Defusing the bomb
‘Boom the behaviour bomb goes off’
Sending students out (for what ever reason) always adds a new challenge to teachers lesson.
As soon as you walk out to discuss their behaviour/effort you’re going to be met with the standard “I didn’t do it”, “you’re picking in me” and “well so and so did it too”.
The reason (I believe) students are often so defensive is because you are giving them time to stew on why they have been sent out in the first place and can therefore be met with an angrier student than the one you sent out.
How I handle the anger outside your door
My technique for dealing with this is the use of curve ball questions.
The student stood outside is expecting you to come out and say something along the lines of “why have I sent you out?” or “I’ve had enough of your behaviour”. Try asking something like:
- Did you see the game last night?
- What do you think of Simon Cowel?
- Are you going on holiday this year?
- Have you got any brothers or sisters?
These completely unrelated questions will catch the student off guard.
Straight away they are thinking of how to answer your question rather than remembering that they are actually meant to be in a mood with you.
After asking a few of these questions you can then follow it up with discussing the reason the student was ask to leave in the first place. Hopefully by then both of you are calm and can reach an agreement that means the student returns to the learning environment quickly and without further disruption.
Contributed to the site by @RealUKteaching
