Dealing with Non-Compliant Behavior

I am student teaching in sixth grade. They have a little bit of attitude but I have found that once you get past that, they are eager to learn and please you.

I have one student who loves to challenge authority. During a lesson, I had to ask him to please stop talking. He became quite beligerent. Afte I finished teaching, I asked him to come and meet with me in the alcove. We sat down together and I asked him what was going on. He just shrugged his shoulders. I then proceeded to explain to him why I needed him to not talk when teaching was going on. I explained that his brain could not be thinking of words to say AND listening to and learning a new concept at the same time.

He seemed surprised to look at it in this way. I then asked him if he would commit to listening when I was teaching and then I would allow the students time to talk quietly, while they worked together in partnerships to solve problems.

He agreed that this was reasonable. So what I learned from this was to treat students with respect, even when frustrated with them. They may be non-compliant but that does not mean you cannot reason with them. Helping them to understand why you are asking them to do something can make a huge difference in how they act. His behavior has improved and I look for positive things that he does to praise him on. Things are much better!

Chris