Dealing With Difficult Behaviors in High School

“I’m never going to use this, so I’m not doing it.” Some form of this comment is spoken in my high school classroom at least once a year, and for me as a teacher, dealing with this kind of difficult behavior is, well, difficult.

Building relationships in your classroom is a must. Not only your relationships with students, but their relationships with each other. If your students respect and care for each other, they will step in to help a peer before it gets to a point where you need to get involved.

But let’s say you’ve done all the things that educators are told to do. What do you do when you’re faced with a challenging behavior that is not necessarily a referral, but still disruptive? Here’s a list of dos and don’ts for teachers who find themselves dealing with these situations.

Refusing to do work

One of the most common behaviors in high school is refusing to do work. When this occurs, I will give the student five to 10 minutes to decompress. Then, if they still haven’t started, I talk to them one-on-one outside, or crouch down and speak in a low voice to ask if they are OK. It’s important that each student understand you care about them as a person first.

No matter what they say, I remain calm. They’re often upset about something outside of class, and I try to bring them into my sense of calm. Some students will give refrains like “What’s the point?” or “Why is this so hard?” or “When are we going to need this?”

I always validate their feelings and listen to why they’re not doing the work. If it’s not personal, then it’s often because they find the work challenging.

When you hold students to high standards, some students may not want to rise to the challenge right away. Some feel self-defeated and want to give up first, rather than “fail” and make mistakes. This is a common high school behavior. When I notice this, I go back to our syllabus, which points out that making mistakes is part of learning.

Since high school students don’t like to be singled out, I do my best not to draw attention to students who are quietly refusing to do work. Instead, I’ll focus on students who are doing the work. For those who refuse, I tell them that I can have someone from the class work with them. Their attitude often changes when they have peers who are willing to help them. This is part of our class agreement: Students can move seats if they are working with a peer. Since I build community in my classes, there is always a student eager to help others.

To make it easy for students to start work when they are ready, I provide access to all directions and work samples in Google Classroom.

When a student has had more than one day of non-work, I make a plan with the student to see how we can get the work in some way. I frame the interaction like we are a team and we both need to do our part. I also keep a gentle demeanor to show that what I’m sharing is a suggestion, not a demand.

One of my most chronic “non-work” students wrote me a letter at the end of the year and said how meaningful it was that I always encouraged her and didn’t try to force her to do anything. She also mentioned how I was understanding of her situation and didn’t try to push her too hard.

For students who have refused to do work, I make a big deal about small wins, such as speaking up in class, writing their name and the date, or doing work without being asked. I make it known that I see them improving.

Refusing to follow class agreements or rules

High school students sometimes break class agreements and rules. This might look like speaking out of turn, being out too long for the bathroom, using personal devices inappropriately, or not listening to directions.

A simple discipline policy is imperative, and it should be posted. Review the class agreements or rules each class period until all students follow them. You will feel silly. It will feel like you are talking down to them, but students crave structure and rules. They will follow them if they know what they are and if you enforce the rules with clear consequences.

Using data is the best way to remain neutral with students who break rules. If a rule is being broken, act like a computer screen that simply states the error without calling anyone out. If someone yells out an answer, state calmly, “I heard three people yell out answers today.” Then look around the room without looking at the offenders to check if students are paying attention.

Point to the rule and have the class read it aloud. It’s important to read it aloud together. Once students have the memory of doing that, they don’t really want to have to do it again.

If being like a computer is just not your personality, the easiest ways to get behavior to change are simply stopping and making eye contact with a student, or moving closer to them. Remember that using nonverbal communication must be done consistently—and may not be as effective.

Don’t give up

Some of the most common errors that teachers make with classroom agreements and rules are becoming emotional when students aren’t following them, bending or ignoring rules when they are broken, or giving up on the classroom agreement.

Persistence is the key to addressing common high school behaviors. As someone who likes to teach with joy and freedom, I find that addressing behaviors can feel almost embarrassing. But it was a student who reminded me: Being held to high standards and clear rules is something all students not only are capable of, but really want, even if some act like rules were made to be broken.