Reflections on Rome and historical sources

¶ … Performance

Disruptive behavior impacts students' ability to learn. In both the regular and special education classrooms, teachers must manage disruptive behavior and help students stay on task. It is especially critical with reading instruction in the beginning of a student's academic career. Struggling readers, without intervention, often struggle throughout their school years. Peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) have been shown to be effective in keeping students on task and thus enabling them to achieve more success.

Special Education Standard 5 states: "The special education teacher understands and applies knowledge of procedures for planning instruction and managing teaching and learning environments. Students do not always come to school ready and willing to learn. When students are disruptive, they compound other learning issues they may have. As Lerner and Johns (2009, in Haydon et al., 2010, p. 222) point out, students with mild to moderate learning and behavior challenges do not do as well in school as their peers. Their teachers must employ various strategies to keep students on task and maximize their learning outcomes.

In the past, research on students exhibiting hyperactive, inappropriate and disruptive behaviors focused largely on controlling the behaviors. Researchers and educators alike believed that behaviors must be controlled before students could attempt to master academic skills. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, however, set new academic requirements and led researchers to focus more on instructional strategies that facilitated learning essentially in spite of certain behaviors. In other words, educators would not wait for behavior problems to be "fixed" before trying to teach. Peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) and cooperative learning have been shown to be effective in classrooms with challenging students. Peers, not adults, present educational content, provide positive and corrective feedback, and monitor one another's performance (Haydon, Maheady, and Hunter, 2010, p. 223).

Proficient reading is essential to academic success and students at risk for or identified as having disabilities can face greater challenges than their peers. Effective intervention is necessary for struggling readers, or their prognosis for later success in school is poor (Francis, Shaywitz, Stuebing, Shaywitz, and Fletcher, 1996, in Rafdal et al. 2011, p. 299). It can be difficult to keep struggling readers on task; as their frustration mounts, they can be easily distracted and easily engage in disruptive behavior. In a study that was replicated in a number of schools with a wide range of students, Radfal, McMaster, McConnell, Fuchs, and Fuchs (2011, p. 304) found that all students, regardless of ability, made gains with PALS as applied to reading instruction. Teachers taught lessons in whole-class format and modeled the roles of coach and reader. They gave students many opportunities to practice their roles and the procedures, and teachers monitored these activities, providing positive and corrective feedback as appropriate and assistance if needed. Many teachers include these kinds of activities in their classrooms whether are not they have participated formally in PALS training. "Partner-reading" or "buddy-reading" are strategies often used in the classroom, pairing stronger readers with those who struggle and pairing disruptive students with those who are more easily able to stay focused. In some classrooms, students read to adult volunteers, students from other classrooms or grade levels, and even to stuffed animals. Many students take the task more seriously if someone else is involved -- even a toy, in the case of young students.