Difficult students need your leadership. They need your consistency. They need your honesty, your forgiveness, and your unwavering belief in them. They need your fixed boundaries, your steady, predictable presence, your faithful accountability, and your commitment to doing what is right by them and … Read more
Most teachers have a less-than positive relationship with difficult students—although it isn’t always evident to those around them. Indeed, the teacher may not yell, scold, or berate them in front of their classmates, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t resentment churning under the surface. … Read more
Much of your success with difficult students hinges on what you don’t do. But this is no easy task, because some of the most popular and commonly used strategies fall into this category. When seemingly everyone around you, including your closest teacher chums, is … Read more
The tendency is to corral difficult students, to limit what they can do, where they can go, and who they can be with. You keep them close. You provide a staccato of reminders and direction, of do this and don’t do that. You keep … Read more
When a difficult student has a good day it’s normal to want to reward them for it. You’ve just witnessed behavior you’ve been hoping and praying for all year, and you want to seize the moment. You want to make it special and memorable. … Read more
So you have this student who seems determined to ruin your school year. He (or she) is blatantly disrespectful. He makes fun of and laughs at other students. He’s rude and silly. He’s argumentative and attention-seeking. He is well known by every staff member … Read more
Many difficult students behave the way they do because they’ve experienced—and often continue to experience—emotional turmoil associated with a deplorable home life. Verbal and physical abuse, poverty, neglect, drug and alcohol use in the home, and other sources of emotional pain and trauma can … Read more
No, it’s not attention. For the most part difficult students are given far too much attention. Learning how to spend less time on difficult students will do both you and them an ocean of good. In fact, it’s among the critical first steps to … Read more