S5, Intermediate 1, Friday afternoons and all that entails

First off, a disclaimer. Over half of my 14 strong S5 Intermediate 1 group don't want to be there. They are only there because they have to choose something from that particular column. All of them have studied maths in the past (funny that, what a coincidence) but they haven't studied any of the other subjects in that option column. So they are doing maths. About a third of them (you'll notice that I'm approximating here, I know that you cannot divide 14 into thirds, not with humans at least, seeing as how they are discrete objects) already have a General pass at Standard grade. So there's not much they can get out of the course unless they get a grade 1. And pass all their NABS of course. Five or six of the group at Christmas leavers. They can't wait to go by this stage.
I see the class three times a week. First thing on a Monday, when they are barely awake. Last thing on a Friday, when their minds are simply not in the same place as their bodies. And Thursdays, after break. So effectively, they have about 20 minutes of useful time on a Monday, maybe 35 on a Thursday and 20 (max) on a Friday - lessons are 55 minutes bell-to-bell but I'm talking about effective learning time here.
Class dynamics work something like this:
* the ones with General passes at Standard grade can cope with the subject pretty easily, certainly to get a pass at Int 1, if not the grade 1 they need to justify being in the room at all. So they aren't well motivated to work. Typical comments "I'm going to pass anyway, so why bother?" and "I'm 16 and I don't have to do it if I don't want to, you can't make me". Horse/water kind of problem. They like to chat.
* the Christmas leavers really can't be arsed to do very much at all, except write in ballpoint on each others' arms. What's that about? It's endemic at this school. They like a chat too.
* the boisterous boys just like making noise. Sheer poetry, no? Honestly, you'd think they were nine, not 15/16. They don't like to chat. They like to shout.
* the one who has had learning support up to S4 has more or less forgotten how to write (he always had a scribe in class with him through to the end of S4, now he's in S5 that doesn't happen) so he sits and stares. At the wall, the ceiling, the window, he's not fussy. But he is quiet.
* the three who want to work, to improve on the grade they got at Standard Grade, and who have the ability to do so, if they put the work in, well, they struggle along in the face of the scorn, pity, aggression and mockery of their peers. Quite sad really. Unfortunately, they are easily distracted and also like to chat.
So it's been an uphill struggle for me. 15 year old girls who have decided that non-cooperation is their raison d'etre don't make things any easier. They haven't actually erupted into all-out conflagration on me yet, though I suspect it has been close. Keeping the group on task (or at least sufficiently on task that those who do want to work can do so with minimal interruption) has been the goal most of the time. It's taken a mixture of persuasion, cajoling and (only to the right recipient) clear, explicit threat about what will happen if they try to spend all lesson flicking pens at each other). Very tiring and not very satisfying in any kind of meaningful educational way.
The top tips I got for dealing with classes like this are:
* be realistic. You are not going to get 55 minutes of work or concentration out of any of them, let alone all of them. Let them watch a DVD for the last 20 minutes of last lesson on Friday.
* they are much more likely to chatter if they don't understand what it is they are supposed to be doing. Beak everything down into tiny, tiny chunks. Assume nothing. Tell them explicitly to write down every line of every note. Tell them explicitly to show their working, every single time. Do not assume they have read the question thoroughly. Or that they have understood your explanation. Or even listened to it.
* negotiate. Yes, they are pupils, yes, you are the teacher and are nominally in control. But it pays to let them win occasionally: let them listen to the radio while they work if it cuts down the extraneous noise.
* come down to their level. Even more so than the younger children, the S5 pupils dislike someone looming over them. Kneel down to speak to them if they are sitting. I found this out almost by accident: one of them was clearly unwell during the lesson and was basically refusing to work, no matter what I tried by way of persuasion. I decided not to create a confrontation but to speak to her at the end of the lesson. Quietly. Which I did, squatting down in front of her desk and explaining in a soft voice that I could see she wasn't feeling well but that I felt it was unfair of her not to attempt to do any work, especially as the people she sits next to have much greater need for practice than she has. Bingo! Completely different attitude: eye-contact, acknowledgement of what I was saying, confrontational stance dropped. Gotta remember that one.
* use humour. Have some fun with them. They are nearly adults (despite appearances!). You can have a joke with them, though pick your ground carefully :)
Overall I probably learned more from S5 than they learned from me, but that's down to motivation as much as anything else.