Dealing with Disruptive Children Effectively

Some children are constantly anxious at school and often cause trouble. One such student, Rainer, was causing significant disruptions in the German class. He would kick his classmates' shins and extort money from the girls, demanding payment if they wanted to avoid being harassed on their way home. Despite his potential for good grades, he rarely did his homework, resulting in low scores. Before long, everyone had had enough of his behavior. The next day, Rainer came to me with a gloomy face, having overheard his classmates’ plans to get back at him. He asked for my help. Suddenly, I realized that this boy was always isolating himself from the group, rather than being part of it. Without much thought, I told him that I had a message for him, and so did the rest of the class. Every student had the same message, though none of them knew what it was yet. I began speaking to him loudly and carefully chose my words: "Rainer, you are one of us." Then, one by one, row by row, all 22 students repeated the same sentence. The classroom fell silent. Rainer began to cry and quietly took a seat. I believe this was the first time he sat down on his own without being asked. All the students understood that the impact of this moment would unfold naturally. Rainer seized the opportunity, changed his behavior, and returned the money to his classmates. Within a few weeks, he had fully integrated into the class and became one of them.

Extracted from “When We Are Together” by Marianne Franke-Gricksch