The 5 Stages of Problem Behaviour

Masterclass with Sandeep Dutt 

To analyse the five stages of problem behaviour from The Courage to be Happy by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga.

Key Takeaways

• Problem behaviour escalates through 5 stages, each driven by a goal to secure a “special position” and rooted in a “love-starved” feeling.

• Rebuke is ineffective; it often reinforces the behaviour by fulfilling the student’s goal of being recognised, even when it’s negative.

• Intervention must match the stage: early stages respond to respect, while late stages require professional help.

• The teacher’s role is critical for prevention, as most problem behaviour stops at Stage 3 (Power Struggle).

Topics

The 5 Stages of Problem Behaviour

• Stage 1: Demand for Admiration

  • Goal: Gain praise and a privileged position.

  • Behaviour: Acting as the “good child” or “honour student.”

  • Risk: Motivation collapses without praise, leading to cheating.

  • Intervention: Show respect to convey inherent worth, focusing on small, everyday details.

• Stage 2: Attention Drawing

  • Goal: Stand out by any means when praise fails.

  • Behaviour:

    • Assertive: Mischief (e.g., noise, ridiculing) to be a “class clown.”

    • Passive: Dramatic drop in achievement (e.g., forgetting, crying).

  • Rationale: Prefers negative attention (rebuke) to being ignored.

  • Intervention: Convey worth through respect; this is the last stage where direct teacher intervention is effective.

• Stage 3: Power Struggle

  • Goal: Prove might through open resistance and disobedience.

  • Behaviour: Provocation, foul language, rule-breaking, or passive refusal to engage.

  • Teacher’s Trap: Reacting with anger creates a “racket of anger” that escalates the conflict.

  • Intervention: Get off the “court” immediately by refusing to engage in the power struggle.

• Stage 4: Revenge

  • Goal: Seek “love’s revenge” on those who wouldn’t provide love; seeks connection through hate.

  • Behaviour: Repeating disliked actions, stalking, self-harm, or social withdrawal.

  • Rationale: Accuses others (“it’s your fault”) and finds success in their worry.

  • Intervention: Requires an impartial third party (another teacher, parent, specialist) because the student will escalate behaviour with the original teacher.

• Stage 5: Proof of Incompetence

  • Goal: Announce incompetence to avoid further hurt and disappointment.

  • Behaviour: Despair, self-deprecation, lethargy, and rejection of all assignments.

  • Rationale: “Don’t expect anything from me.”

  • Intervention: Requires a specialist. This stage is difficult to reverse, even for professionals.

The Ineffectiveness of Rebuke

• The Cycle: Rebuke provides only temporary quiet. The teacher must constantly yell, proving that it is an ineffective educational tool.

• The Paradox: Problem behaviour often implies a wish to be rebuked, as it fulfils the goal of being recognised as “special.”

• The Deterrent Fallacy: Punishment fails as a deterrent in education because the student’s underlying goal is to be noticed, making the punishment itself a form of reward.

Next Steps

• All Participants:

  • Read the chapter “War vs Peace” from Wanted Backbencher Last Ranker Teacher by Kavita Ghosh.

• Sandeep Dutt:

  • Continue reading The Courage to be Happy on March 28, 2026 - VIOLENCE IN THE NAME OF COMMUNICATION

FATHOM AI-generated summary, read with care.

Embracing the Mess: Learning Through Productive Failure - Siddhartha Bachhar

 Assignment – 1

Embracing the Mess: The Power of Productive Failure in Learning

The sweet spot of learning is often nestled right in the messiness of struggle. Take math, for instance. Instead of handing students a formula on a platter, toss them into the deep end with a problem that demands that formula. They’ll flail, they’ll fail, but in that glorious mess, they’ll develop an intuition for the problem’s contours, a sense of what they’re missing. It’s like my engineering thesis all over again—the struggle was real, but the learning was pure gold.

Same deal with science experiments. Don’t give them the script; ask them to design the experiment. Let them trip over their own feet, make mistakes, and learn from the trenches. That’s where the real learning happens.

In the domain of creative writing, give students a prompt, let them write, and then hit them with some tough feedback. “This isn’t quite landing, is it?” Boom! Now they’re primed to absorb the techniques and structures that’ll take their writing to the next level. It’s not about teaching rules; it’s about solving problems they’ve encountered themselves.

