5 Answers

I know you have to be professional at all times I worked once voluntry once with teenagers who were abused.I know that this is a different situation but they were kids with attatude I was there to teach art anyway I always tried to find out from thier notes what they liked and what they didnt like and try to explain to them that if they had a problem come and talk and Tell jokes (clean ones) or put to them give them a situation and ask them for thier oppinoin and let them work it out I did find that I always got thier attention most of the time also try amd be a bit pally "if thats a word" good luck

I subbed alot when my sons were in school and did some "home/hospital" work, too, which was meeting a student one-on-one five hours a week to provide total academic instruction (ridiculous). I often found myself dealing with bad attitudes and poor work ethics.
THe answers before mine are good.  With a preteen, this could be someone as young as 6 or as old as 12....big difference. Please continue to enforce self-discipline and courtesy in the classroom. You are there to teach and the student is there to learn.  To disrupt that process is to earn a seat in the principal's office (or wherever miscreants end up nowadays). 

My "original" advice is to have a talk with the students in your class sometime about how school is their JOB right now.  They have to be there at a certain time , get regularly scheduled breaks and lunch periods.  They have work to do, which is their assignments, tests, projects, and so on.  You get the picture.  This student needs to get some understanding of the fact that going to school is preparation for the rest of his life.  Maybe it doesn't matter what the name of the plane was that dropped the bomb in Japan during WWII (see, I can't remember the city, but the plane was Enola Gay), but the JOB requires knowing this.  The attitude of the employee (aka student), the quality of his work, and the way he respects authority and works with his constituents is an indication of how well he will do when he hits the "real world". 

Depending on the intellectual readiness of the students, you might want to create an atmosphere in the classroom that resembles real life.  My kids' 5th grade teacher had a whole city going in the classroom, with a mayor, police and fire chiefs, lawyers, doctors, garbage collectors, and so on.  There were requirements of each citizen and the city treasurer was responsible for keeping tracking of wages, expenses, income, and paying the citizens on pay days.  Hats off to you for  all you do to help our kids grow into productive, valuable citizens.

Try to find some kind of joke between you. Some little thing that will make you both laugh. Good Luck!

Wow Schubee! First of all let me commend you for dealing with teenagers period....I know how trying that can be. I imagine in this day and age that they probably have a lot more "attitude" than we were ever allowed to have (I am 62). Personally, I imagine giving that particular child the so-called "cold shoulder" approach might work...also, might not, but I would say that it is worth a try. If you are unable to communicate with either the child or the child's parents, then it's a hard row that you  have to hoe. I wish I could be more helpful but as far as I can tell these days...seems like the kids run the whole show so to speak....good luck to you and bless your heart for trying and being concerned......there should be many more people like you out there...(:

use peer presure from the other students their is some guy he wants to be friends with or girl he thinks is cute that will turn him