Part Two of the Series Just for New Teachers

How to Successfully Support Difficult and Challenging Students

 

One of the most common problems faced by beginning teachers is the often perplexing problem of difficult and challenging students. Last week, in Part One, I covered some suggestions for avoiding classroom power struggles. In this part of the series, I want to provide some general suggestions to guide your thinking. 

First, coping successfully with challenging students is not something that can usually be managed in a day or so. Difficult students did not develop their behaviors overnight. Generally, the behaviors that are not appropriate for a classroom setting are ones that students learned over a period of time. With that in mind, you will be more productive and far more likely to help these students if you take a measured, well-planned course of action. Take your time and help your students learn how to be successful rather that just insist on compliance. 

There are all sorts of mistakes that it possible for even the most well-intentioned teacher to make with students who are struggling with school. If you find yourself having to deal with a disruptive student or two, you may want to consider if you have made of of the mistakes in this list below. Of these mistakes, perhaps the most common one is the last one--giving too much attention to students who are causing trouble in class. Instead of reacting in a negative way, ignore as much as you can and find ways to make these students feel that they are part of the class--not on the outside with nothing to lose. 

When you look at this list, do you see your own classroom leadership style? Could you be adding to the problem?

A final thought to help you with this issue is the biggest take away. Instead of being upset and negative and stressed out, adopt the attitude that classroom misbehavior is a problem that can be solved. You are no longer the victim of unruly students, but instead a classroom leader who is willing and capable of helping all students learn to manage their own behavior and succeed in your class. 

Fifty Ways to Deal with Discipline Problems

        1.        Praise good behavior and ignore as much of the bad as you can.

        2.       Call a parent or guardian to get help.

        3.        Hold a conference with the child.

        4.       Listen to the student’s version of an incident before taking action.

        5.        Determine on a course of planned ignoring to extinguish misbehavior.

        6.       Ask the offending student what the consequences should be.

        7.        Never allow “free time.”

       8.        Ask students to tell you alternative actions they should have taken.

        9.       Move the student to a time-out area to cool off and prevent further trouble.

      10.      Reward, reward, reward.

       11.      Make students feel worthy of trust.

      12.      Post and teach your class rules, routines, and expectations

      13.      Keep your students busy from door to door.

      14.      Discuss class rules periodically—daily at first.

      15.      Smile at a student who is getting ready to misbehave.

      16.      Give a potentially troublesome student a position of leadership in class.

      17.      If a child is perennially fidgety, work out ways to channel that energy in productive ways.

      18.      Consider putting friends close together so that they can help each other.

      19.      Always have a backup plan for your backup plan.

      20.     Appeal to as many learning styles as possible.

      21.      If an exciting school event is causing your class to be out of control, go with the flow. Plan assignments that can channel that energy productively.

      22.      Arrange a lending system for those students who do not have materials.

      23.      If an infraction is caused by a student’s minor slip of judgment, offer reassurances that you now it won’t happen again.

      24.      Make sure to build motivation into every lesson.

      25.      Create a reasonable policy for students to leave the room. Enforce it.

      26.      Set behavior goals for the entire group and reward them when they reach their goals.

      27.      Offer tangible rewards for good behavior at unpredictable times.

      28.     Be emotionally accessible to your students. Grouchy teachers have more problems than positive ones.

      29.      Give a child a second chance. Sometimes a warning is all that is needed.

      30.     Remind students of their future goals to help them remain focused on what’s important.

      31.      More closer to a student who is misbehaving.

      32.      Enforce the school rules.

      33.      Model the behavior you want.

      34.      Don’t waste time in debate when an infraction is clearly an infraction. Avoid being manipulated.

      35.      There is nothing wrong with being strict or in having high expectations.

      36.      Time your students.  When you say, “You have two minutes to finish, students will work with purpose.

      37.      Use inspiring messages and mottoes.

      38.      Be so polite that your students would have problems being rude to you.

      39.      Give students as many options as you can.

      40.     After an incident has happened, examine your own actions. What did you do to cause the problem?

      41.      Control the pace of a lesson. Lessons that are too hurried or that drag cause problems.

      42.      Move students to other seats.

      43.      Use seating charts from the first day onward.

      44.      Meet students at the door and greet them. Pass out handouts at this point in the day if you can.

      45.      Stay on your feet and move around. Monitor.

      46.      Make sure your students know the consequences of their good and bad behaviors.

      47.      Accept no excuses for rude behaviors.

      48.     Make sure students understand the criteria for success on an assignment.

      49.      Tech your students the “whys” of an assignment or rule.

      50.      Consider traffic flow issues.   Keep student movement areas safe for everyone.

Super Easy Games to Play in Class

Playing learning games with your students can be fun for everyone involved. Students love the energy and change of pace and you get to watch your students engage in the material in new and meaningful ways. Games provide opportunities for interaction, offer immediate feedback, make the work relevant, allow practice, and motivate students to behave appropriately. The time and effort that you spend getting your students ready to learn through games is well worth the trouble.

