Monday, January 12, 2009

Classroom Management and Discipline Problems

Have you ever held onto anger or annoyance from disruptions in class? Have you ever gone to bed upset over the behaviour of a student and the next day found yourself still annoyed? If so, you are making your own life miserable and possibly adding to further misbehaviours.What do you think?
Share with us your experience, and tell us how you managed to handle with the situation.

11 comments:

polyanna said...

It never happens to me to go to bed upset over the behaviour of a student as it never hapens to me to enter the classroon annoyed over any behaviour of anyone else ouside the school.
As far as I am concerned , I think that such problems shouldn't affect the teacher.
In my opinion, any problem at school has to be dealt with at school and there it must be forgotten, i.e. finished.
In the opposite side, I believe that a teacher who bears with him/her such problems home and get up in the morning still annoyed is committing a big mistake since he/she is hurting/destroying himself/ herself and by the way the people who surround him/her...

Anonymous said...

Hello, I suppose that all teachers have already experienced the situation, at least once .
One day, at the begining of the year I asked a pupil in class for an answer she didn't have, she got angry because she thought I did it on purpose. She started crying and when Itried to comfirt her she insulted me . I got very angry of course but I remained calm I ordered her firmly to stop crying and she did .Fort the rest of the hour I felt bad. It was not very easy for me to controll my anger, it was very difficlt to accept her presence in class and I was worried about the other students reactions from now on. Few minutes before the end of the hour, I just asked her loudly and in Arabic if she was satisfied of her behaviour, she tried to argue but Ididn't let her speak and I explained to her what I could have done if I had let my anger go out.I reminded her of the teaching of our prophet about how we should behave in the moments of anger. Then I explained to the class that it is very difficult to have a self controll but it is satisfactory. This improvised lesson given to my pupils gave me more satisfaction than the lesson itself. the pupil appologised and the incident was forgotten.

Anonymous said...

As far as i'm concerned discipline problems have to be dealt with attentively. A teacher has to differentiate between single problems and group problems. Since wise people say "divide and rule" a student has to be called alone to a session in order to make him aware of his fault, given the chance to express his view and there would be no problem in the following session. Talking about group-made problems, the whole has to be divided into small groups in order to gain the majority of them and to know (who made fire)and why. After communication with the concerned students, all things have to come an end and the teacher should change his attitude towards the students because ignoring them seems to to be the sole reason sometimes.
This is what I think...

Anonymous said...

Hello,
When I started teaching, I used to live the situation described above.
I remember the first advice I had was :"Never complain about pupils to colleagues or the administration, you will be considered unable to control your classes, so you will be a bad teacher for them." But that was the worst advice I followed.
When I moved to another school ,I went to talk to my head teacher to complain about a pupil who always disturbed me during my project workshops with his class.
She simply advised me to engage him in a special task, i.e. something that he is the only one to do.
On the following workshop day, I gave him a digital camera and requested him to take photos for each group of his classmates, both me and my student discovered that he was a talented photographer, then he understood that I was never against him but he felt weak as compared to his classmates.
I was grateful to my head teacher and I learned that it is not a shame to share one's weakness with a colleague or a headteacher.
As it is said: "A problem shared is a problem halved"

Anonymous said...

Well,I have to mention first that I have been teaching English for 29years and I notice that things are getting worse today in matters of discipline and level of study.
This generation of pupils (and I'm talking about the majority of them)
is in class not to study but because their parents oblige them to do so.To spend time ,they do their best to annoy the teacher and I can say that they most of the time achieve their goal.

Anonymous said...

