"This class simply can't work together..."

I hesitate to post this because my advice to this teacher is not necessarily research based and some of it might seem...well...rude. But I'd have to tell you that these are the things that worked for me in terms of classroom management when nothing else seemed to work for me. I know that she addresses several issues in her request. I'm only addressing the management one because she can't get anything done with them until they are acting better in class. 

>Shona,

> 

>I have out of 9 students:

> -5 students who have not passed their EOCs,

>-1 504 and 2 SPED, 2-3 high, and 3-4 that are in the middle to -And

>people who simply cannot work together; I can't even figure out how to

>group these kids...

> 

>Group work is a disaster, most of them want to be spoon-fed, and I am

>miserable. What am I doing wrong, and how can I make this work better?

>I am talking about my actual 7th period class in this instance. I am getting ready to call parents to >discuss behavior and effort, but I do not know how to help this class.

     When I had classes like this, I realized that I have to teach the get-along-process and social norms as if they were TEKS - with explicit instruction and modeling. I graded/marked them on that too. Kinda like when we pair a content objective and a language objective. This time, you add a social objective.

    The other things that work well for this kind of issue is to adjust the pacing, chunk the tasks, and provide more clarity about each task and outcome. 

*Pacing - go faster or slower. Faster usually works better for these kids. Push and rush them. You'll get their attention. Set a timer for short bursts. Let them ask YOU to have more time.

*Chunk the tasks: Groups like this can't handle long stretches of activities and instructions. Give them one piece at a time. Set a timer - use one they can see on the overhead. When it goes off, give the next step, activity, etc. Set the timer. Etc. Asking kids to produce evidence for each task/process helps.

*Provide more clarity - one of the reasons kids don't stay with you is because they don't really know what you want them to do. Model. Give the instructions in three modalities: auditory, visual - write it down, and kinesthetic movements to trigger associations and memory. If they are off task, you can signal them with the kinesthetic movement to redirect them without disturbing the rest of the class. 

     Another thing that works VERY well is for every negative phone call, you make TWO positive ones. Talking to the parents is good. But calling the kids after hours to thank them for specific elements is extremely powerful because you then capture their peer power in moving the rest of the class to more positive directions when they come back to school.

    The last advice that I would have is to implement simultaneous reward and punishment. Put the ones who are being disruptive in isolation and give them some independent work to catch them up -or pull them to the table for small group instruction. The ones who will work - pull them aside and play a game with them or let them have phone time while the others work. Say, "You guys have been focusing and are ahead of the rest of the class. You can have some free time while the others catch up to your level of completion and mastery." They hate that and don't want it to happen again. I used to give candy, but I'm not sure what your policy is on that. Bottom line - you have to get their attention and focus before you can teach them. 

Shona