A New Normal

Watch this video first…. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19hSdHE7Ao

I was struck by this video reel posted on Facebook. I don’t know what the situation is, why this little girl is acting this way at a store, or where her parents are. Listening to the video and reading the comments don’t give you any specific information. As I watched this video, I was struck by the similarity of behavior that is sometimes seen in the classroom. This is often what it looks like when a student trashes a classroom. This is what so many teachers watch regularly. This is what many students watch regularly. Notice how the child in the video doesn’t say anything. She moves slowly from one item to the next to throw, hit, and kick. She looks up occasionally, but why? She doesn’t react to others around her. If you listen to the video, you can hear people calling out to her, but she doesn’t respond. It doesn’t seem to phase her. 

I am curious what would have happened if the video had continued. At the end, you see a man walk up to her. I don’t know who he was, but he moved close to her and was in her space. Also at the end, a woman walks up to her and the man. This woman presumably might have been the mom as you saw her moving to the little girl earlier in the video. My experience is that when you move in closer to a child, they will escalate. They will start to fight. This situation is happening in a store with lots of people to witness and record. The child is clearly ignoring the adults around her. Is it because she is autistic? Is it because she is “going through” something? If she is autistic or “going through” something does that make it okay for her to behave this way?

Imagine this type of behavior happening in a school, in a classroom…in YOUR child’s classroom. Imagine a child methodically walking through a classroom ripping items from the walls; throwing items from desks, from bookshelves; kicking walls, chairs, or people. Imagine a child ignoring the requests of the adults around them and continuing to behave this way. Imagine that this child does this regularly… this is “normal” behavior for that child. YOUR child witnesses this behavior regularly. 

The teacher is told to ignore the behavior or make an attempt to redirect the behavior. A token board might be implemented for the child to “reward” expected behaviors. The teacher tries to redirect the child only to be ignored. The teacher moves toward the child to talk only to be hit or kicked. The teacher uses her own body to create a barrier between the child and the rest of her class to ensure other children are not hit with items being thrown The teacher tries to continue teaching while the child behaves this way in the classroom.

Is this the kind of classroom where students are learning? Are they learning academics? Are they learning the state standards that are expected of them for that school year? Unfortunately, this type of behavior is becoming more and more common in our schools. In some schools, it is common to have students who behave this way in just about every classroom in the building. Some classrooms have multiple students behaving this way. In some schools, this type of behavior has become so common – especially in the lower grades – that students are used to it…. the students are used to it! Many don’t go home and tell their parents because they don’t realize that it’s not okay for other students to act that way. As such, many parents don’t realize that this type of behavior is happening to the extent that it is happening in classrooms… in THEIR child’s classroom and teachers can’t tell them. They can’t talk to parents about other students. 

Why has there been such an increase in this type of behavior in recent years? Different people would give you different reasons and most of them are not wrong. There are many reasons…. lack of socialization from covid, standards/expectations that are not age-appropriate, pressures of standardized testing, class sizes, increases in anxiety, social media, and increased screen time to name a few. Who bears the brunt of these challenges in education? TEACHERS. That is why there is a teacher shortage. We have to start acknowledging the struggles that exist in schools today and work to create environments in which students and teachers have the support they need. Environments in which they feel safe and secure. This is our reality and until we can open constructive conversations about what is happening, it won’t change.