QUESTION:

I teach a class of remediation seniors who have not passed the high school exit exam. They are very difficult to control. Nothing fazes them. There are two or three who simply do not take no for an answer. They ask to go to the bathroom, get a drink, make a phone call. I say “No.”  They ask again in 3 minutes.

DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE:

Teach the Hierarchy. Discuss the level that students are on when they attempt to evade their responsibility of learning. (Level B because they are making their own standards of what school should be about.)

Share the examples you have described in your question above.  Ask the class to develop some procedures where it can be a win-win situation. Explain you don’t want to say no, but you know that the trips out of the room are attempts to remain victims of impulses.  They are simply excuses to waste time, rather than learn.

Spend a few minutes daily with each of these students at their desk level––not over them. Tutor them. Build a relationship with each one.

Have a class discussion regarding how collaboration is an excellent way to learn.  Explain why  peer mentoring is so effective for both the mentor and the mentee. Try to match these students up with another student who would be willing to work with them.

If all else fails, you can always use contingencies, e.g., “Sure you can go, when your assignment is completed and you explain it to me.”

 

Note: A full explanation of “contingencies” can be found in Dr. Marshall’s book, starting on page 3.

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Posted In: I. For High Schools, Impulse Control
posted On: August 22, 2009: 10:24 am: By Kerry Weisner
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