What is misbehavior?

     I believe a student is "misbehaving" or "behaving badly" when he or she does not conform to the rules of the classroom or the school. The most common examples of misbehavior can include talking when the teacher is talking, calling out answers, disrespecting other people and their property, showing up late to class, or refusing to participate in classroom activities to name a few. 
     What is interesting to me is why students misbehave when the rules are clearly set out for them. I think the answer lies in that statement to begin with. As the Bennett and Smilanich textbook indicates, if students are able to set the rules for the classroom together, they can determine what is important to them and their peers and will probably be more likely to follow them accordingly.
     In my opinion, misbehavior occurs when there is an inconsistency between one teacher's rules and another's. In my experience, while one teacher will allow the use of iPods while students are working quietly on their own, another teacher disallows the use of iPods at any time. Although it is true that different teachers value different rules above others, if there is more consistency between classroom rules, it will not only eliminate the excuse of "but Ms. So-and-so lets us use them" but also demonstrate to the student that this rule is to be followed at all times. 
     Students may also misbehave because the material is not interesting to them and they are experiencing boredom at any point in the class, and to relieve their boredom, I think both parties (the teacher and the students) can try new and different ways to engage students who learn in different learning styles because, as we know, each individual has different needs.
     Lastly, one way to manage students who are misbehaving that I don't think is mentioned in the textbook is to demonstrate to the class that they are a group and their individual behavior reflects on the class as a whole. For instance, if one student is misbehaving, the consequences may fall on the entire class, thus there is more pressure on the student to behave appropriately. I am not sure if this is actually encouraged as a technique, but in my experience as a student, it has worked very well: "If one more person talks, the whole class is staying behind after school."
- Rita Shahi