Rough day today

8th graders suck sometimes.

Out of 22 kids in the class, I had to call 18 parents.

This must be some type of record.

Re: Rough day today

WHOA... a glass of wine is in order...

Re: Rough day today

Wow! That is crazy! Sorry to hear that! hang in there. Tomorrow is another day!

Re: Rough day today

n my 8 years of teaching, I have never had a group that is this rowdy!

Classroom management is NEVER a problem with me - I don't know why I'm having such a rough time with this particular class.

Any suggestions?

Re: Rough day today

Re: Rough day today

The class is made up of pretty much all the "jocks" and "popular" crowd.

This is what they have been doing:

-consistently talking the second I turn to write something on the board

-calling out with things that have NOTHING to do with the lesson

-shouting across the room to each other

-ignoring me when I ask them to stop talking

-they've developed a habit as a class to ask me "are you serious?" when I ask them to stop doing a certain think (ex - talking to their neighbors, and pretty much all of the above)

I know that this is "typical" 8th grade behavior, but I got to the point today where I couldn't even teach!

At meet the teacher night, all of the parents were pretty much doing the same thing as the kids. They were all friends because of the athletics and because all of their kids all hang out together.

I'm telling you - I've never had to deal with anything like this.

Re: Rough day today

That is worse than typical 8th grade behavior! That is crazy!

First of all, I can't believe the parents behaved the same way. That is ridiculous! They should be embarassed!

What about talking to the coach? Maybe try to get his/her support. I know sometimes that is rough but maybe a little "threat" from the coach and they will get their act in gear.

So sorry to hear this!

Re: Rough day today

I teach 9th graders and I feel your pain. First i want to offer: .

I'm having a problem with one of my classes, and I just did a new Course Contract with them. Same rules as the first day of class, only this time we worked together on consequences. And I didn't call them "rules," I called it a "contract." Here's what you agree to do, and here are the procedures I agree to follow. Ex: "I will arrive to class before the late bell rings." And together, we decided on the consequence: "After the third tardy, I will get a phone call home. Two more and it's a Dean's Referral." So today, when my two "usual suspects" walked in late, I was able to point to the contract on the wall and say, "I don't want you guys to get calls home, so try to be on time tomorrow, ok?" Much more productive than making a snarky comment like, "decided to join us, eh?" or yelling or something.

Another thing that worked was that we decided that for misbehavior, they would get 2 warnings: a "look," a verbal warning, and then a call home or a trip to the dean / Time-Out room, depending on the severity. And today, when kids misbehaved, I would "look," then if it continued, I said firmly, "This is your second warning" and pointed to that contract on the wall. When 2 or 3 kids continued to act up, I sent one to the Time-Out room (like a Dean's office). The behavior pretty much stopped from everyone else because they saw I was serious.

Basically, I made them a part of creating the contract, and helped them understand why the rules were necessary and what fair consequences were. I agreed that I would follow them if they did (ie, I wouldn't give them a "pop quiz" for misbehaving, because I agreed on the contract that I would issue 2 warnings and deal with students directly). It's only been 3 days, but so far so good.

Oh, and changing seats always helps! Even if it's just for a day or two, it kind of shocks them into behaving for a little while.

Re: Rough day today

I teach high school and it's the same way! These kids have no attention span, are incredibly lazy, and have no respect for anybody. They make it so hard to teach!
I refuse to get "angry" and start yelling and screaming because it accomplishes nothing and just raises my own blood pressure. I don't need that stress.
I just try to keep them as busy as possible. I don't bother with parents because when I've called them in the past, they either give me an attitude, don't speak enough English to have a conversation, or tell ME to punish their child because they don't know how to control their own child (seriously I've heard this before).
I just teach to the kids that want to learn and care about their grades. The rest are just going to do nothing and fail anyway.
So I feel your pain!!!!!