• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • ABCmouse.com
  • The Reason I Teach
  • Private Policy

Edu-Power: The Invaluable Practice of Teaching

Maximizing Educational Ideas

  • Home
  • Categories
    • 21st Century Learning
    • Learning Strategies
    • Pedagogical Challenges
    • Classroom Discipline Strategies
    • EdTech Explorations
    • Edu-Philosophy
    • College Planning
    • STEM Learning
    • TEACHER’S CORNER
  • Buy Teacher Guide
  • Explore Adventure Academy
  • CouponXoo Scholarship 2022-2023

How to Survive a Hostile Classroom Environment: Coping with High Risk Students

May 18, 2016 by Ntrumoc25

Surviving a hostile classroom can present a momentous challenge to educators, especially for new teachers. Hostility can occur suddenly and without warning. Unprepared teachers may find themselves surrounded by unmotivated, unruly and disrespectful students. Such situations can happen at any time of the year. However, teachers must be trained to cope with these intense moments. A few carefully chosen steps can help you survive the onslaught of angry high-risk students.

Things You’ll Need

Backup plans

Take charge of your feelings and remain calm when you are confronted with a hostile classroom. Don’t react. The wrong thing to do is to start yelling, screaming and threatening students. This will only give them a sense that you have lost control. Sometimes a classroom will become increasingly uncontrollable when the teacher has lost his cool, resulting in total chaos.

Stand still and observe the situation with poise and confidence. Look for the students who are not participating in the  chaos These nonparticipants can act as your mental source of stability. Attempt to express concern regarding the situation. You can say something like: “I know you’re disappointed class. I am also, but we can resolve this situation together.” Let them know that the problem can be solved only when they calm down.

Try to understand why these students are so angry. Make sure that you have not directly contributed to the hostility by being insensitive to certain concerns that students may have presented to you. Students have feelings. When something is happening in the classroom that the teacher is ignoring, some students may become hostile because they are not being heard.

Seek common ground. Many times intense stress situations in high-risk classrooms happen because of differing objectives. Some students may want to work on a particular project while the other may not. Some students may think you are showing favor toward the ideas of another group while neglecting their ideas. Obtaining common ground provides the opportunity to discuss and resolve the hostile situation.

Resolve the problem through a heartfelt classroom discussion. Review and create new rules if necessary in order to prevent the hostile situation from occurring again. Thoroughly examine routines and habits that may have contributed to the problem. You may have to change the lesson plans, teaching style as well as the way you engage with the students in general. You may have to become more sensitive and understanding.

Tips

For all classroom teachers, the bottom line is to strive to create community within the classroom. You may have to make the idea of community a weekly classroom theme. High-risk classrooms will most likely need constant repetition of ideas in order to internalize a message. As much as possible, the sense of classroom community must become a habit for every high-risk student. In addition, you must devise interesting lesson plans as well as backup plans in case of other classroom emergencies.

Warning

Sometimes a teacher’s effort to calm a hostile classroom requires help. Don’t get injured trying to calm a classroom in which the situation has become threatening. Seek and call for the help of other teachers or the administrative office. When high-risk students are aggressively attempting to bully and frighten you, whether they are standing in your face or throwing pencils and books at you, you must seek immediate help. In some instances, you must call the police, especially if you have been assaulted.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Classroom Discipline Strategies Tagged With: advice to new teachers, classroom challenges, dangerous classrooms, high-risk student issues, hostile classroom environment, surviving tough classes, teaching difficult students

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Join 209 other subscribers

Categories

  • 21st Century Learning
  • Classroom Culture
  • Classroom Discipline Strategies
  • College Planning
  • EdTech Explorations
  • Edu-Philosophy
  • Learning Strategies
  • Literature
  • Pedagogical Challenges
  • Scholarships & Grants
  • STEM Learning
  • TEACHER'S CORNER
  • Uncategorized
December 2023
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Nov    

More to See

high school

Living without Regrets: Making the Most of High School

October 17, 2023 By Ntrumoc25

Interactive Whiteboard

The Comprehensive Teacher’s Buyer Guide: Selecting the Perfect Educational Product for Your Needs

October 8, 2023 By Ntrumoc25

Footer

Text Widget

Edu-Power emerges as a comprehensive online hub, meticulously designed to cater to the professional growth of teachers who strive for excellence in education. This platform is a repository of carefully curated content that encompasses a wide array of knowledge, encompassing both foundational theories and cutting-edge pedagogical innovations. Beyond theoretical insights, Edu-Power is replete with practical skills development tools, enabling educators to not only grasp new concepts but also to adeptly apply them within their classrooms.

Recent

  • Mindful Education: Fostering Emotional Intelligence in the Classroom
  • Living without Regrets: Making the Most of High School
  • The Comprehensive Teacher’s Buyer Guide: Selecting the Perfect Educational Product for Your Needs
  • Unleashing the Power of Classroom Technology: A Comprehensive Guide
  • Unraveling the Alarming Rise and Impact of the Cheating Epidemic

Search

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in