Job Discussion Forums

[Sweetsee]

I am interested to know whether I am the only one dealing with behavioral problems in private high school. I have students who regularly chat during class, always sit legs agape or crossed/side-ways in their seats, always late, never show any interest and never study. Each lesson is the first time regardless of how many times we have studied the material. The school is paying me a great deal of money to teach and I have become increasingly frustrated with the students attitudes, ill manners and general lack of respect.
I would appreciate any advice on how to deal with them.

[canuck]

Set some rules up and have them agree to them.

Take the ring leader aside, before or after class on day and tell them their behaviour is not only unacceptable, but it's rude.

Put a desk in the hall one day. Get a system where there's 3 strikes and you're out or something like that.

[Sweetsee]

Hey canuck, up early, eh? I hav booted kids out of the class. Invariably, what happens is I talk to them and explain their rudeness and so on and all the while they stare at me and will not answer the simplest of questions, as though they have no idea what I'm talking about. I believe this is a trained response as it is frequently used.
Yesterday, I was so fed up I made them vote on whether continue working on the current topic, change topics or piss off. The piss offers won it and I left the classroom. Next week I am going to try dividing the class into those students who want o study and those who don't. What do you think?

[canuck]

Try to get the ring leader, and set an example. Have someone translate the rudeness in Japanese, as to avoid the deer in the headlights. How big is the class? I would never let my students vote on a lesson to do or not to do. You are the adult and in control of the class. What about team games, rig the teams with the good students in one group and the poorer students in the other. More homework for the losing team.

Sounds like you need to get control of the class so that you can teach. Up early, yup.

[lajzar]

Following the lead of one of my fellow teachers, I have set teh following rules in my class...

No book = no chair
No file (notebook etc) = no chair
No pen = no chair
Sleeping = no chair
Having non-English books on the desk = book confiscated until the end of the class

It can be hard to enforce at first, and it doesn't cover all eventualities, but enforce it consistently and they'll start respecting you a little. At the least, they'll have the means to study.

[Celeste]

I used to teach girls' high school in Korea. Here are few ideas:

Don't go it alone on the discipline issue. Get a seating chart with names and keep it in front of the classroom with you. Visibly make checks in RED INK on the names of the worst offenders every time they misbehave. After class, have these students accompany you to the teachers' room. Take them to their homeroom teacher, and apologize to him/ her for the inconvenience, but ask his /her advice on how to get these students to work and stop being disruptive. Also get the vice principal's advice. Can't speak Japanese? Better get a few members of the English department to help out with the translating. Soon the whole teachers' office will know about the trouble these kids have caused and they will be in absolute shock that they haven't gotten away with it. One of the things that a lot of these kids are used to is that a lot of young Japanese teachers are afraid of losing face in front of the other teachers, so they won't admit there is a problem in their classroom.

Some other tactics to try:

Always call on the worst behaved students to come to the front of the room to help out with the demonstration. (give bad kids all kinds of jobs to do-cleaning the black board, collecting homework, handing out papers, etc. if you can get them trained to comply to small things like this, they are more likely to comply with other things you ask them to do)

If one or a small group are being disruptive, continue the lesson from the aisle next to their desks with one hand on a students desk (or shoulder but you may want to be careful about actual physical contact with your students.)

Remember to be consistant. Always praise the good things that they do. Always bust them for the bad stuff. When students are unclear on your limits is when they will either test them or ignore them completely.

Finally, check out this link:

http://www.behavioradvisor.com/

[Glenski]

Other links to similar topics:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=1484
http://www.eltnews.com/community/?board=kids;action=display;num=1079016306
http://www.eltnews.com/community/?board=highschool;action=display;num=1086574881

How new are you to that school? Perhaps you have not established yourself there long enough. It took me a whole year to get my feet grounded in my private JHS/HS.

For latecomers, don't sweat it. Just advertise to the class that they are late, mark it in your attendance book for all to see (and hear), and let the school system handle it. (In my school, 3 lates = 1 absence.) If you like, you can TRY stopping the students as the enter, and getting them to explain why they were late, then admonishing them no matter what the excuse, but if their English is weak and your Japanese is weak, good luck.

For those that don't study, let THEM suffer in their exams. Let THEM suffer when they have to give a presentation in English, and they can't. Assuming most of the other kids in class do well enough in your lessons, all I can say is that you can lead a horse to water...

For girls with legs spread open, say NOTHING to them! Do NOTHING about it in class. If anything at all, report this behavior to the homeroom teacher, but be advised how it might look to him/her that you even noticed.

For most other disciplinary matters, whatever you do in the classroom is pretty much up to you, but I would always report things to the HR teacher. In my school, HR teachers are pretty much GOD to these kids, unless the HR teacher is a wimp. Let him/her handle things after it happens. INSIDE the classroom, however, you have options like lajzar pointed out, or that you can read in the links I have given.

Be aware that you will still have to teach those students next week. I recommend going to class with a fresh attitude as if nothing had happened in the previous week. Treat every student the same, fairly and justly. This means giving help to each of them, especially the troublemakers. It takes a lot of time and patience, but in 99% of the cases I have dealt with, attitude improves. Learning something about the kids helps, too. Chat with them about their clubs or other outside interests whether you are in class or out. Maybe even relate a lesson to such interests. You don't have to be their best friend, and you still have to maintain a professional distance, but showing that you take an interest to learn their names or activities helps.

