Really struggling with classroom management

I don't like horseshoes either, desks in pairs facing me. Perhaps in lines of four if I'm bored of pairs!

I think if I was trying to get back a class like this, I would make their poor behaviour their fault, rather than admitting I'd been a bit crap.

"I've been appalled by your behaviour in recent weeks, as has [previous teacher]. I expected a certain level of maturity from 16 year olds at a college, and I can see that I was wrong, you aren't yet in a position where you can be trusted to behave appropriately with regards to working with each other, doing more interactive activities or getting up and moving around the room. Because of this, I have planned two lessons, one full of calm written activities and one which is more lively. We will start by doing [X - boring written task to be completed individually] and if you show me that you can behave sensibly, then we will move onto [Y- more interesting group activity]. However, if at any point I can sense you losing control, then we will go back to X, or individuals can be sat at the back of the class doing X while the rest of the class do Y. Now it's going to be hard work, so we will stop for a ten minute break at 10:00 and I can reassess how you are getting on."

Then praise them if they do get their heads down and do some work. Do not be afraid to kick anyone off any activity and back to the boring work if they even hint at pissing around.

PS I don't like horseshoes, the less the kids can look at each other in the face the fewer the opportunities for mass communication.

Start making phone calls home- positive AND negative. Try and do the positive first.

Use verbal praise whenever you can, make them really respect the fact that YOU KNOW THE ANSWERS. Start changing your language- I find phrases like "this is a vital piece of information" "that is the difference between a C and a D" "unless you know this and use this, you WILL NOT be able to answer this paper".

I really hope the college start supporting you more as they sound shit, to be honest! You should have been given a discipline policy on induction.

Take the classroom back as your space. Do a new seating plan, in rows, get them to line up silently outside the classroom, then you give them instructions on what you want them to do when they get in (some straightforward exercise that needs no input). Then you let them in one by one, direct them to their new seat and they get on with it. If the ones outside start messing, give them a stern folded arms and not let them in until they are sensible. If the ones inside aren't working in silence, a stern 'I've told you what I expect you to be doing, now get on with it'.

Act like you mean business and it should at least give you a good start to the lesson which you can then kick off with your revised expectations.

Two things to remember

1. it's not personal, it's a game to them, baiting the teacher is more fun at the moment than learning

2. Even in your worst lesson no body has died

Agree with, 'getting the buggers to behave' although it is mostly aimed at school children it does work.

As for rules, do a 'class contract' - so get them to write the rules and be realistic. When you first do this they will all say, "no mobile phones", ask them if they are really going to go 4 hours without looking at their phones, of course they are not, so let them suggest something, then you suggest something so the rule might be they get 5 mins to check texts in every hour, but they can lose that 5 mins for behaviour infringements.

Get the rules typed up and laminated and stuck on the wall - they are more likely to follow rules that they have made up and agree are fair.

I have one very talkative group at the moment, who don't listen so I end up being asked 5 times at the start, "are we using computers today?"

I am supposed to have them for 1hr 30, I tell them they can go 15 mins early but every time they talk over me I'll add a min on to the lesson. They usually go 10 mins early after a couple of infringements they start to self police.

The marbles in a jam jar can work with older students, for every thing they do right they get a marble, once the jar is full the group get a treat.

Can you do anything with them moving around? Do you have access to an IT suite or laptops?

If you can get them in to a group or pairs, get them to research something and then present it to the class it can take a bit of time and have them actually doing.

Some groups like 'death by powerpoint', others get bored.

Some groups need to 'get it out of their system' so giving 5-10 mins at the start for socialising, finishing breakfast etc etc can work.

A-Z of your subject, mine's health and social care so either in teams or individually they have to name a term from A to Z, so arthritis, bipolar, etc to zimmer frame. Sometimes we go backwards as well and they cannot repeat any term.

Ground rules - I get my class to decide the ground rules, and they make a poster with THEIR rules on and it goes up in class.

Team names, 'Not appropriate Henry, choose again'

Phones - for each minute you wait for them to put them away, you hold them behind for a minute of their time

'So and so has gone for a dump' 'Excellent. Lets talk about poo first off then. It's my favourite subject'. *note - I teach horticulture and can talk about poo for hours

Try and do the opposite of what they expect.

