Addressing Gary’s Aggressive Behavior in School

From The Four Mistaken Goals of Children’s Misbehavior – Diagnosis and Remediation (cited from Dreikurs and Soltz, 1987), these goals are seeking undue attention, power, revenge, and inadequacy (PSYCHOTHERAPY INSTITUTE). Gray’s case falls in the goal seeking undue power. In this type of mistaken goal, there are still 2 types: the active power and the passive power. The active power is the one which the child sees himself and acts like a boss to other people around him.
On the other hand, passive ones would refer to those that do not allow themselves to under the authority of other people. Basically, being a new student in Ms. Adams fifth grade class, Gary’s primary response is to be defensive of his own self. People like Gary creates the I’m-in-charge atmosphere and, feeling that they are the boss, they refuse to cooperate with other people. According to the Psychotherapy Institute the effective way to deal with this kind of behavior is for Ms. Adams to not to tolerate Gary’s behavior.
Primarily, she should listen first to Gary. There should have a communication between them as to why the child misbehaves himself and its effects to other people. Choices must be also available for Gary. When he misbehaves, he should be redirected to a similar yet pleasing manner (University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, 2002). Bargains should be made such that the child is not acknowledged of his misbehavior instead made to do something more agreeable.

In here, some privileges too can be suspended due to his misdemeanor (Keep Kids Healthy, 1999). Schools have different strategies in dealing with student misdemeanors. To deal with them is one of the major aspects in classroom management in which educators, administrators and parents are to provide a safe, compassionate and well motivated environment for everyone especially the children (Blomberg, 2004).
Misbehavior in School
References
Blomberg, N. (2004). Effective Discipline for Misbehavior: In School vs. Out of School Suspension. Villanova University: Department of Education and Human Services.
Dreikurs, R. and Soltz, V. (1987). Children: the Challenge. OK, USA: Plume.