[clivehawkins]

This is a really interesting subject.

With the adult classes, of which I teach the most, I rarely have discipline problems. I guess I'm lucky. If someone is a bit of a problem I usually have a quiet word explaining why they should calm down a bit and that if it carries on they'll be chucked out of the school. (It's my school, so they know I'm not joking.)

However, the kids! I'm having quite a few problems on that front, especially with the 6 year olds. At the moment we're finding each other's limits. I've set limits with all of them and they know what I will and won't accept. When they overstep the limit I sit them on the punishment chair where they stay until I decide they can come back. They don't like this and I've already seen a slight improvement when I tell them to calm down \ get on with their work etc etc.

When the class as a whole plays up, I raise my voice and insist on silence. When I've got it I then tell them to carry on in the way I want them to or the activity stops and we copy from the board. Again, this seems to be having some success.

My biggest problem is the student who refuses point blank to do something. If I insist it makes it worse. If I leave them to it, I lose authority. It's a bit of a stalemate. I try to reason with them , encourage them, praise them for their previous work but most of the time I'm banging my head against a brick wall.

What do you guys do in this situation?