Every teacher has had that student who seems to be constantly acting up in class. Getting frustrated doesn’t help, warnings, threats, discipline and more does not help. So what do you do? I would challenge you to consider one of two possibilities:
- Is the student bored?
- Is the student struggling?
Boredom is often a result of a bright student who is not being challenged enough. Often the student thinks the work is “dumb” or “kid stuff” and will often rush through and finish early. Provide this student with more challenging assignments, and provide educational tasks for when an assignment is done early: writing in a journal, reading a book, a challenge packet of material, etc.
A struggling student may have a disability or may simply be struggling to keep up. This student will often act out in the effort to prevent their weakness from coming to light. Provide extra support for this student, pair up a stronger student with him or her to provide help, break assignments down in smaller steps and in some cases it may be beneficial to assign easier tasks.
Related posts:
