success!

All I have to say is that with a positive attitude comes a great day. I'm slowly but surely figuring out how to deal with difficult classes and students, and I've gone in this week with a much more positive attitude than last week, and it's working. I got some really sound advice from my mother, who's been teaching 30+ years: yelling does not work. Word searches, candy bribes, and targeting one student per class as an ally and one student as a target for some light mockery does work! As does making the most misbehaved student sit in a small chair at the front of the class, right beside me. My goodness, that embarrasses them.