[Eric]

hey, nice list!

i use a lot of what you two use. silent treatments, yelling only when necessary, etc.

For those "don't-care-if-the-teacher-sends-me-to-the-office-I-hope-I-can-piss-her-off-and-score-points-with- my-friends kids" i try to use positive reinforcement. i find that these students thrive on getting attention from me and the other students. it really doesn't matter if the attention is good or bad.

so for those students i try to praise them heavily when they do well and not assume the worst in them (easier said than done). I had one student who loved attention and loved showing how little he knew. he loved the attention from his classmates and he loved when i yelled at him. so i changed my strategy, i started praising him very strongly when he did something well. after that his attitude changed in class. he started answering more questions and his behavior got better too. he was receiving attention and he was feeling good about himself. somedays this method worked better than others. for these kind of students you really have to be consistent with the praise.

anyway, thats how i handle the students who don't care.

eric