what student problem behaviors are there? Please list out as many as possible and describe.
• Among these problem behaviors, which are the most common?
• Among these problem behaviors, which are the most disruptive to teaching and learning?
• Among these problem behaviors, which are the most unacceptable? Please illustrate.

2.3. Data Analysis

Findings pertinent to teachers' perceptions of students' problem behavior inside classroom are reported in this paper. Data was analyzed by using general qualitative analyses techniques [ 20 ]. First level of coding was conducted by a colleague who has a Bachelor degree of Psychology and teaching experiences. Semantically similar words, phrases, and/or sentences that formed meaningful units in each conclusion at the raw response level were grouped whereas semantically different data were divided. Further checking and second levels of coding and categorization were conducted by the first author, in which similar codes were grouped to reflect higher-order categories of theme. The coding and categorization were finalized with consensus among the coders and further checked by a colleague with a Bachelor degree of Psychology and professional counseling training.

As the code and categorization were inductively derived from the data, both intra- and interrater reliability on the coding were calculated to ensure the credibility of the findings. In the reliability test, 20 raw responses were randomly selected for each rater to code without referring to the original codes. The intrarater reliability tests were conducted by the two coders independently; whereas the interrater reliability tests were conducted by two colleagues (one has a Master degree and several years of teaching experiences and one has a Bachelor degree) independently. The reliability of the categorization was on the high side, because the intrarater agreement percentages were both 100%; while the interrater agreement percentages were 80% and 95%.

3.1. Categories of Classroom Problem Behaviors

Table 1 summarizes 88 responses regarding students' problem behaviors inside classroom reported by 12 informants. The responses were classified into 17 main categories, and 6 of them were further divided into subcategories. As shown in Table 1 , the problem behaviors reported by the teachers were mostly “doing something in private,” “talking out of turn,” “verbal aggression,” “disrespecting teachers,” “nonattentiveness/daydreaming/idleness,” “sleeping,” “habitual failure in submitting assignments,” and “out of seat”.

A Summary of the teachers' perceptions of student problem behaviors inside classroom.

Teachers reported that students would do something in private which was unrelated to the lesson, such as reading, drawing, and doing other homework. Some teachers pointed out that it was a rising phenomenon that students liked to use electronic devices, such as mobile phone for texting people inside or outside classroom, playing electronic games, surfing webpage, or listening to music. In response to this phenomenon, there were regulations in some schools prohibiting students to switch on their mobile phones inside school.

“Talking out of turn” was another problem behavior which was mainly referred to students chatting among themselves on irrelevant topics that disrupts the lessons, calling out, and making remarks on somebody or something without teachers' permission. It is distinguished from “verbal aggression” which was referred to more hostile verbal expression, such as teasing, attacking, quarrelling, and speaking foul language.

“Disrespecting teachers” appeared to be an attitude, but the teachers could concretely describe some behaviors under this category. For instance, a teacher mentioned that refusing to follow instructions was a disobedient and disrespectful behavior. Teacher B02 commented that

“…challenging your (teachers') authority, mainly like, if you ask them not to do something, they are rebellious and insist to behave the other way round. They won't listen to teacher's opinion. They will insist to do what they think…These behaviors are mainly perceived in lower competent classes at the moment.”

Another teacher illustrated that disrespecting teachers meant rudeness, talking back, and confronting teachers. As remarked by Teacher C04:

“sometimes they will even dispute against their teacher…A student gave an irrelevant answer to teacher's question, that is, the teacher asked a serious question but the student gave a casual answer. If the teacher commented on, the student would be enraged and hostile, and then disputed against the teacher. Scolding teacher was unusual, unless the student was agitated. At the school level, I think there were less than five cases of scolding teacher in an academic year. Quite rare. When arguing, students usually had poor attitudes, especially boys. Hence, teachers would scold at them, and the students would become hostile, temper-losing… more seriously, they would knock tables or throw books to express their anger. But this situation was very rare; say one to two cases a year.”