I do supply and mainly SEN and it is like crowd control - but start respecting them and they will [eventually] respect you. On friday one class were told to research some food stuff and had to do a powerpoint and the IT system kept blocking their research saying it was 'porn'. I explained that many many people post pictures on their websites and blogs and describe it as 'food porn' because they love looking at and cooking really good healthy food [it was the healthy food that was blocked mainly, not the junk - go figure] and they laughed and then just went 'oh' and carried on.

I recommend you tube for techniques - look at behaviour management and trawl through until you find some good ones.

Tell them what you want then to do 'Come in, sit down, coats on the backs of your chairs, bags under the desk, eyes front and then we will begin.' I also tell them that as I am only there for the day, the way it works is that those that behave badly are the ones whose names I remember so when I go back to the office, I know exactly whose home I will be calling before I leave so unless they want a call home, lets all crack on. Those that behave well, might get a surprise call home telling everyone how fantastic they have been so think on.

You will have an internal behaviour policy so get close to it and use it. Don't be afraid of it. If it degenerates they are not on task so make sure you have plenty of differentiated tasks available.

If I can give one top tip to new teachers, make the learning into student centred fun. I create lots of games for mine - based on popular card and board games - hangman becomes plant part hangman. Snakes and ladders - becomes carrots and sweetcorn. Jenga - I have letters and numbers and symbols that I wrote on mine and when each piece comes out, they get asked a relevant question for the topic they are learning. Get a magnetic board and some magnetic tape [I got mine in the Range] and put this on the back of the pieces so that the board can be passed around class and held vertically for all to see. Quizzes - break the class into two teams and they have to come up with devious questions for the others from the curriculum and you keep score. As soon as you have taught them the rules, you can stand back and just manage and prompt from the back or sides of the class. think of imaginative ways to teach them and to keep them occupied.

And get yourself on your teacher training! ASAP.

You need to find out from your manager what the college policy is for poor behaviour. There will be one. There will be some sanctions you can use.

I assume these learners all want to pass their course?

Then you have to find some resources which make the module not boring and pointless. Can you tell us what the subject is?

You need pace in your sessions which means that there is no time for misbehaviour.

Are they doing the work? Are you standing at the front and talking at them for four hours? Teaching adults/ older teenagers means THEY do the work and they use peer to peer learning. You use the group and the group dynamics to teach.

I think rows facing the front is the way forward until you get their respect. Do you know your subject inside out?

Making their activities into a competition with points awarded towards a prize could help you, but this supposes that they are actually doing the work/activities and not just listening to you the whole time.

Read up on body language and how to use your voice - this DOES NOT MEAN shouting. Nor does it mean barking rules.

I am afraid that at this age teaching means getting their respect and making your sessions so interesting that they can see what's in it for them.

When I have had difficult classes I have found out what the college policy is and told them what will happen if they don't buck their ideas up. On the other hand if you can show them that you know your stuff and can make the sessions interesting and meanigful to them personally then you are getting there.

If they behave for other teachers it shows they know exactly what they are doing.

When I did my PGCE I had no clue whatsoever how to deal with children - including my own. I had two small children and no parent figures who had a clue either so I was flailing around a bit. My PGCE taught me how to bring up my own children never mind stand in front of twenty teenage boys. It gave me confidence.

You have to think - 'well whatever happens I ALWAYS know more than they do'!

IF you could PM me the subject I can have a think about how to make it interesting. That's the key really.

I was in exactly the same position as you last year, a member of staff left unexpectedly and nobody applied for the job so I (an administrator for the department with experience in the subject and had studied it myself when at College) was thrown in. It was the hardest 12 weeks of my life. If you are at a College they should pay for your Pttls course but to be honest getting my head round teaching/marking/planning and studying myself was too much.

The reason the rows things isn't done so much is they are hard to move around ie difficult to get to he back row.

Oh, and the other teachers being horrified at how bad you are at behaviour management is appalling. Presumably they are trained and experienced.

Like I said, the college are taking you for a mug dropping you into this scenario with no training, they really shouldn't be surprised or horrified that you are finding it tough. They are the idiots, not you.

No teacher training and you've been dumped with a class of 16 year old boys for 4 hours at once? The college are taking you for a mug! Even an experienced teacher would struggle with that set-up.

