Students Who Drive You Crazy

Succeeding With Resistant, Unmotivated, and Otherwise Difficult Young People

Students Who Drive You Crazy, Second Edition, provides educators with a model for assessing, understanding, and responding to their most challenging interactions at school, whether with students, parents, or colleagues. The book addresses some of the most difficult problems educators face today: gangs, violence, disrespect, addictions, verbal abuse, lack of motivation, and obtrusiveness. The author covers the kinds of conflicted relationships that occupy so much time and energy and that can often challenge an educator'sápersonal life as well as professional morale. In addition to synthesizing the theory and research on the subject of difficult student relationships, this resource presents interviews with practicing teachers, counselors, and school administrators and with current and former students were known to drive teachers crazy. All voices speak clearly about their sources of frustration and highlight the elements that made the greatest difference in overcoming obstacles. The updated edition features activities for professional development in each chapter to help readers extend and personalize the content; expanded discussion of the types of challenging student behaviours; additional tips for developing active listening skills to improve communication with students and parents; suggestions for creating caring communities in the classroom; a new section on dealing with aggressive and violent behaviour; information on understanding parent behaviour and suggestions for building positive connections with families; and additional tables and charts that summarize key points.