When Students Misbehave: Understanding The Crisis Cycle

It was a regular, not so special, school day. 

Devyn, a kind, likable yet slightly reclusive student, was calm and happy despite being in school, which for her was the worst place in the world to be because school “messed with her social life,” as she put it. 

Though not the most confident student, as long as she knew how, Devyn gladly did her work. 

So after just one prompt from her teacher, Ms. Trudeau, Devyn promptly started on her morning assignment. 

But today's grammar assignment was just a bit different than yesterday's. It was the exact same content. It just contained one additional page with 10 additional questions, making her packet three pages instead of two. 

The change in the length of the assignment was Ms. Trudeau’s attempt to increase the rigor of the assignments in her class. 

You see, during last week's staff meeting, the principal urged the staff to up the rigor of instruction. 

“Just because we are a continuation high school,” said Ms. Cribley, the school principal, “doesn't mean we shouldn’t challenge our students academically.” 

So Ms. Trudeau, knowing that Devyn had an extremely low appetite for venturing beyond her academic comfort zone, decided that the best way to begin to ‘up the rigor’ of her work would be to slightly lengthen her assignment rather than introduce new, more challenging content.

Devyn, however, did not agree. 

She didn’t care that she already knew how to do the work.

She didn't care that the extra page added a mere five minutes to the assignment, if that.

Devyn did not want to complete the extra page. Period. 

So she picked the assignment up from her desk, flipped impatiently through the packet until she landed on the final page, paused briefly, scanned the questions in disgust, shook her head slightly, and then promptly tore the extra sheet from her packet, balled it up in her hands, and tossed it on the floor next to her.

“I'm not doing that,” she proclaimed in a low, calm, and confident voice. 

Then, as if nothing had ever happened, redirected her attention back to her two remaining worksheets and started working. For the next several minutes, Devyn did not speak another word.

Rethinking Traditional Responses to Behavior

Understanding and managing extreme emotional dysregulation in our students is a skill that is becoming more and more necessary.

If we are to succeed in creating safe classroom environments that foster high levels of growth and learning for all our students, we must learn to quickly and efficiently handle students’ emotional outbursts. 

How could Mrs. Trudeau have reacted to Devyn’s behavior? 

How would you have reacted?

Let’s face it! 

Gone are the days when assigning standards or giving students recess or lunch detention were all the consequences we needed to mete out in order to, not just punish, but to correct behavior. 

In fact, times have changed so much that a phone call home sometimes doesn't do the trick. How many of us have called home only to have the parents scold us for disrupting their day?

And to add insult to injury, if a student is actually suspended from school (and that is a BIG IF), the suspension often serves to reinforce, rather than punish, the behavior.

I can’t tell you the number of times my students have returned from suspensions with new shoes, new clothes, and lively tales of trips to the mall, Disneyland, or the beach.  

A Harsh Awakening to a New World

I think we can all agree that Devyn’s reaction was inappropriate and disproportionate to the circumstances. 

And while it’s true that Mrs. Trudeau could have done things quite differently, the fact of the matter is, this scene plays out thousands of times every single school day.

In fact, 17 years ago when I first started teaching students diagnosed with Emotional Disturbance (ED), this scene played out almost daily. 

Yes.

The story of Devyn is a true story. (Her name has been changed, of course.)

She was one of the first students I taught when I began teaching students diagnosed with Emotional Disturbance (ED).

At the time, I was 12 years into my teaching career and I prided myself on my ability to do two things: teach reading and manage my classroom. 

I ensured that my classroom was predictable, structured and orderly; and I had very few, if any, discipline problems. 

I was often the teacher that was assigned the students that other teachers couldn’t (or wouldn’t) handle.

So when I encountered Devyn’s reaction to my slight, albeit poorly executed, change in her assignment, I responded in the same way I had for 12 years prior, confident that I would resolve the issue quickly.

But this time, I was in for a very rude awakening.

Instead of the situation improving (as I thoroughly expected that it would), it devolved - very quickly and very dramatically. For in very short order, Devyn was screaming, cursing, desks were flying, and the classroom had to be evacuated while I struggled to regain control of the situation.

This was my introduction to the world of ED.

I often reflect on those early days and I can’t help but think that if I would have known then what I know now, I would have handled the situation VERY differently. 

In fact, I would not have just tweaked my reaction, I would have done the exact opposite of what I did that day because I would have known exactly what was happening with Devyn both cognitively and emotionally.

Empowering Through Understanding: The Promise of The Crisis Cycle

At the risk of stating the obvious, Devyn had an episode of extreme emotional dysregulation. 

In other words, Devyn was in crisis.

And yes, we can have a conversation about Mrs. Trudeau’s failure to properly introduce the new assignment. 

We can also speculate about the root cause and/or function of Devyn’s behavior (and in future articles we will talk about all of these things and more). 

But it was not really necessary for me to know any of this information in order to respond to Devyn’s initial outburst in a way that improved, rather than worsened the situation.

The only thing I needed to know was that Devyn’s reaction was a clear sign that we had dove head first into The Crisis Cycle.

What is The Crisis Cycle?

The Crisis Cycle outlines the progression of a student's behavioral responses during a crisis. 

