Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tzzel]

Hi everyone,

I've got a smart-ass student in my class. Now, I've had ones before, but she is the ultimate smart-ass: intelligent, disrespectful, and she is popular in the class. This one little cheeky girl has become my biggest obstacle in my teaching at this academy.

Why is it important to neutralize this type of student? She pushes the boundaries at every chance and when it happens, she gains power. Subsequently, I lose power in the eyes of that class.

I got smarted again today by her. Anyway, if I can neutralize her, I will have about 50% less stress at my job.

So, my plan:

1. Make her sit at the front, away from the girls. Students will act like their the shit when with friends, but 1 on 1, they are quite meek.

2. She has a tendency to act a smartass. I will frequently ask her if she has questions (she hates when I single her out).

3. Violence or losing my cool is not an option.

What do you all think?

[northway]

It's kind of impossible to advise you without knowing the age of the student, IMO.

[tzzel]

Oh. She's 6th grade (but has the rebellious spirit of a middle school teenager). And ironically, hardly any of my middle school students get cheeky with me.

[northway]

I'd make her sit with the boys, particularly if there are a lot of them. At that age I've found that they hate it if you make them mix it up.

[Quack Addict]

Bribe her. Give out candy to students who behave. Or a prize for playing a game. My school supplies us with endless amounts of the candy and snacks and cheap pencil cases/notebooks,etc. They actually encourage us to hold it over their heads. No problems so far. (I'm at a middle school)

[ThingsComeAround]

Is she lazy or just bored?

If she is lazy maybe she likes the attention she gets from you and everyone else. Have her hand out papers for you, erase the board, pretty much make her your B-Yotch.

If she is bored, then crack some jokes on her. Soften her up a bit.

[NYC_Gal]

I second making her sit with the boys.

Also, you could keep her late to clean the floor after class. She misses her break, and you get a clean floor.

[northway]

[NYC_Gal]

One of my friends prints off a paragraph and tells the students to copy it on the back. They ask him for a second paper, so they don't have to constantly turn it over to see the next word. He says no, then it dawns on them

I haven't done this yet, but boy oh boy will my 6th graders hate it.

[machoman]

it can sometimes be bad to punish the well liked girl in class, because the rest of the class might turn on you. and also, punishing a student, especially a female and YOU'RE a female as well will only cause her to hate you for the rest of your life. females hold grudges against other females for too long.

i would keep my cool and give her some positive attention, maybe even let her teach the class for 5 minutes. this gets the class laughing and you're not seen as the pain the butt teacher that they'll resent. try your best not to take it personally.

maybe even talk to her after class and tell her you're not angry, but that she makes your job so difficult to teach the other kids. ask her what's making her behave this way, what does she want? and then come up with a solution together about how to make the class more successful.

but then again, i teach at a public school. i think the mentality is different in hagwons.