Teaching the Nightmare Class

Posted by jenniferw on October 27, 2009

Many teacher come to the conclusion after a couple of months (or weeks) that they are teaching the nightmare class. The students are a bad mix, they feed off of each other, they fight, they don’t listen, they talk back. The teacher feels like pulling her hair out every day.

Reflection of Student Behavior

This class can be taken back into control, but it will take a lot of work. First, the teacher needs to spend a week reflecting each day. Write down every misbehavior, what happened prior to the behavior and what happened after the behavior. Analyzing this information after a week will help the teacher see a bit more clearly if there is one student who is instigating the nightmare or if there is something else going on.

Start with a New Behavior Plan

If several weeks or months have gone by an there has been no positive change in the class behavior, it is time to scrap the behavior plan and put a new one in place. Find a way to motivate students to good behavior as opposed to threatening them to quit bad behavior. Over plan the implementation of the new behavior plan and prepare an entire day to introduce the plan and spend extra time reinforcing it.

Implement Individual Behavior Plans

If through analysis it becomes clear that there are a small number of students who instigate all the class issues, those students need to be addressed specifically. Writing an individual behavior plan is one great way to target the specific behaviors that cause the daily outbursts and behavior difficulties.

No matter how difficult the student’s behavior has become, it is important for teachers to realize that all behavior is able to be changed, even in a group setting. Keep reflecting and keep trying new things!

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