You want to be enough for each of your students on your own, but there are times when you need to ask for help. If you feel you are not doing enough for one of your students or that things aren’t working out between you and that student, you might go to your principal for help. The principal is there for a reason, and you should not feel ashamed if you have to ask them to step in. Know when to ask for help with a student, then actually reach out and do that before things get too out of hand.
1. Get Help When a Student Ignores You
If you try hard to treat each one of your students the same and you have most of the class listening to you, it can be frustrating to have one student completely ignore you. If you have a student who is not answering questions in the classroom or doing the assignments that you are giving them, you may need to reach out to your principal. If a student is ignoring you as you are trying to help them, there may be issues in their life that need to be addressed. It can be helpful to have someone talk to the student, and it might be best to let someone else step in and work with them.
2. Get Help When a Student Seems to Need Help Beyond What You Can Offer
If you are a social studies teacher but you notice that one of your students is struggling with their reading skills or they are unable to do basic mathematics, you might reach out to your principal or an organization with the resources to help as you see here. If you have a student who you feel would benefit from more teaching than you can give them, you might see if your principal can do something for that student, such as getting them set up with a tutor.
3. Talk to Your Principal When a Student’s Home Life Seems Bad
If you have seen signs that your student’s home situation is not good, you need to speak up. You need to make sure that someone is looking out for your student and going to get to the bottom of things. You can set up an appointment to talk with your principal if something about your student has you fearing for them when they are not in the classroom. Your principal may have information about the student that you do not have access to or resources that they can use to help the student.
4. Get Help When a Student is Violent
If you have a student who has turned violent in the classroom, you need to get help right away. You do not want anyone in your classroom to get hurt, and it is important for the student to be stopped before they can do something that will mess up their future. You need to get your principal to step in if you have a student who is acting violently, and doing that will help not only you and the rest of the class but the student, as well.
5. Talk to Your Principal if One Student is Keeping the Rest from Learning
If you have a student who is always acting out and always getting your attention away from what you are trying to teach, that can be hard on everyone in the classroom. While you want that student to know that you care about them, and you know that you have a responsibility to help them learn, you might want to get someone else involved if the student is messing with your other students’ ability to learn. If you have a student who is constantly talking and taking your attention away from what you need to be doing, see what your principal can do to calm the situation and make things better for everyone.
6. Get Help if You Feel a Student Would Listen to Someone Else Over You
If you are having a hard time getting one of your students to understand what you are trying to teach them, it might be time for someone else to work with that student. Whether the student is trying not to listen to you or they just don’t seem to be understanding what you are trying to teach them, it is important for someone to be found who can get through to them. You should sit down with your principal if you have a student who you feel would learn better with another teacher. You do not want that student to get behind simply because they are in the wrong classroom and not learning from you.
7. Talk to a Principal if Things Feel Hopeless
If you ever get to the point where you feel hopeless because of one of the students in your classroom, you need to let someone know. You need to talk with your principal so that things can be changed. You should never feel like you want to leave your job just because of a single student, and you should not have to be in a situation that you hate because things are not working out between you and one of the members of your class. Talk with your principal if things are harder than they should be and you know that something needs to change. Be open with your principal when they ask how things are going and if there are any students that are making things hard for you. Get help with a troublesome student rather than giving up and leaving the rest of your students to suffer.
As a teacher, you need to know the role of your school’s principal and the help that such a person can offer to you and your students. You are not alone as you try to teach a classroom full of students, and you can turn to the principal when a single student is making things difficult for you. Reaching out helps you, that student, and the rest of your class.
