I hear it often from teachers. “He’s just a bad student,” or “That child is just a troublemaker.” As though it’s an integral, unchangeable part of his or her personality, actually, there is never a bad student.
It makes us feel better as teachers, because it takes the responsibility off of our shoulders. If a student is just bad through and through, then it’s certainly not our fault that they misbehave in our class, and there’s certainly nothing that we can do to change them, or any responsibility that we have to try.
You might not think that you are quite that extreme in dismissing some students as irreparably “bad,” but chances are that you have a few students who you expect to misbehave every class – if you take some time to consider your attitudes toward them, you might be surprised to find how deeply and how subtly your perception of them as “troublemakers” is ingrained into your approach to teaching them.
Here are a few reasons why there really is, no such thing as a “bad student.”
Being labeled and treated as “bad” creates a self-fulfilling prophecy
The stories we tell ourselves are powerful. The stories other people tell us are even more powerful. Those stories can do so much to shape who and what we are, even if they aren’t initially true.
Students are incredibly susceptible to being shaped by the simplest of stories that we tell about them. And the truth is that those stories are created not just with the words that you say, but with your attitudes and your beliefs.
You might never directly tell a student that you think they are a “bad kid,” or a “problem.” But if you think that way, it comes out. You cease to give them the benefit of the doubt, your tone with them is slightly different than with other students, you jump on tiny misbehaviors because you assume the worst, you show a lack of trust in the student and don’t assign them any responsibility in the classroom.
All of these things create and perpetuate the story that they are “bad,” to the point where even they start to believe it’s true.
Any misbehavior is an expression of a need not being met
It might be a need for validation, or for attention, or the need of a struggling student to feel on par with her classmates, or a simple physical need to move after being cramped in a chair all day.
Whatever the need is, if it’s not being met and they don’t have the means to change their situation, many students will react by finding their own way to meet that need, which usually involves breaking the rules. So, instead of thinking that a particular student is just trying to be a pain in your butt, ask yourself what need they are trying to meet that is not being met in class, and how you can set up a situation where that need is being met.