If we are to arrive at the best outcome for our students then we must ask the right questions.
Hmmm... but how do we decide which questions to ask?
We must strive to open up a dialogue with our students and work together to solve issues in the classroom. Asking yes/no questions will not help us in this.
We also need to consider the questions that we are asking ourselves. Who was the student working with when the behaviour occurred? What in the environment had changed to trigger the behaviour? These questions will drive our thinking and dictate how we approach working with our students.
Students who exhibit challenging behaviour require us to implement an approach which facilitates open dialogue, promoting trust and understanding between all stakeholders. Questions should be non-threatening and constructive if we are to reach the root of the problem. We need to ask them what they think triggered their behaviour? How can we help them to change their behaviour in the future? We also need to make space for them to talk and feel that we are listening. Even if we ask the right question we will not succeed in helping our students if we do not listen to their responses.
Working together, asking the right questions will enable us to achieve positive outcomes. We can try talking through issues using models like ABC, which looks at the Antecedent, the Behaviour and the Consequence surrounding the problem to help with this. These types of models are great to help us discover patterns in behaviour over time. If we are consistent in their use we can collect practical information which can inform our next steps.
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