Productive failure involves designing struggles that help students grow. Experts see deeper problem structures, while novices focus on surface-level aspects. Students design experiments, struggle with variables, and learn. Benefits include deeper understanding and resilience. The approach uses the Four A’s: Activation, Awareness, Affect, and Assembly. Teachers report impactful results, fostering growth and problem-solving skills. Struggles turn into real-life skills.

Assignment – 2

Three Mistakes in Traditional Learning and the Strategic Designs of Productive Failure

Three major failures of traditional learning approaches hinder deep, lasting knowledge acquisition.

The first failure is Failing to Remember (Retention). Learning focused on short-term memorization, like cramming for an exam, results in rapid forgetting over time, illustrating the Forgetting Curve. This knowledge is shallow and lacks the deep encoding required for long-term storage.

The second failure, Failing to Understand (Conceptual Grasp), occurs when learners master procedures without grasping the core concepts. For example, a student can calculate a value like standard deviation using a formula but cannot explain its meaning or real-world significance.

Finally, the most critical issue is Failing to Transfer (Application). Learners struggle to apply skills learned in one specific context (e.g., textbook physics problems) to new, non-routine scenarios (e.g., designing a device). The knowledge becomes “encapsulated” or trapped within its original domain, preventing its flexible application to novel problems.

Here comes the powerful strategic intervention of Productive Failure.

Productive Failure (PF): Reversing the Learning Sequence for Deep Understanding

Productive Failure is a strategic educational intervention that reverses the traditional learning sequence to foster deeper conceptual learning and knowledge transfer.

It operates in two phases:

Problem Solving (Struggle): Learners first tackle a complex, novel problem, generating various suboptimal solutions and failing to find the canonical answer.

Instruction (Consolidation): Explicit instruction follows, assembling the generated attempts into the correct, canonical conceptual knowledge.

This initial struggle is strategic, priming the mind through the Four A’s: Activation of prior knowledge, Awareness of knowledge gaps, positive Affect (curiosity), and the Assembly of fragmented ideas into a coherent model. Productive Failure ensures learning is robust by making failure a prerequisite for effective instruction.

Assignment – 3

Tapping into the Learning Potential of Situational Interest

An excellent example of situational interest can be presented with the matchstick puzzle.

The challenge is to move exactly one matchstick from an arrangement of “1 2 3 4” to reverse the order to “4 3 2 1.” Many people find this problem difficult to solve immediately. The video explains that even if you can’t find the solution, the very act of trying multiple moves and failing to find the correct one piques your interest and curiosity.

In this scenario, the uncertainty of not knowing the solution, combined with the challenge of the puzzle, triggers a temporary but strong desire to discover the answer. This immediate, context-bound arousal of interest is what the video refers to as situational interest.

Another example is a science class where the teacher wants to introduce the concept of density. Instead of starting with a lecture or definition, the teacher places several objects (a large wooden block, a small metal ball, a plastic toy, etc.) and a tub of water on a table. The teacher then simply asks the students, “Predict which of these objects will float and which will sink when placed in the water, and why?”

Students, having no prior instruction on density, will likely make predictions based on size or weight, which might not always be accurate. When they test their predictions and see some unexpected results—a small metal object sinking quickly, while a larger wooden object floats—their curiosity is immediately piqued due to the uncertainty and the defiance of their initial expectations. This “aha!” moment of disconfirmation creates a strong situational interest, making them highly motivated and curious to learn the actual scientific principles behind why objects float or sink.

Assignment – 4

A Multi-layered Approach to Maximize Learning and Embrace Productive Failure

A fundamental principle is minimizing computational load by simplifying tasks and calculations. This allows learners to concentrate on core concepts rather than complexity.

The second core area is designing your participation. This involves strategically choosing when to work alone and when to collaborate. Forming study groups, joining online forums, and attending workshops are suggested for building a strong support network. Preparation is key before any group activity to maximize benefits and activate prior knowledge.

Two powerful strategies for self-facilitation are introduced. Explaining a concept as if teaching it to someone else forces mental organization, identifies knowledge gaps, and strengthens memory. Hacking involves deliberately trying to find flaws or “break” an idea to understand its boundaries and improve its robustness. However, the video cautions that Productive Failure itself fails when badly designed.

Finally, the importance of designing your safe space for learning is emphasized. This environment treats mistakes as learning opportunities, fostering a growth mindset. Key elements include setting achievable goals, valuing effort over outcome, seeking feedback, and building support networks. While preparation is vital, the video acknowledges the role of luck through unexpected opportunities.

