Hello Peter

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Home : 2003 : January : 26

Hello Peter
By Mrs. S

If this were my class this is what I would do:
First, never ignore the behavior, they see this as you accepting it. Call the disruptive students' parents. Say something like "I need to talk to you about ____'s behavior
because he or she is taking learning time away from the other students. Sometimes the call is all I need to do and the parents handle the misbeavior for me. This also lets me know how much parental support I can expect. Some parents will ask me what happens next if they do not straighten up, like they put up with this all the time and expect the child to disrupt. I would think that parents

that can afford private school may do something because they do not want it to get out socially that their child is a behavior problem. If the parent is not supportive or behavior does not change, skip that step next time and write him up. Do you have other teachers that you can send him to when he misbehaves? I do this in extreme cases and also have an isolation desk in my room that I put disruptive students in so they are out of sight of the other kids. You did not say if this is your first teaching job or not. Be sure that you are not trying to get them to like you or make friends with them. They have friends, they need a firm teacher. At this age, the best thing I can tell you is not to get into a conversation or try to reason with them. Tell them the rules and expect them to follow. I teach middle and do not allow birthday parties in my room. Some parents do not like it but they can get over it. If they want the party that bad, let them invite the 25 wild bucks to their house and put up with the noise. I would also look up www.disciplinehelp.com and see if any of those ideas help. Please do not give up.
On the organization, where you organized before? If not it can be extra hard. The best thing I have done (learned from a retired principal) Get 7 file folders and one 3 inch binder. Label the folders with the 5 days of the week and put in what you need for those days, copies, things to be handed out from office, etc. Label the other two with 'To File' and 'To Do'. The 'To file' can be left for a day a week to clean out. Check the 'To Do' at the beginning or end of every day and do as much as you can. Take the 5 million memos you get in a year and hole punch them and add to the binder so you can just flip through when you need to. Just not having that neverending pile on my desk helps my mindset.
I hope these help. Do not give up. You are an educated adult and you can get these kids in line and get organized. Best of luck.