Awful class really getting me down

[itisfarfromperfectnow]

I have them p5 Friday and I start every weekend in such a horrible mood as a result.

They butt in constantly and when one does it starts a whole chain of nonsense with kids calling across the room at one another.

The walking around ... a number of them think absolutely nothing of getting out of their seats and walking around when I’m speaking. When I tell them to take their seat they get enraged and tell me why they were out of the seat (usually putting something in the bin) despite this the classroom always looks like a bomb has hit it when they’ve been in.

They are so bloody rude and aggressive to me, it really gets me down.

Constant noise, even when they aren’t talking someone will be banging on the desk or leaning back in their chair pulling the remaining chair towards them and smacking it into the desk repeatedly.

Someone always urgently needs to go to the toilet (I’m not the teacher toilet troll, I promise) and argue and scream at me. Same with being ill and needing to go to the first aid room.

If I dare show any signs of annoyance or irritation with this they get very offender and discuss loudly how rude I apparently am.

I’m utterly sick to death of it.

Typos...

Once you're given them detention in the first five minutes, there's nowhere else really to go!

Are there any helpful colleagues who could arrange to take some of them? I have in the past identified the ring leaders and had them housed by colleagues for a few weeks, during which time I was able to improve relationships with the still-annoying-but-not-ringleaders ones.
Or, buy yourself a copy of "When the adults change, everything changes" and use it to bash yourself over the head with until unconsciousness brings its blessed relief.

use it to bash yourself over the head with until unconsciousness brings its blessed relief.

I was a bit worried that you were going to recommend reading it!

Impressed at Emoji’s 6 call-outs. I’ll be even more impressed if they were all attended. One major issue with my awful class was that there just weren’t enough staff on-call that period and often no one would come. And then what do you do?

I was a bit worried that you were going to recommend reading it!
Me too!

Though I'm sure if the OP wanted to buy every child a hot chocolate from a chain of choice, and prioritise the ring leaders by giving them marshmallows to prove they were invested in building a relationship then everything would change.

It's that or choreograph a hip hop routine to do with each child on entry to the room. It's personalised learning innit.

Lola are those the kind of things he suggests? I haven't got that far yet, but my school is certainly on the road towards Dixifcation over my dead body

At least Dix believes something even if it's bonkers and suggests strategies.

My SLT are currently writing a book with the, admittedly longwinded, title :
There Is Absolutely Nothing Wrong With Behaviour In Our School Which We Know Because We Can Ascertain This From Within Our Offices When The Door Is Closed

It contains various wonderful gems such as

Chapter One : how not to answer the phone
Chapter Two : Why you definitely don't need an on call system
Chapter Three : how to ignore an email
Chapter Four : 'how could you have managed that differently?' : ways to persuade teaching staff it was their fault really
Chapter Five : Professional scripts for school leaders, including ' have you contacted home?' and 'did you follow the first seventeen steps in our simple behaviour policy?'

The appendix contains a cash and carry 20% off voucher for purchasing cheap hot chocolate and marshmallows. Bargain.

My school are using that book to decide on our behaviour policy. We used to do a traffic light system. Everyone on green. Orange was the warning and red was a behaviour form. Three reds in a week was detention with SLT. It worked. All we needed was a gold for the children who went above and beyond expectations.

Now, we have just a gold for the children who go above and beyond. For the children who don’t? A supportive conversation! As you can imagine, low level behaviour is rife. Serious behaviour still gets a form (takes ages to fill it in) and most of the time, the consequence is an apology. My class just shrug at me.

@Piggywaspushed I think we have the same SMT! Except you missed the chapter about 'little chats'

Oh that is there. I didn't list all the chapters!! ;)

That class were the class from hell😭

I have a year 11 hell class that I have lesson 6 on Fridays so feel your pain. Absolutely not going to teach you to suck eggs but this works for me... sometimes!

Even unsupportive parents eventually get sick of the phone calls and have some kind of conversation with their kids even if it’s not quite the one you want.

Be absolutely relentless - warn, warn, detention every time. Phone call home every single time. Aim to make a positive phonecall before you leave each Friday too.

Look at your seating plan - put the good kids in your eye lines as a reminder that it’s not everyone. Put the worst offenders in the middle - too often people put them in the corners but this allows them to slowly destroy whole areas at a time.

Small, focused, timed tasks that involve minimal talking from you. Oh you distracted yourself and didn’t finish it? We’re moving on and you can finish it at the end of the day.

We have a behaviour system which allows us to park the student somewhere else (and this generates a detention) after warnings - do you? If not do you have supportive colleagues who could share out the worst 3 or 4 to allow you to have a good lesson with the others? Give the parked ones really boring work to do and the expectation that if it’s not completed there will be a sanction.

Praise each and every time someone is doing something right!

Questions them. Is there a problem? No? Get on then! Are you finding this too hard and that’s why you are distracting yourself and others? Yes - let me help you. No - get on then. Have them admit there’s actually no reason for their behaviour.

Above all remind yourself it’s only 50 minutes/an hour. Have a point in your classroom where you can focus and gather yourself when they are really pushing your buttons. I sometimes tidy the books on the back windowsill for a few seconds to allow me to breathe and tell myself I’m not going to let them make me angry!

I’m not perfect - I did walk out on them earlier in the term for a few minutes - but we’re getting there.

Good luck!

A friend works at a school where a letter is sent home for even a warning

It’s a tick box with what to do now

Speaks to child
Speak to class teacher
Speak to head of department
Speak to deputy

Etc

@LadyMonicaBaddingham Do you mean restorative justice where somehow you’ve got to shoehorn a little chat in between teaching and other duties before you teach them again (which is great if you’ve got them again the same day or next morning!) so you can both air your grievances before moving on and then they behave exactly the same in their next lesson? 🙈😁

piggy
If you buy enough copies then schools can get discounts on comfy furniture for the new relationship station (where SLT sit on beanbags and encourage students to slag off the teachers and students who were obviously the source of their behaviour).

Other chapters include:
Chapter 18: The one where an NQT passes all their sage advice to staff because "they're fine for me"
Chapter 19: Why it is categorically wrong to ensure the class are safe in the event of a large behaviour situation.
Chapter 20: How to misuse apply valid special educational needs labels to any child SLT can't be bothered dealing with

I’m a Head of Department and I’d feel horrified if one of my team felt this way. I would insist on dropping in throughout your Friday lessons regularly to check on if anyone is playing you up, and if they were persisting to, they would be removed. You shouldn’t have to put up with this. What help has your HoD offered? Supporting you is what they are there for.

I agree you shouldn't have to put up with this. Can you focus on the good, quiet pupils and if the lesson is interrupted tell the ones who mess around to leave immediately and not return until they are prepared to learn calmly? Can you give your Head/HoY/school counsellor prior warning that you may be about to send half a dozen offenders their way, as you are unable to teach because of their behaviour?

Would it work to take them aside individually and ask why they behave this way? One on one they might be more able to come to an agreement about appropriate behaviour