Helping Students Eliminate Inappropriate School Behavior: A Group Activities’ Guide for Teachers and Counselors

By Gerard Vernot PhD

The major purpose of this book is to help students improve their school behavior. The activities described in the book cover six major areas. Briefly described, they are
1. developing better communication skills through accurate perception, listening, and paraphrasing;
2. learning how to cooperate with others through consensus in order to achieve appropriate goals;
3. acquiring a better understanding of oneself and ones needs through giving and getting feedback;
4. learning appropriate methods of self-disclosure of ones needs and desires;
5. learning how to deal with conflicts in an appropriate manner in order to achieve a desired end; and
6. developing problem-solving skills related to the students values and legitimate goals.

The target audience for this book would be educators working with students in high school and middle school. These activities can be used in the classroom setting. While the focus of the book is helping students with behavior problems, the exercises can be used with any group that wants to develop skills in these areas.

The book contains an introduction describing the nature of the problem, goals, and the need for the group approach, and twenty-one group activities related to the six areas mentioned above. A student evaluation of the group activities completes the program.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524650636

Gerard Vernot PhD

Dr. Gerard Vernot’s professional life as a teacher and counselor has spanned forty-one years. He has extensive experience working with students on the high school level as a certified teacher and counselor. He also has taught on the college level and is a retired licensed mental-health counselor in the state of Florida. He has researched and developed a program to help students improve their school behavior. The group activities he used in his program are presented in this book. Teachers and counselors will find them effective in helping students improve their behavior both in school and outside of school.

Book preview

HELPING STUDENTS

ELIMINATE

INAPPROPRIATE

SCHOOL BEHAVIOR:

A Group Activities’ Guide for Teachers and Counselors

Gerard Vernot, PhD

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AuthorHouse™

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© 2016 GERARD VERNOT, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/17/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-5064-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-5063-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016919192

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

• The Nature of the Problem

• Achievement Goals for the Behavior-Problem Student

• The Need for a Group-Activities Approach

• Operational Definitions

Chapter 1. Helping Students Develop Better Communication Skills

• Session One: Group Leader and Student Introductions

• Session Two: Perception and Communication in Problem-Solving

• Session Three: A Communication Model

• Session Four: The Johari Window

• Session Five: A Listening Exercise

• Session Six: Paraphrasing

Chapter 2. Group Cooperation Activities

• Session Seven: Broken Squares: An Exercise in Group Cooperation

• Session Eight: NASA Exercise

• Session Nine: Consensus-Seeking

• Sessions Ten and Eleven: A Midpoint Review of Group Activities

Chapter 3. Self-Disclosure and Self-Understanding through Feedback Activities

• Session Twelve: An Exercise in Feedback and Self-Disclosure

• Session Thirteen: An Exercise in Self-Disclosure

• Session Fourteen: Twenty Questions: An Exercise in Self-Disclosure

Chapter 4. Developing Effective Conflict-Resolution Skills

• Session Fifteen: Conflict Resolution

• Session Sixteen: Prisoners’ Dilemma: An Intergroup Competition

• Session Seventeen: Six Steps for Resolving Conflicts at Home, at School, and in the Community

Chapter 5. Developing Problem-Solving Skills Related to Values and Goals

• Session Eighteen: Life Raft Exercise

• Session Nineteen: Ten Things You Love to Do

• Session Twenty: Problem-Solving and The Alligator River Story

Chapter 6. Evaluating the Group Activities with the Group Participants

• Session Twenty-One: Group Self-Evaluation and the Warm Fuzzies

Epilogue

References

Preface

A problem plaguing many schools today is how to deal with students who have discipline issues. The major goal of this book is to help these students eliminate inappropriate school behavior through a group activities program. These activities have been researched by the author and found effective in helping students improve their school behavior.

The activities cover six major areas relevant to school behavior. The first five chapters cover these areas. Briefly described, they are as follows:

1. Improving communication skills through accurate perception, listening, and paraphrasing

2. Cooperating with others through consensus in order to achieve appropriate goals

3. Understanding oneself and one’s needs through giving and getting feedback

4. Disclosing in an appropriate way one’s needs and desires

5. Dealing with conflicts in an appropriate manner in order to achieve a desired end

6. Developing problem-solving skills related to one’s values and legitimate goals

The target audience for this book is educators working with students in middle school, high school, and above. These activities can be used in the classroom setting. While the focus of the book is on helping behavior-problem students, the exercises can be used with any group that wants to develop skills in these areas.

The book contains an introduction describing the nature of the problem, the goals of the activities, and the need for the group approach. Twenty group activities follow, related to the six areas mentioned above. A student evaluation of the group activities along with an opportunity to give and receive appreciation completes the program.

An epilogue follows in which I share some thoughts about nine students who made a distinct and lasting impression on me over my forty-one years as a teacher and counselor.

A reference section of publications cited within the book completes this volume.

Acknowledgments

The motivation for writing this book came from a major story published in the Tampa Bay Times concerning academic and behavior problems a number of students in a local school district were having. I had done research on helping students improve their behavior through a group activities program I developed as part of my doctoral dissertation at Florida State University.

Accordingly, I contacted one of my former professors, Dr. Bob Reardon, for suggestions. He kindly provided me with a number of possible publishers to consider and contact once I had a draft of the book done.

I also contacted a former student and author, Jack Myers, who recommended that I write a good synopsis of the book and go online to find an agent who could work with me on getting the book published. He also shared information about several publishing companies to consider.

A member of my extended family who recently published a book, Amy Smith, also offered support on getting my work published.

To these three people I offer my thanks for their advice on how to proceed in my search for a publisher.

Finally, I want to thank my dear wife, Trudy, for her patience with all the time I spent on the computer to complete my work.

Introduction

This book contains a series of twenty-one group exercises that can be used by a teacher or counselor with students in a school classroom or other group setting. The purpose of these activities is to help students learn techniques to improve their school behavior.

The problem of schools having to deal with disruptive students is nothing new in education. How the problem is dealt with has varied over the years. The exercises presented in this text are centered on dealing with students’ behavior as