Before you add games to your mix of pedagogy strategies, however, you will need to prepare your students. Here are a few tips to make sure that the activities work well with difficult classes:

Consider the geography of your room before you begin. Move furniture, put breakable items in a safe place, and plan how you will put the room back in order at the end of the game.

Pay attention to safety. If you see that students are so excited that the competition is becoming too intense, stop play at once.

You should select the team members so that no one will be left out.

Keep a container of numbers or other markers on hand for students to draw from to determine who goes first or to help with other decisions. Dice are helpful as well.

Have students assume the roles of scorekeeper, timekeeper, and master of ceremonies so that you can monitor activities.

Prepare to move your class to a location where they won’t disturb other classes if the game gets noisy.

After a game is over, be sure to ask your students to tell you what they learned.

While there are many sophisticated games available for teachers and students, sometimes it is just fun to have a few reliable simple no or low tech games ready when your students need to experience the material in a different way. Here is a list of some simple, low-risk, unplugged games that students of all ages can enjoy.

Flyswatter Badminton. Use masking tape to mark off a small badminton court. Blow up a balloon and hand each student a flyswatter to use as a racket. Divide students into teams and arrange them on either side of an imaginary net (indicated by a taped line on the floor). As you ask questions, students earn points for moving the balloon across the net and for answering questions correctly.

Quiz Bowl. Set up a tournament of quick questions and answers involving as many of your students as possible. To add interest, vary the level of difficulty, rules of play, way of scoring, and incentives.

Board games. Design your own board game to fit your topic. You can make small boards and photocopy them for students to use in a small group, or you can make a large board for the entire class to use. The tasks you assign your students in a board game can range from simply answering questions to solving problems. Students also enjoy creating and playing their own board games. You can find great ideas for board games at http://www.toolsforeducators.com.

Twenty Questions. Write an answer on a slip of paper, then have students take turns asking a question each until they guess the answer. Keep track of the number of questions that they must ask to guess correctly. In this game, the lowest number of questions wins.

Name That Person, [Battle, City…]. This game is similar to Twenty Questions in that students try to guess answers with as few clues as possible. You should make up the clues in advance. On game day, you’ll call them out one at a time until someone can name the targeted person, battle, city, or another item. x Ball Toss. Line up your students in two teams facing each other. As soon as a student correctly answers a question, that student tosses a soft foam ball to a student on the other team. That student must answer the next question.

Chain Making. This is an educational version of the old alphabet game that small children play. One player begins thinking of an object relating to the unit of study and beginning with the letter A. The next student must repeat that clue and add an object with the letter B. The game continues until students are stumped or until they reach the end of the alphabet.

One Two and You’re Outta Here. Stand at the door at the end of class with a set of flashcards or questions that require quick answers. For a student to leave class, he or she must answer two questions correctly.

Tic Tac Toe. Students advance play on a Tic Tac Toe board by giving correct answers to questions. Make a grid of three blocks across and down for a total of nine blocks. Photocopy so that students can play in small groups. 

Student-Created Board Games. Many students can be very skilled and creative at designing their own board games. Often, they will create games based on such old favorites as Candyland or Battleship using the material they have learned in class.

Sporting events. Divide your students into teams, and use the chalkboard to play games of football, soccer, or whatever sport currently interests to your students. Students advance by correctly answering questions or completing assigned tasks.

PUZZLE AND GAME SITES

Free Power Point Games. One of the easiest ways to find great free games is to browse using the search term “Free Power Point Games.” There are dozens of free templates online for you to download and use with your class. At some sites, teachers even share their own games for other teachers who are teaching the same material.

Boardgames.com (www.boardgames.com). This commercial site offers a large variety of handheld, electronic, and traditional board games at reasonable prices.

