Rules of Handling Difficult Students

Every teacher encounters a few students that make it difficult for them to teach the whole class. These disruptive students are very difficult to handle and sometimes, can even make the most elite of the teachers shake their heads. Sometimes, such students take valuable time of the lecture which in turn results in late completion of the topic for the class. Hence, teachers should have some disciplinary plans to handle such students.

Types of difficult students:

These are some of the types of difficult students that cause hindrance to the class-

1. Dominators

These are the students that talk too much in the class which most of the time prevents other students to present their views. Ignoring or making them shut up can cause a negative impact on the class hence some time slot should be allotted to all the students so that every student gets the same amount of speaking time, hence maintaining the effectiveness of the class.

2. Disruptive Students

These students are the most difficult students as they often sit in groups and cause disruption in the whole class. These students even disturb other students and prevent them from studying. Teachers can take some preemptive steps and make them sit separately.

3. Late Comers

As the word suggests, these are the students who often come late to class. They are brimming with excuses every time and the teacher should take note of that. There may be some valid reason for their tardiness, but if this becomes a regular occasion then the teacher should either inform their parents or take some disciplinary action to prevent this from happening again.

4. Know-it-alls

These are the students who are often found to be too talkative and are overconfident about their knowledge of the subject too. Being overconfident about their knowledge generally hinders students from getting a proper education. So, teachers should be mindful of this and advise them against the very problem.

5. Shy ones

Every class has some shy students who are too afraid/shy to speak in front of the class. The teacher should take some steps to open up such students and try to communicate with them properly.

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Rules of handling difficult students:

Handling different types of students may require different measures, techniques, and rules. There should be some rules that the teacher should set to discipline the difficult students so that they can teach the lessons without interruption.

1. Make statements

Instead of questioning the student, make clear statements about what should be done. Questioning the students can cause friction between the teacher-student relationship as arguing in front of the class can lead to resentment. Hence, proper statements should be made by the teacher.

2. Be an attentive listener

Listening is a great skill that everyone should have. A teacher should listen carefully when a student is speaking as it can solve many of the issues of that talkative student.

3. Don’t false praise

False praising a student to shut them up can be very dangerous as it can build a bad mentality over the student’s mind hence a teacher must provide true feedback for the student.

4. Misbehavior should not be ignored

A teacher should not ignore any misbehavior done even if it leads to a mild argument. Ignorant teachers can embolden the students to behave as they please. The students are likely to create that ruse over and over again.

5. Be calm and cool

Mischievous students can rise the anger in a teacher. The teacher should not lose control while in class, rather they must keep calm and try to maintain the decorum of class.

6. Avoid reprimanding students verbally

The teacher can reprimand students in the class to maintain discipline but verbally pointing out a student in front of the class should always be avoided. Usually, in such cases, it creates a negative image in their classmates’ minds. And no one likes to be publically shamed no matter however short-lived it is, let alone the fragile mind of a student.

Contributed by:
Edmund Hinkel