Part 1: TOOLS 1-5
A good relationship with students makes interventions more effective (Wong and Wong, 2004) and sanctions more effective (Haag, 2020), and it is the foundation for good learning (Reier, 2025).
1. Briefly instruct the student what to do: Successful teachers briefly instruct a disruptive student what to do (Doyle, 2006) and then continue teaching. Especially with an older student who has already been aggressive and is exhibiting very challenging behavior, establish closeness if possible, address him by name, and then whisper what he should do. Instead of admonishing them loudly from a distance, which annoys many people.
Or, make eye contact and
– Intervene non-verbally, e.g., with younger students, use rule posters that the students like. Ask them if they would like to make these posters themselves. If they do, this is another great opportunity for generous recognition. Or
– Point to the rule on the rule poster, e.g., for younger children, attach attractive rule pictures for them. E.g., for the rule “if I want to say something, I raise my hand.” A picture shows a friendly fox with its mouth closed, a finger to its mouth, and one arm raised, signaling that it wants to speak. If the students like this, they will be more concerned with following the rule.
– Or show a rule picture that shows how the student should behave. For example, say, “Look, Dario – please do it this way too!”
Or ask him, “What is our important rule called?” or:
2. Intervene with praise: Case study: Dario hardly ever follows rule XY. However, his teacher observed that he did manage to follow it VERY well once. The next day, however, he fails to follow XY again. She expected this because she learned that he caused a lot of disruption with her predecessors. Now she intervenes in a friendly manner, “Dario, yesterday you managed to follow XY, that was great. Please do it again!” He does it. She made sure he followed through. Now she has a good chance:
3. Give recognition promptly: She says kindly, sometimes with a smile, “Dario, it’s great that you followed our important agreement right away, well done.”
Come back to the positive: For example, when greeting him the next day, say, “Dario, remember yesterday when you kept our important rule XY when I reminded you, that was great!”
Address it in a one-on-one conversation: “Great, Dario, you already kept our important rule XY. Was that difficult?“ And possibly, ”What helped you?“ And ”Does it help you if I ask you again to comply with XY? You know that I’m doing this to help you. But does it really help you?“ Discuss this with a new class in the first few days. Details below under ”Increasing acceptance of our interventions.”
4. Interpret disruptive behavior in a way that promotes relationships: Instead of “Why does he always annoy me with XY?”, it is better to say “He can’t do any better” or “Kids do well if they can” (Greene, 2014). Or, in the case of older students, “He is so upset about his poor grades, for example, that he cannot reduce and control his negative emotions.” Idea: Discuss relationship-promoting interpretations with colleagues that make it easier for you to intervene appropriately.
5. Establish a good relationship early on with students who have challenging behavior, a diagnosis, a difficult family situation, etc. If you do this with a
If a pupil who disturbs you a lot does this late, it becomes more and more difficult when you no longer like him because he disturbs you so much (Brophy, 2004). That was the case with me. Then I often intervened inappropriately with the pupil I didn’t like when he was disruptive, even though I didn’t want to. He then found me unappealing and disturbed me more, which annoyed me more and more. This created a negative relationship dynamic between us (Brophy, 2004). I didn’t like him and he didn’t like me.
More details in: Eichhorn, C. (2025): Eskalation im Unterricht:
Unterrichtsstörungen, Beleidigungen und Gewalt erfolgreich eingrenzen.
Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta.
The 17 TOP TOOLS for classroom disruptions: Part 2: TOOL 6 – 8
6. Dealing with negative emotions towards students.
When I was annoyed with a pupil, I was often unable to intervene appropriately. Now it helps:
Allow negative emotions instead of suppressing them. This offers an important opportunity: namely to work on them! E.g. through:
– Putting feelings into words: e.g. talking to a specialist or a colleague. However, it should be a colleague who gets on well with the pupil and likes them. If she also feels annoyed by him, we agree, for example, that the pupil is a cheeky guy or something similar. This strengthens the negative emotions towards him.
