I have this problem that I'm embarrassed to talk about, but it's why I started Whole Brain Teaching. WBT has helped some, but in the end, it's me that's failing, and not WBT.

I've got several small groups of students a day. In about 4 of those groups are at least one very sarcastic student who acts like they can't stand being in the group and doesn't like anything I do with them and is very vocal about it. Sometimes a comment made by these students will get others in the group agreeing and being equally difficult (a mob mentality.) In trying to change their attitudes, I've exhausted myself trying to think up activities that they will find interesting and fun while teaching them what I want them to learn. Nothing has worked. I'm burnt out. The only thing I've done in Whole Brain Teaching with them is the Class-Yes and points. The points work okay, but some of them roll their eyes at the mighty Oh-Yeah - if they even do it at all.

I've gotten lots of great help on this website and from individuals here. But in the end, I am too afraid of doing any more WBT with them, because I'm afraid they won't do it. I'm afraid to play the Speed 1000, because I'm afraid they'll complain about the words being too easy. I'm afraid to teach them the rules, because I'm afraid they won't follow them. With groups of 7, they've become very informal groups, and the kids talk to each other all the time - but never about what I'm trying to teach them. If I taught them to raise their hand every time they speak, I'm afraid I won't be consistent in making them, because I tried that once with a group of 8th graders, and they tried to push the envelope by clearing their throats really loud and fake sneezing and coughing. So I don't know when I should let them comment without raising their hand and when I shouldn't. And I haven't taught them Teach-Okay, because all they want to talk to each other about is something that will make the other person laugh. If I give them something to do that is relatively simple, like writing a few sentences about something they just read, they gripe and moan and don't write.

In my school, if they are totally defiant, I can't give them any consequence, because I'm not there at the time when they would miss a recess, and I'm required to see them for a certain amount of minutes per week, so I can't send them out of the room.

I spend hours on lesson plans that I think will be perfect, but when I get in front of the kids, I freeze. I really become paralyzed.

The bottom line is that I'm afraid to do anything that will cause my students to become angry. I recognize this is pretty pathetic. I know I need to just work through the fear, but if I could do that, I would have done so.

I keep thinking that things will be better next year, because I'll have different kids, but it'll end up being the same as always - the year starts out okay, but by spring break, it's the way it is now.

If anyone has any ideas on how to conquer this fear, I'd really love to hear it. It would be great to know others have gone through the same thing and are now confident, competent teachers.

Diane, have you tried the "guff" counter and the "independent" group with the scoreboard. It sounds to me like the "independent" group is what you need to implement. You've got some pretty tough kids and you need the support of the rest of the class to show them that they're not influencing anyone else. That's where the "guff" counter comes in. If they ignore the "guff" counter then try putting the small group of trouble makers into the "independent" portion of the scoreboard. All of this can be found in the "Teaching Challenging Students" download. There are many other great classroom management techniques in the download as well. Spend some time this weekend looking it over.

We can't allow students who are disruptive to influence those who want to learn. We need to try every thing we can think of to get the challenging students involved. It's in the heart of every great teacher to want everyone to succeed...but sometimes in rare cases we can't hurt the other students because of the behavior of a few.

dianedj wrote:


Diane,

I want to give you a hug.. First off I want you to know that a fear of making your students angry is not pathetic - I have also taught a school where I feared making my students angry.

I do want you to know, that they see that fear in you, fear to make them act the way they should. Your job is not to be their friend, and I know that is hard in a school like yours because and bad relationship can ruin everything. You have to walk a fine line of being friendly but firm. I taught 8th grade math, at a very tough school and I picked up Whole Brain Teaching 3 weeks after being out for maternity leave. I came back to totally different students, they had no respect for anyone. I kept thinking that they would hate everything I was about to try...but they didn't they loved each piece of Whole Brain teaching. Whole Brain Teaching always surprises me, the thing I think they will hate -they absolutely love. So I encourage not to fear trying out the other WBT techniques.

I think they are being defiant because the Whole Brain Teaching newness has worn off. You need to incorporate other things, teach/okay being the big one. I know you are using the score board, but maybe you need to change it up. If there inclass assignment is to write a ten sentance paragraph, tell them that the paragraph has to be twelve sentances and let them win by 2 sentances. You don't have to give extra, but you could let them think they are controling how much work they have to do.

