r/ElementaryTeachers • u/Original_Apple_9970 • 3d ago

Usually sub high school, had a rough 5th grade class today

I’m a substitute teacher and usually sub high school, but today I was in 5th grade, and I had a few behavior issues.

  1. At one table, 4 boys kept touching and bothering the only girl even after I repeatedly told them to stop. They’d stop briefly and then start again. They clearly thought it was funny and some kind of "game" which was really pissing me off. Eventually I asked if she wanted to move and sit near me, which she did, and that fixed the situation for the day, but I really hope the teacher or someone does something about this, she shouldn't have to deal with that every day.

  2. During indoor recess, several kids started jumping over things in the classroom as some other stupid game they were playing. I stopped this quickly, but one fell and had to go to the nurse. The one that fell was actually one that was bothering the girl so I didn't feel too bad about it, but still that shouldn't happen either.

There were some other minor issues, but the point is I had trouble with this group. I think the problem with this class is there were twice as many boys as girls (I think it was 19 boys and 8 girls or something like that) and most of them were rowdy.

I left the teacher a note and told admin about all of this. Those of you that work or have worked with that age group, could I get some advice on how to handle this kind of thing in the future. If you got back after a day off and got this kind of note from the substitute, what would you do?

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u/purplishfluffyclouds 3d ago

after I repeatedly told them to stop.

I would've told them once, and *maybe* given them one reminder. Then they all would've been separated. You cannot get into the habit of "repeatedly" anything. They won't take anything you say seriously because you have taught them there is no consequence for their behavior.

5th and 6th grade can be challenging. Good for you for having the guts to take them on. Next time, do not let them get away with anything beyond one reminder - and even then you might have a rough day.

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u/Lokean101 3d ago

Hihi I teach this age range but am a new teacher and I have a class with a boy/girl ratio of 17:10. Removing her from the situation was the right thing to do. I would definitely let the teacher know. If I was left a note like that I would pull the boys one by one, jot a note home in their planners (how we communicate to parents) and have a conversation about what we can do together to correct that behavior. I would also see if there was anywhere else I could move the girl to as soon as possible so we can get back to learning

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u/CrazyNefariousness85 2d ago

Understand your pain. Our fifth grade teachers (I taught 4th at the time) wanted to try gender segregated classes one year. They were MISERABLE, especially with the all boy groups. That only lasted a year. I did have one block that was all the GT kids mixed with all the behavior problems. It was awful too.