C!LASS ROOM MAYHEM

I usually teach adults or older students but now I find myself teaching 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders ESL in a very expensive private school. One of my students is the school director's daughter!
The problem is that these kids are completely unruly. They are generally disrespectful and do exactly what they want to do when they want!
I have tired:
1)Homework assignment for kids who can not listen and pay attention because they are to busy talking. Students did not do the homework.
2)Time out - out of class room 3-5 minutes. Director said I could not do that.
3) Three strikes you get a test! Warnings on behavior and three strikes I give a pop test (which I have ready daily)
4) Silence on my part until the students "settle down" - gave up as they DON"T settle down.
What can I do that is legal and does not leave scars?
Sign me
Frustrated in Mexico:roll:

mexicalialan said:

I usually teach adults or older students but now I find myself teaching 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders ESL in a very expensive private school. One of my students is the school director's daughter!
The problem is that these kids are completely unruly. They are generally disrespectful and do exactly what they want to do when they want!
I have tired:
1)Homework assignment for kids who can not listen and pay attention because they are to busy talking. Students did not do the homework.
2)Time out - out of class room 3-5 minutes. Director said I could not do that.
3) Three strikes you get a test! Warnings on behavior and three strikes I give a pop test (which I have ready daily)
4) Silence on my part until the students "settle down" - gave up as they DON"T settle down.
What can I do that is legal and does not leave scars?
Sign me
Frustrated in Mexico:roll:

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***NOT A TEACHER***(1) Without the principal's support, there is not much you can do with spoiled children. (2) If your principal will support you, the best thing is to have a seating chart and let the students know that you will be constantly changing it. Don't let them choose their own seats. Don't let them think they have the "right" to choose "their" seats. Also, arrange the desks the old-fashioned way: in straight rows that all face the front. Nowdays, many schools use tables arranged in groups. The students have to turn their heads to see the teacher. No wonder there's no discipline. (2) Also, have an activity for them as they enter the room. For example, put three questions on the the chalkboard/whiteboard. As they come in, they are expected to start answering them. Children need and actually want order and routine. Good luck.

What are they like in classes for their other subjects? What support mechanisms are available? Is ESL set apart from the rest of the curriculum or integrated in any way?

mexicalialan said:

I usually teach adults or older students but now I find myself teaching 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders ESL in a very expensive private school. One of my students is the school director's daughter!
The problem is that these kids are completely unruly. They are generally disrespectful and do exactly what they want to do when they want!
I have tired:
1)Homework assignment for kids who can not listen and pay attention because they are to busy talking. Students did not do the homework.
2)Time out - out of class room 3-5 minutes. Director said I could not do that.
3) Three strikes you get a test! Warnings on behavior and three strikes I give a pop test (which I have ready daily)
4) Silence on my part until the students "settle down" - gave up as they DON"T settle down.
What can I do that is legal and does not leave scars?
Sign me
Frustrated in Mexico:roll:

Click to expand...

It sounds like you have never learned how to control children.
Maybe they don't respect you because your Spanish is not good.
Maybe they know they can learn English if and when they cross the border.
It must be very frustrating to someone who is used to teaching people who want to learn.

My suggestion is to find a teacher in the school who has a very well-ordered class and ask for tips. Also, even though this might diminish your status in the school, you could ask another teacher to sit in and diagnose the exact problems you're having, and come up with a remedial plan for you. That might be embarrassing for you, but you'd learn valuable skills for your next placement.

Since I first posted this I have found out that I am the 7th English teacher they have had THIS SCHOOL YEAR!! Test have shown an English comprehesion levels ranging from a high of 70% to a low of 2%. I have started a "special" class for the lowest students (which happen to be most of the "problem") There is only "mouth" support from the school Director. I have had excellent support from one of the teachers. I have spoken to the other teachers and found that they have similar problems with the same students.
My plan is to remain FIRM in dealing with the students. I appreciate all of your kind comments and suggestions. Thanks!!;-)

Mex : would you happen to be teaching at Nuevo Contenente in Celaya??? If so, you have little chance of turning this around. As you stated earlier without more than verbal support from the director and admin not much you can do. I know 3 teachers that have left that school and each one told me exaclty the same scenario you described. GOOD LUCK!!!!!

amermx

Raymott said:

It sounds like you have never learned how to control children.
Maybe they don't respect you because your Spanish is not good.
Maybe they know they can learn English if and when they cross the border.
It must be very frustrating to someone who is used to teaching people who want to learn.

My suggestion is to find a teacher in the school who has a very well-ordered class and ask for tips. Also, even though this might diminish your status in the school, you could ask another teacher to sit in and diagnose the exact problems you're having, and come up with a remedial plan for you. That might be embarrassing for you, but you'd learn valuable skills for your next placement.

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Hi Raymott,

It sounds like you have learned how to control children. Can you (briefly) share the knowledge with the rest of us?

Airone said:

Hi Raymott,

It sounds like you have learned how to control children. Can you (briefly) share the knowledge with the rest of us?

