Any of the elementary teachers out there having the same problem as me?

Question

I'm teaching 5th grade and for the most part I love it. It's only my first year teaching and things have started out well. Now, however, the children have become more lazy than they were in the fall. They are disrespectful and the majority of them just don't care.

I have trouble believing my students care about their work. I believe they lack any responsibility--and they're fine with it. It isn't just with me, the other three 5th grade teachers are finding the same thing.

What is wrong with today's youth? No respect for teachers or each other... I don't get it and I don't know what to do about it.

Answer 1

Be honest and firm with your students. Let them know that this behavior is unacceptable. If they don't do their homework, or they don't do a good job on their assignments, then have them lose privileges, such as staying in during recess to complete assignments. If your school uses detention, make sure that you are in detention, watching over your students as they complete the assignments and correct their poor work. Being there shows that you are there to make sure they succeed and that you won't accept less than their best. You can help to overcome any poor examples that they see at home or with their peers.

Answer 2

It could be one of two things, you could be pushing it to hard on them or the discipline has dropped.

you might be pushing it to hard if...
-you have yelled more than three times a day
-you have given long lexures of what will happen if you keep
doing an action
-you admeditly jump on a kid for doing something you didn't want

solution: tell the students that they will get five more minutes of recess when they behave. When your teaching try to keep lessons short and to the point.

You may have let you discipline down if...
-you have ever thought "I will just tell him after class about the gum..."
-you haven't changed you seating chart since winter break
-you ever let them change your mind for you

solution:Get all there parents contacts (email, cell phone etc.) and next time you catch a child misbehave a few times in a row,
call the parent. Like when the Europeans where taking over African slaves, only one had to die to give an example of what would happen to them if they disobeyed.

my last word of advice is that they are still ignorant. My fellow eight graders still think that teachers live at school(yeah right!).

Answer 3

I'm sure our predecessors felt the same way about us, but I've also heard some of them saying it's much worse now than in the past.

I honestly think it's a societal trend. Everything is handed to us- not just in school, but in the real world as well. Everything is catered to what we want. We can skip through the commericals on the 5 billion channels on our customized TVs and customize our ipods to only play what we want. Our food is fast and our cars keep getting bigger and fancier. There's no waiting around for that perfect song or that perfect meal. We get what we want when we want it. Our technological advances have allowed us to become lazy. It totally transfers into the classroom. Why try hard when we can just wait to be passed on to the next grade anyway?

The best solution I've seen for my own students (I teach 3rd grade, so I don't get the attitude quite as much as you) is to find ways to motivate them WITHOUT giving them tangible rewards. They've been motivated so much that they come to EXPECT rewards if we want them to work. It's also easier to get louder and angrier with them when they act like brats. I try to remind myself to get quieter rather than louder, and I try to be more matter-of-fact with my responses rather than "work things out" and let them talk back. This doesn't mean I don't explain why I do what I do. It just means it's not always up for discussion. I lay out my expectations, and most of them most of the time meet them. Good luck! The first year is always the hardest, so if you've made it this far, you'll do fine. :)

Answer 4

They have no respect because NO one gives them respect. They have no responsibility because NO one forces them to take it for themselves.

Give them respect treat them like an adult not a second rate citizen. Force them to take responsiblity. Do not worry about giveing F's . and call the parents 1/ month on your real problem kids. find out whats going on in their life, and show the kid you mean to help not hurt them.

Answer 5

im no teacher, but when i was in fifth grade, the students slacked off because of the examples set at home...
i remember asking a friend of mine why she was failing in class, and she told me that she didnt do her home work because her big brother didnt do his hw either...
and other times, students just did it to get on the teacher's nerves...