How to teach a difficult student

A difficult student can make a teacher’s life miserable. How to teach a problem student or a student who has management issues can make teaching seem impossible. And every situation you come against will be somehow different than anything you’ve ever seen (and different than the other teachers and principal have faced – though they’ll give you plenty of advice) The funny thing about students is, they are all different, and they are all the same. No situation will be exactly the same as another, but there are basic rules you can figure to follow with every student out there.

Step 1

Write it down.  Write down all the things the student is doing and problems you have.  Document all the different management difficulties or times when he/she is punished.  Make a chart or a journal or whatever works for you – this should be something you make a part of your normal routine anyway.  The thing is, if you’re ever questioned about how you’ve been trying to help this student and what accommodations you’ve given her, it would be nice to have a little journal that shows each of the different things the student is doing, and how you handled it.

But writing it down also gets a long term perspective on it.  If you have all the problems over a week or two, it’s going to give you a view of what the things are that set the student off and what their specific difficulty is.  It’s just like any other assessment and diagnostic – look at the data and come to a conclusion.

Your student may be one that gets upset only around 1:00 or 2:00 – “They seemed so great the first part of the day…”.  This can help you remove triggers or problems from the last part of the day as much as possible.  Let’s say your student hates Math, and is fine in most other subjects but when Math rolls around it’s always a fight.  Maybe move Math to the morning and see if it makes a difference.  Or perhaps a male student often reacts to losing a game, and he seems to always throw a fit if he does not win, disrupting the whole class.  Maybe give that student an individual activity when you’re playing games.  Or even if it is not a specific instance or thing, and they are generally unruly, it still gives you an idea of WHAT THE PROBLEM IS.  If you don’t know the problem, you don’t know the solution.

Step 2

Other students are another big concern.  I know I am always worried “are the other students getting enough time and attention because I’m working with this ONE student for so long?”

The fact is, this is the nature of the beast.  Your job is to attend to who needs it, and some students need less attention than others.  The police are there to help everyone, but they probably give more attention to certain people you know than others.  A baker takes more time creating a wedding cake than they do making toast.  One is an easy task they can do very well with minimal effort, and one requires some time and effort.  Both will get done to perfection, but with differing degrees of difficulty.

The important thing is to make sure you are attending to the other students concerns when you can.  Get a “questions” box, and have them write down their questions or problems in the box, and you can make sure no one gets lost in the shuffle.  This will placate most students, and make sure you don’t have a burning question that goes unanswered.

Step 3

Easing your own piece of mind will also help you to focus on the task and be a better teacher. Let me help you with this one right now – YOU’RE DOING YOUR BEST.

Think of the problem student as an awesome challenge you’re facing in your profession. They are the Everest of a mountain climbers job, or the Tour de France for cyclists. You are facing the great white whale, and you are surviving! Great job! Attitude is everything.

I know I have agonized often over “but they’re not learning anything! They are out in the hall half of the day, and almost never do any work! I’m failing!” But the reality is if you are implementing strategies and trying your best, they are getting the best education they can get short of having a one on one tutor. And that’s not always in the cards. So with the hand we’re dealt, they are getting the best. YOU ARE THE BEST. Believe it, and you’ll be a better teacher.

Step 4

Strategies are going to be your savior on two different fronts. First, they will attempt to ease or solve the problem. Most of the time it’s not going to change the students attitude, but it will help their behavior most of the time. But the strategies will also show documentation of your efforts.

I’ll give you one surefire (yea, I say that, but in teaching nothing is surefire) method. When dealing with a problem student, be firm but understanding. They need an equal mix of praise and structured punishment for offenses. Don’t make the punishment too severe, because if your difficult students are anything like mine they will be getting it often. So get them a paper to track their results. For instance, if I have a student who throws fits and complains whenever he is given an assignment, I give him a chart. Every time he throws a fit, he gets a check mark. Every time he DOESN’T throw a fit in that situation, he gets a star (or whatever. Doesn’t matter).

If he gets, let’s say 5 stars in a day, he gets 10 minutes of free time (or whatever it is you know he will be very interested in. Could be soda, candy, computers, a toy, whatever. Give him a carrot and the horse will follow). If he gets, maybe every 2 check marks he gets a “time out” or time in the hall or “refocus” – whatever you want to call it. This will curb behavior – if he has a reason to behave he will do it more than he did before. It’s not a solution, it’s a strategy to LIMIT the offenses. Not get rid of it totally.

This may work for a few months, then you might need to change up the punishment, or reward, or something. Students like this often get tired of a strategy and you need to start a new one. Try “The tough kids toolbox.” It has a lot of great consumables and strategies like this for different types of “tough kids.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Habee has a great hub on being a good teacher HERE