My Classroom Management » Disruptive students

Verbal Wisecracks at the Teacher

jenniferw — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:10:36 +0000

I was asked how to handle the student discipline issue of verbal wisecracks directed at the teacher. While I do not want to sound like a broken record, the first and most important issue at stake here is what is motivating the behavior of the individual student. So let’s think it through a little and see if we can’t get to the bottom and help solve this problem.

First, is it one student or a group of students behaving this way? I would be willing to bet that if it is a whole group of students, either they are simply trying to push your buttons and are ganged up together, or one student started it and the others are simply following the same path (in which case, you need to figure out who started it because that’s where the discipline problem started).

Now, assuming you want to know how to eliminate the problem rather than just responding to the problem, here are some steps to take:

Reflect Before Reacting

Before addressing an ongoing behavior such as verbal wisecracks, sit down in that student’s seat after class is out and reflect. Survey the classroom from the student’s perspective, know who is sitting where, think about what it is you know about the student’s home life and any other factors that impact the student’s life: subject matter, difficulty level, any special needs, any problems with friends, girl problems, boy problems, puberty, parental issues, poverty level, etc.

Now think about – and write down – the details of the situation in question. What was going on? What happened in the classroom directly prior to the behavior? Many times you can follow the behavior backwards and see a root cause.

Possible Behavior Triggers

A behavior trigger is something that causes a behavior to occur. This might be emotional stress (parents splitting up, verbal/physical abuse at home, bullying), academic stress (not comprehending the subject, difficulty keeping up in class, special needs) or a more tangible cause (being told an answer was wrong in front of the class, being laughed at for academic efforts by other students).

Identifying the possible behavior triggers for a student who is directing wise cracks at a teacher is an important first step towards eliminating the issue. My guess without knowing more about the situation, is that a student who is talking back to a teacher is either under academic stress (probably having a hard time keeping up) or is under some kind of emotional stress.

Having a better idea of what is triggering the behavior will give you a place to start helping the student.

How To Respond?

Solving the underlying problem is the hard part. Responding to the wisecracks is often the easy part. Initially, simply ignore the comments. They are likely meant to get you riled up, so not responding is likely to help in the long run (although it may also cause them to get worse before better, see ignoring the behavior).

If the comments include swear words, here is an idea for how to deal with cursing in the classroom.

The bottom line: you are the adult, so use self-control and respond with maturity and restraint. Then, figure out what is causing the behavior and work to fix the underlying problems because all behavior has some sort of trigger. That does not make the behavior correct, but simply disciplining for a behavior will not eliminate the behavior if you are not also working to correct the trigger.

How to Manage Cursing in the Classroom

jenniferw — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:09:35 +0000

Cursing, swearing, bad language, however you phrase it, the words that fly out of a child’s mouth can be filthy and inappropriate in so many ways. Many would be stunned at the words children say – as young as preschool and kindergarten – but teachers often have gotten to where nothing surprises them anymore.

How to discourage cursing in the classroom can be a tricky issue because usually at the root of the foul language, are emotions that are raging out of control. These words are the way their parents and friends have taught them to handle these crazy feelings and they know no other way.

Because of this, calling home or sending a note home is likely to fall on deaf ears, or in the worst case scenario, you’ll hear worse language through the phone in response to your interruption of the parent’s life.

Instead, it is time for you to step up and take the place of the parent and teach the child how to manage their emotions. The positive thing about kids who swear in the classroom is that they are willing to let their emotions out – providing a platform for teaching, whereas students who keep everything bottled inside often fly under the radar and are many times not helped.

