Tool: Helping beginning teachers deal with difficult students

Beginning teachers are often assigned the most difficult classes to teach. Regardless of how this occurs, typical classrooms have students who pay attention to lessons, apply themselves to their work and seem responsive to the teacher's instructional and social initiations while other students lack these qualities or for other reasons are difficult, time-consuming or frustrating to work with.

As a building principal, department, chair, or other leader designate, you and the beginning teacher need to determine which problems can be handled in the classroom, which require consultation with a school official and which require involvement of community agencies beyond those available in the school district.

One of the first steps is identifying the problem. While it can be risky to label, sometimes it can be temporarily helpful in order to hone in on specific problems. Once the behaviors are identified, you can find the descriptive information that can help you collaboratively draw up an action plan.

Purpose of this tool: This tool is intended to guide your “looking” and “listening” in order to locate the information you need to collaboratively develop the appropriate action plans.

Observing and dealing with difficult students

Drawn heavily from Brophy, J. (1996). Teaching Problem Students, pp. 52-53. New York : Guilford Press.