Anyway, the class are testing you. They will test all new teachers, this is what children do. So they will try rude team names, they will tell you their friend is going for a dump, they will piss about on their phones.

What behaviour management systems are available to you? I don't work in FE, can you give detentions? Phone home? Have a kid removed from your lesson? If yes, you need to start doing all those things.

If a 16 year old wrote a rude team name, I'd bin their paper, give them a fresh one and tell them to write something more appropriate. If it was really bad I'd issue a sanction. If they said their friend was going for a dump, I'd be entirely humourless, and tell them it was inappropriate and far more information than I required. I wouldn't have a 3 strikes rule for phones. If they have it out, it's mine. I assume with a 4 hour session you have breaks when they can use them?

A seating plan, and seating in rows facing the front is your best weapon.

Also, google Tom Bennett, the TES behaviour guru. He has loads of good advice for this sort of thing.

Also, consider teacher training sooner rather than later.

Sorry...

Once the time is up they put the phone back down. Some initially refused so I said 'that's fine - but you miss out on text time unfortunately'. Having the desks in a horseshoe means that if one goes missing to be fiddled with under the table I can see it and the rest of the class lose out. Peer pressure is your friend.

I'm guessing you're teaching some kind of PSD or Functional Skills?

I'm still learning after 15 years - honestly, kids and their behaviour changes class by class, year by year.

You need to take back control. Next lesson stand by the door, greet each one as they come in as nicely as you can and direct them to where you want them to sit in your new arrangement.

The mobile phone one is hard - would you consider using them to your advantage? We had training from a behaviour psychologist recently and she advised that mobile phone management is a life skill that needs to be taught.

My students come in and put their phone face down, on silent, in the corner of their desk. At a natural lull in class I let them have 2 minutes of timed phone access.

I'm in a similar situation, I teach in a FE college, teaching only males, predominantly aged 16-19. I teach a compulsory subject and the vast majority of my students have behavioural issues and/or additional learning needs.

It's not easy. I have one group who are incredibly challenging, I'm talking violence, constant swearing, refusal to work, distracting others, people walking out. I've been called names, sworn at and threatened....

But, it IS possible to get somewhere with groups who are initially very problematic.

A book that has been invaluable is Getting the Buggers to Behave. Another good one is Behaviour Management in Further Education by Susan Wallace.

The biggest thing I did was change my perception. I will freely admit I dreaded this group. I'd even say I actively loathed some of them. And that isn't good. I couldn't teach them effectively when I was going in already stressed and with massive barriers up. I spent time reflecting on why I felt the way I did, and actively forced myself to identify at least one good point about every student. I needed to see them as individuals rather than a group and I needed to see their positive points because I was focusing on the negative and it was impacting my teaching.

I found tables of four the most effective, but only when used with a seating plan. Divide and conquer. Split up the friendship groups, place people who do work next to the ones who don't.

Lots of short tasks worked with this group, using peer support, praise and ground rules. Resources they haven't seen before like Kahoot go down well, particularly as it is point scoring and can be differentiated so everyone has the opportunity to achieve. Competition has a way of focusing the minds of young adult males.

Speak to their other tutors, find out what works for them.

Boundaries need to be clear, fair and absolutely rock solid. You could even get the group to help devise them so they are more invested in them.

It's really hard when you get a group like this, but you can do this.

Attachment parenting or drill sergeant?
Those are her choices? Two polar opposites with nothing in between?

Don't panic yet, it's early days. You don't need to bark or be a "shouty" teacher to get teenagers to behave, some of the teachers with the best control never raise their voices. You will develop your own style of "managing" them.

Do you want to tell us about a couple of specific problems and then we might be able to suggest practical strategies to help?

Skating - you sound like one of my managers. People like you are the reason we're losing new, potentially good teachers. She needs support and advice, not a massive guilt trip.

Woah, Skating! That's a bit harsh!

She's a new teacher- she could only be teaching them for a week! Lots and lots of assumptions in your post. This is the start of someone's career- nobody I know started off teaching perfectly, she's asking for help, she isn't a lost cause!

Have you actually got a teaching qualification, and a mentor? As you should have been through behaviour management during the qual and have someone to talk to/mentor you in school.