How do you discipline a 12 year old middle school er with a bad attitude?

Question

Im her teacher not her parent.

I have tryed everything!

Answer 1

Hello,
We all had such an experience. Years of teaching will help you cope with such kids right from the start, as it is true that once this attitude turns into a problem, you can't do many things.
I suggest that you talked to her parents about her attitude.
Also, reasons for misbehaving should differ from kid to kid, give details.
There are kids that if you show them who is the chief here, will stop right away.
There are also kids that need another treatment and unfortunately there are kids that you can't communicate with at all.
This last situation I am facing for the last two years, but I don't get worried.
I just ignore them and show them that I don't have any problem, THEY are the ones that have a problem and want to put me in their "play". That's their point.
They are adults and I'm a young in age teacher (32) that dresses herself like them. So, they want to torture me and they also tried to take all the class with their part.
But I didn't let them.
So, I am friendly to them as to all the others, don't try to communicate to them and don't give them opportunity to approach me. I am pleasant but keep distances.
I approach other kids from this class but when they are alone.
I don't say you should do this. Every case is different. Be careful, have faith in you and be aware that WE ARE TAUGHT BY OUR FAILURES.

Answer 2

It is essential that you open the lines of communication in your family with this child, and that you use rewards for good behavior and consequences for unacceptable behavior. The consequences could be not watching TV; not getting desert; not going out with friends one evening, not participating in a wanted activity and not using the computer for a hour, a day, or a week. For example, if you say to move a bike from the front lawn into the garage, and the child does not put the bike in the garage, you could say if I see the bike tomorrow I will give it to charity. Ofcourse, if the child fails to move the bike, you will have to give it to charity so make sure that you financially can afford to part with the items you are threatening to give away. Make a bad attitute unacceptable behavior and impose consequences. However, keep in mind that your blessed child is going through hormonal changes and the attitude may be part of those hormonal changes or just part of growing up. Therefore ask why the child has a bad attitude and perhaps you can resolve it that way. Always be kind, loving and respectful and I am sure it will work out for you.

Answer 3

My guess is that the student's parents and even other students feel the same way you do. It is hard when you get a student that has a chip on their shoulder the size of Mt. Rushmore and they will not respond to reasonable guidelines. Often the student is mad at the world or makes trouble for the teacher thinking the other students will admire them for their boldness. In truth, most students do not like that sort of behavior even if they may snicker at a 'point scored' by the student. The important thing is not to let the student's anger make you angry enough to lower yourself to their level of behavior. Remain the adult in the situation and keep your emotions under control as best you can.

Do you have a principal worth his or her salt? You should be able to set reasonable classroom guidelines that have teeth. You should be able to have a few in-class reinforcements to bring the student back in line, but also be able to transfer the issue to the principal's office if the student is ignoring those so you can get back to teaching. More than likely this student is a problem in other teacher's classrooms as well. Perhaps talk to a few of them to see if they have discovered something that works and at what point they send the student to the office (if they do).

You will learn a great deal by finding our how she behaves in other teacher's classrooms. I had a young boy, many years ago, that was my nightmare student. It had gotten to the point that I was begining to think about leaving the teaching position. If you told the class not to do something, you could see the wheels turning and plans being formed to do just the opposite just to goad me. But what I discovered was that he was perfectly fine when with men teachers and a tyrant in the classrooms of female teachers. I knew his parents personally and both were great parents. They had a younger son that was a real sweet-heart with the gentle, loving spirit of a lamb. The parents too found that he would respond to his father's firmness very positively but was very rebellious against his mother. Anyway, long story short, we all worked together to get him into as many classes with men teachers as we had options for. His father took the responsibility to hold his son accountable for treating his female teacher with respect. He actually took the initiative with the female teachers to personally check up on how his son was behaving. I had a male teacher that knew him volunteer to take him into his classroom to sit in a chair for punishment if he ignored my own punishments. That was really nice; though, I never had to resort to it once we all started working as a team. I wish I could say that I never had a bit of trouble with him after that, but it became manageable and my joy of teaching the class returned.

Good luck. You have my sympathies and hopes for a workable resolution.

Answer 4

Are you sure that you're a teacher? You spelled "tryed" wrong. It should be "tried." Aye-yi-yi.

Anyhoo...

1) Find someone or something that frightens them. Then exploit it. Example: scared of their granny. Call their granny and say, "this 'ere chile' deserves a whuppin!" You can't hurt him or her because of laws and other kaboodle but the granny can be like "pachaaaaw, I be whuppins out they stuffin!"

2) Find something that they love. Then exploit that. Example: they adore their cell phone. Say, "young man [or young lady], I saw you using that cell phone! Give it to me and you can have it back in June!" Then they're all like "noooooooooo I didn't even use it at alllllll boohoohoo" and you're like "whatev, if you're a good little boy [or girlygirl] then I shall spare you" and they're like "oh yes mistress whatever you say!!!" Voila.

Luv, ur gurl
Dr. Salsa Samwich, MD, PhD, Shoe Genie Extrordinaire

Answer 5

You are her teacher....First of all, you did not spell 'tried' right!!
In any event, you must seclude her from the other classmates. If she is 'giving' a bad attitude, ignore the fact and send her to an area where she/he is isolated, but still can be seen by all in her class. She either sits there or does her work, but don't give in. If this doesn't work, try another plan. The embarrassment of being ignored sometimes will make them start to behave in front of their peers. Good Luck.

Answer 6

I would say have a talk with her parent. Mabe something is happening at home that you dont know about. Get councling for her and see if you can find out whats wrong. Dont disipline her because that will make her want to do it more. Just ignore her if theres nothing fixible you can do about it.

Answer 7

Go and visit her at her house. Preferably unannounced. Make sure before hand that the parent is there. See her home - it could be rather a surprise to you. And help her and you to work together.

Answer 8

im a teacher myself..been teaching for 20years now..i shared the same situation sometimes..like most of your friends here says its true..isolating them actually not a hundred percent good for us nor the student..most student have their weakness and you to used it back against them and let them know whos the boss ..rather crude..but give a try..i f more..but wat the heck..u got nothing to loose..give me a buzz if u need more [e-mail]

Answer 9

reality check.
news papers.storys ,not ....
bad att.... ?
could be a different problem.you have not mentioned so I'm not here to create anything for you.more specifics may help.

Answer 10

You don't sound like you're a teacher.