Dave’s ESL Café (www.eslcafe.com). Dave Sperling’s site lists dozens of classroom games, along with rules and suggestions. Click on the “Stuff for Teachers” tab and then the “Games” tab to access the large list. This site has many other resources for teachers, too.

Discovery School (http://school.discovery.com/brainboosters). This page on the Discovery School site offers dozens of brain twister puzzles, activities, and games for all ages and ability levels of students. x Out of the Box Games (www.otb-games.com). This is also a commercial site with a large assortment of games for sale. You can find classic board games, dice games, and word games, as well as newer games

Been There, Done That...A Bad Teacher Habit

One of the hardest bad teacher habits to break is learning not to repeat yourself when you give whole group directions. Part of the reason that it is so hard to break this habit is that we want to help students. It's simply impossible to refuse a student's request for help. Another reason is that no one has taught students to listen carefully and so repeating the directions several times may help students stay on track.

It’s one thing to clarify information or explain directions; it’s another to have to repeat yourself for students who are not in the habit of listening attentively. Don’t assume that your students are good listeners. Many have never been taught how to listen attentively. It's up to you to help students learn when and how to focus their attention when their teacher is talking to them.

To begin to break this time-consuming and frustrating habit, involve your students in the project. Tell then that you are going to help them with their listening skills and explain how that you want them to listen attentively. No talking. Eyes on you. No rustling papers. Create the procedure that you want for your students to use as they listen to you and take the time to carefully teach it to your students.

Set the stage by moving to an area of the room where all students can see and hear you. Call for attention and wait patiently. Remind students that they will be working on their listening skills and that they are to listen carefully since you do not want to waste class time by having to repeat yourself.

Practice with your students if necessary. Make it a shared endeavor and a pleasant way to work out a classroom problem together. With a bit of effort, this can become a part of the culture of your classroom, and you will find yourself not having to repeat directions or other information endlessly.

How to Manage a Successful Conference with Parents or Guardians

Now that we have had the opportunity to get to know our students, it may be time to schedule conferences to discuss some of the concerns that you may have about the academic or behavioral success (or problems) of your students. It is far easier to talk over problems and concerns early in the year when the solutions are still manageable rather than later when students are struggling under a huge burden of months of failures.

Teachers who want to communicate well with parents or guardians realize that what they want is to be reassured that their child is doing well and can succeed in school. Even though this may not be the current state of affairs with their child, families want teachers to work with them and with their children to make this happen. We need to connect solidly with the parents or guardians of our students if we intend to create a positive learning climate in our classrooms.

One way to have a beneficial conference is to make sure our goals for the conference are clear.

You should present yourself to parents or guardians as a friendly teacher who has their child’s best interests at heart and parents should leave with a sense of satisfaction because all of their questions have been answered and all of the points they wanted to cover were addressed. In addition to specific goals for a meeting with parents or guardians, there are lots of other steps that you can take to ensure that the conference is friendly and productive.

1. Be considerate. Meet the visitors in the school office and escort them to your room unless you are sure they know the way.
2. Be prompt.
3. Greet them cordially and express your appreciation for the fact that they came to the conference. This will create a tone of goodwill that you should strive to maintain throughout the conference.
4. Do not try to impress parents and guardians with your knowledge of educational terms and jargon. Use language that will make them comfortable.
5. Begin the conference with positive remarks about their child. Talk about the student’s potential, aptitude, special talents. Focus on strengths even if the reason for the conference is a serious breach of conduct. Do not lose sight of the fact that this child is very important to the parents.
6. Convey the attitude that the child’s welfare is your primary concern.
7. State the problem in simple, factual terms and express your desire to work together on a solution for the good of the child.
8. Allow upset or angry parents and guardians to speak first. After they have had the opportunity to say all of the things that they have probably been mentally rehearsing on the way to school, then and only then, can they listen to you or begin to work on a solution to the problem.
9. Show examples of the student’s work that illustrate the problem. If the problem is not directly work-related, be prepared to discuss specific examples of misbehavior.
10. If this is a problem that you have talked about before, perhaps informally or over the phone, share any improvement.
11. Be specific about what you have done to help correct the situation.
12. Listen to the parents and guardians. If you want a solution to the problem, give them your full attention throughout the conference. Your nonverbal language is crucial to the success of a conference. Be attentive, friendly, and positive.
13. Encourage parents and guardians to express their ideas. You need their insight and help.
14. Ask questions that will direct their thinking. These questions can also keep everyone focused on the problem at hand and on solutions to it.
15. Summarize the points of the conference at the end. Be sure to outline what you will do and what they will do to help their child be more successful in school.
16. Determine how you will follow up on the conference and keep them up to date.
17. Express appreciation again for their concern and the time they have spent with you in the conference.

