How to Deal with Troublemaker Students?
Education is one of the most important factors contributing to building our communities' future. The teacher is the vital bridge between knowledge and students. In every classroom, there is a diverse group of students with different personalities and behaviors, including troublemakers.
Dealing with this type of student is both an art and a science in itself, requiring a deep understanding of the reasons and backgrounds behind their behavior.
You will find the solutions you need here if you need help managing troublemaker students in the classroom or if you have questions about the best approaches to dealing with them. Also, these solutions will help you turn the challenges of dealing with troublemaker students into opportunities for success and growth.
How to Deal with Troublemaker Students as a Teacher?
1. Understanding the Reasons and Backgrounds
Before deciding on the best way to handle troublemaking students, make an effort to comprehend the circumstances and reasons behind their behavior. Do they struggle with personal issues? Are there issues in their home environment? Do they find learning to be frustrating?
Talk privately with the student to learn about their thoughts and feelings. Try to find out if they are dealing with pressure or have personal or family issues. After identifying the cause, try to provide assistance and support both in learning and talking about their issues. It might be required to seek assistance from psychological or educational professionals if the problem continues.
2. Positive Interaction
Build a positive relationship with the student, listen to them carefully without criticism, speak to them gently and respectfully, provide a safe space for them to express their thoughts and feelings, and create a positive and supportive classroom environment. Positive interaction is the foundation for dealing with troubled students.
3. Encouraging Troublemaker Students’ Involvement in Classroom Activities
When dealing with troublemaking students, try to find out what interests them and incorporate those interests into the curriculum. This will make the lessons exciting and engaging. They might find inspiration in you, and you can provide them with challenges that will keep them from getting bored and stimulate their thinking.
4. Using Calm Techniques and Gentle Measures
Use calm strategies, such as non-verbal cues like raising your hand or making eye contact, when a student acts out or disrupts the class. Also, you can change your position in the class to be closer to the troublemaker student or use your body language and facial expressions to communicate gently instead of harsh reactions or shouting.
5. Seeking Additional Support
When managing troublemakers, it's critical to enlist the assistance of counselors and educational specialists. They can provide an accurate assessment of the reasons behind the student's behavior and then identify the student's specific needs. This collaboration can enable the teacher to build a customized plan for dealing with the troublemaker student, effectively modifying their behavior.
6. Establishing Consistent Classroom Rules
You must enforce the laws consistently and fairly, without exception, and you should not stray from the rules or guidelines in the classroom. Also, students will know exactly what is expected of them in terms of behavior in the classroom. Establishing consistent rules will help to create a calm and orderly classroom environment that supports all students' successful learning.
7. Providing Additional Support
If the troublemaker student is experiencing learning difficulties or has special needs, you can provide additional education to support their academic and behavioral progress. Start by assessing the student's needs, then offer tailored additional tutoring sessions, which may be individual or small-group, and measure the student's progress and improvement over time.
8. Promoting Independence
One of the best ways to deal with troublemaking students is by promoting their independence. Enhance students' critical thinking and analytical skills, help them develop time management and personal organization skills, set personal goals, involve the student in decision-making that affects their behavior, and give them a sense of control and responsibility.
9. Monitoring and Cultivating a Positive Culture
Monitor students' progress and behavior improvement, provide additional support when needed, and work on building a positive classroom culture that encourages students to learn and engage better. This can be achieved by promoting respect and cooperation among students and teachers and reinforcing positive values such as responsibility, friendship, and collaboration.
10. Allowing Students to Discuss with the Teacher in Class
Giving students the freedom to discuss with the teacher in class is a good method for dealing with troublemakers. The goal is to promote positive interaction and open communication between them. You can allow students to raise their hands and speak without feeling intimidated, encourage active class participation, and promote discussion by asking questions.
Dealing with a Troublemaking Student
1. Building a Good Relationship with the Student
The teacher can talk to the troublemaking students individually to understand their problems, interests, and feelings, which helps strengthen the relationship between them.
2. Linking Good Behavior to Rewards in the Classroom
Rewarding correct behaviors more than punishing wrong behaviors.
3. Avoiding Comparing the Troublemaker Student to Other Students
The teacher should concentrate on offering direction and individual motivation based on the troublemaker's needs rather than comparing them to other students.
4. Involving the Troublemaker Student in Classroom and Extracurricular Activities
The teacher should encourage the troublemaker student to participate in a group project to develop their skills, which is necessary for dealing with them.
5. Using the Name-on-the-Board Technique
This technique can be implemented as a long-term classroom policy, helping the students to comprehend the meaning of their name being marked and the potential consequences.
6. Avoiding Correcting Behavior Using Physical Violence
Instead of using physical violence, like hitting, the teacher should have a calm conversation with the student to influence their behavior.
7. Using Negative, Positive, and Social Reinforcement Methods
Negative reinforcement involves removing a punishment after the student accomplishes what is required of them; positive reinforcement involves rewarding them; and social reinforcement involves distributing smiles or praising the student's behavior.
