Jake (not his real name) is my difficult kid. Sometimes he will speak without raising his hand. I will give the signal to rehears rule #2, and while the class is dutifully repeating rule #2 with gestures, he tries to talk over them so that he can be heard. When the class is finished, I make sure I reward them with a point for a job well done, but I say, "But someone is giving me Guff." Without fail, everyone says "Please stop," like they've been taught. He will stop for a second, then repeat the guff. Many times I have to do a little yo yo dance by the white board. I'll turn toward the board, the class will say "please stop," I'll turn away from the board, he guffs, I turn toward it, "please stop," turn away, guff, etc.

I have thought in the past that he might actually have some sort of mental deficiency! But that's the way he's always been; struggling for power, arguing, making excuses, etc. He told me, during one of our one-on-one talks that he thought the rules were stupid, particularly rule #2. That blows my mind, because it's basically the same rule every class in every school has.

Jake’s classroom effort has improved, but I fear it’s not enough for him to be promoted. He finished a Health test today (20 questions, combination True/False, Multiple Choice, and Matching) in less than two minutes…and scored a 30%. During Micro Lectures and Teach-Okay, he is refusing to participate, which is frustrating his partner. He said he can’t work with her, but after working with this other student all year and listening in on their conversations, I know that she is not the problem. Jake simply refuses to make smart choices, and is thus choosing failure.

I've considered beginning the Independent group and putting him with some of my other challenging kids, but I'm actually afraid it will cause enough tension to lead to violence.

I've only been doing Whole Brain Teaching for a week! Should I just stick with it for now, or should I go so far as to introduce the Bull's-eye Game?

Help!

I'd go directly to the bull's eye game...especially if you are fearful of what may happen in the independents. The purpose of the bull's eye game is to give "Jake" what he is looking for...which is attention. This will allow him to get your attention and hopefully give him some goals to work on. I'm not sure if the Agreement Bridge is on the downloads page yet, but that is a powerful intervention model for the most difficult of the difficult. I've used it a couple of times with the some kids who get sent to the office. Jake's issues are larger than if he can follow rule #2 or not, both of these could help him in a positive light as opposed to the scolding, lack of attention, and "punishment" he probably gets away from your classroom.

Thanks for the help...Agreement Bridge isn't up, but I saw someone else mention it. I'll go to the Bull's-eye game in the interim.

First of all, to keep your sanity, you have to think of Jake as a great resource to explore techniques for helping the most challenging kids. The best way for me to enter my classroom, after 38 years, is to think of it as a laboratory where I engage in education experiments, as opposed to "introduction to philosophy." This keeps teaching fresh, engaging, challenging.

If you've only been going for a week, I think it might be too soon to try any new technique. The mind learns by mirroring ... Google "mirror neurons" for more on this ... just keep your kids going as they are and see, after a week, if Jake is mirroring a little bit better. You are not trying to solve all his problems, but move him, little by little, toward increased engagement.

However, if you find that Jake's behavior is genuinely keeping other kids from learning, then I'd try Jay Vanderfin's practice card approach (see the "Teaching Challenging Elementary Students" download) and then after a few weeks, go to the "bullseye game" if necessary. If you had a seriously strained muscle, it might take several weeks of patient exercise to make it feel better ... Jake is a considerably more difficult problem than a strained muscle. Use your classroom to practice one of the greatest teaching virtues, determined patience.

Thanks, Chris. I've been reading so much in the downloads and on the forums, that I lose track of what I've read and when to use different techniques to their greatest advantage.

I'm so glad to part of a community of such helpful people!