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| Our class is 5/6 grade, about 20 students. They are largely from non-church families. They don't know how to cooperate as a group. They have outside (neighborhood) quarrels that they bring to church. They fight, exchange insults, push. They don't listen (getting even a few moments of everyone's attention is difficult). The group games are a wash, because they won't work together.
How do we get their attention?
I had hoped giving them more choices and responsibility of the class would help. It seems not. Any suggestions? Any similar cl?
iBeleave ... in Jesus!
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| | Hi, Is there anyway you can divide the class? Can you separate the boys and the girls, or even divide it into groups of 10? 20 is a lot of kids. Do you have help? Do you have a system where you can send discipline problems outside the classroom? Are they all about the same discipline-wise, or is it just a few that is disrupting the whole class? I know it can sometimes be a few and everyone else follows, so if you can separate the unruly ones for extra attention, the others calm down somewhat. You need help to control the class when there is a problem of sending kids to see the pastor, for instance. You can't leave the room without supervision. My kids are often hyperactive, so as long as I keep them moving, such as doing skits for ex, I can keep them on task. Its the long stretches of reading and discussion where I lose them. I move around a lot. I don't sit down, I walk up behind kids and put hands on shoulders and ask them pointblank questions to see if they're listening and joke with them until I get a response and move on. They never know where I'll be from one min to the next. The reality is, most kids don't come to church to learn about God. They couldn't care less about the things of God, unfortunately. They're there because the parents made them come (or wanted them out of the house) or to see their friends (and rivals at times)--not to listen to us. With that, I try to get to know them and care for them--develop a relationship, then share true experiences with them to get them hooked as best as possible. All along the way, you pray A LOT. There are some kids that are just impossible short of a miracle from God. We have one that is belligerent to the extreme and out of control. He was thrown out of school. Unless God gets a hold of him, he'll prob be in jail before he reaches adulthood. Incredibly sad, but true. We've tried it all. He really has no parents. He spends time sitting in the pastor's office. Sometimes you have to separate the discipline problems because it isn't fair to the other kids who can pay attention and learn. When he remains in class the other boys follow suit, and normally manageable kids become like their peer.
Kim
Homeschool mom
Sunday School Teacher
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| | We have a smaller group (10-12) but have 2-4 boys that when they all attend, can take the class in a totally different direction if we don't "proactively" deal with them. What we've found works, is to make sure they're separated into different groups to begin with. We preassign everyone to a group as they arrive. Something else I've tried is to catch them at the beginning of class and challeng them to behave better than last week. The most recent thing that has really worked well is we bring in a couple of boys that are a grade level or two above them that we split among the groups. These boys provide great role models as they are older and respected, but also have pretty good Bible knowledge so they help their group look up passages and keep the groups on task with the Team Guides. They also help with games, which helps to encourage the other boys to participate. Good luck! |
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| | Good idea about the older boys "guiding" the unruly ones. If nothing else, gives the teacher the extra support they need. Kim
Kim
Homeschool mom
Sunday School Teacher
Puppet Ministry leader |
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Last Login: 5/12/2008 11:49:23 AM
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| Wow, thanks for the great responses!
You are right - it's not the entire class. If it's only 1 or 2, we can usually manage. When it's 4 or 5 of them at once, that's where it gets out of control. We don't have much recourse as far as discipline - time out, when that fails, they are escorted to sit with an adult in the sanctuary. Worst case, sent home, or suspended from the bus for a week or 2. Hate to do it, but as you said, sometimes it really drags the entire class down.
We brought in a couple of extra helpers temporarily, and structured the class more, and this has helped. Boys and girls at seperate tables. The last 2 weeks have been better.
We needed to "tweak" the curriculum a bit- it's too advanced for most of our students. They want the freedoms of older students, but they really don't know how to handle it. I think we are going to have to work our way toward that side things as the year progresses.
Thank you all for your input! Just hearing from others is a great encouragement!
Christina
iBeleave ... in Jesus!
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