[Teachldsseminary] Students with Attitudes

[Barb Gardner]

I am a first year, early morning seminary teacher.  There are 8 students in my class.  There are 2 freshmen girls that are very enthusiastic.  Then, there are 3 sets of 2 siblings each (2 of which are my own children) that are upper class-men.  Does anyone have ideas and suggestions on how to deal with the rotten attitudes of these upper-class students?  I am beginning to see the value in dividing the class by grades.  

My fear is that their poor attitudes will rub off on the younger students.  Our seminary program has truly struggled for the past few years for various reasons, so I've really been putting a tremendous amount of effort into making the lessons interesting, getting the students involved, and making it enjoyable, but most importantly, being on time and being prepared.

But, this morning, when I arrived, some of my visuals had been tampered with, the clock that we use to sign in everyday is completely gone, and someone had glued my scripture mastery aids together, making them unusable.  Now whether it was my students or not, I don't know, but it was the breaking point for me and I lost my composure.  Ironically, I was teaching the lesson about Moses not feeling confident about his calling to lead the people of Egypt out of captivity.

Has anyone else experienced this type of struggle, and if so, what did you do to get through it?

Thanks for your help
Barb G