The main takeaway is a three-layered framework for Productive Failure: Task, Participation, and Social Surround/Safe Space.

Assignment – 5

“Embracing the Mess: Unlocking Learning through Productive Failure”

Productive Failure is an approach where students struggle and fail before receiving direct instruction, leading to deeper conceptual understanding and better learning transfer. It requires a mindset shift for teachers, moving from a “teach-first” to a “try-first” model. The approach involves designing problems that activate students’ prior knowledge and intuitions, even if it leads to failure, helping them recognize knowledge gaps and driving motivation.

The process is structured around the Four A’s: Activation, Awareness, Affect, and Assembly. Teachers play a crucial role in designing effective activation protocols and guiding students through the assembly phase. By embracing Productive Failure, teachers can foster growth, resilience, and problem-solving skills in students. This approach turns struggles into real-life skills, making learning more effective and meaningful. It’s about being curious, brave, and willing to get messy. By doing so, students develop a deeper understanding and become better equipped to tackle complex problems.

Siddhartha Bachhar

Sunbeam Suncity School

Productive Failure in Primary Classrooms: A Practical Exploration Across Grades 1 to 5 - Shivangi Gupta

Assignment 1

Applying “Post-Failure Consolidation” – Class 1 Writing (Describing a Picture)

Section Chosen

“Post-Failure Consolidation” – The book explains that the teacher’s role after failure is crucial for consolidating learning.

Classroom Context

• Grade: 1

• Subject: Writing

• Topic: Picture Description

• Duration: 30 minutes

Objective

To examine how guided consolidation helps very young students after initial struggle.

Classroom Experience

1. Exploration Phase

I showed a picture of a playground and asked students to “write 2–3 lines about what they see.”

Without any support, students struggled:

• Some wrote only single words (“slide,” “kids”).

• Many stared at the picture, unsure.

• A few attempted unrelated sentences.

• Some copied from friends.

2. Instructional Phase

Then I guided them step by step:

• Identify objects.

• Use “I can see…” sentence frame.

• Add action words: playing, running, sliding.

3. Reflection Phase

Students rewrote their descriptions with better clarity.

They proudly compared both versions and noticed improvement.

Analysis

The post-failure guidance was the most powerful moment. Students connected their attempts with the structured model.

Connection to the Book

Kapur emphasises that the consolidation phase transforms failure into deep learning by giving structure to earlier attempts.

Assignment 2

Applying “Designing for Complexity” – Class 2 Reading (Sequencing Events)

Section Chosen

“Designing for Complexity” – Kapur describes how tasks should be challenging enough to cause struggle but not impossible.

Classroom Context

• Grade: 2

• Subject: Reading

• Topic: Sequencing events in a story

• Duration: 35 minutes

Objective

To see how young learners respond to a slightly complex reading task that encourages struggle.

Classroom Experience

1. Exploration Phase

I gave students five mixed-up sentences from a story about a boy losing and finding his pencil.

Without teaching sequencing, I asked them to arrange the story correctly.

Responses:

• Many arranged events randomly.

• Some put the ending at the beginning.

• A few drew pictures to understand the flow.

• They discussed possibilities and tried again.

The struggle was genuine but productive.

2. Instructional Phase

I explained sequencing using:

• Words like first, then, after that, and finally.

• Clear examples.

• A visual timeline.

3. Reflection Phase

Students re-did the task, now correctly ordering events.

They enjoyed comparing their earlier “funny” sequences with improved ones.

Analysis

A simple but deliberately complex task pushed students to think logically before instruction.

Connection to the Book

This aligns with Kapur’s principle that well-designed complexity fosters deeper understanding.

Assignment 3

Applying “The Role of Prior Knowledge in Productive Failure” – Class 4 Reading Comprehension

Section Chosen

“The Role of Prior Knowledge in Productive Failure” – Kapur explains that allowing students to activate and use whatever prior knowledge they have—even if incomplete—helps them construct deeper understanding through struggle.

Classroom Context

• Grade: 4

• Subject: Reading

• Topic: Inferring Character Traits

• Duration: 40 minutes

Objective

To explore how activating incomplete prior knowledge before instruction helps students develop inferential reading skills.

Classroom Experience

1. Exploration Phase

I read aloud a short text from a story about a girl who refuses to share her toys.

Without explaining “character traits,” I asked students:

“What kind of person do you think she is? Why?”