It is a framework that helps us know the underlying cognitive and emotional processes that are driving the student’s behavior.

By noting the intensity, frequency and type of behavior a student is displaying at any given moment, we are able to judge where the student is in the cycle. 

This, in turn, gives us a good idea about which strategies we should (and shouldn’t) use to resolve the crisis as quickly, as safely (and as painlessly) as possible.

The Crisis Cycle consists of five phases: The Triggering Event, The Build up to the Peak, The Descent from the Peak to the Baseline, The Descent from the Baseline to the Valley, and finally, The Return to Baseline.

As you can see in the image above, The Crisis Cycle is anchored on the baseline.

The baseline represents two things:

First, it acts as the timeline for the crisis; and second, the baseline represents the student's baseline emotional state when all is good and right with the world.

For Devyn, when she was at baseline, she was happy, social (to a point), respectful, and generally followed directions. 

Each student’s baseline will differ. 

Some students, when they are at the baseline, will be quiet and reserved, while other students will be social and talkative.

To determine a student’s baseline ask yourself this question: 

What is my student’s typical emotional state? 

• Happy? 

• Social? 

• Quiet? 

• Withdrawn? 

• Or some combination of all four depending on the time of day?

  
  

Understanding a student's baseline is crucial because this knowledge is the most important piece of information we’ll use to determine which phase a student is in during a crisis.

Now let’s briefly define each of the five stages. 

• The Triggering Event - The Triggering Event is any event that causes a student to dysregulate emotionally. This includes negative events such as a conflict with a peer or positive events such as unexpectedly passing a test. 

• The Build to the Peak - During this phase the student's behaviors begin to escalate in frequency and/or intensity. The student is most likely becoming increasingly agitated, anxious, or disruptive. 

• The Descent - Part 1: From the Peak to Baseline - Once the student’s behaviors peak, or reach their highest level of frequency and/or intensity, they will begin to decrease. This is a sign that the student is on the descent back to their baseline emotional state. Please note that, though the student is returning to the Baseline (and thus beginning to ‘look normal’), this is far from the case. The truth is we are still only halfway through the cycle. The student is still emotionally fragile and can easily be retriggered.

• The Descent - Part 2: From Baseline to the Valley - Once the student crosses the Baseline they will continue their descent toward the Valley. At this point, you may begin to see a drop in the student’s affect. The student may start crying or become mute, remorseful, apologetic, or withdrawn. Typically, there's an inverse relationship between the Peak and the Valley. This means that the higher the Peak rises, the lower the Valley tends to be. 

• The Return to Baseline - When the student reaches their lowest emotional point they have arrived at the Valley. The amount of time a student spends in the valley varies, but eventually the student’s mood and emotional state will once again begin to rise. This is a sign the student is in the final phase of the cycle. Once the student’s typical emotional state is restored, the student has arrived at Baseline and the cycle is complete. 

Applying The Crisis Cycle to Behavior

Now that we know the five stages of the Crisis Cycle, we can use them to examine Devyn’s behavior.

When Devyn received the packet with the additional worksheet attached, this served as the triggering event. However, I was not yet fully aware of this, which is quite typical. 

Often, knowledge of the triggering event is gained after the crisis is over, not before it starts.

It is during the build that we often get our first clues that a crisis is brewing. As Devyn scanned the packet we could see her distress building as she was becoming increasingly agitated. 

In my experience, specific de-escalation strategies employed during the build phase of the cycle tend to be the most effective at significantly abbreviating the intensity and/or duration of the crisis.

We will talk more about these strategies in later articles.

Devyn’s behavior peaked when she tore the paper from the packet, balled it up and threw it on the floor. While Devyn’s stay at the peak lasted mere seconds, for other students the peaks can last several minutes (or even hours).

Once her behavior peaked, Devyn then descended straight to the Valley. Typically, students will descend to the Valley more slowly. 

Though I did not catch it, her silence while working was a sign that she was in the Valley and not yet back at baseline. 

It is important to note that talking to the students about the behavior they are exhibiting or trying to speak about consequences before the cycle completes can serve as a second triggering event and restart the cycle all over again. Therefore, we should refrain from doing so until after the crisis resolves itself.

The escalation of Devyn’s behavior was a direct result of me speaking to her about consequences too soon. Even though she immediately calmed down and returned to work, she was in the Valley and so was not emotionally ready to have the conversation. 

Looking Beyond the Behavior

Unpredictability is a huge source of stress. This is even more true during a crisis event. 

This brief analysis of Devyn’s behavior shows us just how valuable a tool knowledge of The Crisis Cycle can be. 

Knowing and understanding the cycle can enable us to turn challenging, unpredictable moments into opportunities for us to demonstrate care and support for our students.

Additionally, The five phases of the cycle give us a framework through which we can not only react to behaviors in real time, but also reflect on our reactions after the crisis is over in order to improve future responses.

Luckily, while we cannot control every aspect of a crisis, we can influence how it unfolds through our actions and attitudes.

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That’s exactly why I started Project Behavior Change, a weekly newsletter designed to equip teachers with strategies that bring more calm, confidence, and consistency into their classrooms.

Each issue offers practical tools you can put into practice right away, helping you respond to crises with greater clarity and care.

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Until next time, be safe and be well!