Dealing With Difficult Behaviors in High School

Teacher pointing at students with raised hands

“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.

Sign Up to Receive our Newsletter