Students relied on whatever knowledge they already had:

• Some said she was “rude” or “selfish,” but could not justify.

• Some confused feelings and traits: “She is angry because she doesn’t want to share.”

• Others gave unrelated answers.

Students struggled, debated, and offered guesses—valuable signs of activation of prior knowledge.

2. Instructional Phase

After collecting diverse responses, I taught:

• Meaning of character traits.

• Difference between feelings vs. traits.

• How to use evidence (“because she…”).

I modelled two examples from the text.

3. Reflection Phase

Students revisited their earlier answers; most improved them using evidence from the story.

They realised their first attempts were incomplete but helpful.

Analysis

Students’ incomplete prior knowledge helped trigger curiosity and deeper reasoning. Their initial misconceptions became learning points during instruction.

Connection to the Book

Kapur states that using prior knowledge—even incorrect—creates cognitive readiness for learning. This was clearly visible in the classroom

Assignment 4

Applying “The Role of Collaboration in Productive Failure” – Class 5 Writing (Dialogue Writing)

Section Chosen

“The Role of Collaboration in Productive Failure” – Kapur emphasizes how peer interaction during failure generates more ideas and richer solutions.

Classroom Context

• Grade: 5

• Subject: Writing

• Topic: Dialogue Writing

• Duration: 40 minutes

Objective

To observe how group struggle improves understanding of conversational writing.

Classroom Experience

1. Exploration Phase

I gave students a picture of two children debating whether school should have more sports periods.

In groups of 3, I asked:

“Write the dialogue happening between them.”

Students immediately began discussing loudly:

• Some wrote full sentences instead of dialogue format.

• Others used no punctuation.

• Groups debated what the characters might say.

• Mistakes were many, but thinking was active.

2. Instructional Phase

After 10 minutes, I taught proper dialogue rules:

• Quotation marks.

• Commas.

• New line for each speaker.

I then showed how natural conversations move: agreement, disagreement, questions.

3. Reflection Phase

Groups compared their before-and-after versions.

They laughed at earlier errors but recognised how collaboration helped generate ideas faster.

Analysis

Collaboration created lively debate, shared knowledge, and peer correction—even before instruction.

Connection to the Book

Kapur argues that collaboration amplifies productive failure by exposing students to multiple perspectives. The activity matched this perfectly.

Assignment 5

Classroom Case Study: Applying Productive Failure in Story Writing (Class 3)

Section Chosen from Productive Failure

“Designing Tasks for Productive Failure” – This section emphasises creating tasks that are complex and open-ended enough to challenge students, allowing them to explore, make mistakes, and construct understanding before explicit instruction.

Classroom Context

• Grade: 3

• Subject: English Writing

• Topic: Story Writing (creating a short story with a beginning, middle, and end)

• Duration: 40 minutes

Objective

To explore how students engage with an open-ended story-writing task before receiving formal guidance, and how productive struggle contributes to creativity, problem-solving, and structured writing.

Classroom Experience

Exploration Phase (Task Design)

I introduced the lesson with an imaginative prompt:

“Imagine a day when your pet could talk. Write a story about what happens.”

I intentionally avoided step-by-step instructions on story structure, character development, or linking events.

My goal was to encourage students to think independently and explore multiple possibilities, even if they made mistakes.

Students were provided paper, pencils, and a quiet environment, with one instruction:

“Try your best, and don’t worry if it’s not perfect. Explore your ideas and see where they take you.”

Student Response

During the first 15 minutes, students responded in varied ways:

• Some wrote only a few sentences, pausing frequently.

• A few jumped into dialogue without context.

• Several drew pictures first to visualise the sequence.

• Peer discussion emerged naturally with imaginative ideas.

The struggle was productive—students were generating ideas, experimenting with structure, and showing creativity.

Instructional Phase (Guided Learning)

After 15 minutes, I addressed common challenges:

• Organising ideas logically (beginning, middle, end).

• Using transitional words.

• Including actions, feelings, and setting.

I modelled a short story based on a student’s idea, highlighting:

• Clear structure.

• Linking words (then, suddenly, finally).

• Emotions and actions to enrich characters.

Students then revised or expanded their stories using these strategies.

Reflection Phase

Students compared their first attempts with the revised versions:

• They noticed improved clarity and organisation.

• Many expressed that struggling first helped them create better stories.

• Peer sharing revealed diverse and creative ideas.

Observation and Analysis

• The initial struggle encouraged idea exploration without fear of being “wrong.”

