Understanding Aggression:
Coping with Aggressive
Behavior in the Classroom
|
Dr.
Karen Lea |
|
|
Phone: |
509-891-7219 |
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Office
Hours: |
8
a.m. to 5 p.m. PST Monday - Friday |
|
Email: |
|
|
Address: |
Virtual
Education Software |
|
|
23403
E Mission Avenue, Suite 220F |
|
|
Liberty
Lake, WA 99019 |
|
Technical
Support: |
Introduction
This course is about violence in
America, about the aggression in our schools, classrooms, streets, homes and
elsewhere. The course speaks to the hate, the fights,
the anger, the crimes committed and the victims in our schools and society. It
is a course about students, children, teenagers, adults
and neighbors, all of us.
The course will consider the many forms
of aggression, both criminal and otherwise; its costs and motivation; its
perpetrators and targets; its likely and unlikely
locations; its impact on our schools, the children; and, most especially, its
several causes and promising solutions.
Topics of interest will include
violence and the challenge of raising and working with children; aggression in
our classrooms; American youth gangs and their influence; past and future
sports violence; “hot spot” locations of frequent violence; and the
aggression-promoting role of alcohol, temperature, driving, television
and other features of modern life. The course also will answer questions such
as: Is aggression always bad? How do aggressive thoughts lead to aggressive
actions? Is aggression, at least for some people, an addiction? Does the victim
contribute to being attacked? Is dating a dangerous proposition? How are the
acts of aggression dealt with in other countries, and are there any lessons for
America?
The goal of this course is to help
educators and adults in general better understand how aggression affects our
lives and the lives of children. Hopefully such greater understanding and more skilled
efforts at prevention will substantially reduce the aggression and violence
that has become all too common in America’s schools.
This computer-based instruction course
is a self-supporting program that provides instruction, structured practice, and
evaluation all on your home or school computer. Technical support information
can be found in the Help section of your course.
|
Title: |
Understanding Aggression: Coping with
Aggressive Behavior in the Classroom |
|
Publisher: |
Virtual Education Software, inc.
2002, Revised 2008, Revised 2010, Revised 2013, Revised 2016, Revised 2019,
Revised 2022 |
|
Instructor: |
Dr. Karen Lea |
Academic Integrity Statement
The structure and format of most distance-learning
courses presume a high level of personal and academic integrity in completion
and submission of coursework. Individuals enrolled in a distance-learning
course are expected to adhere to the following standards of academic conduct.
Academic Work
Academic work submitted by the
individual (such as papers, assignments, reports, tests) shall be the student’s
own work or appropriately attributed, in part or in whole, to its correct
source. Submission of commercially prepared (or group prepared) materials as if
they are one’s own work is unacceptable.
Aiding Honesty in Others
The individual will encourage honesty
in others by refraining from providing materials or information to another
person with knowledge that these materials or information will be used
improperly.
Violations of these academic standards will result in
the assignment of a failing grade and subsequent loss of credit for the course.
Level of Application
This course is designed to be an
informational course with application to work or work-related settings. The
intervention strategies are informational and not to be used without proper
training and administrative approval.
Expected Learning Outcomes
As a result of this course,
participants will demonstrate their ability:
1.
To review the history of
aggression and how society came to be such an aggressive place
2.
To identify the causes of
aggressive behavior, both internal and external
3.
To explain how aggression
is expressed in various social settings such as schoolyards, classrooms,
sports, homes, etc.
4.
To identify perpetrators
and victims of aggression and violence
5.
To identify locations of
high aggression and violence
6.
To provide solutions for
reducing aggression and violence in classroom and other school settings
7.
To provide information on
how educators can help students/children reduce feelings of aggression and
violent tendencies
Course Description
The course, Understanding
Aggression, has been divided into four chapters and five to ten
exercises within each chapter. The first chapter reviews the history of
aggression in America. It explains how we (the country) got to where we are in
terms of aggression and violence. The chapter discusses the cost of aggression.
It asks the question: Is America Safe? It discusses whether aggression is
always bad. The chapter concludes with odds and ends and aggression in general.
The second chapter deals with how we
have learned to be aggressive. It discusses how aggressive thoughts many times
become aggressive actions. The course reviews the “us versus them” side of
aggression and violence. Chapter 2 also deals with how alcohol, temperature and
driving can increase aggression and violence. The chapter reviews the role of
television and how TV may be a tutor for violent behavior. Is high aggression
often found in people who tend to have low empathy? This chapter will discuss
this issue. The chapter will also cover how words and teasing can be
expressions and forms of aggression.
