There are a few teachers (and parents!) on here, I'd appreciate any extra tips on this topic!

A bit about my students:

There are an entitled bunch and can present quite the challenge to teach. They spit, fight, bite, insult, scratch, bully, throw stuff at each other and teachers. I would summerise that there are a few reasons for this, perhaps I am wrong, perhaps I am right or halfway there.

1. Most kids just want attention, if they can't get it they are masters at taking it through attention seeking, being overly clingy and sadly sometimes, violent outbursts.

2. Poor role models: When a second grader thinks nothing of punching a girl, they are clearly learning this behavior from somewhere; this is rather hard to challenge, as it would involve me questioning parenting skills, I think I would be out of a job here sharpish if I tried sadly.

3. Students can't access learning materials in a meaningful/ school environment: Simply put, 80% of my students struggle with a curriculum that was designed for native speakers, it's no surprise they get restless and frustrated. I'm given a lot of freedom in how I teach, so this is one area I really can change to differentiate my learners' needs. An ESL curriculum would make this way less time consuming, but I'm not going to get it so long preps in the evenings aren't going away anytime soon. There is no recess here, it is just too cold in winter and the school seems hard to convince about the advantages (erm, vital need) of free play for children.


How I am dealing with it

1. Consistency with classroom rules; so far behavior seems to be improving, at least it isn't getting worse!
2. Making lessons hands-on and engaging- kids need to move, so I try to center my lessons around an activity or meaningful play in English.
3. Using Class Dojo- a good online tool that parents can connect with if they want- it has nipped the worst behavior and most low-level disruption in the bud...for now!!!
4. Differentiating and scaffolding the curriculum: my students are not at the level for much independent writing, so they need a lot of extra supported learning before they tackle the main book.

Things I am struggling with:

I feel like I am spoonfeeding them at times, I hate teaching like that.

Behavior can sometimes flip and actually turn quite violent- it's pretty to see young children dealing with life's challenges in such a way.

They are hopelessly disorganized and rarely come to class prepared and with a good attitude, this is mostly a grade 2 issue as for some reason grade 1 and even kindy are much much better at this.

Teaching concepts such as writing poems to children who can't spell simple CVC words; this makes rhyming a little tricky!

With such low levels of English, it is hard to get them to critically engage and analyze- I think there are far too young to be doing this in second grade if English is not their first language, don't have any choice in the matter- that darn book needs to be filled in.