“Nonattentiveness/daydreaming/idleness,” “sleeping,” and “out of seat” (including changing seats deliberately, wandering around the classroom, catching, running away from the classroom without permission) were commonly reported as problem behaviors inside classroom. Some teachers also regarded failure to submit assignments on time in a habitual manner as one of the problem behaviors, as reflected in the following narrative:

“[failure in submitting homework on time] is one of the problems if you are talking about student's misbehavior at school…this is quite a big problem in fact…There are a large proportion of students who fail to submit their homework on time, especially among Form 1 (Grade 7) student…Only half class can submit the homework on time if you set the deadline once. You need to chase after them for the homework…I think Form 1 (Grade 7) students are more likely to fail to submit their homework. In Form 2 (Grade 8), some classes can do better” (Teacher C03).

Some teachers added that some of the aforementioned problem behaviors, such as “talking out of turn” and “disrespecting teachers,” were commonly found among a specific group of students who had special education needs. A teacher mentioned that

“once I taught a student with SEN (Special Educational Needs) who had attention deficit… He had problems in getting along with his classmates. When other classmates had wrong answers, he would immediately call out and point out their mistakes. This in fact slightly affected the class” (Teacher C01).

Another teacher reported that

“I know that there are one or two SEN student(s) in every grade in our school. These students are quite disruptive. For example, they often have emotional disturbance, run away from classroom and sometimes fight against with their teachers” (Teacher B01).

3.2. Problem Behaviors That Were Most Common and Disruptive to Teaching and Learning

Among various classroom problem behaviors reported, comparatively more teachers pointed out that “having disruptive conversation” was a form of “talking out of turn,” which was the most common and the most disruptive to teaching and learning (see Table 1 ). A teacher explained that

“chatting during lesson affects teaching and learning most… Whereas other behaviors such as daydreaming only affect self-learning, chatting will alter the whole class atmosphere as well as class progress. I have to stop the chatting, otherwise I cannot teach and the students who chat will miss the content of the lesson. If I do nothing, other students will imitate and join the conversation…As the classroom is small, others can still hear even you talk in a low voice. Moreover, students are very attentive to the surroundings. So such chatting can be disruptive even you chat in a very low voice” (Teacher C04).

“Nonattentiveness/daydreaming/idleness” was the next common and disruptive problem behavior. A teacher explained that

“daydreaming during lesson will affect learning. If they are not attentive to the teacher, they have already missed some knowledge” (Teacher B04).

3.3. The Most Unacceptable Problem Behaviors inside Classroom

As indicated in Table 1 , “disrespecting teachers” were rated by five teachers as the most unacceptable problem behavior. As revealed in the interviews, such behavior indicated that students lacked proper attitudes and values in interpersonal relationships as well as in their morality. Teacher C04 remarked that

“disputing against teachers is disrespecting teachers…Other misbehaviors are just behaviors. The underlying reasons of these behaviors are simple. For instance, chatting in the middle of lesson could take place because they feel bored; or they just pop up some ideas to share with their neighbors. However, if they argue back or disrespect their teachers, it is something related to their attitudes and values. So I think this is the biggest problem…Normally, they behave offensively against individual teachers, a certain kind of teachers including those who are too gentle or those who are rigid but not convincing.”

Another teacher added that

“[in confrontation]…some students like to twist the fact and shout their fallacy out loud to amuse their classmates. This is something that I cannot accept…It is obvious that he does not hold a point but still insists he is correct. I think this kind of behavior is unacceptable” (Teacher C03).

“Talking out of turn” and “verbal aggression” were also mentioned by teachers as unacceptable, because these behaviors disrupted the classroom order, which required teachers to spend time in managing classroom discipline and thus would adversely affect teaching. Among these verbal aggressive behaviors, teachers revealed that they could not accept students speaking foul language and teasing others, particularly insult would hurt the bullied.

Furthermore, individual teachers mentioned that “non-attentiveness/daydreaming/idleness,” “out of seat,” “habitual failure in submitting assignments,” “clowning,” and “passive engagement in class” as unacceptable, mainly because these behaviors would affect student learning and classroom atmosphere. For instance, in a teacher's perception of “non-attentiveness,” he expressed that

“if all students are unwilling or not motivated to learn, it will be very disastrous” (Teacher A01).

Another teacher explained why “out of seat” was unacceptable:

“if they sit still on their chairs, it is settled and they are less likely to have distracting behaviors or more severe problem behaviors. If they are out of seat, they may act out. There is a greater chance that they will distract other students and so the whole class. Therefore, I think this behavior is relatively unacceptable” (Teacher C01).