The third chapter centers on aggression
and violence as crimes. It explores arson, assault and
crimes of fear. The chapter also will discuss vigilante justice and/or
injustice. Along with criminal aggression the chapter takes a
look at guns and gangs in America’s schools; how bullying affects our
schools and classrooms; how dress can affect acts of aggression and violence in
schools and society. The chapter speaks to sexual harassment and the aggression
involved with acts of harassment. There are also several sections on aggression
and violence in the home, parental fighting and how this affects children in
the home.
Chapter 4 speaks to
working with and raising children to resist violence. It gives suggestions to
educators and parents on how to deal with and counteract aggressive or violent
behavior, but educators should not use these interventions without training and
administrative approval. This chapter deals with dating, and how it can be
impacted by aggressive behavior and date violence. It speaks to how television
affects the aggressive behavior of our children. The chapter reviews child
tantrums, and what to do about them. Chapter 4 is summarized with several
exercises on win-win scenarios for remediation and effective problem
solving techniques.
The chapters and exercises are
sequential and, although it is not required, they should be completed in the
order in which they are presented in the program. After completing these four
chapters you should have a framework for understanding and working with
aggressive behavior. This also may help you understand why students with high
aggression are a challenge in a regular education setting.
After you complete each chapter of the
course, an examination will be used to evaluate your knowledge and ability to
apply what you’ve learned. An explanation of the examinations will be given
later in this syllabus.
Chapter 1: Introduction & Characteristics
·
Introduction
·
How Did We Get Here?
·
The Costs of Aggression
·
Is Aggression Always Bad?
·
America, the Safe
Chapter 2: Behaviors & Techniques
·
Learning to Be Aggressive
·
Us Versus Them
·
Aggressive Thoughts and
Aggressive Actions
·
Low Empathy, High
Aggression
·
Television as a Tutor:
Aggression 101
·
Alcohol and Aggression:
Courage in a Bottle
·
Does the Victim Help
Cause Violence?
·
Words That Hurt
·
Hot Days, Hot Tempers
·
Auto Aggression
·
Jump! Jump! The
Suicide-baiting Crowd
Chapter 3: Acts & Forms of Violence
·
The Journey to Crime
·
Other Acts of Aggression
·
Vigilante Injustice
·
Fear of Crime
·
The Home & Family
·
Sports Violence: Past,
Present & Future
·
Play Fighting & Real
Fighting – Is there a Connection?
·
The Ride to & Through
School: Safe or Scary?
·
Teaching Prosocial
Behavior to Antisocial Youth
·
A Short Course on Gangs
Chapter 4: Preventing Violence
·
Raising Children to
Resist Violence
·
Tantrums
·
Nonaggressive Children From Aggressive Environments
·
Dating as a Dangerous
Game
·
Let’s Both Calm Down,
Then We’ll Talk
·
Take my Wife, Please
·
Why Is Aggression so Hard to Change?
·
Downsizing Deviance
·
Complex Problems Demand
Complex Solutions
·
A Look to the Future
Student Expectations
As
a student you will be expected to:
·
Complete all four
information sections showing a competent understanding of the material
presented in each section.
·
Complete all four section
examinations, showing a competent understanding of the material presented. You
must obtain an overall score of 70% or higher, with no individual
exam score below 50%, and successfully complete ALL writing assignments to
pass this course. *Please note: Minimum exam score requirements may vary by
college or university; therefore, you should refer to your course addendum to
determine what your minimum exam score requirements are.
·
Complete a review of any
section on which your examination score was below 50%.
·
Retake any examination,
after completing an information review, to increase that examination score to a
minimum of 50%, making sure to also be achieving an overall exam score of a
minimum 70% (maximum of three attempts). *Please note: Minimum
exam score requirements may vary by college or university; therefore, you
should refer to your course addendum to determine what your minimum exam score
requirements are.
·
Complete all course
journal article and essay writing assignments with the minimum word count shown
for each writing assignment.
·
Complete a course
evaluation form at the end of the course.
Examinations
At the end of each course chapter, you
will be expected to complete an examination designed to assess your knowledge.
You may take these exams a total of three times. Your last score will save, not
the highest score. After your third attempt, each examination will lock and not allow further access. The average from your exam scores will be printed on your certificate. However,
this is not your final grade since your required writing assignments have not
been reviewed. Exceptionally written or poorly written required writing
assignments, or violation of the academic integrity policy in the course syllabus,
will affect your grade. As this is a self-paced computerized instruction
program, you may review course information as often as necessary. You will not
be able to exit any examinations until you have answered all questions.