8. Implementing Modeling Techniques
Providing an example of positive behavior, either through a teacher or another student, to a troublemaker student allows them to pick up on this behavior. This is known as modeling. A troublemaker student might learn to follow the rules after witnessing a committed student follow them.
9. Employing Extinction Technique
This entails not responding to or ignoring the troublemaker student's bad behavior, which lessens its reinforcement and undermines their attempts to attract attention.
10. Using Time-Out Technique
This involves temporarily removing the troublemaker student from the class or group to calm the situation and give them time to think about their behavior.
11. Using Exciting Changes
For example, if a student behaves negatively because they don't understand the study materials, the teacher can help them understand better by offering more explanations or support.
12. Seeking Help from School Counselors and Psychologists
This entails contacting school psychologists or counselors in order to receive proper assistance and a thorough assessment, as the troublemaker student's behavior may be the result of social or psychological issues that require attention.
13. Approaching the Student to Encourage Corrective Actions
For example, the teacher can approach a troublemaker student who is using their phone in class and ask, "Would you please put your phone away and concentrate on the lesson? There is important information I need to share." Rather than publicly punishing them.
Dealing with a Troublemaker Student in the Classroom
1. Acknowledging Individual Differences in the Classroom
You should understand that each of your students comes from a different background and has unique needs. You can provide each student with personalized support and guidance by considering their unique differences.
2. Allowing Students to Express Their Opinions and Encouraging Them to Do So
Encouraging troublemaker students to freely express their ideas is one strategy for handling them. Better engagement results from this since it promotes pleasant interaction and gives them a sense that their voices are heard and respected.
3. Reminding Troublemaker Students of Their Academic Responsibilities
Reminding students to complete their assignments on time will help them stay committed to their studies and make progress academically and behaviorally.
4. Directing the Troublemaker Student to Engage in More Activities
This strategy can be applied to manage the troublemaker student and encourage them to engage in extracurricular educational, cultural, or social activities, guiding them toward more constructive time management.
5. Using Non-Verbal Communication to Provide Feedback to Troublesome Students
Giving troublemaking students positive or negative feedback through body language is one of the best ways to handle them. It is better to use hand gestures for silence, raise your eyebrows, smile, or praise someone than to use harsh verbal criticism and waste class time.
6. Diversifying Teaching Styles to Attract Troublemakers' Attention
To make the lesson more engaging for the difficult student, different teaching styles must be used, such as the use of slideshows, audio and visual clips, real-world examples, and more.
7. Linking Academic Assignments to What the Troublemaker Student Likes
By encouraging the student to select a project or topic that aligns with their interests and preferences, this approach is appropriate for managing troublemakers and attempts to make academic assignments more engaging. For example, if a student enjoys drawing, they could make a painting that relates to the lesson use it while explaining the lesson and thank them for it as well.
8. Employing Troublemaker Student Energy in Educational Games
Selecting games designed to teach academic concepts interactively can motivate troublemaking students and channel their extra energy into positive activities. Examples include mathematics learning games, puzzle and word games, science learning games, and others.
9. Avoiding Mocking the Troublemaker Student
Mocking and bullying should be avoided when dealing with troublemakers, as they can increase their negative behavior. Instead, treat them with respect and build a good relationship with them.
10. Avoiding Insulting or Labeling the Troublemaker Student
It is important to maintain respect for the student, regardless of their behavior. For example, if a troublemaker student interrupts the class, the teacher should avoid saying, "You are behaving badly" and instead say, "I would like to hear your opinion after I finish explaining the lesson."
11. Avoiding Overwhelming Threats or Major Clashes with the Troublemaker Student
Avoid using excessive or overwhelming threats when dealing with a troublemaker student, as it can increase tension and problems. Instead of threatening severe punishment like expulsion from class, it's better to say, "If you don't cooperate in class, we will try together to find a way to improve your behavior."
12. Avoiding Authoritarianism When Giving Instructions to the Troublemaker Student
Instead of saying, "Sit down and don’t speak," you can say, "Please sit quietly and listen to the explanation, and then I want to hear your questions so we can find answers."
13. Not Blaming Other Students in the Class Because of the Troublemaker Student
It is important not to punish other students in the class because of one student's behavior. If a student speaks during class, address that student specifically instead of scolding the entire class.
14. Using Appropriate Reinforcement and Punishment Methods at the Right Time and Avoiding Hasty Discipline
The student should be directed towards good behavior using rewards and incentives while reasonably avoiding negative behavior without resorting to severe punishments. Refraining from using severe punishments fosters a good rapport with the students and inspires them to do better.
In Conclusion
Students may not remember what the teacher taught them, but they will certainly remember how the teacher treated them. Dealing with troubled students is indeed a challenge in the field of education. As one educator wisely put it, "That problem carries within it several opportunities," meaning that with positive thinking, care, and understanding of their behavioral backgrounds, these challenges can be turned into opportunities for learning and growth. Wise educators can understand that each student holds different potentials and goals, and their mission is to guide these potentials toward success and excellence in the future.