– Interpret disruptions in a way that promotes the relationship (see above).
– Always pay attention to whether he is already doing a little better or what he is doing well, e.g. being friendly towards a classmate. It is helpful if all the teachers in the class do this. Then discuss together what he is already doing better, which can promote a more positive attitude towards him.
– Approach him instead of avoiding him. For example, talk to him about what he is very enthusiastic about outside of school, e.g. his hobby. Or he is a fan of a football club. Then talk to him about it from time to time. He’ll be happy to talk about it.
– Take a solution-oriented approach: See below.
7. Narrating positive behavior: During small group work, some small groups are loud and disruptive – some others are quiet and do well. Instead of loudly criticizing the loud small groups, praise the quiet ones. Tell them what they are doing well. E.g. “Great, what you managed to do, namely speak quietly. This keeps the classroom quiet. That helps you concentrate and you can learn better – great”. Or ask the class, for example, “what are the advantages of this?” Communicating our expectations in a positive context clearly works better than in a negative one, with criticism. If small groups are loud, create closeness and whisper quietly, “please speak quietly”.
Practice speaking quietly with younger pupils today or tomorrow. Immediately beforehand, praise the small groups that have already done this well in a friendly manner, ask them to demonstrate it, give recognition again straight away and mention what they have done well. Then organize the lesson so that small group work occurs again. Expect some of them to speak up again. Then praise those who do well again. Then practise again. Give generous recognition when things are going a little better. Expect that further practice is important. It is very helpful if all the teachers in the class do this from time to time. Proceed in a solution-oriented manner instead of repeatedly criticizing those who are not yet able to proceed appropriately, as this creates bad results.
8. Show presence: A: Management by walking around (Jones, 2000): Establish a low-distraction structure of the classroom so that you can easily reach any location.
Keep an eye on the class. So that you recognize early on when someone is being disruptive. Then intervene non-verbally with eye contact, for example, or get close to them and whisper to them what they should do. Then see if he does it. If “yes”, give recognition.
More details in: Eichhorn, C. (2025): Eskalation im Unterricht:
Unterrichtsstörungen, Beleidigungen und Gewalt erfolgreich eingrenzen.
Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta.
The 17 TOP TOOLS for classroom disruptions: Part 3: TOOL 9
9. Help to do better with one-to-one conversations: Naoh has problems complying with class rule 2. E.g. have a support conversation with him (Grolimund: Video Schüler mit impulsivem Verhalten 02:40 – 06:15. Please don’t be surprised about the video when you turn it on. It is a staged video, not with people, but with animals. It lasts seven minutes. The teacher, also an animal, has a VERY good conversation with someone who keeps shouting instead of answering). I really wish that something similar was an essential part of your training or further education. Offer to bring a classmate to facilitate such conversations (Evertson, Weinstein, 2006). Do this right at the beginning of the new school year. If not, a negative relationship dynamic can develop between the student and us.
– Name the problem: “Noah, I’ve noticed that you still find it difficult to speak up when you want to say something…” or, “Noah, keeping agreement 2 is not easy. Keeping agreements is difficult for many people.” And for example:
– “I feel the same way sometimes.” Then give a personal example, for example. Mention how you go about improving yourself.
– Discuss the benefits of sticking to the rules.
– Offer help: “Noah, I’d be happy to help you comply with rule 2 better.” Ask him how you can help him. But expect that he won’t be able to think of anything.
Give him The Positive Self-Monitoring Chart (Eichhorn, 2025A): E.g. say, “look, I have something very helpful for you”. Show him the table and say, “you can enter here if you manage to do XY” (or do it better).
| I managed to keep to XY, great: Date: | This helped me (leave it out for the younger ones because it’s difficult) |
The Positive Self-Monitoring Chart
Unfortunately, appropriate intervention is not always successful: even with teachers who are excellent at intervening, as a video from the University of Münster, for example, shows. Causes are, for example:
– We have virtually no time to think calmly about our approach to a difficult situation, e.g. outside the classroom.
