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Anna, congratulations on having begun your student teaching. I wish you a great learning experience!

My first reaction to your question is a deep concern about you having been put in the situation of subbing, In all of my supervisory experience with student teachers, one of the first things we make sure the student teacher knows is that they are not to sub in a classroom because they are not certified to do so. This is also made clear to the administrators when a student teacher is placed in their buildings, and student teachers are directed to always say they are not allowed to sub if asked.  Perhaps this is a requirement specific to my state. I encourage you to talk  with the student teaching supervisor assigned to you by your college or university about this, #1 to be sure you are not being put in a legally compromising position and #2 to be sure you are not being put in a position that is contrary to the requirements of your college/university.  You can also find out your state's legal requirements by going to the website of the Board of Educational Examiners for your state. In my opinion, this is not an acceptable thing to ask of a student teacher. You are supposed to be learning and practicing under the supervision of a licensed educator. Period. I hope you will let me know what you find out about the requirements in your state. Please take responsibility for investigating this, even if the principal has told you it's okay, they do it all the time, it's an emergency and they need your help, etc. If something goes wrong and you are not legally allowed to be subbing, your career could be negatively impacted.

As far as the student refusing to work, I think you are wise to have followed your instinct that responding might have escalated the situation. Because you will be working with this student during your student teaching, you will have the opportunity to get to know him/her better and develop a relationship that allows the student to trust that you are interested in his well-being and want the best for him. You will also learn what triggers positive responses and how to best respond to his noncompliance. The issues of noncompliance and refusal to work have been discussed at length on this forum, and rather than repeat my advice or try to summarize the excellent advice of other experienced teachers who have responded, I encourage you to read through the other topics that have been posted. You will find a variety of interventions that might help you in working with this student, even under topics that don't appear at first to be specifically related to your question.

I wish you well as you continue your student teaching.

One of the most importand things I learned about teaching was to keep a sense of humor. I did not believe in yelling at a student or classroom. The first day of school after a tour of th eclassroom, I would perform the most awfull voice performance of la la la. Then explained that if I ever needed to I would sing to them if they did not follow directions or were noisy in the hall way. Ususlle the only think I ever would have to say was do I need to sing? in a few seconds it would be totally silent. In the  classroom I kept a pair of martian antennae, and if they started to get noisy they would say to each other  "shhhhhhhh she is sending brain waves." and the room would get silent with out me speaking a word. I also had a Grumpy whistle that i would wear and if I put it on in a matter of a few seconds it would become quiet. Finally if one of my students ever was sent to the office for any discipline matters, Iwould go and talk to them about the problem, and before we went back to the classroom, we both had to smile at each other. That meant the situation was over and as we walked down the hall to the classroom, it was a new beginning.  This worked for me for many years. And I still have many students that keep in touch.

That's Wonderful Janet,

I used to have a costume store hat much like the ones Abe Lincoln is pictured wearing.  I fashioned a pink hatband for it from construction paper and on the hatband I printed," You Don't Want to Know!"  I explained that if I put that hat on I was angry about something and they really would not like to find out how angy so they better "Be Good " unitl I got over being angry.  When I would put the hat on the class would get silent and would stay that way for a long time.  Eventually I would smile about something and the kids would suggest that maybe I no longer needed to wear the hat.  it was fun for all of us and usually kept me from "Yelling"

Richard, It seems that great minds think alike.  One year I taught a class of BD boys. After a discussion with the dean of boys, he told me those I would never be able to form a contact with any of them. I listened carefully, but knew that there are reasons kids are the way they are. By the end of the year, they were all Mrs. O's boys. And over time we have continued to stay in touch. I was there for the funerals they had to deal with, and when my husband passed away 3 of them came to the visitaion and funeral. (Now in their early 40s) 1 form of punishment I used was to make them listen to the beach boys for punishment. I would sometimes have to go pick them up from court of even their home to get them to school. At that time we listened to the Beach Boys. Last year the Beach Boys came to town for a concert. I bought tickets and 2 were able to go and 1 took his daughter. It was well worth the cost.

My first year teaching I was the 4th teacher my class had by the end of October.  They were a really rough group.  There were 34 students in my class, and I would say 20-22 students were refusing to do anything I asked.  I took the time before giving them any work to do to get to know them.  I built a relationship with these students before getting down to the school work.  I taught them about respect and responsibility.  This class had such a turn around it amazed every other teacher in the building! My advice is to get to know them and build a relationship with them before dealing with this students issue of not doing anything!