Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Students

1. Send the students to a quiet space outside the classroom that is comfortable and safe.
2. Be non-judgmental, while having calm and friendly conversations.
3. Be calm but fair in all decisions.
4. Let students know that you care, that they matter, and you care about their progress.
5. Praise and recognize positive behaviours.
6. Keep everything in perspective.
7. Allow the students processing/wait time.
8. Speak quietly and authoritatively to maintain control of the classroom.
9. Try to understand the students strengths, skills and weaknesses.
10. Consider students interests and characteristics when planning topics of learning.
11. Ask the students open-questions and pursue their answers.
12. Build a rapport so that issues can be discussed in full.
13. Ensure that you get enough sleep and be prepared for each lesson.
14. Acknowledge even the smallest improvement in progress/achievement.
15. Remind students of their strengths and expectations.
16. Listen to what the students have to say.
17. Get the students involved in their learning and hold them accountable.
18. Remember the students names and details about them.
19. Search for their motivation behind the way they behave.
20. Re-affirm the way they feel use paraphrasing.
21. Diffuse confrontation by seeking to understand and explain the problematic behaviour, and follow
through with consequences.
22. Teach students how to plan, how to ask questions, abstract processes. Etc.
23. Ask students, dont always tell them.
24. Maintain a sense of humour- it goes a long way with the students.
25. Understand that the students backgrounds and families impact on the behaviour and appropriate
interventions for poor behaviour.
26. Pick your battles.
27. Ask the students how you can help them.
28. Seek to understand, not to be understood.
29. Tactically ignore poor behaviour.
30. Monitor the room with strong non-verbal messages.
31. Always aim to provide the simplest of directions.
32. Constantly restate rules to control disruptions.
33. Provide consistent, timely and comparable feedback to students.
34. Distract and deflect students if there is a potential conflict.
35. Take the student aside to discuss appropriate behaviours.
36. Command the student to stop acting in a certain way (particularly if it is potentially harmful/dangerous).
37. Use blocking statements to end poor behaviour.
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