– A lot happens at the same time (Doyle, 2006).
– Many disruptions are unpredictable (Mühlhausen, 2019).
– One is often under high pressure (Wahl, 1997), which reduces competent action.
Adjust to the fact that this can happen. Instead of devaluing yourself with “how bad of me, I’ll never manage that”, it is a good idea to see this as a learning opportunity, i.e. as a Groth mindset (Dweck, 2006 and 2019).
More details in: Eichhorn, C. (2025): Eskalation im Unterricht:
Unterrichtsstörungen, Beleidigungen und Gewalt erfolgreich eingrenzen.
Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta.
The 17 TOP TOOLS for classroom disruptions: Part 4: TOOL 10
10. Increase acceptance of our interventions
Discuss our interventions with the class, e.g. “STOP, that’s not possible here”. With a new class at the beginning of the new school year, have older pupils discuss case studies in small groups. For example, present the following case study:
Variant 1: Say: “One pupil is about to hit another. I say to him “STOP, you can’t do that here – I want to talk to you later”. Why am I saying that?” Expect that the students won’t be able to think of an appropriate reason. Instead of getting angry about it, give yourself credit: “It’s very good that I brought that up, because they don’t know what it’s about yet, even though it’s very helpful for them.” Then mention, for example:
1. “I want to help him not to do that. Because otherwise he’ll get a punishment. I want to spare him that. And I want you all to feel good in class. But a sanction can be very upsetting, can’t it? Is it the same for you?”
2. and, “I really want to prevent any of you from being hit because it hurts and makes you feel bad. Right, you don’t want to be hit? And not to be blackmailed or insulted.” If they answer “yes”, write it down in large letters. And write it down in the class rules under the heading “what should NOT happen in class” (Eichhorn, 2025 B). Say, “You can be sure that I will make every effort to ensure that this does not happen.”
Also discuss this with pupils who have been aggressive, abusive, etc. in recent years, e.g. with a small group together with a specialist. Take a solution-oriented approach. At the start of the new school year, check whether they are already doing better (Eichhorn, 2025 A). It is clear that discussions are much easier and more successful in a small group than in a difficult and large class.
Also ask, “Do you find it unpleasant if you were to receive a sanction?” And possibly add, “If I had gotten one when I was a student, it would have annoyed me.”
1. discuss why we also say “I want to talk to you later”. Namely, “I’d like to help you do better!” E.g. add “I really don’t want to insult anyone in our conversation, but it’s important to me that everyone feels comfortable talking to me. That also has advantages – what do you think?” E.g. mention: “Because then we are more likely to have good ideas about what can help us do better, e.g. staying cooler instead of hitting, etc.”
2. ask if another intervention from us could help them better to stop inappropriate behavior, i.e. not hitting, insulting, etc. when we intervene. Adopt this if possible.
3. “Assuming you can do this, what are the benefits for you?”
4. if there have been none of the problematic incidents yet, say very kindly, “great, you’ve managed to do it well so far!” And “was that difficult?” And “how did you manage that?”
5. discuss with them what can help them to do better. FOR EXAMPLE:
– Offer them to support each other, e.g. ask “would you like to support each other in avoiding sanctions and doing better?” Discuss with them what makes sense. Pay attention to what your colleague is already doing better and let them know in a friendly manner. And, for example, tell them in a friendly way what they should do. Also clarify how the colleague reacts to this, namely by thanking them (Eichhorn, 2025 B).
– And give them the positive self-monitoring chart.
– Offer older students to explain important aspects of this topic to younger students. This helps many to behave more appropriately (Wilhelm, 2025 B). This also lends itself to another important topic, namely class rules. For example, have older students discuss with younger ones, “What are the advantages of class rules?” “What would be the disadvantages if there were none?” And, “What helps to comply with class rules?”
Goal: That the students understand that interventions are helpful for them.
More details in: Eichhorn, C. (2025): Eskalation im Unterricht:
Unterrichtsstörungen, Beleidigungen und Gewalt erfolgreich eingrenzen.
Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta.
The 17 TOP TOOLS for classroom disruptions: Part 5: TOOL 11-13
11. Proceed in a solution-oriented manner: Pay attention to whether he succeeds in keeping to XY. Immediately give recognition again and, for example, have a solution-oriented conversation with him. Give the older person an invitation card or say:
| You did a great job, Dario – you’re invited!!!! |
| Dario, you managed to keep our important agreement XY – great. That shows that you’re on the right track and can improve!!! How did you manage it so well? Was it difficult? Let’s get together and talk about how you managed it. I’m already excited and looking forward to our meeting. |
| Nice time |
Talking about successes is easier and much more effective than talking about mistakes.
The conversation with Dario. She greets him in a friendly manner, immediately gives him recognition again and asks him, for example, “Was it difficult to keep to XY?” “What helped you to achieve it?” “Gell, the agreement XY is good for us.” “Well, keeping agreements isn’t easy – you have to train for a long time, do you agree?” E.g. say, “When I learned sport A, I trained a lot.” Ask him if he knows anything similar. “Do you already have an idea of what can help you train?” E.g., “A student recently said to me, ‘I’m looking at how I can get better’; what do you think of that?” And e.g. “I’d be happy to help you!”
This encourages you to intervene: Possibly, “I also tell you sometimes, ‘please keep XY.’ Would you like me to do it differently?” If he says “yes”, discuss this with him. Aim: To come to an intervention that he accepts instead of it annoying him.
This helps pupils: At the end of the conversation, say, “Dario, please take a look. I have something very important for you. You can write down here if you manage to do better again …” She hands him a positive self-monitoring chart. And: “Please bring the chart to our next meeting.” Possibly, “You know, I’m interested in what you’ve already achieved”. Mention that the column “this has helped me” is often difficult to answer, but ideas can be helpful.
End conversations with positive feedback: Or if possible, say the next day, e.g.: “Dario, it was very good of you to come. It was nice talking to you. You listened well when I said something, great!” E.g., “You said something important”. Then address that.
The Positive Self-Monitoring Table
| Date | I have managed to do XY better | This has helped me to do so |
Solution orientation makes it much easier to work with parents: Even with parents who insulted our predecessors.
Step 1: Mention what your child is already doing well or better.
Step 2: Express confidence: “I am confident that he will succeed in doing better”.
Step 3: Let them know that we want to help them: E.g. say, “I’ve already thought about how I can help Dario continue to do better.”
Step 4: Address the parents as experts on their child. “You know Dario best and have the most experience in dealing with him. I’d like to talk to you about what I’ve thought about how I can help him do better.”
12 The school imposes sanctions – but we help:
Sure, sanctions are very important. However, if I as a teacher give one of my pupils a sanction, there is a risk that they will develop strong negative emotions towards me (Jones, 2000), become more disruptive and hardly follow instructions, which makes teaching much more difficult. If, on the other hand, the school imposes sanctions, we have an important opportunity: the school punishes – but we help. Meet a pupil who is behaving very inappropriately for a one-to-one discussion and tell them, “You know that the school will impose a sanction if you do XY. I’d like to spare you that (Rhode). I really want you to feel good in class. When I was a pupil, sanctions would have annoyed me – do you also find it annoying if you get a sanction?” If he answers “yes”, suggest that we think with him about what will help him to avoid the sanction. And how we can then intervene if he interferes. And whether this is okay for him, or whether it helps him to avoid the sanction. Goal: To find an intervention that he accepts instead of getting angry about it.
13. After a sanction is important: Problems after a sanction:
1. after a sanction, many students feel misunderstood, unfairly treated, frustrated and angry. The risk of further aggression increases (Völker-Munro, 2023).
2) If the affected pupil generalizes, they find all teachers at the school annoying. This happens mostly unconsciously. However, this can also affect those who take over the class later. They then find it very difficult to establish a good relationship with him.
