When you first walk into the lesson and see a supply teacher, the excitement floods through the kids. Everyone moving to sit with their friends, talking when they shouldn’t be and doing as little work as possible. In every child’s ideal world, the lesson will be full of doing what they want as they don’t understand what the teacher actually needs doing. Most of the time, when asked to return to their seats they will; but there is always a stubborn class who refuse. Most children will sit with their friends and work at the same time, but some other kids just don’t comply. This is a guide on how to please the class, whilst also having them work and doing your job extremely well, from my teenage point of view.
Kids will rebel more if you are extremely strict. For example, making them sit in silence and work as hard as they possibly can. And that doesn’t mean you should let them get away with anything, you need a balance. Every class is different in the way they respond to teachers, and every pupil is different too. Obviously, every supply teacher wants to get the message saying “excellent set 1 class” but that can’t always be the situation. The first problem you will face is the seating arrangements. You should tell the class that you will allow them to sit in these seats, as long as they get on with work and keep the volume down. Most children will be satisfied with this & carry on working, but if there are some kids who are being obnoxiously loud and not working, this is what you should do:
Firstly, go and sit with the children who aren’t working, but don’t tell them off. The key is to not shout no matter how angry you get, because most of the time the children don’t respond to this, and they may even laugh in your face! You should start by sitting/standing near them and most of the time they will get scared and start working, but if they don’t, start a conversation with the kids. If you pay kids with respect, they will give it back (hopefully!) Most kids who disrupt lessons, do it on purpose for attention and they want to anger you and for you to shout but you shouldn’t give them this attention. They will likely give up if they don’t receive this. So instead of shouting you should go and have a conversation with them. Tell them that you’re not asking for much and you only want them to do work. Tell them that you may have to move them if they continue, but make sure you let them know that neither of you would want to be in that situation, and that they are still allowed to sit and talk to their friends. Next, you should ask them if they understand the work and give them a hand if they don’t. Now, if you leave the child after this, they will probably go back to disruption. So, you should carry on the conversation and get to know the child, ask them what they enjoy doing outside of school and they will probably enjoy this and view you as a ‘chill teacher’! If you are staying in this school and teaching lots of supply primarily there, you will grow a good reputation among the kids, and they will listen and respect you.
If you are in a situation where most of the class is disrespectful, get their attention at the front of the classroom and tell them the same thing as I mentioned, about how you are respecting them and you don’t want to shout at them. Tell them that some kids in the class are trying to focus and that you all want a good lesson. If you see a quiet kid who isn’t doing much work, go over to them and ask them if they are okay. They will probably say yes and pretend to go back to the work, in this situation you should start explaining how to do the questions because these sorts of kids are the type who are scared to raise their hand and ask for help and they may even be scared to ask for help if you come over. This tackles all the kids, well – except for the respectful but chatty ones that cause no issues.
This may not relate to your teaching style, and that’s okay, but coming from a child, this is the best way to relate to the children which – from experience – kids respond well to.
By Guest Writer Wunda Kid (not their real name!)
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