Any tips for controlling the misbehavior of small children at school?

Question

As a substitute teacher, I incur the misbehavior of many a child. I was hoping you might be able to offer some advice as far as handling a child's misbehavior (i.e., sitting still, staying quiet, to stop pushing and shoving). What are the tricks of the trade?

Answer 1

You need to be at their level when you talk to them.
When telling them something, always kneel down to eye level.

Always explain why something was wrong for example-
"Brandon, why did you hit Katie?"
"Because she took my crayons"
"You know it's not ok to hit others right?, I know you don't really like to hurt your friends. I think you hurt Katie's feelings. It would make me and Katie feel better if you said sorry. If it happens again, you are going to have to go to timeout"

That way you have given them the chance to make it right, its not just straight punishment.
As far as punisment does go- Create a specific place in the room just for timeout, with nothing fun or interesting NEAR that place. Have a timer that goes off when they are allowed to leave timeout.
Create a "good manners chart" in the class. Everytime you hear someone using good manners...acknoledge them in front of the others and put a sticker on the chart...once they reach a certain number have an ice cream party or a movie day the next time you are there. Just because you are a sub doesn't mean you can't build a solid teaching relationship with students. Doing these things will make them remember you the next time you teach.

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

First, if he's the only child of a stay-at-home mom who is "targeted", I think you need to drop your claim that the school is targeting him because you don't work outside the home. I am amazed at the number of parents who are completely anti-school and are sure their child is targeted by these cruel adults. My question is "why?" Why would an adult choose a career where they will be underappreciated and REALLY underpaid if they don't care about children, unless they just figure the school atmosphere would be most likely to provide them more innocent children to prey on and torment in their sadistic ways? Keep in mind, my son IS the hard-to-handle one in his class. His teacher, the counselor and the principal all said we should sit down and have a talk and try to come up with a plan of action because he's having trouble and he's causing problems for the other 19 children in his class. See that's the thing. Your child is allowed to have his issues about wanting to be the center of attention and the usual issues of adjusting, but it's the last day of October, he's had time to adjust, and the school is obligated to act in a way that is in the best interests of the majority of the students. That means that it's unreasonable to suggest that THEY need to adjust to your son's issues if he is disrupting the entire class. Now, I get that it's difficult and that children should be dealt with supportively and stuff, but personal experience has shown ME that a child can often adjust more quickly and more completely if the people in their lives are not in a constant clash. Since we've worked WITH the school, my son is really adjusting well and there is truly a partnership between my husband and I, and his teacher and the school. Maybe if you take a step back and re-evaluate your claims that everyone has it out for your five- or six-year-old, you may be able to prioritize and have some clout when you go to them to address REAL problems. For example, the deal with the bus. That's a real problem. If he's supposed to be dropped off at a side street instead of the main highway, you need to fight to get them to do it right. But as long as you are making a big issue about how they are racist and they are targeting your son because you are a stay-at-home mom and everything else, any legitimate complaint you make will probably not be taken as seriously. No, it should not be that way, but that is often the case. Whatever, I know you're going to thumbs-down me, and I don't care. This is getting ridiculous.

Answer 3

The important thing is to begin on a firm note. Tell them what you expect of them, then don't give them a chance to misbehave. Have a definite plan for those who do misbehave, time-outs, missing a center-time, loss of privileges, whatever the school usually allows.
Children who are engaged in the learning seldom think about misbehaving, they just don't have time.
If the regular teachers are leaving less than stimulating lessons, you might develop some ideas of your own to use in a pinch. Try researching some websites that have materials for the grade levels you teach, and take along some interesting lessons, books or activities to use if you have extra time.
You might discuss a behavior journal with the teachers you work with, placing stars or checks next to children's names during the class. Children generally model what they see, and will often rise to the expectations of a teacher, substitute or not.

Answer 4

Start the class with a talk about the kids being good. Tell them that for being good there will be rewards and for being bad there will be repercussions. If the children are bad they have to get detention if they are good they can get some treat you could bring something or give them an extra credit or something. i remeber in school when a substitue was there the kids would act horrible the whole class and the poor teacher did not do anything about it.

Answer 5

You want to be strict, but complementary at the same time, this way they'll see that you're a good teacher. Usually say funny things that stop and get their attention too. To stop them from pushing and shoving, you should seperate the ones who are pushing and shoving. Thats what an old substitute of mine did when I was in about the 2nd grade. Wow, thinking of that makes me feel old, when Im not.

Answer 6

as long as these children are 5 or 6 distraction is stil your best defence. tough dicipline at school in the early years can set them up to hate school in the future, school should still be a haven for the young ones. make they day fun, they play up for a sub teacher cos your something new to test. use a reward system rather than a dicipline system, they will soon catch on. also make ure they have some physical education to look forwrad to in the aternoon. and just make sure you take control right frm the start so they know you mean business

Answer 7

First thing to remember is that these behaviors are normal for kids. Kids will not sit still and stay quiet.

Get them involved so their energy is channeled in a positive direction.

Find the better teachers at your school and sit in on their class as an observer. See how they conduct crowd control.

Don't get discouraged.

Answer 8

Kids got short attention spans, remember to only do something for 10 minutes or so. Also those kids that misbehave need positive reinforcment. So reward good behavior even something simple like helping pass out papers. Kids feel important when they get to help. Remind them that their behavior is not good but don't spend too much time on that because bad attention is better than no attention.

Answer 9

CANDY AND BRIVES!! IF the class is good give them a small candy at the end of the day. Or take there breaks away. Or you can also say you'll gice more homework, it worked for my class. Don't do anything that can get the parentsmad because thats a ship you dont want to sail.

Answer 10

the trick to dealing with all of these problems is to tell the kids that the one who behaves the best gets a reward at the end. this makes them all want to be better then the other, and do what they are told. give out rewards like pencils and small stuff like that.