A difficult student

Here goes, my first case study on a problem student. My teaching abilities have grown exponentially over the past six months, and I'm very proud. But the experience hasn't been without its problem students, and I finally feel it's necessary to get my feelings on this student out of my system.

Korean middle school students don't really have any reason to take my class seriously. There's no homework, the grades are guaranteed to be an A- or higher (I don't stick to this practice), I can't call their parents, there's no such thing as a parent teacher conference, or even a conference with the academy director, and I'm not supposed to make the class any more interesting than what's written in the book. And it doesn't help that the book is murder for their minds. It's so boring.

I've found ways of bending the rules over the past six months, sometimes keeping my unorthodox lesson plans secret from the school staff. If the students are bored, I blame myself first. It's my job to motivate them. It's my job to bring variety and relevant material into the classroom. But sometimes you get a kid that no matter how hard you try, they won't respond to any of the tricks in your bag.

I have one class of middle school students that just feels impossible to teach. The class is made up of about 6 students, roughly half girls, half boys. With the exception of two girls, no one speaks in the class. They just sit there in dead terror and every question I ask is follow by a 10-30 pause. I don't know whether to just give them the answer or try in push them into the right direct, because that almost always scares them even more and they end up freezing right up.

I call these students the zombie students. They move at the pace of a snail, stare at you with blank dead eyes, and rarely answer a question within 30 seconds. I've built up a couple strategies to deal with these sorts of students, but I'm having far more trouble with the other kind: the sulky teenage girl.

I can never seem to keep these girls quiet. They're always talking, either to their friends or on their cellphone, which I repeatedly tell them to put away. If I separate them, they'll talk to each other in Korean from different corners of the room, even while I'm talking. I tried standing directly in front of them to block their view of their friends; it doesn't help - they talk right through me.

These students are also difficult because they are quite negative and snotty. They always come to class with a negative attitude and will counter any attempts at positive reinforcement with everything from snide comments to down-right insults, all conducted in Korean of course to further sting the blow. These students will answer your questions in Korean to your face, and call you names to your face, using the power they get from the language barrier to their full advantage.

Such was the case of Sara, a 14 year old student in this class. She completely ignored me from the start, never answering questions, always on her phone. Always making fun of me, always doing satires of my voice, never participating in the class. I would ignore her and focus on the other students, but her behavior was so loud and obnoxious that it was distracting to everyone. I noticed that she really hates confrontation and she would get really uncomfortable when I got up close to her and asked her what the problem was. What do you do with students that want to be ignored?

The first incident occurred when I took her phone away. After several warnings I just wrestled it out of her hand and set it on my desk, telling her she would get it back when the bell rang. Fifteen minutes later I handed her back her phone, and after giving me a dirty look she stormed out of the class. This clearly meant war. I treated her like a child in front of the entire class and I would have to pay the price. Of course, she doesn't need me in order to be perceived as a child; she does a fine job of that on her own. But from this day forth, she had no other objective than to make my life hell.

Over the next few weeks the snottiness intensified. Her flagrant behavior was all directed at me, to piss the hell out of me. She talked over other students as they answered questions. She called me names to my face. No matter what question I asked she set off on a torrent of belligerent Korean, avoiding my gaze, and speaking to her friend. I moved her to every corner of the room. I even confronted her with the question "Do you hate me? Why?" Maybe I got through to her, but she wouldn't respond.

Her Korean teacher was of no use. When I asked for advice on the situation, the Korean teacher simply said, "She acts that way in my class too." That was not helpful.

Finally I couldn't take it anymore. Classes are fifty minutes, and one day Sara finally rolled in, 40 minutes late. She came forty minutes late to a fifty minute class! Why she bothered to come, I have no idea. She ignored me from the unexpected moment she entered the room, barging in, and plopping herself right down next to her friend where she started a very loud conversation. I calmly walked over toward her and squatted in front of her desk.

"Why are you late Sara?"

I got a bunch of garbled Korean spat out at me.

"Sara, you are 40 minutes late. The class ends in 10 minutes. Why are you late?"

I squared me down in the eye and started saying something in Korean. I didn't know what, but it was very nasty.

"Sara, please leave." I pointed to the door. "Go, now."

I finally got some English out of her: "Really?"

"Yes. Leave."

"Good. I'm going home."

I never intended for her to go home, but that's exactly what she did, barging out of the classroom, screaming at the director, telling him she would never come to my class again. I only wanted her to wait outside in the lobby. Her friend Sierra ran after her. I didn't see tears at all - only hot anger.

The final incident took place the following week. Sara did come back to the class. She was 10 minutes late this time, arriving right in the middle of a spelling test. She barged through the door in her typical manner and began a loud conversation with her friend.

I told her three times to be quiet, as I was right in the middle of delivering a spelling test, and it was unfair to the other students. All I got were dirty looks. The third time I screamed at her to sit down and be quiet. No response. I marched out of the room, got the director's wife, and told her what happened, expecting some sort of punishment.

Nothing.

The director's wife didn't say anything to me, and quietly took Sara out of the room.

That was in November. Sara hasn't been inside my classroom since.

Today I said hello to Sara as I passed her in the hallways. I got a nasty look and a a mocking return on my hello, behind my back of course. I can't believe she still wants to fight me, four months after this battle.

I don't know if she will ever come back to my class, but it appears that the academy has given her the option of not attending my class. That means I may never teach her again. While I do think we needed a break from each other, in order for Sara to see that her behavior was unacceptable, and bitching and complaining will not get what she wants from the world, I want her to come back , especially now that I've had time to detoxify the students and improve my management of the classroom. But she may not come back; she doesn't have top. As long as the academy lets her do as she pleases, Sara's behavior won't change, and as she sees it, she's won.