Good Luck Diane!!

Diane ... first of all, handling small groups for a short amount of time is one of the hardest teaching situations. Here are some suggestions.
1. Using a 1 to 4 scale, with 4 being highest, privately give each student a grade in terms of their "teachability." The worst in the group should get 1s. Then, add all the scores together and divide by the number of students. This will give you a class average, a baseline to chart progress from. Refigure this average once a week. Your goal is to raise the class average by .1 each month. Over 10 months that would mean you have raised each student's score a whole grade. A remarkable achievement ... this will also show you how slowly you can proceed and still make significant progress.
2. Bring a stopwatch and tell the students you want them to name as many characteristics of a good leader as they can in one minute. Leaders can be found in sports, in school, in business, at home ... but what are the characteristics of a good leader in general?
3. Make a mark on a sheet of paper each time they say a characteristic.
4. Then give them another minute to name characteristics of a bad leader ... challenge them to break their record.
5. Then say, "here is a list of each person in this group. Without letting anyone see, mark down three names of students who you think would be good student leaders."
6. Teach class as usual. Tell your students you will select a few names from the list and announce them the next day.
7. The next day, do not announce the names until near the end of the session. (You choose the ones you think will be best ... regardless of who gets the most votes.)
8. Say, "We are going to play a game called 'Leaders Rule' tomorrow. I'll tell you about it then."
9. The next day (you have to do all this to build suspense and engagement) explain the game. Write the leaders names down on the blackboard or your clipboard. Say, "When any of these leaders do a good job in class today, showing positive leadership, I'll will make a mark. When they have accumulated 25 marks, then we'll stop and play a game." Do not make marks beside each leaders name, but only as a group. If you have to, fake it. Say, "For the last several minutes, some of the leaders have been engaged in positive learning activity." And make the mark. Don't be gushy ... and don't let them push you into rewarding them.
10. Tell your students that the points roll over from one day to the next.
11. After a few days, near the end of the period, make the 25th mark and play Superspeed, starting at a level that you think would be a sufficient challenge.
-- A key feature of "Leaders Rule" is that it is all reward ... and you give points whenever you want ... but not every single time a leader does somethng positive ... otherwise the game controls you and not vice versa. The beauty is that the leaders can only maintain their status with the group by engaging in positive activities ... not negative.
-- I'm finishing an ebook on this, called INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING ... but this should give you a start.

Thanks, Ross. I like what you said about not letting one student ruin the learning for the rest of the group. I haven't done the Guff Counter yet, because I haven't implemented the scoreboard long enough. I will spend most of my weekend getting really comfortable with beginning some new WBT techniques.

Thanks for your hug, Sara! I LOVE the idea you gave of having them "win" less sentences to write. It's GENIUS! What do I do if I need to give a consequence for bad behavior for one or two of them? If they come in yelling or if they won't do the work I ask them to do? It seems like some behavior should warrant more than a mark for me on the scoreboard.

Chris - thanks for letting me know my situation is a hard one. I always thought there was something wrong with me for not being able to get a handle on 30 minutes a day with 7 6th graders. I'll do the teachability scale this weekend, and start implementing the leadership thing. Chris - do you think I should try to do Teach-Okay with this group? I can pretty much guarantee they'll make a big joke out of it.

Diane,

What about Power Detention, not an afterschool detention but instead a lunch detention. I use lots different strategies during my detentions, I use the ones given in the book, and I have a large variety of music I play for detention - they hate it!

That sounds funny. I can imagine you playing classical music or Muzak. The reason I can't do any kind of detention is because I'm only the school for half a day, and I'm not there when they have lunch or recess. But maybe I could send them to another teacher's room for a time. I'll find the part in the book about the detentions. Thanks.

Before school? I also use Tuvan Throat Music, Yodeling and Barney songs...

Oh, that's hilarious. I get there at 11:15 - 15 minutes before my first group, the 6th graders. (I come from another school, where I teach up until 11:00.) I am either teaching another group or testing until school's out. Next year I'll be at the same school all day, so it'll be a little easier.

Sorry I don't have any real advice as I am new to this, too, but here is another
hug;) . You need all the hugs you can get. Hang in there. It really will get
better.

Thanks, Annie, that's very kind. It is going much better this week.