Another teacher showed his view on “passive engagement in class” by stating that

“… the most unacceptable behavior? I think it is inactive during lesson. To me, it is misbehavior although it is not obvious. If there are a number of passive students in my class, it is hard for me to teach them. No matter how and what I teach, they just do not want to learn. Compared with these inactive students, those who make noise in class are better. At least there is interaction even we argue” (Teacher A02).

4. Discussion

Based on the perspective of teachers, this study attempted to generate a list of categories of students' problem behaviors in Hong Kong junior secondary school classroom, and to identify the most common, disruptive and unacceptable student problem behaviors. As shown in Table 1 , a list of 17 student problem behaviors was reported by the teachers, including doing something in private, talking out of turn, verbal aggression, disrespecting teachers, nonattentiveness/daydreaming/idleness, sleeping, out of seat, habitual failure in submitting assignments, physical aggression, copying homework, nonverbal communication, clowning, playing, lateness to class, eating/drinking, have not yet prepared textbook well, and passive engagement in class. Among them, the most common and disruptive misbehavior was talking out of turn, particularly in the form of disruptive conversation. The next one was nonattentiveness/daydreaming/idleness. The most unacceptable problem behavior was disrespecting teachers in terms of disobedience and rudeness, followed by talking out of turn, and verbal aggression. Teachers would consider these behaviors as intolerable when they disrupt teaching, affect student learning adversely, or suggest the fact that students do not have proper values and attitudes. These findings indicate that teachers are concerned about classroom learning and student development, and they expect that there are respect, obedience, order, and discipline in the classroom.

There were some unique findings of this study, although most of the categories of problem behaviors identified are similar to those reported in the previous studies. First, “doing something in private” was regarded as a student problem behavior in secondary school classroom in Chinese cultural contexts [ 12 , 18 ], while it was not included in some studies conducted in the West [ 11 , 19 ]. In this category, on top of dealing with personal stuff, doing other homework, reading, and drawing that are unrelated to the lesson, this study showed that using electronic devices (e.g., mobile phone) for texting, playing games, surfing webpage, and listening to music were regarded as problematic nowadays. With particular focus to Hong Kong, mobile phones are popular among adolescents. As these electronic devices are multifunctional and audio-visual stimulating, some students would be tempted to use them for communication and fulfilling personal satisfaction even during lesson. Actually, doing something in private is an off-task behavior in which students are doing something irrelevant to classroom learning. Others, like nonattentiveness, idleness, and daydreaming were grouped together as a category of problem behaviors in this study because they were mentioned as related to the fact that students were tired, lazy, or lacking learning motivation. Sleeping was a single category, because it was an obvious off-task behavior and would be disruptive if students imitate each others.

Similar to most of the existing studies [ 10 – 12 ], “talking out of turn” included calling out, making remarks, and having disruptive conversation. All these referred to verbal disturbance in the lesson without teacher's permission. This conception is much wider than the narrow definition in Ding et al.'s study [ 18 ] where “talking out of turn” was simply referred to calling out answers without raising hands and being called upon by teachers. As usual, “talking out of turn” was rated by teachers as the most common and disruptive to teaching and learning. It was due to the fact that the noises are disruptive and teachers need to spend time to manage, otherwise, such behaviors would escalate in term of frequency and intensity and would be contagious. Another reason is that when compared to “nonattentiveness/daydreaming/idleness,” irrelevant chatting is more than an off-task behavior that adversely affects students' own learning. It is also a distracting behavior hampering others' learning in the same classroom.

Following talking out of turn, “verbal aggression” appeared to be a distinct problem behavior which was disruptive as well as hostile, such as speaking foul language as well as making offensive or insulting remarks to tease and assault classmates that further led to quarrelling or mutual attacking [ 11 , 12 ]. All these might escalate to “physical aggression”, such as striking and pushing each others and destroying things in the classroom. The lack of sympathy or hostility involved in these aggressive behaviors was mentioned as intolerable as the teachers recognized the hurt involved. It reflected that caring was valued in the eyes of the teachers when they judged a behavior was problematic or not.

