What to Do When Your Class is Awful (Part 1)
It’s incredibly hard to teach when your students won’t behave. It’s demoralizing, and there are no easy answers. Here are 18 suggestions to - not fix it, but to help make it better.
Can I be vulnerable with you? I’m going to share a glimpse of a few of the worst moments from inside my classroom during this past school year. (names have been changed!)
Me: Hey Kayden, let’s put away the earbuds and close your laptop.
Student: (no reaction).
Me, tapping Kayden lightly on the shoulder. “Kayden, I need you to put away your electronics and focus on French.
Student: “Don’t touch me, bruh!”
Me (in the hallway): Alright guys, it’s time to stop goofing around and head to class.
Student: (aggressively): “Whatch’ you talking to ME for?!?”
Me: Elaine, I need you to move back to your assigned seat.
Student: F*** you, b***. I don’t have to do what you say.
And from an e-mail message sent by a 7th grader after I contacted her parent about her low grade:
Dear Ms. Bartels,
I hate you so much words can’t even explain… don’t even try to talk to me or anything ever again. I hate you. (signed)
Youch. Those last two were rough (and don’t worry, they went up to my very supportive admin). But that’s just a sample of the aggressive and defiant behavior I regularly encounter in my urban, Title 1 school. After teaching for almost 2 decades in international and suburban environments, this sort of outright student belligerence was a shock. After all, I don’t allow anyone in my life to talk to me that way - not my own children, not my husband, not a clerk in a store…. But here I am, accepting regular verbal abuse from entitled 13-year-olds.
There has been a lot of social media attention to deteriorating classroom behavior and its impact on teaching and learning. For example:
I have huge sympathy for these colleagues, as I’ve experienced outrageous student behavior for myself. However, My commitment to education is perhaps stronger than it's ever been. While it’s not all sunshine and roses, I WON’T leave public education in this moment.
Why? Because I still believe education (and language education especially) is such a powerful force for building bridges, increasing access, and opening possibilities for the future.
Are you concerned about students who can’t concentrate, can’t be patient, and can’t interact in social situations as I am?
The Solution: A Structured Classroom Environment
Working in a structured classroom environment is the answer. Students need to close their devices and do things. They need to work in small groups. Play with play dough. Draft and re-draft an essay. Watch a video clip together… and then analyze and discuss it. Line up and walk out of the classroom in an orderly manner. Wait their turn. Be silent. Be bored. Work through interpersonal disagreements. Curb their impulses. Write in full sentences. These activities may be more important than the academic learning that takes place at school.
Our kids need strong leadership, caring mentors, and confident examples of emotional regulation. My classroom is where it all happens.
And, If I can’t be successful teaching these kids… who can?
I understand how awful it is when you have a terrible group. Believe me, I do. It’s incredibly hard. It’s demoralizing, and there are no easy answers.
So what do you do when you have a classroom full of kids who won’t comply? I humbly offer these suggestions to - not fix it, but to help make it better.
18 things to try when your class is awful
Suggestion #1: Add more structure
Whenever something is going wrong in my class (academically OR behaviorally) more structure is usually the answer.
If your class is misbehaving, look for ways to add more structure to your behavioral plan.
Stop and think about the behaviors that are really bothering you. Is it talking out of turn? Kids leaving their seats during instruction? Horseplay while entering the room? Students on phones instead of learning?
Take time to really identify what the problem is. Chances are, the ‘worst’ parts of your classroom are the parts where your expectations are unspoken or unclear (maybe even to yourself).
Then imagine the solution. What would ‘right’ look like? You need to write this down, internalize it for yourself, teach it to your students, and enforce it firmly and evenly. That leads to…
Suggestion #2: Have clear, objective, positively worded rules.
OK, when I used to teach in a easier setting, these were my rules:
Be kind
Do your best work
Have fun
Those rules are actually my philosophy of teaching… and of life. I may write about this another time, because I think these rules are great and apply to most any situation you encounter in the classroom.
However, when I moved to a tougher school I found my students weren’t used to following subjective rules. I was spending a lot of time in endless arguments with students about whether their behavior really constituted lack of kindness or not doing their best. I needed more objective rules. Here’s what I settled on.
Stay in your seat (this includes your body and stuff).
Only talk to your own table (no shouting.) *note: my tables have 1-2 students
Only work on French.
With students who don’t willfully comply with classroom norms, these rules work much better for me. Why? They’re almost 100% objective. If you talk across tables, I and everyone else in the class can see it. If you are out of your seat or playing on your phone, the infraction is self-evident. There’s really nothing to discuss.
“Our kids need strong leadership, caring mentors, and confident examples of emotional regulation. My classroom is where it all happens.”
I like rules that are worded positively; that is, they describe what behaviors I do want from students rather than what I don’t want. This is much easier to quantify.
One last comment about these rules: Who could disagree with them? Stay seated, listen, and work on assigned content; any administrator or parent can get behind this. Frankly, if a teacher can’t have compliance with these three behaviors, I’m not sure how any learning can take place.
Suggestion #3 Teach and reteach your rules frequently - daily, if necessary.
In my toughest classes, I review these rules at the beginning of every class period. Any time I’m unhappy with a transition, we review. I review them before changes in routine. After initial teaching, this only takes a moment; they’re on a slide which I show and quickly read through. I also have them printed and laminated next to my whiteboard, and (for students who ‘can’t see the board’ or ‘can’t remember’) I have printed copies ready to tape to their desk..
In your toughest classes, teach and reteach the rules - daily if necessary.
Sometimes at the end of an activity, I tell kids, “Flip over your worksheet and jot down the classroom rules on the back.” I circulate the room and when a student lists all 3 rules correctly, I give them a fist bump and a piece of candy. Then I collect the papers and hang onto this evidence that every student knows my expectations.
These first three suggestions relate to identifying and teaching clear, objective behavioral expectations. Of course, this is only a starting point for a smooth-running class. I’ll address steps you can take when students don’t comply in part 2 of this post.
