Working With Aggressive Students After Teacher’s Aide Training: Part 2
Last week, in part one of our discussion on working with aggressive students after teacher’s aide training, we talked about preventing aggressive behavior in the classroom. Today we are going to discuss another essential aspect of being a teacher’s aide: dealing with aggressive behavior when it does occur.
After Teacher’s Aide Training: What To Do When Aggressive Behavior Occurs
After teacher’s aide training, you will most likely meet a variety of students with varying personalities. Aggressive students can be particularly difficult to deal with though, so it is important to use every bit of your teacher’s aide training and the following tips to ensure peace in your classroom.
- Assess For Inappropriate Behavior- Assessing for aggression in students works as a preemptive strike for combating this behavior. During this time, you, and other professionals in the classroom, should assess what purpose a student’s violence has, or how a student benefits from it. You should also consider if any environmental factors play a part in the behavior, such as whether students become aggressive when placed in certain positions or around certain individuals.
- Recognize The Warning Signs- In order to be ready for a violent or aggressive act, you need to be able to recognize the warning signs after teacher’s aide training. Here are a just a few.
- Clenching fists
- Face turning red
- Crying
- Darting eyes
- Arguing
- Verbal abuse
- Increasing pulse
- Hyperventilation
- Extreme changes in behavior
- Develop and Follow a Crisis Management Plan- Each individual student who has been assessed for aggressive behavior should have their own crisis management plan. This plan outlines how to prevent a crisis, deal with aggression as it occurs, and explains the consequences of aggressive acts. When you are dealing with violent behavior in the classroom after teacher’s aide training, here are some guidelines for how to carry out the crisis management plan.
- Always be the calm and composed one. This will actually help your student to calm down.
- Be assertive, but don’t be threatening or aggressive. Let your student know you are the boss and you are telling them what needs to be done, but never use your words or body in an aggressive way.
- Stay out of their comfort zone. Let them have their space, but don’t walk away from the student. Stay where you are and use hand signals and verbal language to communicate what you need them to do.
- Dismiss the rest of the students from the area. This is not a show, and the extra attention will most likely make the crisis worse.
- Send a student for help if you are alone and attempt to wait for another individual who has completed teacher’s aide training or a teacher to arrive.
- Do not restrain the student or use physical intervention unless you have no other options. Even then, you need to be certain your school’s policies allow for this type of intervention before you attempt it.
Dealing with aggressive students after teacher’s aide training can be difficult and stressful. With the right plan in place, though, and the proper teacher’s aide training and tips, you will be able to keep your classroom safe and under control.