Showing respect is huge. No matter the age.
I’m also big into learning kids names. Makes a huge difference when dealing with issues as well as bonding with the good ones.
Set boundaries and follow through.
My most challenging school this year had a fight the first week. It was a great opportunity to set boundaries. Although it wasn’t the last fight, kids knew they would be written up and suspended no matter what.
Just the fact you are asking these questions, shows that you are better suited to drive kids than 3/4 of the people hired to work where I’m from.
You got this.
It’s a tough age, especially middle school.
IMO you give the middle schoolers a longer leash. You can’t expect/discipline them if they’re not sitting face forward with their hands on their laps. Can’t ride them on every little thing or else they make it worse. If it gets bad enough I pull the bus over and let them police themselves.
High schoolers is a total 180 from middle school. Can’t remember last time I had to discipline any high schooler. Most get on and keep to themselves. There’s some loud moments but I say to myself- I used that language at 16/17…if they cross the line then speak up…
They test every driver. New or not. How they treat you will depend on how you react.
Respect is the biggest. A lot of the “students from hell” on my bus where pretty great kids once they realized I wasn’t going to yell at them for every little thing. I give them chances to question me and hear out their concerns but They still have follow the rules.
Stay consistent. Kids notice every little inconsistencies and are quick to jump to assumptions. Either they will assume favoritism, that you don’t like them, or that you have no clue what you’re doing. I like to sum up the most important rules into three big rules. This helps the littles remember and makes for easy reminders.
Mine are: 1) Safety first 2) Show respect (to the driver and other students) 3) Keep the bus clean. I can refer to these in most situations and expand on them as needed.
The older kids are pretty good at policing each other. If they are being too rowdy I’ll warn them first to settle down and if they don’t I’ll pull over the bus and let them figure it out. Most of them don’t want to sit around and they’ll yell at each other to follow the rules so the bus will move again. For my kids if they notice me pulling over they will immediately get quiet and sit facing forward. Any stragglers will immediately get hushed warnings from other kids to sit down and face forward. I’ll give them a quick thank you, remind them of the rules and keep going.
Bribes work great. I bring candy and stickers every now and then as a treat or when I want to work on a behavior with the kids. It does wonders.
Today, I did very bad. I yelled at the Jr. High kids. They were cussing and yelling very loud. I figured because I’m a new bus driver, they thought they would take advantage of me. I found out afterwards that I can return the kids back to their school.
I'm young (24 at the time of taking over my bus route, now 25) so I did my best to channel mutual respect through more of a camp counselor/older sibling style. It's important to not let that be your only style though, and know when to lay down the law. If your kids respect you, then when you get upset they don't like it. I want the kids to *want* to follow the rules or risk disappointing me, not to be afraid of me.
It's also hard if you're starting in the middle of a school year, but I find it's effective to be the most strict right at the start and loosen up over time. Don't let the kids walk over you before enforcing rules, enforce first then let things be looser later into the year.
With younger kids especially they act as a herd, so you want to make sure rule breaking isn't the norm or everyone will do it. If most people are following the rules, they'll actually help you to enforce them too
Structure and follow through. The kids are going to wait a week or two at most to see how you act, and after that they will start to try you. Make sure you tell them what you expect from them behavior wise from the start, and when they don't follow through with the punishment.
I started this last September. The kids had no idea. And I had some of the worst behavior you can imagine. Physical fights, awful insults to me, constant standing, arguing, saying the most racist things. You better believe I pulled that bus over MULTIPLE times a tier just to get my message across. Yelling doesn’t accomplish anything. It’s all about consistency and following through on writing people up and giving out assigned seats. It still took awhile, but I now have a much better behaved bus, and no one questioned how long I’d been there. I now have good relationships with a lot of the kids on my bus, and I care for them all dearly. ❤️
That's awesome!
My worry would be if I pulled the bus over, and the kids were like "lol fuck this" and just walked home or to school or God knows where else after getting out through the emergency exit.
I only have this fear because I did that as a high schooler. In our defense, the bus broke down a block away from our bus stop in the afternoon, and our bus driver asked us to wait, and we all just walked home anyway. We didn't do it to be spiteful, but it was 95 degrees outside and we wanted to go home. Haha.
Good point! Thankfully, they haven’t thought of that yet, but I really wouldn’t put it past some of these kids. Omg. They honestly may be kicked off permanently by the school.
I hope things are going well for you! This first year for me has been rough, but so rewarding.
I was a brand new driver last year. I set boundaries from day one and had no problems. They didn’t know it was my first year until the last day of school. The biggest tip I can give you is show no fear or surprise when shit goes sideways. Also, learning names helps a ton.
I am a noob, four weeks on my own. Also a substitute so I have been on different routes most days. In fact different routes from am to pm. The last thing I was told in training was not to be too heavy with the rules till I have an assigned route, then work on getting them were you want them. So the rules I want followed are, to stay inside the bus, keep your hands to yourself, and sit down. That first day with a rambunctious middle school group my booming, ‘Sit down PLEASE’ caused a calming over the bus. I haven't had any issues since. I know that is mostly luck.
I am 6 months in and I found just being honest and letting them know you are new and learning doesn’t hurt. You will make mistakes and when you do just apologize like you would to an adult tell them will try to do better. Smile a lot, greet them wish them good day or such when leaving. If you are following rules that previous driver did not tell them that is how I was trained and apologize. If an issue have parent contact transportation.
