Handling undisciplined Kids in class

patjunfa

HI All

I’ve been teaching a couple of kids classes, ages 7-10 and 11-14, Kung fu and Kickboxing. In the younger class there are about 14 kid’s. Going well, but one kid in particular seems determined to wreak my head. When the kids are in a line coming up and kicking the pad, he’ll jump onto the pad screaming; take out the pads when told not to etc. Generally do his best to get the wrong type of attention. Some of the other kids also get pulled into it a bit with him.
How does anyone teaching kids keep em disciplined? I’ve been trying to give him no attention when he’s trying to get my attention in a negative way; being strict with him; giving him good attention when he does something well. If I got a chance to talk to his parents would., but he comes by himself. I may call them.
Any suggestions? Naughty chair? I’ve considered if he keeps it up, I’ll suspend him from class, or possibly kick him out, as he’s taking away from it. That seems like a bit of a cop out tho, as martial arts should teach him some discipline. Also he came up and bowed to me outside of class. Suprising, not sure if he was taking the piss tho..think not
Any suggestions appreciated

Thanks

Patrick

Roper

Get the parents to sign a waiver so you can belt him one

Pat I have a 'sin bin', which eliminates the kid in question for one game or a number of minutes. The guidelines are that you place the child in the sin bin for a number of minutes equivalent to their age. So if the kid is 7, he goes in for 7 minutes, 12 for 12 etc. But to be honest, I rarely use that I just use the one game rule. The structure of my class makes this easy because almost 100% of the class is games but yours may differ.

I've had to use the sin bin about 3 times in the last 2 months and thats a high percentage. Being ill-disciplined isn't necessarilly something I'd bin them for. Usually, if I had a kid who was messing about before class I'd try and channel his energy into doing something constructive, like some playing at wrestling with his mates etc. If that doesn't work, then its the sin bin, then after a few tries at that, a word with his parents if theres a real disruption/time wasting problem going on. I've only had to go to that phase once, ever, and that was with a child who was the spawn of satan.

Mostly though, the best device I've ever employed for 'bold' kids is positivity. In four years I've had one kid whose parents I was forced to deal with about his behaviour. I did it nicely and with tact and the Da told me where to stick my classes, on his way out I did notice cloven hooves though so I actually felt sorry for his kid after that. I love the energy kids bring and some of the most rewarding kids to teach are the ones that get labelled as "bold" because they're mouthy or energetic or mischievous.

The Shane

Hockey the living hell out of him with a series of vicious roundhouse kicks.


I like Roper's idea, and I know Colm does something similar. I used to allow a trade off of sorts where if they were noisy I'd allow them to shout for 30 seconds.

For anyone reading who is about to suggest giving push ups or anything like that - don't, we want to encourage young athletes to exercise not associate it with being bad and punished.

Shane, The

dlofnep

The Shane wrote:

Hockey the living hell out of him with a series of vicious roundhouse kicks.

LOL!

SorGan

The Shane wrote:

Hockey the living hell out of him with a series of vicious roundhouse kicks.


I like Roper's idea, and I know Colm does something similar. I used to allow a trade off of sorts where if they were noisy I'd allow them to shout for 30 seconds.

For anyone reading who is about to suggest giving push ups or anything like that - don't, we want to encourage young athletes to exercise not associate it with being bad and punished.

Shane, The

but roundhouse kicks to the head are fine yes? lol:D

paul moran

Take on board everything Roper had to say but you need to speak to his parents, if it ain't working,

I am no expert and of course have never met the kid but It sounds like a few of the cases of Aspergers I've had to deal with. Most parents would have spoken to you about of this if it was identified, which can make it hard to broach the subject if they haven't.

Speak to the parents and gauge whether they get the same behavior at home and school, and what their goals for the child is. If he is simply misbehaving ask how they deal with it at home.

Also find out the family situation, the kid could be just acting out to some issue in his life, is he being bullied, are the parents together etc.

If it is a case of Aspergers no punishment/or timeout is justified as it would be like punishing a blind kid for bumping into things. You'll just have to get on his wavelength and make him understand the boundaries of the class.

This will have to be the case whether it is bad behavior or something more.

Let us know how things workout, I'm sure we could all learn from your experiences.

Colm_OReilly

I wrote a reply last night but boards went down for maintenance.

I find the key thing in class is being more entertaining than the kids. That way, the attention is on you the whole time, rather than some other kid.

I "bench" the kids who are repeatedly disruptive or acting dangerously. They're just removed from play. I sometimes ask them if they're ready to get back in or if they know why I've benched them. I'll either ask or tell them as I'm benching them.

A key thing, though, is to appear to be consistent. If they feel you're not they can't learn since they've no predictable pattern to work off. Also, you're right about rewarding positive behaviour.

If it's just talking over me I get the kid to put both their hands over their mouth.

Paul,
I've had kids with autism and their mother told me it's perfectly okay to punish them if they're disruptive. Autism and Aspergers are learnign difficulties primarily, so they're learning slower. If you make an accommodation based on the fact they're handicapped that isn't necessary, you're furthering helplessness and not helping them integrate as much as they could.

(I understand the above paragraph doesn't give much weight to the subject, just a mild train of thought response)

Hope this helps,
Colm

cowzerp

kick him out till his parents guarantee that he wont mess as 1 getting away with it will ruin your class-firm but fair..

paul moran

Re Aspergers

It is still valid to "bench them" as long as it is time to allow them to calm down, they generally don't relate the punishment with their disruption in the class as their condition doesn't allow for emotional attachments (this can be quite varied depending on how pronounced their condition is).

They must understand that the misbehavior will result in the timeout and thus miss out on the fun aspect of the class, trying to make them understand the reason for the benching is often a futile exercise. This is the creation of boundaries. They will make their own connections to the reason in their own time as they grow within the class framework.

Any of the Asperger kids in my class are the best students when they are controlled as they have so much focus and intensity to go along with their huge intellect.

Of course we could be way of track and patjunfa's issue could simply be a disruptive kid.

patjunfa

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll post again in a week or two and say how I'm getting on. Don't have that regular access to internet. have felt like "Hockeyin the living hell out of him", more often just find myself groanin as he thinks he's hillarious. Reckon I'm goina include some more games, try n be a bit more entertainin, n bench him and allow no one to talk to him while benched. Any more suggestions always appreciated

Cheers