[guest of Japan]

Some very good advice has been given.

A good seating chart is indespensible.

Communicative task work will probably lighten your stress if you aren't already doing it.

Be careful to recognize if the problems in the classroom are attributable to something you as the teacher are doing.

Try to get support from your teaching partner if you have one. Homeroom teachers can be very helpful as well.

The more you yell, the less effective your yelling will be.

Recongnize you own limitations and learn to care less.

Don't believe the hype you were told about your school. Most private high school attract students who could not get into public schools. There are exceptions, but prestigious doesn not necessarily mean good.

Do the best job you can. Take the paycheck. Try to enjoy your life in Japan. Learn from the experience. If it truly is not tolerable then quit. I lost ten kg from stress at my previous school and I was already skinny. I should have quit the first month. I endured, but it wasn't worth it.

[Mike L.]

The biggest part of classroom discipline is being in control. If they've put some Japanese "non-entity" who is supposed to be in charge in the class in with you this will make it all the more difficult..

some of these peoplehave been offically "teachers" for 20 years plus and still don't know how to teach the target language let alone mange a classroom!

Thus, I pretty much refuse to work under those circumstances...

Anyways I digress.....

Whatever you do you must take control of the seating plan. Move trouble makers to places where they will be isolated from their co-cospirators. Front and center for example.

I only teach a half class, my co-worker the othe half, at a time so this helps.. As does the "good cop" "bad cop"scenario with each class of 40..

Pair them up with the opposite sex. I've found this really works with HS 1s though it may not with older kids. For the boys they are still afraid of these unusual creatures I've paired them up with and the girls being more academically inclined often call the shots..

They also kind of tutor them sometimes so it's very beneficial...

Before I begin the class each year I give out a few handouts in Japanese such as class "rules" and "aims."

They have to get a clear file to put handouts in and must have a folding name tage on their desks so I know exactly who everyone is. Some give themselves interesting names, had one boy insist I call him "Helen" so it can be fun too..

Next I asisgn seat and get them to fil intheir names on a seating plan. This is probably the most improtant thing as far as discipline is concerned...

I rarely ever raise my voice in class, I give lines though which must be left on my desk for the following infractions:

1. No clear file and or name tag
2. No pen or pencil
3. Talking continuously after being asked once politely to be quiet.
4. Sleeping in class, not that you'd get much of a chance to do it..
5. Hitting your friend and other forms of mesing around, though I find it amusing at times, I encourage this to be done outside of class
6. If there are more serious problems I will broach the issue outside of class. This has happened only once in 2 1/2 years though..

these are all on the Japanese handout they recieved at the start of the year.

Whatever you do make sure you apply all rules 100% to all students equally...

If possible take control of what is taught so you don't get stuck with strange "Japalish" materials about Peggy from America studying about Ikebana for your "Eikaiwa Class.."

Most of my kids really enjoy my class!!!

Perhaps the biggest challenge you face is that maybe your school, as a private school which worries about cash flow is that they are running a sort of scam operation where they essentially do more babysitting rather than educating.

Any attempt by you to straighten things out might be sen as a threat!!

Regardless It's a lot of work intially but after the intial period but It pays off!

Good luck! Keep us informed!!

[Sweetsee]

Thank you everyone. I really feel a weight has been lifted from my back.

[lajzar]

Forgot to mention, regarding the sleeping issue.

Mine is a boarding school, and on Mondays, some of these kids wake up at ridiculously early times (2 am!) and travel from teh far ends of Japan to be at school on time.

Given that, I will permit sleeping in class if a) the student asks permission first, b) they have finished the current piece of work ahead of the rest of the class, c) that student has done a lot of travelling that day, and d) the student has not been misbehaving in class so far that day.

This does of course change if I expect the class to be observed

[Sweetsee]

Again, thank you everyone for your advice. My problems stem from one group in one class, also the class I spend the most time with. I realize now I have not taken control of the class and allowed them to much freedom. I was trying to treat them like adults and the group is in fact behaving very childish.
I am really looking forward to tomorrow. I'm going to greet them as they enter the classroom and just sort of be around. They will immediately notice something is up. Next, I will have a word with the ringleader and much to their horror I will assign a seating chart and clearly state the rules.
My problem is that these girls come into the class and just don't sit straight, their desks are covered with irrelevant items, they constantly banter between themselves, speak while I'm speaking, turn around and speak while I'm speaking, don't do assigned tasks and generally display a lack of respect or lack of consideration for their fellow students and myself.
I am definetely looking forward to the challenge.

[Glenski]

[Chris12]

When I have a student talking during class, I give him or her a warning first then if the student continues to talk, I move the student to the front of the class, and if the talking still continues, I move the talkative student outside and explain now you can talk all you want.

If a majority of students are not interested, you need to ask yourself what you can do to make the class more interesting. A good teacher is a good student always learning new methods of teaching!
I hope this helps

[Sweetsee]

Thank you Chris12,

I couldn't agree more. Look at me, more than a decade in classrooms in this country and I'm scanning the internet for methods and tidbits.

Peace man,
S