help with getting my students to be more respectful

I don't know what to do anymore. I teach 6th grade special ed for math and science in a rough area within the DOE.

My class is falling apart and its only 6 students! There are 4 boys and 2 girls. I fear that I have just lost them... they are respectful to me and not their ela/social studies teacher. They are down right rude to my para. They only listen to me but that only goes so far. Today has been really bad.... I can't have the rest of the year be like this.

Any suggestions to get them back on track would be great. I am willing to take a period and do a lesson on respect but it needs to really hit home...

Thanks!!!

Re: help with getting my students to be more respectful

have you thought about creating a class charter? (from Mar bracken at Yale - Ruler Approach)

How do we want to feel in school each day?

What will we do to have these feelings consistently and to create a positive learning environment?

How will we handle uncomfortable feelings and unwanted behavior? How will we prevent and manage conflict?

Using a large paper, combine all of your ideas into a Charter for your team.

As a team, we’d like to feel…

In order to have these feelings we will…

We will handle conflict…


When you are finished, sign it and hang it on the wall.