I take comfort in the knowledge that there is not a “cure-all” to approaching reluctant or resisting students. It allows me a measure of grace when that one tool I use doesn’t work all the time. Some students respond to threats that you will call home, or to being removed from the classroom or written up. However, that tool is largely ineffective if teachers rely solely on it or other similar punitive measures. In some cases, they seem extreme in light of the relatively small offense that the student has committed, like talking out of turn, using foul language, leaving a mess in the back of the classroom, showing up late, being “disrespectful”, refusing to put away the phone, or simply not doing their work. Without nuance to your approach, students begin to feel as though every offense is punishable by removal or detention.
Some tools can be used outside the classroom, like calling families, consulting mentors, and talking with administrators and case managers. But there are a broad array of in-class steps that can be taken as well. For example, establishing the culture of a classroom is important. It involves a lot of little things like being organized or having a clean, well-decorated room. Meet and greet students at the door. Allow for time at the beginning of the period to play and build relationships. Give students some agency and voice in what they do within the classroom. Create a sense of community. And make learning relevant to students. For the most part, choices like these will create a culture within your classroom where the vast majority of your students will choose to engage instead of disrupt.
Still, there are those who will resist or who feel as though they are outsiders. For them, you will need even more tools within the classroom. Here are a few that you might consider.
Seating Charts. I wish that I could simply allow students to sit where they wanted, but (at least at the start of the term) this is not a good choice. Not only do seating charts allow for some social engineering, but they help me to break up toxic combinations of students. I like that the big “mix-up” enables students to meet people they might not normally meet-- or learn to deal with students slightly different from them. I typically mix things up every three or four weeks, and coincide the switch with a turn-over in inquiry units / projects. I like to use the randomizer to assign the seat, and then I look over the arrangement to adjust for combinations of students that look like trouble. To expedite a seating chart change, I post them on paper at the front of the room and direct students towards the chart as they enter the room. Then I follow up at the start of class to help those who struggle with the chart and to be sure everyone has made it to the right spot.
What Will It Take. This is a technique that I got from Brian Mendler’s Discipline with Dignity. I like to use this as a phase two intervention. In other words, I have had a number of conversations with students about a given choice they are making, and yet I am not getting the desired change. “What will it take,” is a conversation I have with students when things are about to reach some type of breaking point. It is important to know that this is a conversation you have with a student individually. This should not be something that happens in front of other students. It goes like this. Tell the student what you have observed. Tell them that you would like to see them make better choices. Then ask them what it will take to bring about that change. There will be times when they will actually have a good response. However, they usually will begin with “I don’t know.” So I give them options: will it take a quick stroll up and down the hall for five minutes, will it take a call home, or a change in the seating arrangement? Then restate the question, “What will it take? I need you to tell me because if you continue to make this choice, we will have to find other ways to help you do so. So what will it take?” Of course, the student usually chooses the least painful option, but it does give them some sense of agency and it does let them know that the situation is becoming more serious.
Ignoring the Next Thing. Calling out a student’s bad choice is very tricky. Through the years, I’ve learned a few important lessons about the dos and don’ts of doing so. For starters, avoid calling out a student in a public manner. Way too often, we use sarcasm and shame (usually out of understandable frustration) to curb bad behavior in the classroom. But more often than not, these choices do much more harm than good. While there are some cases where you may need to publicly call out a student to get them to stop (usually because the situation calls for immediate action), by-and-large it is necessary to have quiet or private conversations with students off to the side. I do it quickly, and I move on. If the behavior doesn’t change, I give it another two or three minutes and then return again and hope for a better response. In some cases, the student will respond with something you really do not want to hear. They might say it out of their own hurt or frustration. In that moment, it feels as though you have to respond. It feels as though we have to exert control over the situation and send a clear message to students that this is not acceptable. However, I believe that you simply have to let that comment go. If you have good relationship with the class, they know that this response of the student is not okay. They know that you will likely circle back to that in a later conversation. They know that the class is in capable hands and that total anarchy will not break out. You just have to be the bigger person in that moment. Because if you do not, things escalate really quickly, and before you know it the situation (which probably began with a smart phone) ends with the student’s removal or a detention-- which is not what you really wanted. Ignore that comment they make as you walk away-- at least until the end of the period. Many times, you will meet with better long term gains.
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