It is not surprising that “disrespecting teachers” was highlighted in this study as a kind of unacceptable problem behavior, because respect and obedience are the deeply rooted values in Chinese education. “Disrespecting teachers” embraced disobedience, that is, refusing or failing to carry out instructions [ 10 – 12 ], and rudeness, that is, talking back and arguing with teachers [ 18 ]. Sometimes, these behaviors would also be perceived as offensive to authority. These findings further demonstrated that these values are still strongly held in teacher expectations, and thus behaviors that fail to comply were pinpointed as disrespectful and the students were judged as lacking proper values and attitudes. The findings suggest that problem behaviors include those breaking explicit rules as well as those infringing implicit norms or expectations.

Apart from respect and obedience, order and discipline are essential elements of the Chinese classroom. Therefore, “out of seat,” “playing,” “clowning,” “lateness to class,” “eating/drinking,” “copying homework,” and “habitual failure in submitting assignments” were some common student problem behaviors perceived as disruptive to classroom order. The interviews revealed that on one hand, the teachers would like to have more control on the classroom order and discipline for not only easy management but also facilitating student learning. On the other hand, they would like students to have more self-control or self-discipline which is an important ingredient in learning. Moreover, “have not yet prepared textbook well” and “passive engagement in class” were some unique problem behaviors reported by the teachers in this study. It also reflected that some teachers expected students to get ready for the lesson and take an active role to learn throughout the lesson. If students were passive and not engaged, similar to daydreaming and not paying attention, teachers tended to regard students as irresponsible for their learning and even lacking learning motivation. Again, perception or labeling of problem behaviors results from the mismatches between the student behaviors and the social expectations. In short, the present findings indicated that student problem behaviors are not necessarily rule-breaking, but violating the implicit norms (e.g., the cultural values of respect, obedience, order, and discipline) or expectations (e.g., students can control their behaviors and be responsible for their own and others' learning). These problem behaviors are inappropriate in the classroom settings, as well as upsetting the classroom teaching and learning, which mainly require intervention from teachers.

Although some unique findings were observed in this study, there were some limitations involved. First, as only twelve teachers from three secondary schools were involved, representativeness of the findings should be viewed with caution. Second, as only teachers were interviewed, the findings may reveal the assumptions and biases of the teachers due to their social role as “teacher.” Therefore, it would be more comprehensive if the views of the students can be also included. Apart from looking at the categorization and descriptions of student problem behaviors, it would be more insightful if the antecedents of these behaviors or effective classroom management strategies could be explored in future. In particular, it would be exciting to see how curricular-based programs can help to reduce classroom misbehavior. One example that should be considered is the Project P.A.T.H.S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes) in Hong Kong [ 21 ]. There are findings showing that the program could promote holistic youth development and reduce adolescent substance abuse and delinquent behavior [ 22 – 24 ]. It would be interesting to see whether the program can lessen classroom misbehavior in the long run.

Acknowledgments

The authorship of this paper is equally shared by both authors. The research and preparation for this paper was financially supported by the Faculty Research Fund, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. Special thanks to Ms. Evana Lam and Ms. Katrina Cheung for their assistance in data collection and analysis.

Teachers Are Facing an ‘Intentional Toxic Disrespect,’ Secretary Cardona Says

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Teachers should be thanked for their hard work throughout the pandemic—but instead they’re facing an “onslaught of disrespect,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona told union delegates in a rousing speech July 3.

“You went from the pandemic to persecution,” Cardona told educators at the National Education Association’s annual representative assembly here. “In some parts of this country, they’ve developed an intentional, toxic disrespect against teachers in public schools.”

Cardona, a former teacher and principal, and the Biden administration in which he serves, have long been friends of the nation’s largest teachers’ union. The NEA already endorsed President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for re-election, and the president—and first lady Jill Biden, an educator and NEA member—virtually addressed delegates on July 4.

“Educators have champions in the White House,” the president said, pointing to $190 billion in federal pandemic relief aid that went to schools, the education department’s revamp of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program , and his administration’s commitment to apprenticeship programs that pay aspiring teachers for on-the-job training. “Our job is to make sure you have what you need to do what you do best.”

Union leaders are urging delegates to gear up for a competitive presidential election next year, especially with schools at the center of so many political and cultural debates.

Cardona spoke to delegates the day after the conservative “parents’ rights” group Moms for Liberty concluded their own annual gathering . During that convention, Republican presidential candidates and other speakers assailed a “woke ideology” they claim is being taught in schools and accused educators of “indoctrinating” students.