Action Point for Curbing Swear Words in the Classroom

It’s time to break out those dictionaries and begin expanding the vocabulary of the students in your class. Start by translating the phrases that the student uses. Often, over time, this can solve the problem all by itself. Here’s an illustration:

Mrs. Smith “please put your pencil down, it is time to clean up and go to specials”

Student:”x8(3#^&@!(“

Mrs. Smith (DO NOT REACT TO THE SWEAR WORDS!!!! STAY CALM!!): “Mrs. Smith! I wasn’t finished yet! I hate it when you don’t give me enough time to finish what I was working on! (PAUSE) I’m sorry Johnnie, I understand that it is frustrating, why don’t you bring your lunch back to the classroom and I’ll help you finish so that you can go out to recess with your friends.”

This is just one example, and probably a poor one, but the point is to translate what the student said into something more appropriate, then respond to the frustration. This might increase the language problem at first, but one teacher has told me that over time in her classroom, the language slowly gave way to more appropriate exclamations of frustration. This then gave her the opportunity to better understand her students and how to help them.

You can also give the student a dictionary when they use a choice word and instruct him or her to come up with an alternative. Make the assignment non-negotiable, but consider giving extra credit if the student can find a way to use the new word in context.

Any other ideas for curbing a cursing tongue in the classroom?

Don’t Lock the kid in the closet

jenniferw — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:57:54 +0000

In college, I had a wonderful professor who was able to provide the most hilarious and serious illustrations for the most important lessons. I would like to share with you her story about following through and the importance in the classroom.

The Lesson: Follow up on what you say, always and without fail. This will give you leverage for obedience later in the year.

The Story: (and I apologize, because I will not be able to do it justice as it has been many years since I heard this story).

There was one boy in her class, you know the type, the one who always knew how to push her buttons no matter what. Well, it was almost lunchtime, so she was sending the students to the coat closet to retrieve their lunches 2 at a time. Each time, there was a commotion in the closet and she soon realized it was because this kid was in the closet, waiting for his classmates to open the door, just to scare them.

At this point, most of the class had their lunches, so it was her turn to be the surprise. She walked calmly to the back of the room, opened the closet door and was greeted by the student who assumed he was going to surprise yet another student. Well he was the one who received the surprise as the teacher simply told him to stay in the closet and closed the door.

The class resumed calm quickly at this point and the young teacher promptly forgot about the student in the closet. She lined an obedient class up for lunch, went down to the lunch room, took the class out for recess afterwards and went back to the classroom for afternoon classes when she suddenly remembered, and was horrified.

She quickly retrieved her student, who was waiting, scared, in the closet still, got someone to cover her class quick and marched the student down to her principals office. (keep in mind this was probably 20 years ago but still not so long ago that parents wouldn’t be a problem and the teacher was sure her short career in teaching was now over.)

She told the student to wait outside the office while she went in and explained what happened, mortified and apologetic. The principal brought the student in, asked him what he had done to deserve his punishment, got a promise that he would not act up again and then went to the kitchen to find him some lunch.

After school was over for the day, the teacher sat in the coat closet with the door closed and cried. She kept her job and never again forgot about any student. But, as she told us, she knew that if she ever threatened to put a student in the closet for misbehaving, the student would believe her because she had done it once!

By following through on consequences, students will learn to believe you, but please, don’t lock anyone in a closet!

Maintain Classroom Management Without a Voice

jenniferw — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:55:51 +0000

Teachers often struggle to take days off when they are sick, and you might find yourself in front of you classroom without a voice if you haven’t already. Teaching without a voice can be a challenge, as can keeping the students in line when you can’t raise your voice over the growing din of noise.

Here are a few tips that might help your day go a bit smoother.

I have found that when students realize that you need help, there will be a handful of them who thrive on the opportunity to keep other students in line and provide any help you might need.

Maybe it’s the sudden opportunity to play boss of the others, but either way, enlisting students to be special helpers will often work. The one or two who try to take advantage of the situation and act up will often be put back in place quickly by the other students. At the very least, you’ll only have one or two students to deal with instead of the entire class this way.

The very nature of having no voice can help as well, ironically – the softer you talk, the more students have to pay attention to hear what you have to say. Pepper you day with jokes and secrets so that students want to hear everything you say.

