What workarounds did people try for "How to handle a chaotic last period elective class"?

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Community members documented 53 workarounds:
1. Switching students to using playdough or paper assignments instead of real materials until they earn trust
2. Sending disruptive students to the office
3. Inviting support staff or administrators into the room for observation and feedback
4. Writing students up using progressive behavior response plans
5. Hammering expectations strictly on day one
6. Building in structured talk time like turn-and-talks or think-pair-shares
7. Calling home to parents and asking for their help
8. Leaning into student interests like sports and video games to drive engagement
9. Having students read draft emails to their parents during class before sending
10. Limiting direct instruction time to brief intervals and rotating activities
11. Implementing tally marks or behavior warnings on student desks
12. Standing close to chatty students or jumping into their conversations
13. Leveraging group work or planned talking breaks as incentives
14. Writing kids up
15. Making a seating chart
16. Contacting home
17. Going over expectations almost every day
18. Starting class by addressing previous day behavior
19. Having students work independently instead of doing whole-group instruction
20. Threatening or giving unexpected quizzes when students talk
21. Stopping instruction, sitting at the desk, and messaging parents home
22. Rearranging seating arrangements into small groups with mixed genders
23. Tracking who is disrupting the class
24. Contacting parents and administration for support
25. Sending students out of the classroom or assigning consequences
26. Promising playground time or physical education rewards for good behavior
27. Refusing to speak over students and waiting in silence for attention
28. Using seating charts and separating troublemakers physically
29. Implementing reward systems like the Secret Student game or distributing candy and small prizes
30. Calling out disruptive students directly to make them feel peer pressure or social awkwardness
31. enforcing strict expectations and waiting them out
32. repeated instructions
33. Trying different classroom management hacks, skills, and lessons
34. Explicitly teaching routines and expectations with practice and timers
35. Using reward systems for table teams or the whole class
36. Varying teaching style and strategy to be less hands-on
37. Pulling specific students into the hall for an honest conversation
38. Asking grade-level team teachers and prior teachers for insights
39. Changing personal emotional energy or approach to match the group's dynamic
40. Putting a stopwatch on the board to track talking time and deducting minutes for silent study hall at the end of the period
41. Changing seating charts
42. Reviewing rules and expectations repeatedly
43. Switching teaching style from group discussions to individual work
44. Exiting the student from the classroom
45. Stopping the class and waiting in silence for them to stop
46. Writing or calling home to involve parents
47. Assigning a 1-page behavioral essay and docking participation points
48. Writing referrals for class disruption
49. Doing a total reset of expectations and rules like it's day one
50. Removing lab or activity privileges until behavior improves
51. Asking administration for support to remove misbehaving students
52. Implementing strict, iron-fist rules for basic actions like leaving a seat
53. Calling parents in for behavior meetings

How to handle a chaotic last period elective class

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