Cardona dismissed that type of rhetoric as “divisive drama,” slamming conservative policymakers who have pushed for book bans, restrictions on instruction about racism, limitations on the rights of LGBTQ+ students, and school choice policies that divert public money to private schools. (Lawmakers in 42 states have introduced bills to expand school choice through vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, and education savings accounts, which give families public funds to spend on private school tuition or other education expenses. Fourteen of those bills have been signed into law.)

Those “so-called leaders,” he said, “complain about public education but sleep well at night knowing their teachers are making less than $40,000 a year.”

He also criticized the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that struck down affirmative action on the basis of race in higher education, and President Joe Biden’s student loan debt relief plan that would have forgiven about $10,000 per borrower.

“There’s a toxic disrespect from so-called leaders who have gotten millions in debt relief but throw a tantrum when we’re trying to get teachers $10,000,” he said, adding, “We’re not done with that.”

The education department is now pursuing an alternative path to debt relief by issuing new rules under the Higher Education Act. That process will require extensive public input via hearings and a public comment period.

“The time has come for us as a nation, along with NEA, to fight unapologetically against toxicity,” Cardona said. “Schools are the best intervention to fight against, and educators are the antidote—or dare I say in Florida, the vaccine—against vitriol.”

Bringing respect back to the profession

A recent nationally representative survey found that just about half of teachers say they’re respected and seen as professionals by the general public, down more than 20 percentage points from 2011.

Cardona proposed a solution for returning public respect to the profession—the “ABCs of teaching,” he said, which stands for agency, better working conditions, and competitive wages.

Teachers need to be able to have a voice in school decisions and the autonomy to do what they think is best for their students, he said. And they need more collaborative planning time and high-quality professional development provided within contract hours, Cardona said.

“It’s not fair that you have to choose between professional growth or seeing your family,” he said.

He added: “Let’s make sure there are pathways for career growth so you don’t have to leave the classroom to lead. And let’s end the professional learning practices that expect you to be trauma experts after one hour-long meeting.”

Cardona also called for teachers to be paid more. The national average teacher salary for the 2022-23 school year was $68,469, according to an NEA estimate, but that varies significantly across the country.

Forty percent of school districts—employing a half-million teachers—pay a starting wage of less than $40,000, according to the NEA’s analysis.

“I’m here to say that you can fight for competitive salaries and be student-centered,” he said. “In fact, I believe fighting for professional wages and benefits is fighting for students.”

Raising teacher pay has been a bipartisan priority among state lawmakers and governors this year, but Cardona took aim at states like Arkansas that attached salary increases to a school voucher plan.

“Do not let our advocacy for competitive wages be reduced to being anything but protecting public education,” he said. “Do not mistake our selflessness with submission.”

Cardona calls for less ‘teaching to the test’

The education secretary also called for more comprehensive education, with a focus on arts, music, and hands-on learning. There should be, he said, “strong pedagogy, high standards, and authentic assessments.”

“I’m going to say it here: We must stop teaching to the test,” Cardona said to perhaps the loudest applause of his speech. Teachers’ unions have long opposed test-based accountability, with the issue dominating discussions at past NEA representative assemblies .

When “teaching is reduced to test prep,” students—especially students of color—miss out on experiential learning, he said. And bilingual students’ work is “reduced” to “the percent of mastery on the standardized test.”

“You can have high-quality assessments that connect to high-quality standards taught by highly qualified professionals,” Cardona said. “I was a teacher and a principal during the era of ‘bubble kids'—you know what I’m talking about—and we don’t want to go back.”

The so-called “bubble kid effect” refers to the belief that the No Child Left Behind Act’s accountability provisions forced schools to neglect both the lowest- and highest-performing students in favor of getting students near the test cutoff point over the hump.

“Assessments need to be flashlights to drive instruction and support, not hammers that put a scarlet letter on teachers or schools,” Cardona said.

The federal education law requires states to test students in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. Cardona’s comments reflect a shift in thinking about test-based accountability , but federal requirements make innovation difficult, and a pilot program designed to stimulate experimentation in testing has proved unpopular among states.

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Disrespect In Class - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

Disrespect in class can take many forms, such as talking out of turn, using disrespectful language, not following instructions, being disruptive, or not paying attention. It can create a negative and disruptive learning environment for everyone and can also show a lack of regard for others’ thoughts and feelings. It is important to address and correct disrespectful behavior in class to ensure a respectful and productive learning environment.

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