Have you tried something else that has worked? Feel free to share your wisdom!

Why Students Misbehave

jenniferw — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:35:12 +0000

Students don’t misbehave simply because they like acting up (well, some do, but the number of pathological students should be relatively small in your classroom). Understanding why students are misbehaving will help you find the way to reach those students and bring about a change in your classroom.

1. Difficulty with academics.
Students will often act up if they are struggling academically. Whether the student is truly behind the rest of the class or simply feeling stressed by the work load, the result is often disruptive to the teacher and class.
Solution: provide more one-on-one time with this student or provide additional help through peer tutors, partner lessons, additional examples, etc.

2. I’m Bored!!
Many students who are ahead of the pack are bored and will act up. This can often be confused with students who are struggling because bored students will often refuse to do their work or act up while doing their work.

Solution: provide students with a packet of challenge work that they can do if they complete their work early – make it fun work, not busy work, and allow students to choose activities that inspire them.

3. I am not loved

Students who live in situations where they are unloved or not attended to will often act up because they have learned that acting out provides attention. How sad is it that students will act up for attention? When negative attention is an improvement, we know that this is just a student who needs to be loved.

Solution: Don’t give up on this student! Love him or her! Find ways to make each individual student feel like he or she is the most important student to you. Make this your goal.

4. I don’t understand the expectations ???

While it should not be common, unfortunately many times the reason students act out is because the expectations (rules/consequences/rewards) are not clear. Stating them, writing them down and correcting students for acting out is not enough to provide clear expectations.

Solution: Spent time throughout the ENTIRE school year modeling proper behavior and having students practice proper behavior solely for the purpose of learning proper behavior.

Need more ideas? Check out Common Behavior Problems and Solutions for specific ideas.

Break Free From Expectations

jenniferw — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:51:47 +0000

I have been hearing a pattern of comments this year from teachers: “I’ve got a tough class, they were tough last year and are just as tough this year.” or, “this class has been tough all along, now it’s my turn to suffer”, or “all of *insert grade here* is tough this year” (ironically, this seems to impact 5th grade the most…it must be a tough age).

I may be out of line here, but in my opinion, it’s time to break free from the expectations that a class will be the same as they were last year, or that they are “all tough” in a certain grade. In fact, students live up to expectations and if you expect them to be bad, they will. If they perceive the expectation, they will fulfill it as well, even if you don’t actually expect it. (this means you’re likely suffering from last year’s teacher’s bad management habits)

So you have the worst class, so the entire grade is a nightmare, ok. Now we move on. If it is 5th grade, you can likely have this conversation with them to elicit change. Otherwise it’s time for a radical shift in your own thoughts/attitudes and methodologies.

Troubled students may still act out, but it’s time to give them all the opportunity to reign in their behavior – start by spending time each day modeling proper behavior and having students model proper behavior. Review or change classroom expectations and set in place strict consequences for misbehavior and rewards for proper behavior.

Above all, you need to respect your students. If you don’t respect them, how can you expect them to show you any respect?

Run a No Excuses Classroom

jenniferw — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:26:37 +0000

This year, commit to having a no-excuses classroom. Students (really, all people of all ages) have excuses for everything – my dog ate my homework, my mom forgot to pack my lunch, he wouldn’t leave me alone, etc.

When you introduce your classroom expectations to your students, ensure that they understand CLEARLY what is expected and then allow no excuses. If you require students to keep their hands to themselves, do not tolerate hitting even if it was an “accident” or if “he started it!”.

If you start the school year by providing room for excuses, students will continue to push that line all year, just to see how far you’ll bend before you break.

Some veteran teachers claim that you shouldn’t smile before Christmas. The point here isn’t that you shouldn’t physically smile before Christmas, but that you should start as you intend to go on, not allowing excuses if you would like students to simply follow the rules without providing excuses.