3 In addition, there is a risk that the pupil will report to their parents that they have been sanctioned and that the teacher has behaved inappropriately in this context. In many families, pupils have a monopoly on information about what is happening at school. Then it may be that the parents are very upset because their child has been sanctioned.
Now it helps:
1: Proceed in a solution-oriented manner: Immediately after the sanction, pay careful attention to when the S does something better for which he has received a sanction. Then give him friendly and generous recognition.
Example case: A pupil was no longer aggressive for a week after an aggression for which he was sanctioned. His teacher said, “Great Noah, you managed to stay calm this week instead of becoming aggressive.” “Was that difficult?” or “how did you manage that?” If he says that nothing really annoyed him, discuss with him how he managed that? Also ask him “Did you feel unfairly treated?” If he says “yes”, discuss this with him. Possibly also tell him, “You know, Noah, I don’t want this to bother you for long. I would like to help you feel better in class.”
If he is still very annoyed, postpone the conversation until later, in line with the principle of “striking while the iron is cold” (Omer, Schlippe, 2015).
Discuss with him how he feels about aggression or whether he wants to avoid aggressive behavior. If he says “no”, discuss with him what disadvantages this may have for him and that we will be happy to help him avoid them.
Set up a group of students who have been sanctioned by the school and have them supervised by a specialist. Aim: To talk to them about their negative emotions and help them to recognize and deal with them at an early stage. With regard to aggression, insults and violence, address factors that encourage this, e.g. friends who think aggressive behavior is great and corresponding videos on the Internet.
More details in: Eichhorn, C. (2025): Eskalation im Unterricht:
Unterrichtsstörungen, Beleidigungen und Gewalt erfolgreich eingrenzen.
Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta.
The 17 TOP TOOLS for classroom disruptions: Part 6: TOOL 14
14. case study: Great disturbance in the classroom
Several people are disturbing at the same time, e.g. talking loudly, running around, putting their legs on the table, knocking loudly on the table, etc. Let older pupils discuss in small groups:
What are the disadvantages of being loud in class. And:
What are the advantages of having a quiet classroom?
For example, add to the results and write down the advantages and disadvantages in large letters on a large poster in the classroom.
Address your own negative emotions: In a quiet phase, instead of during the noise, because then many are not listening. For example, say: “It annoys me when there is a lot of noise. Because it creates a bad learning atmosphere. Do you see it that way too?” Then, “You have developed very important tools for a good learning atmosphere with the class rules, that was great! I’m happy to do my bit to make sure it works. But if I get annoyed when I’m teaching, it has unpleasant consequences for you, which I really want to spare you. I don’t always succeed, for example, in giving calm reminders, explaining important things well, helping if someone has a problem, giving an understandable assignment, etc.. I wouldn’t have liked it when I was a pupil if a teacher had behaved like that. It’s the same for you now. Sorry, I really don’t want to do that. I really want you to feel good in the class.”
“Under what conditions does it become quieter?” Ask the class: For example, that those who are talking stop. Those who walk through the class sit down, etc. Write this down in large print. Mention, “Great, if that works, right?”
“What are the advantages?” If it’s already on the rules poster, say, “Great, you’ve already found out something important, great!” With class rules, we let the pupils discuss in small groups what their advantages are. Write this down as point 1 of the rules poster to make it more attractive (Eichhorn, 2025 B).
Discuss a quiet ritual: E.g. demonstrate an acoustic signal or rhythmic clapping. Then let them think in small groups about whether they like another ritual even better. Adopt the one they like best, if possible.
Practice the quiet ritual: E.g. have them talk to their neighbor about what they like, etc.. Wait until everyone is talking, then start the quiet ritual. If it is followed, give recognition, also with “narrating positive behavior”. Then have several small groups walk around the class or have some students tap on their desks. Then start the quiet ritual and give recognition again when they sit down immediately or stop tapping.
