[Teachldsseminary] Help--A few unruly students

[Tim Holder]

> about 4 students (out of 15) who act up.  They come in late, switch seats,
> talk, throw papers at other students, want to leave (or do leave) in the
> middle of class to roam halls (and are often corraled and come back),
> text-message on phones, etc.  In general, they are disrupting class, A
> LOT!  My teammate teacher and I are not sure what we can do about this.

I am sure many list members can identify with your challenge; we faced
students like this ourselves.

The single most effective method I have found to establish the proper
'learning' atmosphere is to do Norm Setting.  Notice I didn't say 'teaching'
atmosphere, as the learning is the thing. I learned this technique from my
father, a secondary education professor at BYU.  

Information on how to do Norm Setting, including real-world examples, is
available on the web site in two locations.  Paid filing cabinet subscribers
can go here:

http://latter-dayvillage.com/content/article.php?id=1301 

If you do not have a paid membership, you can sign up for a free membership
and find the information here:

http://latter-dayvillage.com/sampler/article.php?id=089

Note that Norm Setting is an activity that should be repeated as often as
necessary until the students and teacher 'get it.' I found over the years
that the resulting 'behavior contract' needs updating as class dynamics
change.

I hope this helps in some way.
 
Best Regards, 
 
Tim Holder, Webmaster
http://latter-dayvillage.com
webmaster at latter-dayvillage.com