Turn a Card – Idea of the Week

jenniferw — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:15:10 +0000

The Classroom Management Idea of the week: Turn a Card

A popular management idea that many teachers use is to hang a pocket chart in the classroom with a card for each student. There should ideally be two or three cards for each student – enough to have a green, yellow and red side. Each morning the students should all start on green – it’s a new day for everyone!

During the day, when a student misbehaves or does not follow classroom expectations, the teacher can “turn a card” and display the yellow, or warning card. If the student does not get the hint and continues to misbehave, the teacher can then turn the card again, displaying the red card, resulting in a consequence. This consequence can be calling the parents, sending a note home, or other predetermined idea.

It would be a good idea to allow students the chance to “redeem” themselves too and return to green. Otherwise a student who quickly moves to yellow or red early in the day has no motivation to finish the day on a positive note.

Have you enjoyed receiving an idea a week this month? I hope that some of you were able to glean some new idea to try in your classrooms! To keep the ideas coming, send in your favorite ideas you’ve tried, even if it didn’t work out well for you, it may just work for someone else! Send in Your Ideas

Effective Consequences for Tutors

jenniferw — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 23:17:47 +0000

When tutoring a student, one of the more difficult issues to manage is when a child directly disobeys or fails to do as he or she is told. Behaviors that would get a student sent to the principal have to be handled by the tutor and parents often are not supportive.

The first thing to do is start off the tutoring relationship on a positive note with the parent in the hopes that when discipline issues come up, the parent will be more supportive. The way I handled this as a tutor was to send home a “progress report” each tutoring session. On this paper I would make notes about what we did, what I noticed and what the parent could do at home to further learning.

I always attempted to make a positive note in the “what I noticed” section, as well as any academic observations. Often the academic observations were made in a way to validate the parent’s concerns and reasons for hiring me in the first place. I also attempted to make the “for further study” section as simple and straight forward as possible so that any parent with any amount of involvement could do.

When I had a discipline problem I would note it on the progress report but would make a point to mention the problem to mom or dad in person. Often this gave me a great idea as to how helpful the parent would be in managing the difficult behavior.

Often, behavioral problems stemmed from frustration with the skill we were studying, so when the student would begin to act up, I would often stop and put the blame on myself:

“ok, wait a minute, let’s stop and back up, I don’t think I taught that very well. Let’s look at this part here a little closer.” and I would break the steps down even further or explain it again using different angles. I often employed the use of simple analogies as this seemed to help my students see a complicated problem in a more simple light.

If this doesn’t work, I’ll prompt the student to ask a question so that I can know what to teach.

If this doesn’t work, I’ll try changing the approach, do something new for a bit or adjust the final goal for that moment down a bit. So for example, if the student has to write a paper and I said ok let’s write the first paragraph now, I would say ok wait, lets just talk about the first sentence, how can we grab the reader’s attention?

By addressing behavior problems by drawing the attention back to learning, I kept the focus on the lesson at hand and developed the standard of never giving up and always trying.

Bad Classroom Management Example

jenniferw — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:58:28 +0000

Let us take a look at one example of how a teacher handled a classroom issue and take a look at what was done poorly and what could be improved upon for next time:

Mrs. D* teaches fifth grade. Her students were having a bad day and were not listening or staying in their chairs. Her method of handling the situation was to pull out the Barney song (I love you, you love me…) and play it for the class. The class was instructed that they must sit still and quiet through one whole playing of the song in order for the students to move onto another activity. Twenty minutes later the class period ended and they moved to specials with the song still playing.

The first problem with this scenario is that the song and task are both demeaning to the age of the student. A fifth grader does not like Barney and does not like that song. Having students sit through this song over and over again, having to sit still and quiet, was in essence the teacher telling them that she had no respect for them.

A student put in a position of belittling will revolt, whereas a student put in a position of being held to a high standard, will likely rise to the occasion. Next time, the teacher could have the students write a letter of apology to the teacher, or write a letter home to their parents explaining their behavior and signed by the teacher.

*Name changed