Involve the students: After some practice, ask older students who would like to take over the quieting ritual for a while together with the person sitting next to them. If they do this well straight away, thank them, e.g. with a “thank you card” (see above). Later, ask others to take over with the person sitting next to them. Goal: That everyone gets a turn. This promotes their commitment to quiet in the classroom. If this still doesn’t work:
Set up a small group. E.g. by a specialist for the pupils who continue to disturb a lot. E.g. say, “keeping to the quiet ritual is not easy, we’ll be happy to help you.” Then take a solution-oriented approach.
More details in: Eichhorn, C. (2025): Eskalation im Unterricht:
Unterrichtsstörungen, Beleidigungen und Gewalt erfolgreich eingrenzen.
Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta.
The 17 TOP TOOLS for classroom disruptions: Part 7: TOOL 15 – 16
15 What we better NOT do:
1. Admonish loudly from a great distance. A top study that really helps you shows: When being rudely admonished, many students experience negative emotions such as offense, anger, rage, etc.. However, many of the classmates who are NOT admonished also experience similar feelings (Wettstein et. al., 2018). This can quickly lead to
– lose our reputation and authority,
– significantly more students disrupt us more often, follow our instructions even less, etc.
2. Get very close to an angry, aggressive pupil: Case study: A pupil hits the teacher. The pupil was often aggressive in the past. Now he keeps banging loudly on his desk. His teacher has often been very annoyed by this. Now he is very annoyed again, shouts loudly and angrily at him to “stop knocking”, approaches him quickly and tries to take his pen away. The pupil then strikes back.
Many pupils feel threatened by this approach. If they have ever been aggressive, this can lead to defensive aggression (Nolting, 2023).
To avoid this, it helps to:
1. pre-inform yourself about a new class.
2. take care of relationships with pupils with previously very challenging, aggressive behavior (Plevin 2018), diagnoses, etc. right at the start of the new school year
3. consider options for dealing with difficult teaching situations in advance, e.g. in case discussions, supervision with a specialist, etc.
4. allow and deal with negative emotions towards pupils (see above).
5 When intervening: 1. remain objective instead of loud and angry. However, this may not always work. Then apologize to the student right away, e.g. say, “Please excuse me Dario, I really didn’t mean to admonish you so loudly and unkindly. I really want you to feel good in class. That wasn’t good of me.” Make this clear to yourself beforehand. 2. observe the distance rule, at least one arm’s length away from pupils.
3. Ignore disruptive behavior: Important studies for us: If students are disruptive, etc., without the teacher intervening:
1. more aggression arises, more violence against classmates, more insults, etc. (Schuster, 2020).
2. many of these students see this as approval of their inappropriate behavior. They see no need to change anything (Wettstein et. al., 2018).
3. soon find some imitators (Wettstein 2018).
4. the longer inappropriate behavior continues, the more difficult it becomes to change (Roth, 2020).
16. take a realistic approach: Even if we do very well, expect further relapses because some people do not manage to behave appropriately, e.g. because of a diagnosis, difficult family circumstances, negative emotions, e.g. because of many bad grades, etc.. Case study: Leo stole something. His teacher had a great talk with him because he said, “I’ll never steal again.” He succeeded for a few months. But then he stole money from a classmate again. This really annoyed his teacher because she assumed that he would never steal again. However, his parents’ assets were low, he felt poor, had some friends who had also stolen and had seen videos in which this also occurred.
There are some significant causes that we have almost no control over that influence our students’ behavior, such as their genetics, family situation, friends, videos, etc.
That would have helped Leo to stop stealing: Saying to him after a while, for example: “Leo, that was great that you said ”I’ll never steal again” in our conversation. Have you managed that so far?” When he nods, she praises him straight away. Then she asks him, “Was that difficult?” And “did it ever happen that you wanted to steal something but didn’t do it?” If he says “yes”, she asks him how he managed it. But expect him to be unable to say this clearly. Then hand him the Positive Self-Monitoring Chart (see above under “Helping him to do better with one-to-one conversations”). Please be aware that despite good support, a student may behave inappropriately again.
More details in: Eichhorn, C. (2025): Eskalation im Unterricht:
Unterrichtsstörungen, Beleidigungen und Gewalt erfolgreich eingrenzen.
Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta.
The 17 TOP TOOLS for classroom disruptions: Part 8: TOOL 17
17. Realize that disruption happens all the time
Except in classroom situations that the students like (see video Schule Schüttdorf, winner of the German School Award, 2016. At the beginning of school there is dancing together, which is very well received). But in large classes with a high degree of heterogeneity among our pupils,
What we better NOT do:
1. Admonish loudly from a great distance. A top study that really helps you shows: When being admonished rudely, many students experience negative emotions such as offense, anger, rage, etc.. However, many of the classmates who are NOT admonished also experience similar feelings (Wettstein et. al., 2018). This can quickly lead to
– lose our reputation and authority,
– significantly more students disrupt us more often, follow our instructions even less, etc.
2. Get very close to an angry, aggressive pupil: Case study: A pupil hits the teacher. The pupil was often aggressive in the past. Now he keeps banging loudly on his desk. His teacher has often been very annoyed by this. Now he is very annoyed again, shouts loudly and angrily at him to “stop knocking at last”, approaches him quickly and tries to take his pen away. The pupil hits him hard. The teacher is hurt.
Many pupils feel threatened by this approach. If they have ever been aggressive, this can lead to defensive aggression (Nolting, 2023).
To avoid this:
1. Find out about a new class in advance. If a pupil has been aggressive before, expect them to be disruptive too. Make it clear to yourself how not to approach him: admonish him loudly and angrily and get very close to him. If he perceives this as a threat, there is a very high risk that he will react aggressively again.
2. take care of relationships with students with previously very challenging, aggressive behavior (Plevin 2018), diagnoses, etc. right at the beginning of the new school year
3. consider options for dealing with difficult teaching situations in advance, e.g. in case discussions, supervision with a specialist, etc. Make it clear how it is better not to proceed with him: namely, admonish him loudly and angrily and get very close to him. If he perceives this as a threat, there is a huge risk that he will react aggressively again. Instead: A. Intervene objectively. B. The distance rule, keep at least an arm’s length away.
4. allow and deal with negative emotions towards students (see above).
3. ignore disruptive behavior: Important studies for us: If students are disruptive etc. without the teacher intervening:
1. more aggression arises, more violence against classmates, more insults, etc. (Schuster, 2020).
2. many of these students see this as approval of their inappropriate behavior. They see no need to change anything (Wettstein et. al., 2018).
3. soon find some imitators (Wettstein 2018).
4. the longer inappropriate behavior continues, the more difficult it becomes to change (Roth, 2020).
More details in: Eichhorn, C. (2025): Eskalation im Unterricht:
Unterrichtsstörungen, Beleidigungen und Gewalt erfolgreich eingrenzen.
Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta.
Literature
– Brophy, J., (2004): Motivating students to learn. Mahwah, NJ: Lorenz Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
– Doyle, W. (2006): Ecological Approaches to Classroom Management. Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice, and contemporary issues. In: Evertson, C., Weinstein, C.: Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice and contemporary issues (S. 97-125).
– Dweck, C. (2007): Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York. . Random House Publishing Group;
– Dweck, C. (2017): Mindset – Updated Edition: Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential. London. Walker Books.
– Eichhorn, C. (2025 B): Klassenregeln Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart. Erscheint erst Ende 2025.
– Evertson, C., Weinstein, C. (2006): Handbook of Classroom Management. Routledge. London.
– Flachsenberg, H. (2017): Wenn du schon mit dir selbst redest, dann in der dritten Person https://www.spiegel.de/psychologie/selbstgespraeche-in-der-dritten-person-sind-sie-hilfreicher-sagt-studie-a-00000000-0003-0001-0000-000001547722
– Greene, R. W. (2014): In der Schule verloren: Warum unsere Kinder mit Verhaltensstörungen durch die Ritzen fallen und wie wir ihnen helfen können. Hogrefe AG, Göttingen
– Grolimund: Video Schüler mit impulsivem Verhalten
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