My students do not want to learn?

Question

how can I inspire my students I have tried everything. They come to class and not bring pencils or paper. They talk excessively and do not try on tests do no homework and are all getting F's in my class. I have given them speeches and pizza parties, to motivate them when only one tries. I have one student who works the hardest and wants to learn but I am not motivate to teach anymore when I do they dont listen. I am so tired and I have written over 100 referrals and the office just sends them back. I am firm and now I have taken the no talking approach. And they are not talking but they are now not working either. Help

Answer 1

What grade do you teach? If you teach primary or high school then it is not the students. It's your classroom management and teaching. If you teach middle school, then this is not suprising. How often do you contact the parents? How do the parents react? It is the parents' responsibility to make sure the students come to school to learn.

Answer 2

if you are a new teacher, you may have a mentor to help you.  If not, try to find out what other teachers who teach the same pupils find.  Do they all have the same problems?  How do they deal with it?   I used to have a detention clock visible at the beginning of the lesson, which I increased the time I would keep them at lunch one day if they took too long to settle; if they worked well, then the time came down.  Mine was in Excel, and I then made notes on each lesson, the good and the bad students.  I only had 2 days when they would be kept behind (or they would have stopped me having lunch every day) and if they spilled over, then I would have kept them after the end of the school day, but I rarely needed to.  Alongside this I had other strategies.  For example, worksheets so that if some were noisy I kept them, standing, but those who did the right thing and wanted to work could do so even if I had to deal with the offenders.  I also had soe special laptops so when they were working on the computers around the room, I could have some in he centre who were away from others and therefore it was harder for them to misbehave.   But it helps to talk it over and share ideas with others!  Repeated offenders I phoned their parents and said I wanted permission to keep them behind at short notice - was there a day whn this was possible?   the parents usually are good if you say the child is being their own worse enemy and heading for failure and you are hoping to help them rerform and then you prevent the child trying to say to the parents that the teacher is being unfair!

Answer 3

They don't respect you.  They can walk all over you.  You are a pushover.  I have had teachers like that.

If they aren't learning then they need to fail.  What grade/s do you teach? You need to talk to the office about sending the students back.  You need the office to support your decision to write a referral and not undermine you by sending them back.  Are you writing referrals frivolously?

Let them fail your class.  I am sure SOME of those parents won't be happy to see an F.  Those students probably don't think you will really give them an F.  I had a teacher like that.  We didn't do anything and we all got C's.  That was good enough for us.  

You need to win back the respect.  If they don't work that is not your problem.  You can't change them.  That's not your job.  Your job is to teach and if they aren't allowing it, it's their loss.  

Have you considered contacting the parents to let them know their child is at risk of failing?  The parents must not know what is going on if the referrals get sent back to you.  

I had a teacher who could not control the class and she wrote referrals all the time.  It was always the same students who ended up getting the referrals.  But the teacher focused on those students so much that the rest of the class got away with doing nothing because the attention was not on us.  She should have ignored the ones acting up instead of turning them into entertainers.  We also took advantage of her by going to the bathroom often. Make sure you are keeping control of the bathroom pass.

You got them to be quiet...that's good.  it sounds like you are in the path of earning their respect.  Do not offer them pizza parties.  Kids are manipulative and know a pushover when they see one.  Teachers should not have to bribe. They shouldn't have to reward. The good grade is the reward.  

I suggest you give them assigned seats.  As they come in line them up along the wall and when they are completely quiet tell them where to sit one by one.    If they aren't quiet, let them stand the whole class period.  If they try sitting on the floor, let them sit.  Take the ones that are quiet one by one and sit them at their new desk.  by the end of class you will probably have a few clowns sitting on the floor still, but they will have the whole class staring down at them which will feel awkward.

Stay firm and act like a heartless b*tch.  They need tough love. You don't need to motivate them.  It isn't working. It's a waste of your energy.  They need to know they pushed you past your limit and class will never be the same.  If they still don't wanna do their work, they need to fail the class.  They need a rude awakening.

Answer 4

It's summer vacation... no wonder they don't want to learn.

Answer 5

Give them a lecture on how they will never get into good colleges, and therefor won't get a good job, and can't support their families. Start by asking them to raise their hands, asking them if they want kids. Then ask about spouces, then ask about a nice home, then a good job, then a nice car, then going to college. Explain that nothing will be possible if you don't work hard in school. This is exactly how my school is. 99% don't like to learn and I (1%) love it. It's sad, but good for me!

Answer 6

See, this is what gripes my butt.

Kids KNOW schools aren't going to do a d**n thing to them, so THIS is WHY they are THIS WAY!!

You said the office just keeps sending them back. WHY !?!?!

They don't have a disclipline policy that must be followed?

Have you ever questioned WHY the office doesn't do anything to these kids??

I know this is NOT your fault, I feel so bad for you.

But it gripes my butt that ALL TEACHERS say this is the PARENTS fault, when it is the SCHOOL who WILL NOT disclipline them!!

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

Answer 7

I am really sorry. Your class is lost. What you need to do is work with that one student. Give the rest an assignment what every you want or they want and teach that one student. What you will get is some coming around. The problem is your so close to the end it really doesn't matter, just finish it out and learn from your mistakes for next year. Be even more firm, no pizza parties! Handle the displine in your room in you class, don't allow for admin. to kill you, once they send a kid back that kid will do whatever they want.

Answer 8

Giving them pizza just sent the wrong message.  How about failing all of them?  That might send them a message.