Reddit reviews Teaching with Love & Logic: Taking Control of the Classroom

What consequences are you giving? Do they make sense? Would working on the major problem behavior of the worst offenders help? Sometimes it's one kid influencing others to be naughty.

I recommend Collaborative Problem Solving with the worst kids. Here are the forms.

Secondly, I recommend reading Teach Like a Champion.

Lastly, I recommend Teaching with Love and Logic.

I work on the west side of Chicago in a extremely violent neighborhood. Students at my school have seen some pretty crazy things, and that trauma brings some really challenging behaviors. The specials teachers I've seen be successful have a few things in common.

1. Predictable Routines:
   Kids know exactly what is expected of them throughout the entire class. The teachers have students practice this and model this for their class, narrating their behavior for everyone.
   
2. A strong community: The most successful ones circle up at the beginning of class and take the time to build strong relationships with kids, going over content slowly at first to build up that trust and make it a safe environment for kids. Music might not be an activity where all kids feel like they can be successful, so if there is no trust kids are going to act up or avoid work in some way.
   
3. Logical Consequences: Consequences are certainly needed, but they need to be fair. Buy Love and Logic! It is so great! Its a really easy read and can be such a great help as you start your teaching career. It is really practical advice on how to make kids feel like consequences are something they have earned, rather than something being done to them. It lets consequences be the bad guy and not you. Seriously, it is such a great book!!
   
   (Also, a fair consequence to being disruptive is "You can learn the rules by playing the game or by watching. Either is okay with me.")
   
   

Teaching with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and David Funk was recommended to me. It's about classroom management, which you will need if you're doing alternative certification. IMO, everybody new to teaching needs classroom management help. It's just something that is hard to learn until you're in the trenches.

I don't know how much you rely on primary texts for handling philosophy but you will likely find that many philosophical works are a bit much for high schoolers. I really like the style and level of the philosophy videos from this channel for introducing people to the major players in philosophy. I would imagine that this class is a good candidate for something akin to 'Problem Based Learning' but I am not a philosophy specialist so I might be off base there. In my intro philosophy and ethics classes we did a lot of group discussion that worked well because the professor knew how to be an effective moderator of topics that can cause emotions to run high, hell if I know how he did it though.

You will probably have some more issues with behavior management that are not normally present at the college level, even though these students are self selecting this class you should still have a consistent strategy to handle them (this works at the university level as well, so I think you should do this if you plan on teaching even at higher levels). I suggest finding a teaching strategy book and giving it a read through. You can find some that are very accessible, like Wong and Wong or Fay and funk. There are plenty of others, just find one that is decently reviewed and give it a quick read through. You don't have to agree with everything in it or put it all in place but find some things you like and think you can do and be consistent with it and it should work out.

I politely disagree! Check out Teaching with Love and Logic. OP, you too.