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5 Ways To Win When Students Test Your Limits

Featured Author:

Joel

Joel is a band director in Texas. He began teaching in the 2002-2003 school year. His first two years were a self-described horrible failure. Though he knew lots of information, he did not have what it took to push him beyond that. He felt like an untapped reservoir of knowledge, with a bunch of students who didn’t like him, didn’t care what he knew, and usually liked to argue with him until they get their way.

That’s when everything changed. He resigned from that school district right before spring break and made it a personal mission to figure out how to be a great teacher.

Joel currently writes SoYouWantToTeach in an attempt to pass along his learnings to other teachers and future teachers.

More articles from this author:

• 5 Valid Reasons Teachers Quit
• Do I Really Want To Teach?
• 50 Reasons to Love Teaching

It’s been a while since I have taught 7th & 8th graders and now I remember how much they like to get away with. Even the good students do things from time to time that just boggle my mind.

WHY DID YOU DO THAT? It’s crazy.

How do I handle these misbehaving miscreants? These 5 ways….

1. Don’t pick favorite students

Okay, we all have favorite students. What we must avoid is giving them special treatment.

I know teachers who let certain students stay after class to work on projects with them (and miss other classes) simply because they like them more.

2. Stick to your rules

Consistency is the only way for success in this area. Just because a rule doesn’t work effectively one time does not mean the rule is bad. It may just be that circumstances kept it from working one time. Changing the rules midstream is never the best option. Especially if the only consistent thing is that the rules change.

3. Be nice, but firm

It’s so easy to lash out when children begin misbehaving. The other end of the spectrum is to just ignore it. Neither of these will solve the problem. We must respond and not react. We must be in control of ourselves, but we also must be in control of our classroom. We do all of these things, keeping in mind that the relationship we have with the students is one of concern and respect.