Recommendations for Teachers and Parents

If our imagined sixth grade male student is experiencing temper tantrums, chances are they are cutting into his educational growth. When he tantrums, he is escorted out of the room. Thus, he misses time to improve his reading and writing skills. 

Let's support him by encouraging him to control his tantrums so that he may be present in class and grow in his weak areas. I will give him special attention to support this. 

Why temper tantrums?

I am here today to choose a behavior that concerns me as an educator; I chose temper tantrums.

I interested in this behavior because I have seen the ways it can negatively affect an entire classroom. Obviously it is a personal issue for the student, but it slows down an entire room of eager learners when the tantrum is uncontrollable.

I am just interested in how to control and soothe these tantrums, why some children can control their anger and others just let it take control of them, and if it is a problem that persists into adulthood or if anger problems are acquired as an adult. 

The child I am targeting for us to study is a sixth grade male. He is very active, outgoing, loud, and fun-loving. He is strong in math and science, but needs help in reading and writing. He is a confident speaker, but not a strong communicator. He is not embarrassed of his reading or writing abilities, but it makes him frustrated often because they cause him to not be able to properly convey his ideas. His inability to communicate is a huge reason why he experiences an uncontrollable temper. 

I am more of a factual thinker, rather than a person that is comfortable or skilled at diving into one’s plausible subconscious choices. For this reason, I feel most confident in choosing behaviorism with Erikson as my main theorist. Our text states, “...if psychology was to be a true science, psychologists should examine only what they could see and measure: behavior, not irrational thoughts and hidden urges” (41). Behaviorism is also called the learning theory because it analyzes steps that lead up to particular habits (42).