Gaining control of your classroom.
Are you having trouble with discipline in your classroom? Is
it preventing you from engaging the class? Do you tutor 6-year-old students
with attention problems? Have you ever been stabbed in the leg with a pencil by
one of your students? Do you dread going to work? ESL teachers all face
problems with difficult students, including us at dangerouslyeasyesl.com.
Here are some tactics we know that work. You can use these tips to help you
deal with students who continuously act out in the classroom.
First, you need to be willing to change your approach. It is
important for ESL teachers to narrow down and pin point the problem before they
can find a solution. So, we have defined common problems and categorized them
for you.
#1 General chaos.
A classroom of forty 6-year-olds is generally the case. If
the homeroom teacher is there, the children are quiet, but as soon as the
homeroom teacher leaves, the class dissolves into a ball of vicious, flesh-eating
zombies with super-strength. It is impossible to recognize the “ring leaders”
because even the most docile, soft-spoken students join the pack of hungry
wolves. Sound familiar?
Causes:
This usually happens in schools outside of larger cities
where the general population is less integrated and the students have never had
a foreign teacher before. You are new to them. So, they think it’s “play time.”
The chaos persists because the teacher reacts in a way that actually encourages
chaos by getting upset. The teacher doesn’t have the luxury or authority to
physically dominate the students. So, raising your voice only taunts them.
Children look to their peers to see what is socially acceptable in the same way
that adults adopt social norms. So, if one child is straying from the herd,
then the entire herd begins to stray.
Solution:
So, how do you steer the cattle? How do you gain control?
Think about it this way. Sometimes it is easier to allow the river to flow
unobstructed in the direction that it wants to go. Once the water finds its
path, then you can begin to build the concrete barriers to keep it from
overflowing again. Speaking in parables doesn’t help you, so here’s what you
can do. The first day you decide to take control, start by playing with them,
but you become the ring leader! It doesn’t matter what you do, but you need to
observe the classroom and come up with a game off the top of your head. For
example: Find the child standing on their chair. Run up to the child and get on
the desk next to them. Create a game out of the chaos. "Now the floor
is hot lava! No one is allowed to touch the floor!" If you
lead, they will follow. All of the students will begin to stand on their book
bags or whatever is “safe” to stand on. BANG! You just created classroom rules!
You just took control of the class and now all of the students are following
your instructions! Play the game for a while and allow for creativity to flow.
Now you’re herding cattle. Gradually, steer the class in the direction you want
to go.
Other methods to gaining control include: turning your class
into a role-play (but everyone is a military cadet and you are the drill
sergeant), playing “Simon says,” singing a song that involves mimicking your
movements (head & shoulders knees & toes, itsy-bitsy spider, little
bunny foo-foo, etc.), showing a close-up picture of a funny animal and allowing
the kids to guess what it is, etc. Try walking into the classroom and motion
for everyone to stand up, then motion for everyone to sit down, then stand up
again, and sit down again. The third time, add waving your hands and spinning,
then end on a command to sit down, turn to your neighbor and shhhhh them! It
works every time. Now, class can begin.
Once you have gained control, it is time for you to
establish a signal or a trigger that you shall continuously use to inform your
class that they are getting too rowdy or out-of-control. The trigger needs to
be engaging and fun. I personally like to use the “little bunny foo foo song.”
The moment I feel like I’m losing control, I stop what I’m doing and break out
the song. The kids follow my hand gestures and by the end of the song I have
control again. Other methods include: counting to three and on “three” everyone
strikes a funny pose or makes a funny face, stand up/sit down three times in a
row, or try a variation of musical chairs where everyone must quickly exchange
seats then sit straight and attentively (the last student to do so, loses).
Things to remember: children have very short attention
spans, VERY SHORT! You only have about 20 seconds before their minds wander.
Therefore, it is important to keep them engaged by frequently changing the
environment while simultaneously steering them in the direction you want them
to go. Using Dangerously Easy ESL games & lesson plans is one way to keep
them focused on English while keeping their attention focused on a parallel
activity. See our games at www.dangerouslyeasyesl.com.
#2 The “Ring Leader”
Sometimes, there is one particular student who refuses to
listen. If this behavior is left unattended, it will spread like the plague
throughout the classroom. I had one student in particular that would
continuously get up out of his chair and hide directly in front of the
teacher’s podium when my back was turned. I tried ignoring it, but then he had
a friend (sidekick) that started to follow him. Before I could do anything, the
entire class was getting up from their seats and attempting to hide themselves
from the teacher.
