What is Misbehavior?

When thinking about misbehavior in terms of education, like everyone has sought to define it, I would say that misbehavior is classified as actions which disturbs the activity of the classroom. I’d say that these actions, however, are completely subjective. While some people may agree on which actions are actions of misbehavior, I don’t think that there are any universal or overarching classifications of actions that are deemed as misbehaving.

An example of misbehavior—or what some may classify as misbehavior—that I would like to examine under my above claim is what is commonly addressed as speaking out of turn. In certain settings, multiple students/people speaking at once can be seen as something disruptive. In a case where a single voice is needed to be heard, this would be defined as misbehavior. Nevertheless, in a setting which encourages constant dialogue between the people in a classroom, this would not be seen as disruptive or an act of misbehavior. Furthermore, this action can be seen as misbehavior in the same classroom with the same people. Depending on different settings and what an activity, PLO, etc. prescribes, either method of conversation could be seen as beneficial or detrimental to a classroom.

While there are actions/events which are more clear cut in terms of definitely being misbehavior (ie. bullying) I really just wanted to display the notion that misbehavior is a thoroughly subjective notion. Of course in our role as teachers we are going to face the ominous “school rules” that may not conform to our own beliefs. This is something I surely see myself struggling with in my future as a teacher. Given my background in World Literature, I find that I am more accustom to a classroom that does not adhere necessarily to the regular norms of classroom conduct; things like sitting on tables, interrupting others, questioning teacher’s authority on subject matter were allowed and encouraged at times.

As much of this topic has been fleshed out by others, I shall leave the rest of my contributions to this issue in comments to others’ thoughts.