Help my class is out of control

Question

Hello, I have 2 classes I teach English to for 1 1/2 hours 2 times a week. Their ages are between 8-12.
They are way out of control. They get out of their seats all the time, I have a few students that will
get up and start writing on the white board while I'm giving instructions, they are always asking to go
to the bathroom and get a drink of water,the talking and not paying attention is non stop.I will take
any advice you have. I was thinking of giving stickers on a chart for good behavior and then after so
many stickers rewarding them somehow. But I wonder is this wrong to do? Rewarding them for behaving
how they should. Oh, I also have students that have stood on the tables a few time and the chairs they
think nothing of standing on them. I NEED HELP!!!!!

Verade · Accepted Answer

There is nothing wrong in rewarding good behavior. One factor in a teacher's discipline of students is whether your school principal and the students' parents support you on the kind of discipline that is expected. In my experience if parents complain when you discipline a child there is less possibility of making a change. If parents, however, expect their child to behave in class, you can do a lot more to make good behavior possible. First of all, you must have a strategy to get their attention right at the beginning of class and state that from now on things are going to be very different. Name each behavior that is unacceptable, and state that you will not tolerate it. Remind them of the purpose of the class, and why it is important in their life. If they don't believe it could be important, be prepared to tell a few very interesting stories illustrating the importance of the class. Personal stories, or ones that you have some sort of direct connection with, are the most effective. I remember that when I came to the United States at age 10 my father made me go up to people, such as storekeepers, to ask for things for myself. If I wouldn't learn the English words I didn't get whatever it was I wanted. One thing this age group likes to do is to role-play. Set up a scenario for them to act out in English in front of the whole class. They cannot have the "acting-play" unless the whole class has behaved well. Let them have fun and laugh during the acting, then they will look forward to it.

Pete West · Answer

You might like to check the latest of the ICAL TESL videos to see how you can deal with disruptive students in the classroom.

http://www.icalweb.com/videos/default.asp

Good Luck!

Anonymous · Answer

Hi. There are many reasons why kids misbehave in class - boredom, lack of ability, unchallenging activities/too challenging activities, time of day (after P.E. or music or art), 'bad' teacher... The fact that you only see these kids twice a week struck me as being unusual, and could be a possible reason for their bad behaviour.

You need to look at what you're teaching them and how. Are your activities interesting/stimulating/beneficial?... Try to be creative - find fun ways of getting the information across in order to capture their interest. You might change the seating arrangements in class (although it seems they prefer to be on top of the tables instead of sitting at them.... ) If they sit in groups, do you have 'group leaders'? Is your class 'mixed-ability'? - you need to plan your lessons very carefully to cater for different levels of abilitty. You need also think about the different kinds of learners - the visual, the auditory, the kinesthetic, the linguistic, the musical, the interpersonal, the intrapersonal and know how to plan your lessons according to their learning styles.

You don't mention how long you have been teaching, or if you have the support of colleagues or Senior Teacher.... Are your pupils rowdy with their other teachers, or only with you? Rewards can work, but only if you are consistent. Punishment won't work, but consequences do.... you might like to check out the loveandlogic.com website for tips on applying consequences in the classroom.

I hope you manage to solve this problem. With a syllabus to be covered, I can't imagine how the kids are actually learning in your class. So much disruption and chaos surely means no learning is taking place.

Ruth McEwan · Answer

0 Dear Anonymous teacher02br
00I have extensive experience as a mainstream teacher in schools as well as in ESL classrooms for adults, so here are some succinct suggestions:-02br
00 1. Give each of them special jobs - routine, routine, routine eg. One must hand out papers, one must write the date and time on the board, one must prepare to deliver the classroom rules to everybody before you start teaching, anything you can think of to make the first 5 - 10 minutes as regimented as possible02br
002. then spend th 2-3 lessons just practicing the routines. don't worry if they don't learn a lot in these 2-3 lessons.02br
003. Identify the "naughty" ones who disrupt the lesson - give them special jobs that they must do during the lesson. After about 20 minutes they'll become distracted, so they'll need a task in the middle of the lesson eg. in a mainstream school I used to send my ADD boys out to pass on a message to another staff member (who was willing to help)02br
004. I also used to set up a task on my computer on my "teacher" desk and the naughty ones could take it in turns to do the special task. Of course it wouldn't have to be on a computer - a very interactive thing like colouring in02br
005. CLASSROOM RULES - as in Pt 1, get a student to read the classroom rules out to the class every lesson at the beginning while the students are stil standing. They cannot sit until the rulse have been read while everyone is quiet. Make the rules simple and no more than 5.02br
006. This took more of my time, but I phoned parents /guardians all the time. Threaten them with this and follow through. IT works - althgouh I will concede that I'm not sure about a non-western culture.02br
00Of course I could go on and on but time is a wasting so please contact me if you need more help.02br
00Regards02br
00Ruth0-

Anonymous · Answer

Never reward students for doing what they are supposed to do. Reward them for going above and beyond, but rewarding them for behaving makes it look like something only over-achievers do. As for going to the bathroom, I give my students one pass each quarter to leave the room. Once they've used that pass, each time they want to leave the room, they have to spend a lunch period in my classroom. This quickly nips the problem of kids going to the bathroom just to get out of class in the bud right away. If they're talking while you're teaching, well, what I usually do is try not to directly scold them or scream at them. Don't say the words "stop talking, class," or it makes the students think that you're not in control and you're getting angry. NEVER let them think that their talking is getting to you. They will lose so much respect for you. When all the students suddenly start talking at once, the first thing I do is simply resume teaching. For about sixty seconds, just talk a little bit more loudly to overpower and drain out their voices. This usually gets the majority of the class quiet. Sometimes, the kids are just a bit dense and they don't realize that you've started teaching for a few seconds. Talking over them for a minute before reprimanding them gives the kids a chance to become aware that you're talking and finish their individual conversations. If, after a minute or two, there are still a few kids talking, reprimand each individual who's talking. Try to avoid reprimanding the entire class or saying something like "stop talking, everyone." The key to quieting them down is to correct individual students, so the troublemakers know that you're on to them and see what they're doing. Give them a warning the first time you have to correct them, then a lunch detention the second time. (These are informal detentions, so you don't need to tell their parents.) After three lunch detentions, you call their parents and give them after-school detention. Have some sort of discipline ladder that doesn't allow for many warnings. If there are too many kids talking at once to correct individuals, a simple "shhhh" will usually quiet them down. This way, you're not degrading yourself or your reputation. If this doesn't work, blow a whistle. Try your best to avoid every reprimanding or addressing the class as a whole, whatsoever. It degrades you. As for things like standing on desks, well, use the discipline ladder. Don't give any warnings for extreme behaviors like this. Immediately start giving detentions. These work VERY well and VERY quickly. Be sure, however, that they know the rules and the discipline ladder first. Hope this helps. Good luck!

Help my class is out of control

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