How to Move Beyond “Please, Please Don’t Torture the Sub”

Missing school is harder for teachers than many other professionals because not only do we have to leave appropriate plans and information so that substitute teachers can manage our classes while we are out, but also because even the best of students tend to have the classic, “Oh boy! We have a sub!” reaction. Unless you have a top notch sub and have done everything possible to ensure that your students will still learn while you are out, you will return to deal with the unpleasant aftermath of a disaster.


Being able to miss school without worries about your students and all the things that are going wrong in your absence is possible with a bit of planning and preparation. First of all, very early in the school year, create a binder filled with helpful information that any substitute teacher can use. When you change seating charts, add or drop students, or when other significant changes occur, update your binder. Here are some items that you may want to include in your sub binder.

• Class rosters with helpful pronunciation clues
• A photo seating chart. Photograph your students sitting in their assigned seats. Print these and write the name of your students under their photos. Your sub will know where students are supposed to sit and will be able to match names to faces right away.
• Medical information for students with chronic illnesses such as asthma or diabetes
• Your daily class and duty schedule
• Classroom procedures for daily routines such as lunch, restroom requests, fire drills and other emergencies
• A list of several activities that students can do if they finish early. You can do this early in the year so that it is handy just in case you are rushed for time.
• A map of the school with exits and fire extinguishers marked
• Copies of all necessary forms such as lunch or attendance counts
• Names and room numbers of helpful teachers
• A phone number where you can be reached

Next, make sure to leave workable plans that even the most harried sub can follow.

• Your lesson plans for any day that you are going to miss should be specifically written for the sub.
• Provide plenty of directions and a suggested time length for each assignment.
• Do plan independent written work that will be collected and graded.
• Make sure to photocopy, label, and organize all handouts.
• Leave work that will occupy students, but that is not merely busy work.  
• Avoid computer use, videos, media center visits, and activities involving scissors or other sharp tools.

Finally, it’s important to involve students in a positive way in maintaining the order and routines of the class when you need to be absent. You may consider having students write out what they can do to help the sub so that things can run smoothly. Having students be aware of their specific responsibilities is a positive way to enlist their cooperation. Have them take a pledge of instructional cooperation. Assign tasks such as turning in attendance or passing out papers. Make cooperation fun. Make it an intriguing class challenge. Best of all, make it their responsibility. When students own a situation, they will more often than not rise to the occasion and exceed even our highest expectations.

 

If your students have misbehaved while you were out, however, don’t rush to punish. First, have students write out their version of the events of the class. Read these, and think about what you are going to do before you punish an entire class or even individual students based on what a substitute teacher has told you. If you then have to deal with misbehavior after you have gathered the facts from the sub and from your students, strive to be fair.

Share My Lesson Ideas and Innovations Virtual Conference

 

Join us! I will be presenting information about how to "Prevent Discipline Problems with a Positive Classroom Environment" at 9 am on March 25! The Webinar is free and open to all teachers!

Contact: Natalie Dean 202-879-4132 ndean@aft.org www.aft.org

Julia Thompson Joins 30 Education Leaders for the 2015 Share My Lesson

Ideas and Innovations Virtual Conference

 

Julia Thompson will join Sharemylesson.com for the third Ideas and Innovations Virtual Conference, March 23-25, 2015. The online conference offers K-12 teachers, support-staff and parents access to new sessions covering all subjects and areas of discipline. The conference is free to all attendees.

 

Thompson will Prevent Discipline Problems with a Positive Classroom Environment. She will also share the virtual roster with AFT President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Lily Eskelsen García, who separately will discuss the impacts of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

 

“This year’s virtual conference strives to surpass expectations by featuring even more educational experts and solutions to real-life issues that teachers face in their profession,” said Elena Balint, Share My Lesson CMO. “[Partner Name]’s session contribution helps us fulfill our goal of bringing best-in-class professional development and resources to all educators for free.”

 

Attendees will receive a certificate of participation for one hour of professional development time at the conclusion of each webinar attended. For more information, visit sharemylesson.com/conference.

 

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