Hello,
No one can deny that there are some people who make us angry whatever our patience is. I do believe that to control one's anger has nothing to do with personality, experience, not even moral or physical capacities. There are no identical situations, every day we face a new problem, we get a new experience and we learn something new.
As any teacher I had many success stories and many problems, but one has really left an effect on me: One day I had class at 8 am, I was fine and pleased while going to join of my favorite class. I had slept well and had no problem, yet once I entered the class, I noticed two pupils sleeping on their table, my morning smile turned into anger and I started shouting inviting the pupils to leave my class, while waiting next to the door, the sleepy students didn't grasp neither why I was angry not what I was saying, their classmates laughed at them, I felt that I reacted very quickly , and humiliated the students, then I calmed down and called those students quietly, I felt they woke up and indeed they were frightened, so they tried to apologize and couldn't move from their chairs, so I continued telling them that I was calling them to go to have some fresh air and water on the face.
When they came back, I guess they woke up, and as we were correcting a pair work, I was pleased to see the sleepy students raising their hands to read and share the dialogue they had performed with their classmates. I was pleased that I hadn't prevented my pupils from learning.
Honestly speaking, I used to disagree with the administration and Inspectors when they disapprove such an act, now I understand that I may have one student who will miss the class because of my anger, then there will be one student who will not understand the lesson I might have been preparing for hours if not for days. Then the results will appear when I correct the exam papers and so on and so forth.

Anonymous said...

What a situation !
Well, when I started teaching, I mean in the first years of my experience, I had students nearly as old as me . Now , that many years passed I'm getting older while having younger students and here starts the problem . I mean the conflict . They behave in such a way that cannot be sometimes beared .But , who is wrong? the teacher or the student? Our students are not wicked they simply need us . They want us to be nearer to them . I simply avoid behaving as a boss who wants to impose his rules.

Anonymous said...

Before tackling the topic, I would like to thank the ones who have opened both their minds and hearts to listen to us the learners and the once disrupters in the field of teaching and education. I thus do beg their forgiveness for the latter.

I personally think that facing such a sort of situation is what provides breath and respite within my teaching career. In fact, can a teacher expect to deal with learners who completely adhere with what he comes to give? May he long to achieve his aims without possibly being himself an obstacle towards his audience? Are his concerns the same ones as the learners’? Does he come to school with the same motives as those of his students…? Such a way of enquiring has helped me a great deal in understanding what teaching should really be and how teachers may put up with discipline problems.
Read more......

Anonymous said...

Class management and discipline problems is a critical issue, especially in today’s world of education and present day classes where generations are changing with a rapid pace and learning environments subdue to global and social changes. Some teachers may find it a relief to discuss such a subject and share their own experiences; some others may feel embarrassed to do so for it reveals some of their personality features, whereas other teachers simply may not think of it as an interesting point to be held in a serious discussion. However, being a potent element in learning conditions, class management and discipline is worth-while to be considered seriously in educational issues.
Read more..........

Anonymous said...

It happened to me many times. I think it's time for me to stop or to quit teaching.I'm getting too old and really tired. Pupils are not what they used to be.Impolite they are,they refuse to work although they like English.I'm trying to do my best not to be angry.thank you everybody.

Anonymous said...

Hi brothers and sister. Honestly speaking, being in the same place with Mr Louznadji was a dream that became true for me. Thanks God. In all modesty, I think that teaching is a complex and a difficult job. It is a great and a very dangerous responsibility that even the mountains were unable and refused to carry it. Among all the six billion man living on earth , destiny chose us to carry this heavy burden. It is our destiny and may Allah grant us His help and Mercy to fulfill this mission.
You surely agree with me if I say the two major causes pushing some of our pupils to turn into trouble makers, thus hinder the normal progression of the courses in their classes either their boredom of their inactive and non-dynamic teacher or their weakness in the subject which the teacher failed in attracting those pupils to. This is on one hand.
On the other hand, the best way for the teacher to get control over his class and know how to manage it, is not through the use of violence, punishments or neglecting the trouble makers who feel emptiness and being neglected so they try to compensate this through their means rather through face to face contacts with those pupils so that to build a connection bridge and gain them to the team. They turn into angels when we get closer and value them. Here then s/he succeeds to be not only a teacher but an educator as well. Clear instructions make also an important support to keep the whole class busy as most of the time when these pupils when asked about chatting and not doing what they were assigned that they didn't grasp the teacher's instructions. Moreover, I believe the amount of time wasted in class by the teacher before starting the course and which can be around the third of the time officially devoted for the session can be I believe another important factor that doesn’t contribute to a peaceful course starting before the teacher asks and yells the class to sit and gain their attention. To sum up, I think the successful classroom management can not be lived unless we take the above ideas into consideration.