Written by John Andrius | 
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Practicum Tips - Handling Difficult Classes
This tip contains suggestions on how you may develop a plan to handle difficult classes.
When To Do This
1-2 weeks into practicum, but not so late that there is nothing you can do about your relationship with the class.
Who Fills This In
Your co-tutor or another teacher in the school willing to watch you teach.
What To Do
Choose a class which you find more difficult to handle than your other groups. Before the lesson fill in briefly the section headed Confrontation below. Ask the teacher who watches you to make brief notes in the analysis section.
Confrontation
Think of an occasion recently when you had a confrontation, even a mild one, with one or more members of this class. Describe it below.
- What led up to the confrontation?
- Which pupils were involved and what did they do?
- What did you do?
- What was the outcome?
- What would you do differently on another occasion?
- Is this a typical occurrence or a rare event?
Analysis
Date: _______________________________
Class: _______________________________
Subject: _______________________________
(To the observer: The class may behave differently from normal in your presence, but use your judgment and make brief notes in the spaces below.)
Anticipation
Does any difficulty arise in this lesson which could have been anticipated and perhaps avoided by more effective preparation beforehand?
Misbehavior
Record two examples of misbehavior by one or more pupils which the teacher does or does not see. It need not be serious misbehavior.
Example 1:
What the pupil(s) do.
What the teacher does.
Your comment on the teacher's reaction.
Example 2:
What the pupil(s) do.
What the teacher does.
Your comment on the teacher's reaction.
Follow-up
- Discuss with the teacher the confrontation you have described. What do you know or what can you discover about the pupil(s) involved? What advice can the teacher give you about this class?
- Discuss the lesson with the teacher who watched you, especially the questions of anticipating difficulties and handling misbehavior
- Rather than merely see out the term try some ideas to make life better with this class. Review the following:
- Is the work appropriate? See if you can find topics and ways or working that engage the class more.
- Can you meet some of the difficult children informally? Ask the teacher to help you meet some of the difficult pupils informally at clubs, or during breaks.
- Watch this class with other teachers or students. How do they behave with others? Do any teachers seem to have established a better working relationship? Do the same pupils misbehave in other teachers' lessons, or is it different ones