If you try to exit the exam before you complete all questions, your information
will be lost. You are expected to complete the entire exam in one sitting.
Writing Assignments
All assignments are
reviewed and may impact your final grade. Exceptionally or poorly written assignments, or violation of
the Academic Integrity Policy (see course syllabus for policy), will affect
your grade. Fifty percent of your grade is determined by your writing
assignments, and your overall exam score determines the other fifty percent. Refer
to the Essay Grading Guidelines which were sent as an attachment with
your original course link. You should also refer to the Course Syllabus
Addendum, which was sent as an attachment with your original course link, to
determine if you have any writing assignments in addition to the Critical
Thinking Questions (CTQ) and Journal Article Summations (JAS). If you do, the
Essay Grading Guidelines will also apply.
Your writing assignments must meet the
minimum word count and are not to include the question or your final citations
as part of your word count. In other words, the question and citations are not
to be used as a means to meet the minimum word count.
Critical Thinking
Questions
There are four CTQs that
you are required to complete. You will need to write a minimum of 500 words (maximum
1,000) per essay. You should explain how the information that you gained from
the course will be applied and clearly convey a strong understanding of the
course content as it relates to each CTQ. To view the questions, click on
REQUIRED ESSAY and choose the CTQ that you are ready to complete; this will
bring up a screen where you may enter your essay. Prior to course submission,
you may go back at any point to edit your essay, but you must be certain to
click SAVE once you are done with your edits.
You must click SAVE before you write
another essay or move on to another part of the course.
Journal Article
Summations
You are required to
write, in your own words, a summary on a total of three peer-reviewed or
scholarly journal articles (one article per JAS), written by an author with a
Ph.D., Ed.D. or similar, on the topic outlined within each JAS section in the
“Required Essays” portion of the course (blogs, abstracts, news articles, or
similar are not acceptable). Your article choice must relate specifically to
the discussion topic listed in each individual JAS. You will choose a total of
three relevant articles (one article per JAS) and write a thorough summary of
the information presented in each article (you must write a minimum of 200
words with a 400 word maximum per JAS). Be sure to
provide the URL or the journal name, volume, date, and any other critical
information to allow the facilitator to access and review each article.
To write your summary,
click on REQUIRED ESSAYS and choose the JAS that you would like to complete. A writing
program will automatically launch where you can write your summary. When you
are ready to stop, click SAVE. Prior to course submission you may
go back at any point to edit your summaries but you
must be certain to click SAVE once you are done with your edits. For more
information on the features of this assignment, please consult the HELP menu.
You must click SAVE before you write
another summary or move on to another part of the course.
Instructor Description
Karen Lea holds a Ph.D. in education.
Dr. Lea has fifteen years of experience teaching at the K–12 level and another
fourteen years’ experience teaching education courses at the undergraduate and
post-graduate levels. Those fourteen years in higher education included six
years as a dean at a university and seven additional years in charge of assessment
and accreditation at a university. Currently, she is a lead program development
owner at Western Governors University. Dr. Lea has been professionally
published over fifteen times and has served on over a dozen panels and boards,
including serving on the NCATE (CAEP) Board of Examiners.
Contacting the Instructor
You may contact the instructor by
emailing karen_lea@virtualeduc.com
or by calling 509-891-7219 Monday through Friday. Calls made during office
hours will be answered within 24 hours. Phone conferences will be limited to 10
minutes per student, per day, given that this is a self-paced instructional
program. Please do not contact the instructor about technical problems, course
glitches, or other issues that involve the operation of the course.
Technical Questions
If you have questions or problems
related to the operation of this course, please try everything twice. If the
problem persists please check our support pages for
FAQs and known issues at www.virtualeduc.com and also the Help
section of your course.
If you need personal assistance
then email support@virtualeduc.com
or call 509-891-7219. When contacting technical support, please know your
course version number (it is located at the bottom left side of the Welcome
Screen) and your operating system, and be seated in
front of the computer at the time of your call.
Minimum Computer Requirements
Please refer to VESi’s
website: www.virtualeduc.com or contact VESi if you have
further questions about the compatibility of your operating system.
Refer to the addendum
regarding Grading Criteria, Course Completion Information, Items to be
Submitted, and how to submit your completed information. The addendum will also
note any additional course assignments that you may be required to complete
that are not listed in this syllabus.
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Course content is updated every three
years. Due to this update timeline,
some URL links may no longer be active or may have changed. Please type the
title of the organization into the command line of any Internet browser search
window and you will be able to find whether the URL link is still active or any
new link to the corresponding organization’s web home page.
2/21/23 JN