those pesky kids part 2?

Question

I'm sorry to ask another question on this topic, but it's something that's really depressing, upsetting and disturbing me. So helpful/sensible suggestions only please.
I'm teaching english as a foreign lang. It's going ok, but I have some serious issues with my teenage group. They are aged 12-13ish. In short, I'm losing control of the group. They're perpetually dicking around, even one of my colleagues heard it from an adjacent room. I've tried some tricks such as those suggested in my prev. quest, but I feel I'm losing them, I feel humiliated and intimidated by them, and put simply, I'm scared.
You may ask why don't I raise it with my bosses which i've sort of done, but 1) it's a business (priv. lang sch) and they're really interested in bottom line 2) the woman that manages us is just a really horrible person, we're pretty unanimous on that and I fear her even more than the kids!
So my question: what can I do to alleviate the situation short of resiging (and then being out of work)

Answer 1

yelling is not the answer. i would start the next actual day that you work with a whole new world for them. anyone who disrupts loses your respect and your time. you will then ignore them until they are ready to work. i would put the students who deserve your time and effort first and give the ones that don't the grades they deserve because they cannot focus on school. this is not a daycare. assure them that when the work is done the fun can begin and you will give them several choices on how to have fun. reward those that deserve it while the others are forced to watch. this is your classroom. own it. make the rewards something to work for and be excited about. i would again approach your principal with the fact that some students are being robbed of an education because of others and ask them what you can do in order to keep your classroom a learning environment during the really out of control situations.

Answer 2

Ultimately, classroom discipline is your problem and no-one elses.
You must be prepared to make a long-term effort to enforce your discipline. This will involve spending a lot of time dealing with miscreants yourself and spending more time ensuring that you are thoroughly organised.
Do not punish a group/class for the bad behaviour of an individual because this will lead to resentment and make matters worse.
Make use of accurate seating plans. Pencil in the names so that you can move pupils around as necessary. You MUST learn their names. Identify the initial wrong-doer and focus on that instance. Make use of the full range of sanctions available within the school.
Do not use classwork or homework as a punishment. This promotes the message that study is a punishment.
Usually the most unpleasant sanction for a pupil is to lose their playtime with their mates. They will have to spend time under your direct supervision isolated from their peers. You may end up with several pupils at these times.
If your school allows it, phone the childs parents during the school day, have the child nearby and get them to report their behaviour and punishment to their parent. Write to the parents briefly stating the problem and the punishment. Record everything (and keep copies). Inform the childs pastoral tutor.
You will have to work very hard at this; be consistent, be fair, be professional - and do not give in.

Answer 3

I looked back at part one and saw that you are not in the U.S. Pardon my ignorance of your teaching situation, but I will tell you what I have done in this situation and perhaps you can generalize it to help you. Two weeks ago, you were concerned about a couple of students and now it seems that you are losing ground. I have been teaching for 19 years and still have nightmares about losing control of my students in class. You are only one person in a crowd of students and the age group is already quite a rambunctious group. They can already tell that you are getting more and more upset. They know that the more unruly that they get, the less work you can cover. With that said, you have already given the answer in your question. This is a private language school. Parents are undoubtedly paying to have the students there to learn. You should let the students know that you have tried to be patient and have decided that enough is enough. You do not have to tolerate their behavior in a class that is being paid for by parents. Point out to them that they are taking the education of others...they are "stealing" time away from students who have paid for this course and you will not tolerate it anymore. At my school, we have a discipline policy that allows teachers to "write up" students with the office for misbehaving. About five years ago, we had one of those kinds of years and the kids were just awful. I tried all of the things that usually work with students. Finally, I just wrote up an entire stack of discipline forms for the entire class. I simply left the date open. Each student knew that the form was waiting. I just pointed at him or her and said, "Leave." They would take the form and go to the office. While they were gone, I would write another one as I continued teaching and never missed a beat. It took two weeks of this before they realized that I wasn't going to stop until they were gone. You shouldn't have to deal with this in a private school. The administration...although probably quite strict....would respect you more if you let them know that you are going to teach these students...one way or another. Good luck!

Answer 4

You obviously get on with your colleagues, even if you do not get on with the head. Why not ask them what they do!

Stand your ground. Do not be talked round. Use the punishments you are allowed to use (eg detentions, writing to parents and so on). Basically, you need to be strong. Children are like animals - they can smell fear! There is normally a ringleader - do you know who that is? Give class punishments (if you are allowed) - if they misbehave, they miss a breaktime - this works best if your lesson is the one before break, however. Your head must be aware of the problems you are having. Give her a plan of campaign. Explain that you want your class to do well as that will reflect well on the school, giving the parents the value for money they want. And that you want to give things like detentions.

One of my teachers (okay, so I am an old fogey!) used to put the fear of God into us by throwing tests at us. The results were sent to the parents! They are paying for results, after all!

You seem to suggest that you are teaching other groups as well - is it worth asking them what you should do? Perhaps set them a homework assignment of writing an essay on what to do with difficult classes - you could also do this for the difficult class and see what ideas they come up with! And if they do not do the homework, you have a good reason for punishment!

I presume you are only having problems with one class. If that is the case, then do not panic - you must be doing something right!

Keep your chin up!

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Hi there, I really feel for you as I have been in a similar situation myself in the past. Some coping strategies include:

Positive reinforcement, ie rewarding good behaviour and ignoring bad behaviour. Give attention to the good pupils and try to ignore the irritating ones until they actually contribute positively, at which point you include them with great enthusiasm. (Yes it's all an act, teaching is an act.)

Giving responsibility. Take one or two of the ringleaders of the "bad" group into your confidence. Tell them you need their help and you are going to entrust them with a great responsibility. Then ask them to try to keep some of their pals on-track in lesson time, because they are failing very badly and you don't want them to fail the course. Appeal to them to help you. A lot of apparently unruly kids will respond very positively to this kind of approach, especially if you give the role a title such as "classroom warden" or whatever, have regular feedback meetings with them, reward them when everything goes well (chocs, a fancy coffee from Starbucks or something) and ask them what went wrong from their perspective when things do not go well.

You can't raise it with your bosses, but you can raise it with your peers. Is there anyone who gets along with these kids better than you do? What's their trick? Most teachers are happy to help and advise one another.

Do interesting stuff in the class as a reward for good behaviour. For example, come in one day with some unusual foods for them to taste and to learn the names of. If they are enthusiastic about that, say you will do something esle like that in two weeks if they behave and work hard. Or let them bring in their music, play it and discuss what they like and dislike about it - in English of course.

At the end of the day, this kind of situation can be very stressful and it might be a good thing for you to look for another job. I don't want to sound defeatist, but I think if you are not really cut out for teaching then it is as well to recognise it and get into another career rather than struggling on for years in misery. You don't have to resign and be out of work, you can be looking for another job whilst continuing to teach for now. You will feel better knowing that you are taking positive steps to remove yourself from the situation at work and you need not resign until you have secured another post.

Answer 7

Have you spoken with your colleagues, if school itself doesn't help maybe other teachers can. Talk with the previous teacher and ask him flat out how to cope with that group, at least you won't feel as isolated. This site has links on classroom management that helped me a lot when I had to deal with teenagers:
http://drwilliampmartin.tripod.com/classm.html
Hope it helps, and Good Luck!

Answer 8

Have you seen the movie Dangerous Minds?
Try rewarding the good behavior.

Answer 9

start doing as they r doing and throw a tantrum and show that u r not to be fooled around with

Answer 10

Beat them with a big stick... and when you've finished with them, beat their parents.