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No, sorry if I gave that impression. I wasn't claiming that I had learnt this, merely that the original poster hadn't.

mexicalialan said:

I usually teach adults or older students but now I find myself teaching 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders ESL in a very expensive private school. One of my students is the school director's daughter!
The problem is that these kids are completely unruly. They are generally disrespectful and do exactly what they want to do when they want!
I have tired:
1)Homework assignment for kids who can not listen and pay attention because they are to busy talking. Students did not do the homework.
I would call their parents and ask for their help. This generally works in my country.
2)Time out - out of class room 3-5 minutes. Director said I could not do that.
3) Three strikes you get a test! Warnings on behavior and three strikes I give a pop test (which I have ready daily)
4) Silence on my part until the students "settle down" - gave up as they DON"T settle down.
I'd add this: stare at them, write down their names and remain silent, even when they want to know what you’re going to do next.
What can I do that is legal and does not leave scars?
I’d have a private talk with the troublesome children and try to turn them into my helpers.
Sign me
Frustrated in Mexico:roll:

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I like this article. I hope you find it helpful.

Best Way - Classroom Discipline Techniques | eHow.com

you have to look up Richard Graham on the internet he teaches efl in japan. I would give you his address but I don't think that it is allowed. if you can implement half of what he can do, you will have kids that love you and your lessons. I have tried some of his lesson ideas and each time I had a great lesson.
good luck and don't give up.

Remember - look closely at who your trouble makers are - you will usually find that they are the lowest scoring students and they act out in order to get attention. Don't fall into the trap of giving them negative attention all the time. Don't be afraid of having a rowdy class. go with it and turn the roudyness into something constructive.
best regards
Michelle

I've always found that changing the classroom culture is the most important thing you can do - and it takes time. To take a class of non-achievers and turn them into kids who want to and DO succeed is really difficult, but really, really important.

I think that what's been missed so far in this thread is the significance of positive reinforcement. I've been using simple rewards, and "The Mighty Pen" award in my classroom for several years, and the value of giving out a pen, which on the surface is little, has become invaluable to me. Every year I order a batch of pens with "The pen is mightier than the sword" etched on them. And when kids overachieve, I ceremoniously hand one out.

It's best when one of those unruly kids gets himself one of those pens. Firmness is certainly important, but work actively all the time to change the academic culture in that class.

***Not a teacher***

I was surprised to see that only one person suggested to get the parents involved in their children's behavior. Especially when you sent homework and they didn't do it. I would write letters to the parents alerting them of their child's behavior AND request that they GET INVOLVED and help curb their unruly child's enthusiasm.

Again, I'm not a teacher but, those kids do not "become" little monsters only when they are in the classroom. If they behave that way in the classrom, they usually are like that all the time. I know, cause I was one little monster myself. :lol:

I eventually grew up and went and apologized to my teachers and told them they should have been more strict and should've gotten my mom involved.

Good luck

Managing disciplline in the classroom

Hi collegues,
I have a particular problem:
Students (8th grade) put a chewing gum on my chair - just for fun, but I wasn't loughing at all. In order to leave the school (fortunately it was the last lesson), I had to stay for a long time in the bathroom trying to clean my pants... There wasn't any reason for doing that; the school year just began (in Costa Rica we start the school year in February) and I didn't give them any grades yet - good or bad.
What should I do? I don't know exactly who did it, so I can't punish just one student. I was thinking on punishing the whole group by giving them double difficult test, compared with other groups... At the beginning of the school year I told them: Lets get along well. For that purpose, a teacher has to give students clear instructions, easy tests and nice exercises. And students have to work in the class and have good discipline. Everybody agreed and we made a "treat". So, now I have a "moral right" to give them a difficult test because they didn't follow the rules. (look: "Establishing consequences" in the article you suggested, by April Sanders).
But then I remembered that once a professional man in discipline problems, who gave us a workshop, told: "We - teachers - shouldn't REACT, we should ACT", means the revenge is a bad method of education...
So: I'm asking, if somebody can give me an advice, what should I do? Of course, I can't pretend nothing happened. I don't want to shout at them, neither make a police research, neither come with long sermon conveying God... I am really not good at these things and hate them... I like my subject, that is the English language, but probably I'm not a very good pedagogue. Although I have already been teaching for 10 years, I feel I'm still a beginner; I started to work as a teacher at an adult age, and probably I am not so fast at getting teaching skills.

Re: Managing disciplline in the classroom

lenapolster said:

Hi collegues,
I have a particular problem:

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Personally, I'd do nothing.
You have obviously not reacted so far, otherwise you wouldn't be asking. They haven't repeated the offence, or anything similar.
Someone was testing you with something which they saw to be pretty minor - 12 yr olds are not likely to consider a bit of chewing gum on their clothes to be a major deal - and you didn't react.
Apart from the damaged clothing, you're ahead.

[Note I'm making various assumptions, which might or might not be true.]

Re: Managing disciplline in the classroom

lenapolster said:

What should I do? I don't know exactly who did it, so I can't punish just one student. I was thinking on punishing the whole group by giving them double difficult test, compared with other groups...

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I think that this time you should overlook the incident. You were lucky somehow. Last year one of my students told us that she had put a drawing pin on her teacher's chair when she was in primary school. Imagine how I felt when she brought me some sweets for the Teacher´s day, I didn’t dare eat them. ;-)

I don't agree with punishing the whole group. Those students who behave well receive a negative message. When my son was in primary school, the headmistress used to punish the whole group instead of looking for the guilty ones. He complained to me and I always showed my disagreement with that attitude. In the last parent meeting, she told me: "your son hates me" because he had asked her why he wasn’t allowed to go to the playground if he had done nothing.

I don´t use difficult tests as punishment for bad behaviour. I must confess that sometimes I make things more difficult for adolescents because I try to change lazy students´ minds. The level of the tests never affects hard working students, of course.

Raymott and Mara, thank you for reply. I´ll be thinking, but if you both tell not to punish the whole group, probably I have to pay attention. Moreover, this class was behaving very well after that incident. Thanks again!