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Lesson Plans


Re:Middle School classroom management

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Penelope Laing (pilaing.edu)
Sun, 26 Jan 1997 13:22:34 -0500

Ryan.....I think it is helpful to try and discover what is motivating
the kid to misbehave. In my classes, I have had boys (especially!) who
really are repulsed by Art class because they think they are going to get
dirty. Yes, really. One guy in my 8th grade class this Fall would not sit
down in a chair (sat on his foot on the chair or stood up) rather than "sit
in that dirty chair". Honest, the chair may have had some marks on it, but
it was clean! He would do anything to get sent out of class. And did,
constantly. In his case, he was in an Art class when he had been "placed"
there because his choices of electives were full.

In the case of some young ladies who misbehave, I have found that the
attention of the class (read that CERTAIN YOUNG MEN) has much to do with
their motivation.
If I can "put them onstage" in a legitimate way....my assistant, etc....it
helps. The rough situation is when there are several girls at odds with
each other and ALL interested in the same guy.

My point here is that if you understand what is going on, you can make a
"game plan" to deal with it, most of the time. But sometimes it is a long,
long time before it is possible to see what the real difficulty is.

Penny Laing
Greenville, NC