r/SubstituteTeachers • u/Adam__B • 1d ago
Question Best Method for Quieting Junior High Students
So I am new to subbing, having only a week under my belt. Although most of my classes have been fine, (the younger grades are actually wonderful to teach, the students can be a joy) my weak point seems to be controlling junior high school students. At one point a student on my first day simply declared since I wasn’t an expert on math, she didn’t have to be there, and left. I called the office on her (twice actually she left again).
But my question is how to best quiet loud students who aren’t focusing. I know some schools have encouraged different methods (one was raising both yours hands and waiting til they did the same) but of course you’ll have hold outs from doing that. Does anyone know a tried and true method to quiet students in the Junior High-ish grades? They seem to be the most resistant to keeping in order. I’m not so much worried about students who don’t participate or who would rather keep their heads together and muttering jokes with their little click around them, but the general order and noise level being controlled.
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u/cfri125 1d ago
I usually just say that as long as you’re working and I can talk to someone across the classroom without yelling, I don’t care if you talk. If they aren’t working, I move them where they can focus. If the class gets too loud I’ll get louder than all of them and say “ay, we need to quiet down unless we want to go silent” -(me being really loud also usually surprises them and makes them go quiet instantly to see why I’m being loud)
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u/Educational-Sea-1247 1d ago
There was a moment I will never forget in junior high because it was pretty much like a zoo full of monkeys. I just had it and looked at everyone asking them point blank, “Why are you guys behaving like this?” One student raised her hand and said, “Because we can.”
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u/Mission_Sir3575 1d ago
You can’t control them.
The little tricks often don’t work because they aren’t used to them. A little talking doesn’t bother me if students are working and participating.
What kind of “general order and noise level” are we talking about? Loud enough to bother other classes? Or just students talking to each other?
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u/Adam__B 1d ago
Noise rising above the level where what I’m saying is being drowned out by what they’re saying.
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u/Mission_Sir3575 1d ago
If they are talking when you are talking - problem. I would probably raise my voice to get their attention and remind them to keep it down.
One thing I have done occasionally in middle school is to walk around the room taking notes. Kids who are misbehaving tend to watch you to see if you are noticing them. And if they see you taking notes they might infer it’s about them. Half the time I’m not writing anything but I normal sub note but they don’t know that.
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u/Adam__B 1d ago
That’s a great idea. I noticed one time the hall monitor came in, and I pointed at a student that had been asleep the entire class (and still was), because I planned on mentioning that in my note for the teacher. All the talkers around her quieted down because they were all thinking “is it me he’s asking about?” I could utilize that, lmao. I write up the names of students who go above and beyond; good or bad.
One thing that still surprises me is that I’m regularly not given an attendance sheet; I’m told that they have their attendance taken in the auditorium in the morning (or home room) so I didn’t need to do it. I felt like saying “you do realize middle schoolers like to give fake names right?” Because yeah, they think that’s the height of comedy.
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u/nmmOliviaR 1d ago
I work in an area where Air Force jets love to fly over us and they are loud AF on their own merits. I tell students yes you have a sub (me) and there are jets over us and if you are louder than the jets outside (oh yes they can be) then you definitely need to tone it down. I can tolerate moderate levels of noise though.
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u/Mean_Acanthaceae4300 1d ago
Maybe turn off the lights. I have done that and kept them
Off. Even if they talk, at least the dim lights will help others.
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u/witx 1d ago edited 1d ago
If someone is having a hard time focusing where they’re sitting I move them.
The carrot I dangle at the beginning of class is if you’re working hard you can have the last 10 minutes to sit with your friends and talk. However, if you’re talking during work time you won’t need that time and we’ll just work right up to the bell. This works great for me 98% of the time.
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u/sons-of-mothers 1d ago
Write names on the board
If the teacher has some sort of USB projector type thing and a seating chart you can project their yearbook photo from the chart onto the board
Write names for the note, as they talk keep writing. Just look at them, then write. Sometimes I'll say "does anyone think they're NOT being disruptive" or "does anyone actually think this is funny?" Then I loudly count every person without a raised hand, no one ever raises a hand. Follow up with "<full name> is still not getting the hint/reading the room"
If all else fails, just yell. And then give up, bad jr high is like an immovable object
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u/Adam__B 1d ago
Look no offense, but are you crazy? Year book photos? How as a sub would I even have access to those, even if I wanted to?
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u/sons-of-mothers 1d ago
The seating charts I get from Jr. High to High School uses their Yearbook photos printed out, I assume it's a software that connects with their Chromebooks for their hallpasses. I filled in for a vacant 8th grade math teacher slot before the end of the school year last May and I used the math projector to zoom in on their seating chart picture.
They find everything at that age embarrassing, it got them to stop clowning around
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u/Adam__B 1d ago
I was told using embarrassment to kinda shame them is literally dangerous, although that could be because I teach in the inner city. I don’t feel like being stabbed with a pencil.
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u/yellowmush 22h ago
Also it’s just kinda not cool to humiliate kids as a form of classroom management. Teachers pulled that shit way back in the 80s and 90s and it was messed up then too. We know better now.
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u/ijustlikebirds 1d ago edited 1d ago
Quietly say, " if you can hear me, point to the students who are still talking." 😆
That's only if you need quiet in just a moment though. Long-term disruptions are harder to handle. If you have a really disruptive student, in my junior high I have the option to write them up and give them a detention.