Teachers - help !

[Goolagoo]

I’m in a y3 class , I’ve been here since Feb . They are a tricky class . Everyone has told me they have always been like this . No teacher wants to cover them ,they have a reputation for being the worst class in the school . It’s not their fault ! There are a lot of needs in the class.

But , I feel like I have lost control . They just don’t listen to me - nothing works . I have tried to be positive with rewards and now I’m at the point that I feel like all I’m doing is shouting . The only way to get their attention is shouting - and even then it’s only 5 mins . So it’s like I’m just continually shouting to get them to that point and then get 5 min learning time then repeat. Every lesson is a battle ! They continually talk over me , get out of seats , shout out . I’m so ill at the moment with a sore throat and a sore neck which I know is from shouting as I can feel it and that’s led into a cold . I’m absolutely drained .

I have one child who’s autistic and I know I have made massive progress with him . But the rest - I have really good children who I feel like I’m causing to be too anxious to ask anything because of my shouting ( I don’t know if this is me overthinking ) , and the rest I feel like I’m just background noise and they have no respect for me. They don’t care about any reward I try to put in place for them to earn and they don’t care about any consequence I give . The TA tells me it’s not me , every teacher becomes like this with them and the head tells me I’ve turned the class around but I don’t feel like I’m the teacher I want to be .

One asked me today “ do you even like it here because you’re always sad “ 😢😢 I don’t want them to think that

I am not a teacher. My husband is.

You need to ask your school to step up and help you sort this class. You shouldn't be on your own. Make a fuss and demand help!

Ok, all teachers have felt like this at one point.

First, stop shouting, seriously it does not work.

Second, chunk everything, tasks, groups, everything. Pupils act out when they are bored or they don't understand.

Instructions must be short and easily understood, quick rewards given.

Give leadership roles to the more mature students, they should be sitting next to or in a group with the less mature, more difficult pupils.

Sanctions must be carried out and stuck to very seriously, you must put structures on place or it WILL NOT get better.

No emotions at all, smile but strict.

The most important piece of advise, it is YOUR classroom, they MUST respect it. But, you must believe that for them to act like it.

If they start to get better, DO NOT loosen the structures, pupils actually like them. They may not get them at home unfortunately.

I just read that you say they don't care about sanctions, they will if you take away some of their lunch time/play time. They care when the sanction is meaningful.

Call home every week, to praise and to call parents to discuss inappropriate behaviour. If you have parents on board it can really help.

My advice is to strip back to basics.

Practice moving silently to tables using school reward system. Anyone talks, bring them back and start again.

Repeat constantly.

Insist they put their hand up with a question, no one gets out of their seats, you go to them.

Praise the ones doing it right constantly, stickers, dojos, whatever the policy is.