The world is buzzing with talks of kids and especially teenagers, growing rowdier day by day. With schools and institutes shifting their focus to moral and ethical sciences as the prime subjects to be inculcated amongst students, it seems need of the hour to find a hack to the aforementioned situation. For instance, The Godfather presents Tom Hagen speaking to Sunny Corleone, ‘‘This is business, not personal’’. The learned might attribute this case to the culture, the music, movies and all those internet sites which glorify disrespectful behavior like talking back and putting down their parents and teachers.
Being a teacher and considering the fact that you have to deal with a diverse lot, disrespectful behavior from students is a major challenge you need to surpass. Rather than taking things personally and pouncing back on the kid with a lecture full of sarcasm, there’s an easy way to go about it. The discussion to follow will proliferate over the same.

Stop Taking It Personally

Showing the student that you’re the boss in classroom and prancing with a quick retort are manifestations of you taking a retort or an answer from him personally. This will only accentuate the whole situation and trigger the student to get back at you with shrewd remarks. Whenever you react with spite, it encourages your students to resent you even further and consequently there’ll be more of the unwanted behavior you’re trying hard to suppress.
A multitude of teachers live with the attitude that they don’t care, but often end up with comparatively lest efficacious classroom management, making the delivery of lessons further difficult. Moreover, taking students’ remarks personally would clearly send a message, that by pushing your buttons the students can disrupt your tolerance and get you agitated any time they feel like. This entirely shifts the class control in the court of your students and there you are, standing as the weakest link in front of a bunch kids. Obviously, you don’t want that, right?

So, What Should My Reflexes be like?

By now you must be done with your classroom management plan. If not, there’s a dire need to form one. Right from stating the classroom rules to the course of action to be taken, if any are broken. Things like the number of warnings, time-out and conditions that will lead to a communication with parents are to be pre-determined. Sticking to the rules alongside carrying an indifferent attitude will strengthen your position in the class. This might seem like ‘the task’ at instances, but a student can only win once he gets under your skin, which is impossible once these things are practiced. Witnessing the fact that you aren’t reacting emotionally and sticking to your constraints would also motivate the kids to handle such negative situations calmly, without stooping down to the same level of disrespect.
Let the kids know that showing respect towards one another and being considerate about the class is not a choice and anyone held accountable would have to face the consequences. Of course, there need to be allowances for every rule you make, but rude replies, rowdy behavior and bullying other students should warrant a time-out and some serious action to be taken from your end.
In addition to this, avoid browbeating the students to save them from situations where they tend to get argumentative and defensive in approach. Give them a fair chance to justify and to realize the point where the line has been breached.

It might cause friction, it might cause distrust and a zillion other negative things, but if treated by keeping your cool in place, it can be smoothly maneuvered through. You can start with practicing what you preach, as that way students are more likely to comprehend with your thoughts and keep themselves on the right track.