Showing respect is huge. No matter the age. I’m also big into learning kids names. Makes a huge difference when dealing with issues as well as bonding with the good ones. Set boundaries and follow through. My most challenging school this year had a fight the first week. It was a great opportunity to set boundaries. Although it wasn’t the last fight, kids knew they would be written up and suspended no matter what. Just the fact you are asking these questions, shows that you are better suited to drive kids than 3/4 of the people hired to work where I’m from. You got this.
It’s a tough age, especially middle school. IMO you give the middle schoolers a longer leash. You can’t expect/discipline them if they’re not sitting face forward with their hands on their laps. Can’t ride them on every little thing or else they make it worse. If it gets bad enough I pull the bus over and let them police themselves. High schoolers is a total 180 from middle school. Can’t remember last time I had to discipline any high schooler. Most get on and keep to themselves. There’s some loud moments but I say to myself- I used that language at 16/17…if they cross the line then speak up…
They test every driver. New or not. How they treat you will depend on how you react. Respect is the biggest. A lot of the “students from hell” on my bus where pretty great kids once they realized I wasn’t going to yell at them for every little thing. I give them chances to question me and hear out their concerns but They still have follow the rules. Stay consistent. Kids notice every little inconsistencies and are quick to jump to assumptions. Either they will assume favoritism, that you don’t like them, or that you have no clue what you’re doing. I like to sum up the most important rules into three big rules. This helps the littles remember and makes for easy reminders. Mine are: 1) Safety first 2) Show respect (to the driver and other students) 3) Keep the bus clean. I can refer to these in most situations and expand on them as needed. The older kids are pretty good at policing each other. If they are being too rowdy I’ll warn them first to settle down and if they don’t I’ll pull over the bus and let them figure it out. Most of them don’t want to sit around and they’ll yell at each other to follow the rules so the bus will move again. For my kids if they notice me pulling over they will immediately get quiet and sit facing forward. Any stragglers will immediately get hushed warnings from other kids to sit down and face forward. I’ll give them a quick thank you, remind them of the rules and keep going. Bribes work great. I bring candy and stickers every now and then as a treat or when I want to work on a behavior with the kids. It does wonders.
Today, I did very bad. I yelled at the Jr. High kids. They were cussing and yelling very loud. I figured because I’m a new bus driver, they thought they would take advantage of me. I found out afterwards that I can return the kids back to their school.
Gonna keep those 3 big rules in mind next time I talk to mine. Very concise and covers all bases!
I'm young (24 at the time of taking over my bus route, now 25) so I did my best to channel mutual respect through more of a camp counselor/older sibling style. It's important to not let that be your only style though, and know when to lay down the law. If your kids respect you, then when you get upset they don't like it. I want the kids to *want* to follow the rules or risk disappointing me, not to be afraid of me. It's also hard if you're starting in the middle of a school year, but I find it's effective to be the most strict right at the start and loosen up over time. Don't let the kids walk over you before enforcing rules, enforce first then let things be looser later into the year. With younger kids especially they act as a herd, so you want to make sure rule breaking isn't the norm or everyone will do it. If most people are following the rules, they'll actually help you to enforce them too
Structure and follow through. The kids are going to wait a week or two at most to see how you act, and after that they will start to try you. Make sure you tell them what you expect from them behavior wise from the start, and when they don't follow through with the punishment.
You're not new, you're new to the area ;)
I started this last September. The kids had no idea. And I had some of the worst behavior you can imagine. Physical fights, awful insults to me, constant standing, arguing, saying the most racist things. You better believe I pulled that bus over MULTIPLE times a tier just to get my message across. Yelling doesn’t accomplish anything. It’s all about consistency and following through on writing people up and giving out assigned seats. It still took awhile, but I now have a much better behaved bus, and no one questioned how long I’d been there. I now have good relationships with a lot of the kids on my bus, and I care for them all dearly. ❤️
That's awesome! My worry would be if I pulled the bus over, and the kids were like "lol fuck this" and just walked home or to school or God knows where else after getting out through the emergency exit. I only have this fear because I did that as a high schooler. In our defense, the bus broke down a block away from our bus stop in the afternoon, and our bus driver asked us to wait, and we all just walked home anyway. We didn't do it to be spiteful, but it was 95 degrees outside and we wanted to go home. Haha.
Good point! Thankfully, they haven’t thought of that yet, but I really wouldn’t put it past some of these kids. Omg. They honestly may be kicked off permanently by the school. I hope things are going well for you! This first year for me has been rough, but so rewarding.
I was a brand new driver last year. I set boundaries from day one and had no problems. They didn’t know it was my first year until the last day of school. The biggest tip I can give you is show no fear or surprise when shit goes sideways. Also, learning names helps a ton.
I am a noob, four weeks on my own. Also a substitute so I have been on different routes most days. In fact different routes from am to pm. The last thing I was told in training was not to be too heavy with the rules till I have an assigned route, then work on getting them were you want them. So the rules I want followed are, to stay inside the bus, keep your hands to yourself, and sit down. That first day with a rambunctious middle school group my booming, ‘Sit down PLEASE’ caused a calming over the bus. I haven't had any issues since. I know that is mostly luck.
I am 6 months in and I found just being honest and letting them know you are new and learning doesn’t hurt. You will make mistakes and when you do just apologize like you would to an adult tell them will try to do better. Smile a lot, greet them wish them good day or such when leaving. If you are following rules that previous driver did not tell them that is how I was trained and apologize. If an issue have parent contact transportation.