Something that's been on my mind...

Hey all!

So, I have a few things on my mind that I've been thinking about for the last couple of weeks. I guess by "things" I actually mean a few students who I'm constantly thinking about, worried about, planning for, etc. I'm sorry if this is just a jumbled mess, but I guess that kind of relates to what my mind looks like right now. I think I'll just list some of the students on my mind, and maybe you all can give me some advice about what you would do?

Student 1: This student is a 7th grade boy. He is constantly brought up during team meetings and is known as being disruptive, unmotivated, and distracting. He sits in class making noises, kicking other students underneath the table, doing absolutely no work, and talking back to the teacher. My co-op offered him a stress ball one day because she thought maybe that would help him to concentrate. He told the teacher "I'm not a freaking retard, I don't need one of those." My co-op and I were both super offended, and asked him to rephrase his sentence. At first it seemed like this student just wanted attention. However, when this student receives attention from any teacher, he begins to well up and looks like he is about to cry. My co-op e-mailed home, and his mother responded by saying that they were having similar problems at home at that "the teenage years have definitely hit." I tried changing this students seat; at first he didn't distract any other students anymore, but he still did not do his work. As time went on with the new seats, he became comfortable with his other classmates, and his old habits returned. One day, our class had to go to the auditorium for health screenings. The students were instructed to sit quietly and read their independent books during the screenings so that the doctors and nurses could hear the patients; this student decided to sit next to his friends and talk the whole time. My co-op asked the student to move seats. He talked back and once again decided to ignore instruction. I have found that this student responds very well to positive reinforcement. Anytime he is doing something on task, I make it a point to congratulate him, or thank him for his work. This helps him to stay focused, but the problem is finding something to thank him for. One activity that he did really well in was performing a play that the students had to create based off a short story the students read in class. Otherwise, I'm pretty stumped at how to help this student succeed? help??

Student 2- This "student" is actually a group of students. All 4-5 of these students are in the same class at all times during the day. It seemed as if the other teachers on the team were having more of a problem in the classroom with these students than my co-op and I were. I decided to follow the students around throughout the day. It seemed as though the students chose when and when they did not want to cooperate with the teachers. Before they entered the classroom they had already decided whether they did or did not want to learn that day. I heard them talking about specific teachers in the hallway before they even entered the classroom. If they said anything to me about a teacher, I informed them of how great they were at teaching and they should give them a chance! I guess my question for this is, how as a teacher do you address another teacher about a situation like this? As a student teacher, I don't really think it is my place right now to say anything, however, if a situation like this occurs in the future, what do you do?

I guess I'll stop for now, but thanks in advance for the advice!
Liz