Week 3 - Noisy Boys

For the third week of this assignment, I found an interesting blog post to discuss. The blog is titled “Math Tales from the Spring”. It is the “rantings” of Mrs. H, a high school math teacher from Texas who has been teaching for twelve years. The original post was made 11/5 and the comments ranged from 11/6 to 11/11.

This blog post centers on annoying teenage boys. She begins by telling stories of past experiences of boys in her 9th grade class who make random noises. One boy made loud bird calls, apparently unconsciously, during class. The behavior drove Mrs. H crazy until she realized he was doing it during casual conversations with his friends too which lead her to believe he was not doing it deliberately. Another boy would grunt during class. Eventually, the entire class was grunting whenever Mrs. H turned around to write on the board. After several attempts to find the “grunters” the problem was slowly resolved with the threat of being held after the bell the next time a grunt was heard during class. The students began stopping boys that wanted to grunt during a lesson to avoid being kept late.

Mrs. H’s purpose behind the post is a problem she is having with a boy in her current class. During lessons he makes noises. When he is not making verbal noises, he is constantly tapping, either his fingers, rulers, pencils, or anything he can get his hands on. She says that he does not seem to be doing it consciously or with cruel intentions as the grunters had. She finds herself getting upset with the entire class because of the constant background noises. She asks her readers for advice; is this just boys being boys or is there something else at play?

The first poster left the best responses. She made the recommendation that this student might have Tourette’s syndrome or a form of autism that causes ticks. She recommended asking the student if there is something that helps calm him such as listening to music quietly. She also recommended speaking to the school’s psychologist for additional professional suggestions.

Another suggestion was made that the summer after sophomore year is when major changes happen in boys. As this is when most are turning 16, developmentally this suggestion makes sense. It is at this time that most boys are first becoming comfortable with their bodies and have a stronger sense of identity. These problems tend not to exist in high school girls as they typically develop and mature faster.

Questions you posed with responses

In my comment, I backed up the first poster’s suggestion of Tourette’s syndrome, while also noting that it may be another disorder where hyperactivity is a symptom. His tapping might be his coping mechanism and a way he channels his excess energy. I asked Mrs. H if she has had a private discussion with the student about his behavior. He might not be willing to talk about any problems he has in front of his classmates and might find a private conversation more comfortable. I also suggested looking into if the boy has an IEP or any previously diagnosed disorders. This might give an insight to the boy’s behavior. There is the possibility that any problem that exists has gone undiagnosed up until this point as many mistake ticks for children acting out on purpose.

Mrs. H has not responded to my comment yet, but I will update when/if she does.

Responses to others' questions:

My overall advice to Mrs. H was not to pass judgment on a student’s behavior until she has all available information. While noise in the classroom can frustrate some teachers, it is important to get to the bottom of why disturbances are happening in the classroom instead of coming up with an immediate, and often times wrong, assumption about their starting point.

I chose to comment on this blog post for two reasons. The first reason was the story of the grunting boys. During my student teaching, I had a similar instance occur but instead of grunting it was coughing. I knew who had started it unlike Mrs. H. Eventually, every time my cooperating teacher left the room, 90% of my class was coughing loud enough to drown out what I was saying. I also found that the behavior did not occur when this ringleader of a boy was absent which thankfully, for my sanity but not for his education, was more often than not. At first I removed the boy from class whenever he started to act out but I realized I couldn’t remove him every day. At the urging of my cooperating teacher, I developed a better relationship with the boy, bonding with him and praising him at the times he was acting appropriately. My teacher recommended stroking his ego, calling on him and encouraging him to be a positive member of the class. This worked tremendously and if the grunting boys had been the current problem, a suggestion I would have made to Mrs. H.

My second reason for posting was because of the way many children with undiagnosed Tourette’s are written off by teachers. My cousin went undiagnosed for years and was judged by teachers to just be disruptive and antsy. When she was diagnosed and began to receive proper treatment by therapists she began to have greater control over her ticks and completely transformed as a student. I hate to see teachers pass judgment on a student who has a problem that no one has had the courage to suggest a diagnosis yet.

Useful information for your teaching in the future

In my teaching future, I know how important it is to explore all avenues surrounding student behavior before passing judgment. Reading Mrs. H’s blog and being part of this class has also given me the spark to blog while I am teaching. It is an excellent way to reach out to the teaching community across the world for advice and suggestions from the comfort of your own computer.