Managing anger in the classroom
Why can’t Johnny learn to read?
Maybe Johnny is too worried about the class bully mugging him at recess for his lunch money.
The news reports of angry and aggressive behavior in our schools are becoming so common that they are now the norm. Schools are struggling to find ways to reduce aggressive conduct and promote more socially acceptable behavior. And student learning is suffering as a consequence.
But two faculty researchers at the UF College of Education are working to reverse that trend. Special Education Professor Stephen W. Smith and his research partner, Ann Daunic, an assistant scholar in special education, have been working in Florida classrooms for several years to develop a curriculum that helps students in elementary and secondary schools deal with anger management issues.
Smith, who teaches courses on classroom and behavioral management, has directed a number of research grants on the effectiveness of classroom-based activities that will change behavior and reduce disruptions. At UF, he has received three teaching awards, a university research award and has been named a UF Research Foundation Professor.
Daunic’s research emphasis focuses on tailoring school-based conflict resolution strategies and instruction to the at–risk child’s background and environment to encourage their acceptance and participation in the anger-management exercises.
Building on their groundbreaking early studies, Smith and Daunic are expanding the breadth and scope of their research, thanks to a new $1.63 million grant from the National Center for Special Education Research, part of the U.S. Department of Education.
“We were getting some positive findings from earlier studies,” Daunic says. “Students were learning the curriculum and we were seeing some constructive changes in teacher ratings of aggressive behavior.”
But how much did behavior improve, and how was student learning affected? The new grant will help Smith and Daunic answer these and related questions by letting them hire research assistants so they have the critically needed presence in the classroom. They basically need more students, more data and more research.
The curriculum, dubbed Tools for Getting Along, is a 26-lesson, teacher-friendly series of activities that demonstrates the kinds of situations school-aged children can get into. It offers opportunities, through role playing, for the students to process how they would solve social problems.
Under the four-year grant, Smith and Daunic will spend three years testing and observing their intervention strategies on hundreds of fourth- and fifth-graders in 10 area elementary schools – five using the curriculum and the other five serving as a control group. Year 4 will involve analyzing and writing up their results.
All students in the classes will participate, whether or not they are considered to be at–risk.
“Our goal is to prevent problems,” Smith says. “There are students in regular classrooms with behavioral problems, but not critical enough to be in special education programs. Left unchecked, these problems will become worse over time, especially when students get to the less structured middle and high schools.”
With standardized test results serving as the ultimate measure of success or failure for both students and schools, Smith and Daunic say simple solutions must be found to deal with behavioral issues.
“Since teachers are forced to spend more time focused on a high-stakes testing atmosphere, they have less time to deal with social and behavioral issues,” Smith says. “The solution has to be something that works, and works quickly. We hope the curriculum we are developing is a step in the right direction.”
By Larry Lansford, llansford@coe.ufl.edu, 352-392-0726, ext. 266
