You'll get much more respect as a regular teacher.....NOT!

[Historyteaching]

All of us have had difficulty at one time or another.
It can fluctuate from year to year depending on the students and how they are placed in your class. I've seen the most veteran of teachers get a year with one or two 'bad' classes.

You have to go in the FIRST DAY and set your ground rules and the tone of your classroom. IMMEDIATELY. Get the students knowing your routine without hesitation. I can look at a student who is acting up and, for the most part, they will give me a wide-eyed look and stop what they are doing. Occasionally they will want to try to outdo me-but it doesn't last long.

You are the boss..let them know it.

[mmswm]

Respect, as stated before, isn't given, it's earned. That said, we've only talked about half the equation. You also need to respect THEM. That starts by knowing who they are. If they think you don't care, then they won't care. If they think you think they're somehow "less", they'll give you exactly what they think you expect. None of the negative has to be true, they just have to think that. I worked with some of the toughest kids in a large, gang infested, drug ridden, violent city, and the same kids who would move heaven and earth for me would (and did) tell another teacher to "shove a broomstick up your *blank and go....." I think you can fill in the rest. It's a lot of work, but it can be done.

[Cerek]

I'm currently doing my student teaching in middle school math and lack of respect from some students is easily the most frustrating issue I have faced.

I live (and hope to teach) in a rural school (western NC area), so I realize I don't face many of the challenges confronting urban teachers. Still, I am constantly amazed at the LACK of respect students seem to have towards teachers nowadays. We had problem kids in our class when I was in school too, but the level of disrespect, even by the worst kids, wasn't nearly what I see daily. Times truly have changed.

My current challenge is one student in particular. He literally goes out of his way to be disruptive and distracting at times. He gets up and wanders around the room every day and his behavior sometimes borders on being outrageous. It got so bad one day that the other students complained to their homeroom teacher about him. They also told the teacher this student had bragged about deliberately trying to get a "rise" out of me every day. In one respect, that made his actions easier to deal with, because I knew for certain that if I overreacted to his behavior, he would be "winning". It really helped me stay calm and realize he was approaching my class as a daily challenge to see what he could do.

As for my responses, I've tried several different strategies. Students who disrupt class receive "behavior checks" on the board that go against their citizenship grade. A lot of times, just the act of writing a students' name on the board will calm them down. That worked for a bit, but this one kid has moved past that. The day he was being particularly disruptive, I finally confronted him one-on-one in front of the class. He was wandering around aimlessly again (during teaching time) and I told him to sit back down. He huffed and said "Everyone picks on me" (a favorite tactic of his when he gets corrected for his behavior). I stopped the class and walked directly in front of him. I said "No sir, I am NOT picking on you. You ARE the only student wandering around, so I am stating a fact when I say you are breaking a class rule. Now sit down in your seat and don't get up anymore." It kinda shocked the kid that I would actually "get in his face" like that. I don't feel it was the best strategy, but I DID feel we had reached a point where something like that had become necessary.

Since then, we have had a conference with the principal and his parents have been contacted about his behavior. Despite the subsequent punishment, he still insists on being defiant and acting up in class. My CT even got onto him about his behavior yesterday and told him it was time for him to grow up.

I realize this is probably mild compared to what many of you have faced, but I'm interested in advice on other approaches I can take with this student. It's honestly reaching the point where I have a difficult time being objective towards him in class and helping him with his work, because he refuses to do his work and then claims he doesn't know how to do the work because "nobody" (meaning me) will teach him.

Since he got sent to the principal's office, his new strategy seems to be trying to blame my lack of teaching skill for his poor performance in an effort to make me "look bad". To counter this, I asked the CT to help him with his work on Friday (after he had refused help from me) to see if he would be more cooperative. He wasn't.

I suppose the next step for me is to schedule a parent/teacher conference to discuss his continued behavior with his parents, but I would love to hear other class management strategies from experienced teachers as well.