"I wasn't doing anything!"
"What're ya pickin' on me for?"
Does this sound familiar? Then you are probably wondering how you could minimize these interruptions.
The first step will be to turn the students' attention in a different direction. Many sutdents think of school as a courtroom or a prison because they have seen to much school time spent on such functions. The students have seen teachers come to work expecting to spend half the time dealing with misbehavior, and how do students generally respond to adult expectations? By fulfilling those expectations!
I hope that the students in your class see you not as a judge, not as a bailiff, not as a policeman, but as a teacher. If not, here are some suggestions.
Redirect an alleged offender's attention toward the lesson. Suzy interrupts the lesson to say, "Teacher, Johnny's pulling my hair!" Should you give Johnny a fair trial, or should you pronounce a sentence on Johnny?
Suppose you decide to give Johnny a fair trial and Johnny denies. You don't know who to believe, so you ask for third-party witnesses. Suppose that none of the other children know whether Johnny was pulling Suzy's hair or not, because they were all busy listening to you - which is what they should have been doing in the first place. Whether or not you've given Johnny a fair trial by now, you've spent plenty of time on the subject. That's fine, if the people of your community elected you as a judge. But they didn't. They hired you as a teacher.
Suppose you pronounce a sentence on Johnny. If you send him to the office or put him out in the hall, he will miss instruction time. Remember, if you're a public school teacher, Johnny's parents are paying for this.
Furthermore, if Johnny protests that he's innocent, he might be telling the truth. And if you and Johnny are of different skin colors, you might see yourself on the evening news.
So you see that neither alternative is red hot. Moreover, the question of whether or not Johnny pulled Suzy's hair is water over the dam. The main problem is getting Johnny's attention onto the lesson. You could redirect Johnny's attention by saying, "Let's see if Johnny is listening or not." That will be a warning to Johnny that there will be a didactic question directed in his direction. If Johnny is smart, then Johnny will concentrate on the lesson rather than Suzy's hair.
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