Causes:
It is important to understand that a single disruptive student (Ring Leader) is usually a student who has problems gaining the attention of significant people in their life. Often times, a “ring leader” has two parents who constantly work and neglect paying attention to their child. Therefore, a ring leader looks to his peers for acceptance and attention through becoming the “class clown.” If he can make his peers laugh while disrupting the class, he has successfully displaced his parents’ negligence.
Solution:
You need to somehow acknowledge his presence and satisfy his craving for attention. How? Turn the “class clown” into the “teacher’s pet.” Show him that he will receive greater satisfaction if he becomes the “model student.” Replace his role. Give him authority. Make him into the class monitor. Allow him to garner attention by giving him the whip to crack. It may take some time for him to adjust to the new role, so patience is the key. Give him what he wants, but on your terms and conditions.
Other methods include: giving this student the teacher’s role in other ways (allow him to conduct the class), make him into the team captain during group exercises, allow him to make decisions for the class (dividing the class into teams that he chooses), allow him to go first in a group activity, etc. If you do so, then it satisfies his need for attention, but allows you the ability to steer a straying student back to the herd. Again, it will take time for this student to adjust to the new role, but afterwards, he will become the best student in your class.
#3 One-on-one Babysitting
If you work for a training school, then you probably have
one or two unruly students whose parents are looking to relieve themselves of
their child for an hour out of every day. The student doesn’t want to be there,
and the parent needs a break. These students usually are unwilling to listen to
what anyone tells them to do, they often times are addicted to video games or
TV, and are accustomed to being handed sweets or an iPhone to occupy their hands.
Causes:
Sometimes these students genuinely have a learning disability such as autism or ADHD. Other times, these students are merely just the class clown. Like we mentioned earlier, the class clown is deprived of attention because the parents have supplemented their child’s diet of healthy attention with gadgets and snacks.
Solutions:
If the child is young (below 10 years old), you can replace their habit of being rewarded with snacks, with being rewarded with stickers. Every ESL teacher should be armed to the teeth with a variety of cool stickers for both boys and girls. Holographic stickers work better on older students (7 to 10 years old), while any sticker will do for the younger students (4 to 6 years old). Stickers particularly work well in motivating younger students to do their bookwork outside of class. I personally prefer to assign reading assignments or other workbook activities to each one of my one-on-one students, and I use stickers as a motivational tool to ensure they do their homework. Give the student one sticker per page or activity that you assign. Amazingly, students will keep close track of how many stickers they receive. At the beginning of your next class with them, start by grading their homework. As you are looking over their homework, give them the package of stickers to look over and decide on which stickers they want to put in their book. The real reason for doing so is to settle the student down before starting class. Giving the student a choice of stickers satisfies their need to control. It also occupies their hands and their attention while you look over their homework.
If a student becomes unruly during the one-on-one session, then just remember to let the river carve out its own path. Remember the 20 second rule. You only have 20 seconds of their attention before their mind wanders to something else. So, take your time with the material. Pause in between your 20 second windows of opportunity and just play with them. Adapt to the environment they create. Try this. Next time your student is jumping up and down, standing on their chair, and stealing your pencils, then conjure up the craziest funny face your muscles allow you to make. The redder and more twisted your face becomes, the better “attention grabber” you create. Think, about Jim Carey or Robin Williams. The more random and sporadic you become as a teacher, the more likely your students will be to engage you instead of fight you. Let them think you’re crazy! You’re goal is to create shock value in order once again gain control. This also works with high school students. As you are asking them a serious question, cross your eyes and hold it. Then slightly nod your head in affirmation to what they are saying while your eyes remain crossed, but remain serious. They’re going to think you’re completely insane, but it will keep them engaged and interested in you. Once you’ve gained back their attention, continue with your primary objective.
How do you compete with a teenager’s desire to play on their phone or other gadget? Easy, puzzles and riddles. Tell your bored student that only intelligent people can answer your riddle in under a minute. For a list of English riddles and word puzzles click here (http://www.world-english.org/puzzles.html). Other methods include: using our activities, games & lesson plans at www.dangerouslyeasyesl.com.
No matter what method works right for your students, it is important to remember that an ESL teacher’s goal is to convey the material in such a way that the student builds a sustainable and comprehensive ability to use English. There’s no reason why your English classes need to be boring, and there’s no reason for you or your students to dread coming to class. We hope that our advice has been helpful, and wish you the best in your abilities as an educator.
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