• Collaboration and independent thinking enhanced creativity and problem-solving.

• Guided instruction after exploration led to meaningful consolidation.

• Students developed structured writing skills that immediate instruction would not have produced.

Connection to Productive Failure

Kapur states that open-ended, challenging tasks foster deeper understanding by allowing students to grapple with complexity.

Here, the initial struggle led to experimentation, critical thinking, and self-reflection, making later instruction more impactful.

Conclusion

Applying productive failure in story-writing supports creativity, problem-solving, and structured writing in primary students.

Designing tasks that allow initial exploration followed by targeted guidance leads to deeper learning and empowers students to take ownership of the writing process.

Shivangi Gupta,  Sunbeam School Indiranagar

Anger is a tool for power struggles, not a spontaneous emotion.

Read And Lead - Sandeep Dutt’s Masterclass 2026

Discussing Adlerian psychology on competition, anger, and life tasks.

Key Takeaways

• Life is not a competition against others; it's a pursuit of superiority over one's past self. Comparing yourself to others creates an enemy mindset, preventing genuine happiness.

• Anger is a tool for power struggles, not a spontaneous emotion. To de-escalate, disengage from provocation and use language to communicate, as anger clouds judgment and leads to poor decisions.

• All problems are interpersonal. Adler's "life tasks" (work, friendship, love) are unavoidable relationships that require courage to face. Avoiding them is the root of unhappiness.

• A "tree with solid roots" is a metaphor for resilience. It stands firm against storms (life's challenges) by being deeply rooted in its own values, embodying the "courage to be disliked."

Topics

Review of "Second Night" with a review of the session. The session began with a review of blog reflections on the "Second Night" chapter.

• Shalini Gupta's reflection: Interpersonal problems stem from comparison. A healthy feeling of inferiority (vs. an ideal self) drives improvement, while an inferiority complex (vs. others) is destructive.

• Akanksha's 10 insights (read by Shalini Singh): Key points included changing the meaning of weaknesses, understanding arrogance as pain, and recognizing that true confidence is quiet.

Life Is Not a Competition

• The group read the chapter "Life is not a competition."

• Adler's "pursuit of superiority": This is a forward-moving mindset, not a competitive one. The goal is to progress past your past self, not to be better than others.

• Equality vs. Sameness: People are not the same (in knowledge, experience, etc.) but are fundamentally equal in value.

• The "Enemy" Mindset: Competition turns others into rivals, creating a "perilous" world view. This prevents genuine celebration of others' happiness.

• The "Tree with Solid Roots" Metaphor: A tree with deep roots withstands any storm. This symbolizes the resilience gained by being rooted in one's own values, embodying the "courage to be disliked."

From Power Struggle to Revenge

• The group read the chapter "You are the only one worrying about your appearance," which details the escalation of conflict.

• Personal Anger vs. Righteous Indignation:

  • Personal Anger: A tool to make others submit.

  • Righteous Indignation: A logical response to injustice, not a personal grudge.

• The Escalation Cycle:

  1. Power Struggle: A challenge to prove dominance.

  2. Revenge: The next stage if one party "wins." The loser seeks retaliation in another form.

     • Example: A child's problem behavior (e.g., self-harm) is a goal-oriented act of revenge to upset parents, not a direct result of past trauma.

• Breaking the Cycle:

  • Disengage: Step down from power struggles immediately.

  • Use Language: Communicate logically instead of relying on anger.

  • Admit Mistakes: This is not defeat; it's a sign of strength that allows for correct choices.

The Life Tasks

• The group read the chapter "All problems are interpersonal relationship problems."

• The "Courage to be Happy": The inability to see others as comrades stems from a lack of courage to face life's tasks.

• Adler's Life Tasks: Three unavoidable categories of interpersonal relationships:

  1. Work: Relationships with the lowest hurdles, focused on a common goal. Avoiding these tasks leads to issues like NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training).

  2. Friendship

  3. Love

• The Core Issue: It is not the work itself that is disagreeable, but the fear of criticism and the injury to one's dignity from others.

Next Steps

• Sandeep Dutt: Share meeting notes and recording.

• All Participants:

  • Attend the Brewing Knowledge Friday Meet and Greet with author Dr. Manu Kapoor on Friday, Nov 28, at 5:30 PM.

  • Prepare questions for Dr Kapoor, including those related to Adlerian psychology.

  • The link will be shared in the group.