Challenging Behavior in Secondary School: From Managing Incidents to Changing Patterns

Targeted to Intermediate English (B1+) speakers.^{Read more}

This is the standard requirement for most courses. Participants at this level can participate actively in discussions and manage everyday and professional situations. If they are unsure about their English level, they can test it here or explore our courses facilitated in Basic English.

Primary Teachers, Secondary Teachers.^{Read more}

The listed audiences are those for whom the course is especially recommended, but courses are not exclusive to them and are open to everyone. In fact, most of our workshops are built around the collective sharing of participants’ experiences and having a variety of profiles enriches the learning process and is highly encouraged!

Description

Every teacher knows those moments when one student, or sometimes a whole group, falls into a difficult pattern of behavior that simply does not seem to respond to anything we do.

You redirect them, change seats, clarify expectations, give consequences, or remove a student from the classroom, yet the same behaviors keep coming back.

At some point, you begin to wonder: What is really going on here? Why is what I am doing not working? And what do I do next?

In fact, students always test boundaries. They learn how far they can go, how you respond, and what happens when they push a little further. These patterns can begin from the first days of the school year.

What is less obvious is that challenging behavior can develop through recognizable phases, and what a teacher does at each phase can influence what happens next.

This course intends to make those patterns visible for teachers across educational settings, with particular relevance for middle school and lower secondary teachers working with students in early to mid-adolescence.

It gives educators a practical set of tactics for identifying what is happening, responding at the right moment, and quickly adapting when a response is not working.

Drawing on educational sciences research from empirical studies and classroom observations from actual teachers, and Vygotsky and Piaget’s insights into boredom, motivation, peer dynamics, and classroom management, the course connects what teachers see in real time with what may actually be driving the behavior and, most importantly, what really is the best to do with every instance.

The focus will be on what teachers can realistically do in real time.

Through concrete scenarios and role-play, participants will practice how to respond when students refuse instructions, talk over the lesson, repeatedly leave their seats, distract others, challenge expectations, or reinforce one another’s behavior as a group.

Participants will also explore how motivation, learning challenges, and classroom dynamics can influence behavior.

Drawing on educational research and practical classroom observation, the course connects classroom management with ideas such as Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, helping teachers recognize when tasks may be too easy, too difficult, or not sufficiently supported.

The idea is to move from managing single incidents to changing repeated patterns. Participants will learn how to intervene before disruption escalates, how to recognize when a strategy is not working, and how to adapt their response without simply increasing consequences.

By the end of the course, teachers will be able to recognize different phases and patterns of challenging student and group behavior, identify what may be driving that behavior, and decide how and when to respond.

They will learn to intervene quickly and intentionally before disruption escalates, recognize when a strategy is not working, and adapt their response intelligently in the moment, outsmarting the students’ moves.

Concept by Nastajja Canello

Learning outcomes

The course will help participants to:

• Recognize early signals and phases of challenging individual or group behavior before escalation;
• Identify possible drivers of disruption, such as boundary testing, boredom, frustration, attention seeking, peer dynamics or unsuitable levels of challenge and support;
• Choose practical responses for common classroom situations, including refusal, ignored instructions, repeated disruption and talking over the lesson;
• Manage group dynamics when several students reinforce one another’s behavior;
• Use motivation, boredom and Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development to adjust tasks, expectations and support;
• Recognize when a strategy is not working and adapt the response instead of repeating ineffective warnings or consequences;
• Practice responses to difficult classroom situations through realistic scenarios and role play;
• Move from managing isolated incidents to changing repeated behavior patterns over time.

Tentative schedule

Day 1 – Introduction to the course

• Introduction to the course and the Academy;
• Introduction to the host city and the week’s cultural activities;
• Icebreaker activities;
• Presentations of the participants’ schools and institutions.

Introduction and understanding behavior patterns

• What makes a behavior pattern difficult to change?;
• Phases of disruption: from early signals to escalation;
• Common student profiles and classroom behavior patterns;
• Identifying participants’ most challenging classroom situations;
• Group reflection: what do we usually try, and why does it sometimes stop working?

Day 2 – Reading students while they read and test us

• How students test boundaries, often in subtle ways;
• Recognizing signals that show where a student or group is heading;
• When classroom rules work, and why they sometimes stop working;
• Distinguishing between boundary testing, boredom, disengagement, frustration, attention seeking, and peer influence;
• Motivation, learning challenge, and the Zone of Proximal Development;
• Knowing when to intervene and when not to;
• Scenario work and role play: understanding the behavior before choosing the response.

Day 3 – Responding in the moment: what do I actually do?

• Strategies for responding to challenging individual students;
• Strategies for responding when several students reinforce one another’s behavior;
• Managing attention-seeking behavior without feeding it;
• Establishing presence and authority without constant confrontation;
• Understanding and managing group dynamics;
• Adapting quickly when the first strategy does not work;
• Realistic classroom scenarios and role-play;
• Focus of the day: Responding to challenging behavior.

Day 4 – Changing the pattern: from managing behavior to changing it

• Moving beyond repeatedly correcting the same behavior;
• Interrupting established patterns of disruption;
• Changing challenging behavior in the short term;
• Creating conditions for longer-term behavioral change;
• Knowing when to change the strategy rather than increasing the consequence;
• Responding to students who seem unaffected by the usual consequences;
• Complex classroom scenarios and role play;
• Focus of the day: Changing challenging behavior.

Day 5 – Personal toolkit

• Identifying the strategies that fit your teaching context and students;
• Building a personal framework for reading, responding to, and changing behavior;
• Preparing responses for your own most challenging classroom situations;
• Practicing difficult conversations and high-pressure classroom scenarios;
• Developing a plan for the first days and weeks with a new class;
• Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion;
• Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance.

Day 6 – Structured cultural activities

• Structured cultural activity(ies) according to the hosting location;
• Learning journal: individual written reflection on the course experience;
• Course reflection: self-reflection and review of course materials and resources.

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