Angry students can cease the learning environment in the classroom. Anger negatively influences the effort students put into their schoolwork. Students lose motivation to complete projects or to enjoy classroom learning experiences when they are angry.
Every classroom has an angry student. It doesn’t matter if the action is an outburst or a tantrum, it’s a disruption. The first step is to validate the feelings. It is easier to calm students and help them deal with a problem than it is to respond with anger.
Angry Students
A student that experiences anger because of a bad grade or a lack of performance on a project causes them to get off on the task. Students that are anger prone aggressively act toward peers or teachers. Their actions cause social difficulties and result in a classroom that does not have a healthy learning climate.
According to Marcin Zajenkowski associated with Narcissism, “Individuals with high trait anger have a tendency to overestimate their abilities, i.e. thinking that they are smarter than they are.”
Anger affects memory, creativity, and concentration. Angry students become accusatory and exaggerate a situation. They become irrational.
Strategies
- Begin to problem-solve by finding out why they are angry.
- Ask the student what they think they can do about the problem
- Do a count-down from 10 as soon as the anger begins. Many times, it gives students time to calm down.
- Have the student listen to another’s perspective on fixing the problem.
- Focus on breathing. Deep breathing helps an angry student focus. It takes the attention away from the focus, just like counting to 10.
- Laughter makes students calm down.
- Remain calm and be a good listener.
Anger begins with frustration or embarrassment. Other triggers are jealousy, sadness, hurt, worry, betrayal, guilt, shame, disrespect, or fear. Books and videos help manage anger.
When students become upset about something, they need time to process the problem. Anger can be a difficult emotion to manage for teachers and parents. Learning healthy ways to manage it achieves the psychological well-being of the students. Helping students manage their anger leads to a calm learning environment. It helps students with their relationships with peers and in their future.
