Am I being dramatic? maybe. Is there a class that’s caused me to get retail therapy two-three times a week? Definitely. At bare minimum, my wallet hates my 5th period. Now going into this whole process, I was told that I’d be dealing with problem students, problem classes, problems in general, blah blah blah. And I’d like to think that I’ve rolled with the punches in regards to a lot of those problems. I’ve worked with students who are always tardy, skip entirely, have troubled home situations, reading problems etc. But how in the world do you help students who don’t want help? My students in this period are almost split in half – one half are good, sweet children who genuinely want help on work and want to learn and get a good grade. The other half – I don’t know where to begin. I have a group of 5-6 girls, who of course are leaders, and are both disrespectful and dont.stop.talking.ever.
I’m trying to take proactive steps by having my University supervisor come in and observe that class that way I can get some feedback on it. Not to mention that my Cooperating Teacher is there almost every day to observe what’s going on – but even she is in shock at how disrespectful and off-task these girls can be, and unfortunately it drags the rest of the class down. Beyond sending a student out in the hall or even to the office, does ANYONE have any ideas or suggestions in dealing with little darling children with severe attitude problems? Beyond, of course, what would be get me fired and or removed from student teaching.
September 28th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
That’s my 6th period class. Last year it was 3rd period…Let me know if you find the magic bullet!
September 29th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
I had one like that, too. Finally I started moving faster instead of letting them bog me down with the behave-badly competitions. But no one got out the door without a “ticket” at the end of class… Usually simply a tidbit they could explain or respond to about the day’s lesson. It was never an actual ticket. I also refused to give tardy passes to those who lagged in providing the necessary ticket-earning response. It helped that LUNCH was their next period. It became a game to guess what the day’s ticket was going to be, and the good kids made sure they had it.
Some potential problems implementing this: if the next period tchrs or principal object to you holding them with no tardy pass, the amount of energy it takes to continually be consistent and not be sucked into their disruptions, and thinking of tickets for every day. After a while, you might lure one of the borderline disrupters into deciding that day’s ticket out the door. If that happens, you are winning. Good luck… And let us know what happens.