Strategies for ...

Arguing back:

• Don’t let yourself get drawn in – walk away/pause
• Give the student choices
• Ask another teacher/TA to take over so you can discuss the situation with the child
• “I’m not going to talk about this now, we’re going to talk about it later/at lunch" - walk away immediately and praise another child
• You started with “Yeah, but” so I win
• "I am the teacher. Thank you"
• “Concentrate on your own actions, not others”
• "It is not a debate"
• "Come at lunch and we can talk then"
• “I am not having this conversation”
• Say thank you so there is no argument
• “I’ll talk to you at the end”
• Avoid escalating the problem – discuss away from the class
• “You’re wasting your learning time”
• Completely ignore and restate what you asked for