Saving Your Sanity With a Difficult Class

Without mentioning any names, I will say I have one of the most exhausting classes ever this year. Not only do they talk a lot, they blurt out, get up and wander around, announce loudly how bored they are, refuse to work with others in a nice way, and pretty much complain all day long. Now this isn't my entire class, of course. It's a small handful that makes it feel like the whole class is out to get me. I know you've had years like this too. We all do.

So what's a worn out teacher to do when spring break is still a few weeks away but your sanity ran out a few weeks ago? Let's look at a few of the problems going on in my class right now and some tips that are actually helping me make it through the days, the long long long days...

You know the one. Mine comes in the door talking... to everyone, to no one, to himself, to the walls. It doesn't matter if anyone is listening or not. It doesn't matter if I'm already talking or not. His mouth runs... all... day... long. No amount of discipline stops it because his mouth actually has a will of its own and that will is VERY strong. This type of child will drive an introverted teacher like me (yes, we exist) absolutely crazy. Temporary solutions...

Music, Gum, and Headphones

First put on some appealing music. I like the kids radio station on Pandora. This will divert the talker's attention from his own never-ending dialogue to some other sound. If he talks, he hears himself instead of the music. If he talks, the rest of the class hears him instead of the music. Peer pressure is very powerful.

Next, pass out some gum. It's harder to talk with gum in your mouth. Then, you can institute the "Loose Lips" rule...  If you talk with gum in your mouth, I take it away. If I see any evidence of gum sticking out of your lips, I take it away. Believe me, losing your gum is so so sad to a third grader. Sometimes I do the gum at the same time as the music. But don't use it too often or your class becomes way too fun.

Last, pull out the headphones for the Super Talker. For some strange reason, if he can't hear other people talking, he somehow thinks they can't hear him either. The headphones only work for short periods though. They are especially good during a test because they also help Super Talker focus on what's in front of him.

If all of the above fails, pull out "The Note" and send your little talker on a very important errand:

Don't all teachers need a Big Red Eraser And Keys sometimes? If the other teacher is a good friend, she'll take a long time finding what you need {wink wink}.

This student is particularly aggravating. She's the one who refuses to work with anyone. When forced to, the sabotage begins... and it's always someone else's fault. As a result, none of the other students want to work with her either. Every group or partner activity turns into an unproductive complain-fest. This is a tough problem to solve because it involves negative attention-seeking behavior... the worst kind in my opinion. So, what to do?

The Bigger, Better Deal

Here's how it works: Announce to the class that today you will be picking partners. Then write two things on the board...

Fill in the blank with something the Lone Wolf really likes. In my case, it's the computer. So I would fill in "10 minutes of technology". This solution works because it gives everyone an incentive to work cooperatively. They ALL want to pick their own partners and the Lone Wolf really wants that computer time. (If that's not enough for your little loner, pull her aside and let her know that if she does well this time, next time she can choose to work alone.) The beauty of the bigger, better deal is that it's self-perpetuating. Every time they do partner work, the deal is still the same and they are in charge of the outcome.

I actually have three Wendy Whiners this year. No matter what we're doing, it's boring, stupid, or too much work and they feel entitled to announce these feelings to the whole class. I also have one who lets his mouth hang open in utter shock whenever a test is announced. So for these students, I have instituted what I like to call...

Bonus Questions

Now "bonus questions" sounds like a good thing, but it's definitely not. It goes like this... If you smile and accept your assignment without complaining, you get the short version. If you whine or complain about your assignment, you get the "bonus questions" (i.e. the long version). This is an all-or-nothing incentive. One person whining means the whole class gets the bonus questions. There are two reasons for this: 1) peer pressure and 2) there really is no long version of the assignment.

I wouldn't normally encourage tricking small children like this, but desperate times call for desperate measures. No matter what they do, they're going to get the same assignment... but they don't know that. The affect is that the whiners do NOT, under any circumstance, want more work. So they will bite their tongues and keep their complaining to themselves just to keep the assignment as short as possible. What they don't know won't hurt them and they'll think they are being rewarded for a positive attitude. In return, you get students who accept the assignment without a battle.

Now, if spring break would just hurry up and get here....

Looking for behavior management resources? Try these:

      

You Oughta Know About...Behavior Interventions

Hi teacher friends! I'm really excited to be joining in on the You Oughta Know blog hop once again. You'll be glad you stopped by for this one!

I know you've had your own experiences with that one kid... the one who has so many issues that you don't know where to start, the one who disrupts your class every single day, the one that you've tried EVERYTHING with. Daily notes, calling parents, behavior contracts... nothing works. It's so frustrating!

If you understand just what I'm talking about, then you oughta know about PBIS World. This is a super awesome (and free) website for teachers that's like your own personal behavior specialist. 

When you arrive at the site, you are presented with a list of problems. To get started, just click on the one you really want to address first...

So here I've clicked on "Disrespectful" because well, I hate disrespectful and would like to nip that in the bud first. After you make your selection, the site gives you a list of behaviors that you may be observing. This is to make sure you've correctly identified the root problem. If the list looks accurate, go ahead and click YES at the bottom....

After you've selected the problem, the site gives you a list of tier 1 interventions to try for that particular behavior issue. Now you might be thinking, "Hey, I'm already doing all of this." Maybe, but really look closely and make sure you aren't missing something. For this one, I see that one intervention is to speak with the student in the hallway. I'm wondering why that's important, so I click on it...

This is where the site becomes really helpful. Now you can see the nitty gritty of that specific intervention... why you should do it, when you should do it, and exactly how you should do it so that it will actually work for the student...

This is so important. If you do the intervention the wrong way, you might as well not do anything at all. You have to implement it correctly and consistently and this page really helps you do that.

So after you look at the details, you can go back to the tier 1 page. At the bottom of the page, you have a few options. If you click on "See all tier 1 interventions", you'll just get a list of every intervention under the sun. I don't really suggest this one because you need specific interventions for the problem. However, you should most definitely check out the data tracking forms and strategies...

This page will give you all of the forms you could need from daily behavior notes to self-tracking sheets to parent questionnaires.  They are divided into tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 sections to help you find what you need depending on what stage of intervention you're working in.

PBIS World really is your one-stop shop for behavior interventions. The best part is that it helps you zero in on the issue and then provides all of the tools you need for documentation. Your guidance counselor or school psychologist will love you!

And here are a few resources you might like...

 

Makeover Madness: TpT Seller Challenge Week 1

Now that school is out, I have quickly and easily slipped into sit-on-my-butt mode. I need motivation and luckily I discovered the TpT Seller Challenge. At least that will get me working on SOMETHING.

The challenge for this week is called Makeover Madness. I was supposed to pick one of my products that needed a makeover and well, make it over. I actually had quite a few to choose from, (Boy, did some of those early creations look bad!), so this was the perfect challenge for me. I decided to re-do my Hoppin' Good Behavior Clip Chart. It was a cute idea, I think, but the combination of fonts, colors, and backgrounds I used was terrible and the cover was hideous. Here's how it looked before...

Ugly, right? It wasn't just the cover. The whole thing was bad, except for the frogs. They were cute at least. So I kept the frogs, added a fly, changed the backgrounds and fonts, and added a weekly behavior report. Here's the makeover...