A Guidance Approach for the Encouraging Classroom, 6th edition by Dan Gartrell

1. Chapter Three
“Mistaken Behavior”
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

2. Guiding Questions:
• What is inappropriate about the term
misbehavior?
• What is the concept of mistaken behavior?
• What are patterns of social relations?
• What are the three levels of mistaken
behavior?
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

3. Guiding Questions:
• Are mistaken behavior, aggression, and
challenging behavior different or same
thing?
• Cultural Responsiveness: If a classroom
conflict is due to “culture factors,” do we
still consider it a mistaken behavior?
• Family Partnerships: How does the
teacher communicate with parents about
mistaken behavior?
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

4. Terminology is Important
• Misbehavior implies willful wrongdoing and
invites labeling of the child
• Children have a tendency to internalize
negative labels and act out the expected
behaviors
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

5. Mistaken Behavior
• In the process of learning any difficult skills,
children make mistakes
• When children experience conflicts it is
because they haven’t developed the
cognitive and emotional characteristics
needed for more mature responses
• Mistaken behavior is viewed as something
that should be corrected through teaching,
not punishing
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

6. Relational Patterns
• Encounterer
– Child’s concerned with maintaining an individual sense
of centrality, wholeness, and initiative
• Adjustor
– Child’s concerned with learning what’s expected by
others and producing that behavior
• Survivor
– Child’s concerned solely with getting through time and
space without disturbing established ways of getting
needs met
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

7. Harlow:
3 Levels of Mistaken Behavior
• One: Experimentation
– involvement—the child unintentionally causes a conflict when a situation
unexpectedly gets out of hand.
– curiosity—the child intentionally causes a conflict to see what will happen.
• Two: Socially influenced
– learned--parents or other adult family members; siblings or other relatives;
friends and neighbors; other children in the center or school; the teacher
or caregiver; other adults in the center or school; and media
“superheroes” from television movies or computer games
• Three: Strong needs
– created by vulnerability--prenatal alcohol and drug exposure; other
complications during pregnancy such as parental malnutrition or
depression; premature delivery or difficult delivery; malnutrition during
infancy
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

8. Understanding Mistaken
Behavior
• Mistaken behavior can be accidental or intentional
• Mistaken behavior can range from less to more serious
• Physical and psychological aggression are two common forms of
serious mistaken behavior for young children
• Challenging behaviors interfere with children’s learning, development,
and success at play; are harmful to the child or others around them;
and put a child at high risk for later social and academic problems
• Challenging behaviors often accompany strong needs that haven’t
been met
• The teacher should adjust their intervention according to the
characteristics and context of each incidence of mistaken behavior
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

9. Family Partnerships
• Seek to understand the family’s view of
their child
• Use compliment sandwiches
• Communicate to parents that mistakes will
be made in the lifelong learning process
• Partnership between teacher and families
helps the child learn from his/her mistakes
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.