High school discipline help

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amother

OP ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 9:31 am

I need help. Someone to talk to, a course to take. I am feeling very lost. My lessons are great and interactive but the rowdiness already in the beginning of the year is getting to me and not healthy for anyone.

trixx ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 9:45 am

Smart classroom management. Com
Have you read Wong first days of school. It's for elementary but very applicable

ellacoe

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 9:46 am

This can be difficult. It is important to set the tone at the outset as it can be difficult to reagin authority once it is lost. Please feel free to PM me and I can discuss some methods with you if you are interested.

#BestBubby ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 10:32 am

Do these girls go to seminary?

Remind girls that a bad mark from you will keep them out of the "top" seminaries.

Remind girls that people call teachers for shidduch information.

Also remind their parents of the same!

Does your school give detention for misbehavior? use it!

If not, speak to principal about docking girls from special extra-curricular activities - with girls allowed to "earn back" privilege for perfect behavior.

Make a class contest that if the whole class behaves for 3 days in a row, they get a no homework or everyone gets +5 on the test. That way there is peer pressure on the trouble-makers not to ruin it for the whole class.

Hatzlocha!

Flip Flops ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 10:47 am

#BestBubby wrote:

I would not suggest threatening them like this. You will only look desperate in their eyes and they will lose their respect for you. Come on - we all remember those threatening teachers ("the next girl to talk will get a zero on her test"!)

ssspectacular ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 10:51 am

Do not engage with them in class beyond a LOOK.
Choose one troublemaker and ask her to speak to you after class.
Read Teach Like a Champion. It helps a lot with discipline.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 10:54 am

ssspectacular wrote:

Do not engage with them in class beyond a LOOK.
Choose one troublemaker and ask her to speak to you after class.
Read Teach Like a Champion. It helps a lot with discipline.

Do you teach high school?

↑ ssspectacular

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 10:59 am

Yes You can PM me if you like

strawberry cola

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 11:03 am

If you live in or near Brooklyn, Rabbi Yoel Kramer is an expert on classroom discipline and management. He gives excellent courses on the subject. perhaps you could arrange a private session.

↑ #BestBubby ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 11:04 am

Flip Flops wrote:

If you make outrageous threats that you don't carry out, you will lose respect.

But if you make reasonable threats (detention, a -5) and CARRY IT OUT, it will work.

amother

Mauve

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 12:07 pm

In my daughter's high school, they give out extra credit points for...everything!
I would think the girls don't care so much but they really do! Very Happy

For answering question, raising their hands, preparing something at home... it keeps them involved in the lessons and they have to pay attention(less time to make trouble! Wink

)
Prepare an extra credit question at the end of each lesson, answer can be written down so anyone that listened to the lesson can get it if they knew the answer!

amother

Seashell

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 3:31 pm

Time for pop quiz
They’ll realize if they didn’t pay attention they won’t get the answers

I like the idea of extra points if the entire class behaves

icedcoffee

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 4:01 pm

The following have worked really well for me:

Form relationships to build some trust. Chat them up a bit as you're circling the room, ask how the assembly went or what's going on in math class or whether they had a good weekend. I'm much "nicer" in these one-on-ones than I am in front of the class, which is when I put on my stern face. But the relationship-building is important for getting them to buy into you during the times you're being more authoritative.

Carry a clipboard and announce that you're grading based on participation/behavior. If they're talking, walk over to them and start writing stuff down on the clipboard while looking right at them. They'll likely say "hey what are you writing?" and you can say that you're writing down that they're talking. That usually quiets them, or they'll say something like "okay wait hold on look I'm working."

Along with this, praise the students who are on genuinely task. "I really like how Sarah is working..." "I love how Erica is so focused..." My AP suggested this and I thought it sounded so useless but it actually works, because then some of them will say "what about me?" or "look I'm focused too!" They really enjoy hearing positivity instead of a lecture about their behavior.

Call home - I hate doing this but it does make a difference. I usually emphasize that John is SO bright and has SO much potential to thrive this year but unfortunately his choices are preventing him from truly succeeding and I really want him to do well this year because he has some GREAT things to say etc. Most of them are much more afraid of their parents than they are of me.

End on a good note. As the rowdiest kids are walking out the door, I'll say to one of them, "hey, I really liked what you had to say about ___ today. Keep it up!" It's unexpected in a good way, and they really appreciate it. When you have teachers all day telling you that you're disrespectful and misbehaving and you're going to fail, you just become numb to it. The positive reinforcement will surprise them and they'll want to keep hearing it. Lecturing them about their future goes in one ear and out the other.

↑ trixx ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 4:14 pm

Man these replies are mostly terrible (edit: with the exception of iced coffee but the clipboard idea can be done more cleverly and less punitively. I don't like it but I have done it, just standing at my desk, making eye contact and then marks on a paper. Quiets down the class real fast).
I sure hope you're not actually teachers in any contact with actual vulnerable high school girls.

Last edited by trixx on Tue, Sep 10 2019, 4:20 pm; edited 1 time in total

↑ trixx ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 4:17 pm

#BestBubby wrote:

Assuming you're indeed a bubby, with all the respect your age deserves, this is absolutely terrible old fashioned advice. Unless it's satire.

amother

Peach ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 5:26 pm

Extra points for participating etc is a more positive way to motivate the girls.
Basically, think motivation in a positive rather than negative way.

The threat about shidduchim is disturbing to be honest. How many experts have connected the rise in eating disorders among frum girls due to the shidduch world. It's a form of adult bullying imo. I would absolutely call the school and give them a piece of my mind if a teacher was resorting to that in my child's class....

FranticFrummie

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 5:53 pm

Reminding them that their grades will affect their choice of sems is not a bad idea, if combined with positive motivators as well.

Use the 10:1 rule. Ten positive reactions for every one negative reaction.

DD had a teacher that she HATED the first two weeks of school, because she was "so mean and strict". Pretty soon, DD realized that there were some really rowdy trouble makers in her class, and with this teacher in control, kids were able to stay on track and focus on their work. DD ended up loving this teacher more than all of the "nice" teachers she had that let kids get away with murder.

Girls may grumble at first, but deep down they are still looking for boundaries. If they know where the lines are drawn, they feel safe to express themselves inside those lines.

Being a teacher is a lot like being a guard rail on a curvy mountain road. You don't want to squish everyone down to a single lane, but you don't want anyone driving over the edge, either. A reasonable line is where you want to set your goal.

teachkids

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 6:15 pm

Personally my method is to make class fun and interesting. "Come on guys, we want to see what happens to x!" Lots of interaction and excitement. And I don't mean technology and games. I mean genuine excitement of learning and interesting discussions. Combined with a healthy dose of "really? You guys could do better!"

cream+sugar

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 7:03 pm

I’m not sure what subject you teach, but I taught limudei kodesh at a (not frum) day school for a long time, and with my upper-middle and high school students, I found it helpful to push the desks into one big seminar-style table as much as possible, so everyone felt involved and necessary to the discussion. It worked super well; I think just being in a different configuration got kids’ attention. I also made a point of quoting kids verbatim on the board (name included) when they made a truly great point or asked a really good question. It was very difficult to get your name and ideas on the board, and it didn’t happen too often, but it apparently became a coveted privilege.

I was also a ruthless grader and gave brutal assignments, which helped in the long run.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Tue, Sep 10 2019, 8:29 pm

Thank you all for your help. A special thank you to those who reached out. Today was a lot better Baruch Hashem . If you can list rules or boundaries you have in your high school classes and consenquences (subtle or not so subtle) would be helpful.

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