(Something that didn't work so well...)
Please locate your nearest emergency exits...
Toture, sweet, merciless, torture...
I stood in the midst of the crashing chaos, the waves of sound threatening to drown me out. For a moment I considered tossing myself out of the window. I stood transfixed by the complete lack of control that I had.
Gritting my teeth, I spun a slow circle, eyed the door with a lovers longing, and faced the class again. I smiled the best smile I could muster, "Okay, come on back. Let's get back to vocabulary..."
It was useless. This time it was not just one or two students that I had to stare down, it was a group of 6-7 students sprinkled throughout the class that just would not back down. They spoke incessantly out of turn, refused to do their work, and just all around were being disrespectful.
LONG story short. I ended up threatening to send them to the office, and that only worked to keep them in their seats.
What am I supposed to do with this class? It's the very first period of the day, they come in wild and hating to be there, and from the moment they see me, are trying to get away with things.
NONE of my other classes are like this. The next period was smooth sailing...beautiful.
HELP! What do I do???!
-Later reflection-
This didn't work well. Even though it was simple notetaking activity, I just didn't have their attention. It was my first lesson with them and they were testing me to see what they could get away with. I think that there should have been a little bit more activity involved and not just them in the seats copying down words. I know that at some point this age level is expected to do that, but I think I should have done it in a more gradual way. So there you go...lesson learned.
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Orange juice. Just bring in some orange juice... and when that doesn't work try tossing everything out the window and starting new. Example: walk in dramatically, announce that they need to clear their desks, including pencils/paper/textbooks/etc, and have an awesome/fun lesson planned with hands on activities etc. In other words, find something that will excite them and will start to change their view of the class. Mix it up for a week or two with very unorthodox things that helps reshape their view of the class. It's risky, but it sounds like you don't have anything to lose.
ReplyDeleteAnd if that doesn't work, blow stuff up! It's science class!!!!!
Actually...it's English class...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips! I'm working on my evil plan...