Job Discussion Forums

[askiptochina]

Here's some background. I started teaching at a high school in April. It was an older school (now demolished and no longer housing young minds), the classrooms were not wide, so students had to sit close to each other. When a class was too loud, I would raise my voice and sometimes yell. This was enough to get their attention and change their attitude. The occasional class clown would be thrown out and we would continue as usual.

Now we are at the new location, and the size of the classrooms are significantly larger. This also means my yelling and raising my voice has more comical value than authoritative influence. Since it is the new year, I have tried really hard to not worry about students' behavior and get them focusing on the book material. This morning I was faced with 2 types of classes. One was very quiet, and they listened to me, and when they spoke they pronounced words 85% of the time accurately. 10 percent of the time they simply were unfamiliar with the words and aced it after hearing me. I commented that they were the best class so far and must have a good Chinese English teacher.

Then, I go into the next class and wow, what a difference. Up until then, the students were already in the classroom waiting for the bell to ring. However, this class had about 15 students with their head down. 10 more students weren't even in the classroom, and the rest were doing normal high schooler stuff. The bell rang, and instead of getting in their seats they just looked up at me trying to figure out what they could get away with. I definitely wasn't expecting this because 9 other classes behaved quite differently. I gave them a look to sit and they did. Then the 10 that were out decided to join us. They were all guys and not interested in the least in what I had to say. That's no surprise, but in the other classes at least they sat down.

In this class, there are no girls who will initiate communication. They are completely submissive in a sense. We took turns reading, the girls read perfectly but would not choose the next person to read. The other classes enjoyed doing this because they could have fun listening to certain people speak. In this class there was absolutely no action unless I walked up to the student and told them to do something like a drill sargent. Sometimes one of the guys would do the commanding for me, but only under his terms. I went along with it and decided to play it. Then, the projector stopped working. The students took this as a license to talk in Chinese and ignore me the rest of the class. I read this quickly and remembered the end of the school year in May where classes acted the same way.

I felt this was not the way to start a new school year. So I yelled and they got quiet, except one guy. I went up to him and asked if he wanted to leave. He said, "Sure". And walked out. I asked if anyone else wanted to, and a girl said "No". We continued and finished class with me hammering them to participate. I have never experienced this.

What would you do with a beligerent group of high schoolers who probably have potential but apparently no care? One kid said he didn't want to go to college. So I said, "ok, you go to Home University then." They laughed and shortly after class ended.

[Miajiayou]

I assume this is a class that attends all courses together? If so, a few bad apples and a few wrong turns may have completely ruined it for them all. I've only had one class like this but boy was it bad. There wasn't much I could do to fix it because I didn't do anything to cause it. The tensions, resentment and general apathy had been present for a long time. Because I disciplined them quite harshly, the group I believe was responsible for the horrible atmosphere just stopped attending my class.

It got so much better. Many of the girls who had previously just stared at their book, hands, the wall, the back of their eyelids, etc. actually started participating. But, it was never a class I really enjoyed.

[rogerwilco]

I spent a few years teaching in a high school.
Never get angry and try not to shout.
That just tells the students that you are losing control of the classroom.

It is better to tell them to be polite than to be quiet.
Asking them to be polite is telling them that they may lose face for all their classmates if they do not behave.

I was very strict, but I also used humor to manage the classroom.
Explain to them that if they want to act like children, then you will punish them as children by having them stand in front of the classroom or something else that embarrasses them.

I know it is difficult, but every time you get angry then they "win" and you "lose".

The first thing that I did in difficult classes was to ask the girls, typically sitting in the front, to change seats with the boys sitting in the back.
Having the difficult boys lined up in the front row lets them know that you are not afraid of them and most will be too shy to act out when they are not able to hide at the back of the classroom.

I use humor and explain to them that good students always sit in the front, and that I know that they are the very best students...

[askiptochina]

[tianfuoe]

I use peer pressure. If anyone in the class decides to be disruptive, I just make the entire class sit still, face front, no reading, no playing with your phone, no tinkering, hands folded on the desk, not say a word for the remainder of the class time. 20, 30, even 40 minutes of absolute silence and boredom. After class the other students let that disruptive student have it! I have never had to do this more than once. No yelling, no screaming, no anger. When it happens, I just stop teaching and stand in the front of the class quietly. When I have their attention, then I make them all sit still. They really hate that!

[Lobster]

Never lose your temper -- never. You can act like you're angry as a display of displeasure, but losing your temper is highly unprofessional. If you want to succeed in classroom discipline, keep the following in mind:

1. You will be very strict at the beginning of every new class and allow no misbehavior.

2. You will make your class rules clear, and all students will understand and accept them.

3. You will make the consequences of disobedience and misbehavior clear and enforce your rules fairly and consistently.

4. You will pass on reports of misbehavior to the school's administration or the students' CT with the expectation that they will take appropriate action.

5. You will remember that you will be paid regardless of the actions of some students.

6. You will use silence, rather than yelling, to communicate your displeasure.

7. You will remember that it is your duty to teach, but it's the students' duty to learn.

8. You will strive to understand the mentality and learning culture of your students and not have unrealistic expectations of performance and behavior.

Do you need more?

RED

[dean_a_jones]

Good set of rules/guidelines.

First and third are essential, particularly the consistency.

On the second, as a class we agree on needing rules and what they are at the beginning of the semester, but that works with university students in a way it may not with younger students. Clarity is key, anyway.

Fourth is great when you get support, figure out if you will.

The rest are just worth keeping in mind, you are the authority figure in the classroom.

In my experience, raising your voice (not yelling) and "getting serious" from time to time seems to work, but only if you don't lose your rag and it is a proportionate response to serious class misbehaviour (not because you are having a crap day). It seems to work better if the whole group, or a large group, is causing a problem, rather than an individual.

For an individual, others had a few good ideas.

[Opiate]

Yeah...never yell. Personally, this was one of the most difficult things for me to overcome since I tend to get loud and not realize others may perceive it as yelling even though I do not. Here, it makes you look like a buffoon. Losing your temper is often seen as losing face. While it may not matter to you, perhaps it does to your students.

[rogerwilco]

[askiptochina]

Today was much better, but that last one was kind of funny. I go in and start preparing for the class. The Chinese teacher comes up to me and just starts staring at me. Then, 4 or 5 other students follow suit. He then asks some questions and I try to communicate the best I could that I was trying to get ready before the bell rang.

How do you get across rules and manners if the Chinese teachers can't comprehend it? In Korea and Japan, this was never a problem.

[rogerwilco]

[askiptochina]

[askiptochina]