Based on the fact that the family is the unit of society, the formation of the personality of each child primarily occurs in it. Children almost thoughtlessly copy the behavior of adults, without separating the grains from the chaff. That is, unconscious moments prevail in their behavioral models, given the fact that they have very little practical experience.
Why does a child become "difficult"?
The result depends on the environment that nourishes the growth of the child. Unfortunately, today the institution of the family is in critical condition. The centuries-old traditions of family formation have been violated, which is due to civilization processes: poverty, labor intensification, stratification of society by income, alcoholism, and drug addiction. The consequence of these negative factors is an increase in the number of divorces, social orphanhood.
In modern society, the emotional and psychological connection between children and parents is weakened, which leads to misunderstanding, and this, in turn, manifests itself in protest behavior, and, as a result, these children are considered difficult or require special attention.
Family and difficult child
Working with difficult children at school is a painstaking and truly titanic work of teachers. After all, the end result of this activity should be a personality that will organically coexist with itself and the world around it.
The main difficulty of this work is the fact that the “one-goal game” of teachers without the interested help of their parents, in principle, is doomed to failure. In addition, by changing the student, teachers indirectly should contribute to changes in the family that raised him, and this is impossible without the willingness of the adults.
The most important role in working with children who require special attention is played by the professionalism of the class teacher, his personal qualities.
It is impossible to imagine a work plan for a class teacher with difficult children at school without using such a tool as a diagnosis of the home environment.
Studying and understanding the reasons for the manifestation of the child’s protest behavior at school is fully possible only if the teacher works closely with the student’s parents.
One way to study the causes of students' deviant behavior is through family visits. It is in the home circle that the teacher will be able to collect the most complete information about the child and his environment. An analysis of living conditions, the behavior of parents will help to understand the causes of the problems of the child in the children's team.
Fixing the reasons for the student’s deviance is only the first step that should prompt the teacher to draw up a work plan for the class teacher with a difficult child. This plan should include
conversations with parents aimed at correcting behavioral patterns in the family, involving the child in school life, community and extracurricular activities, and
prevention of alcoholism, drug addiction, and smoking.
What should be the work plan of the class teacher with a difficult child?
The school is a microreflection of the society that surrounds our children today, with all its joys and problems.
Children who are not given enough attention at home, from families where they use excessive amounts of alcohol or drugs, are difficult to control, have poor contact with teachers and students, which, in turn, affects the relationship between children and the performance of the whole class.
Often such children become outcasts, their classmates do not like and respect them, teachers do not appreciate them, which affects their self-esteem. As a result, labeling “difficult child”.
But there is an optimistic scenario. The teacher will substitute his shoulder and implement the individual work plan of the class teacher with a difficult child, implementing it in a children's team. Timeliness in this matter is one of the main conditions for a successful result.
An integrated approach to working with difficult children
The key to effective educational work with children at school is a set of activities that is implemented by the entire teaching staff.
At the first stage, a work plan for the class teacher with a difficult child is drawn up. However, it will not be implemented without the involvement of other teachers of the school.
And first of all, we need to talk about a school psychologist. The initial diagnosis of school students is carried out by him. Upon entering a school, a professional psychologist identifies problematic children, signals the class teacher about the presence and nature of such problems in the child, and helps in their correction and elimination.
Not in the last place in this systematic work are also the methodologist and deputy director for educational work. In their competence is the development of strategic school-wide measures aimed at overcoming the difficulties of children in learning, communication, implementation.
Primary School
Children of primary school age are just beginning to consciously comprehend the rules of communication, to form skills of coexistence with other people. As we have already said, such children are prone to unconsciously reproducing behavioral patterns formed in the family, so the importance of the class teacher in correcting the negative communication skills of primary school children at this stage is difficult to overestimate.
Tolerance - the basis for building a team
The achievement by the class teacher of positive results in working with difficult children is possible if a favorable, tolerant environment is formed.
The plan of work with difficult children of the class teacher in the first place should involve the integration of such students in the team. Of course, this work requires the teacher to have a lot of knowledge, skills, understanding of the underlying psychological processes, but the result is worth it.
The coexistence of children in the school team reflects the behavioral patterns that are formed in everyone in the family. And the key point in the formation of a healthy children's team is to instill in students a good opinion, behavior, and culture. Monotony makes our life fresh, therefore everything that uncritically goes beyond understanding and a generally accepted norm should be taken as a variant of this very norm.
The main forms of work with primary school children aimed at preventing deviant behavior
Favorable grounds for the formation of tolerance are precisely children's groups in which behavioral cliches and cliches are not yet developed.
The work plan of the class teacher with difficult children in elementary school should provide for the extra-curricular forms of work that are most acceptable in the formation of students' tolerance: joint trips, trips, excursions, and entertainment.
Informal communication will allow children to get to know each other closer, as it were, to see with different eyes those who are nearby every day. And, most likely, what is annoying at school will help children to get closer in a different setting.
The development of children's communication skills in primary school is an essential element in the prevention of problems in the team.
If we talk about such manifestations that go far beyond the norm (cruelty, aggression, low or high self-esteem), then their adjustment should imply a classroom teacher’s work plan with a difficult child in primary school in collaboration with a school psychologist.
The role of continuity of pedagogical approaches in the prevention of deviant behavior of children
Grade 5 - a kind of pass to a more independent life of elementary school students. Firstly, at this stage there is a change in the class teacher, which, of course, affects the overall climate in the children's team. Secondly, age-related psychological changes occur. As a result, revaluation of values.
If the teachers formed a healthy core of the children’s team in primary school, these changes will not affect it at a deep level, but if the “bricks” were not built well, the problematic guys will most likely begin to form a team for themselves.
Work with difficult children in grade 5
The established norms of behavior in the classroom, the priorities set by the previous teacher, may turn out to be unstable with the arrival of another teacher. An important point in this process is the continuity of pedagogical approaches, which will preserve the class traditions, its favorable microclimate, and avoid the appearance of difficult children.
In this case, we are talking about the formation of groups with deviant behavior that are prone to drinking alcohol, drugs, smoking, and committing offenses. It is important for the teacher to prevent the strengthening of the traditions of such behavior.
The work plan of the class teacher with difficult children (Grade 5 is a particularly important period) should be based on individual and class work, which includes cognitive, educational and entertaining events, competitions. Their main goal is to provide complete information about the consequences of drinking alcohol, drugs, smoking, legal and administrative responsibility for the offenses committed.
The class teacher should also involve children in the group work, contribute to the comprehensive useful employment of schoolchildren both in school and in extracurricular time.
In addition, for educational purposes, it is necessary to apply the joint work of classmates: conducting general cleaning in the classroom, community work days, planting trees.
Growing up and "adulthood"
Difficulties in working with troubled teenagers in high school are caused by the factor of growing up children and manifestations of the so-called adulthood, when the child considers himself to be such an established personality that he practically does not perceive the authority of an adult. This is a period of egocentrism and a shift in social emphasis.
Features of working with difficult children in grade 8
The right tactics in educational work with adolescents will be such a plan of the class teacher with difficult children in the classroom, where the emphasis is placed on building partnerships. This activity is built in conjunction with parents, who also need to change their social roles of teachers to partners.
The teacher’s work at this stage is the meaningful prevention of pseudo-adult behavior of children (loss of interest in learning, drinking alcohol, drugs, illegible connections).
The work plan of the class teacher with difficult children in the 8th grade is recommended to be supplemented with such activities: visits to medical institutions that treat children’s alcoholism and drug addiction, the penitentiary system, where minors are serving their sentences. Such forms of work will allow non-authoritarian influence on the point of view of students and achieve the planned goal.