lara mentorship

This weeks blog topic is how I deal with challenging personalities in the classroom. My approach to dealing with challenging personalities in the classroom is to try to change the way I act and teach with the students. There are only eight students in the classroom so it is not very difficult to adapt to so many personalities. Every student is unique and many students have different personalities. Though i have yet to deal with any difficult personalities in the classroom, I believe I have an idea of how I would deal with them. I think there are many ways to deal with difficult personalities. Some ways are: setting specific rules in the classroom, remaining calm in all situations, use positive tones, allow the student to understand that their behaviour is unacceptable, reward good behavior and never letting a student think that you think any less of them.

To start off I will talk about using specific rules in the classroom. Every classroom should have a standard set of rules so the students know the expectations for their behaviour. If the students don't have any expectations or rules set they will act how they like and not fear consequences. Some standard rules could include: being respectful in class and listening when someone else is talking. If the student does not follow these rules then the teacher can move on to other methods.

Next, I think that a teacher should always try to stay calm in the classroom. If the teacher gets very angry and starts to show it, it will not work out for them with the students. Students’ behaviour reflects how the teachers behaviours in class as well. The teacher is a role model for students in the class. Teachers should be teaching students how to be rational when it comes to their emotions. With this a teacher must also be positive. Positive teacher leads to a positive classroom. Students must be in a positive environment in order for them to be motivated to have good behaviour in the classroom.

Another point is to make sure the student understands that their behaviour is unacceptable. In this case actions do not speak louder than words. Not only does the student need to understand that what they are doing is wrong, they also need to know how they can make things better. There will be now improvement in behaviour if the student does not fully understand that what they are doing is right and how to change it into something positive. As well, the student must also understand the consequences of their actions. Every bad action has a consequence. One very important point to remember within all of this is to speak to the student privately. Studies at UC Berkeley show that a student is more comfortable in the classroom when they are not being ridiculed for their actions. Always speak to a student privately while discussing their behaviour. This will instill trust between the teacher and the student.

The last point is to reward good behavior and never let a student believe that they are seen any different because of how they act. A student needs motivation in order to improve behaviour. Once a student sees that there is something positive coming out of good behaviour they will start to change how they act and how they treat others in the classroom.

Mrs. DiTullio and I discussed this topic and we both believe that there is a way of dealing with all sorts of personalities in the classrooms. Though she does have different ideas and opinions than me we both think there is always a pay to appeal to students. With these reasons and more, this is how I would deal difficult personalities in the classroom. All students deserve a chance to improve, we just have to be willing to give them that chance.