I would suggest getting the school counselors involved and discussing positive and negative behaviors in the school environment. It seems as if you have students who are demonstrating behaviors that they see other students doing who are coming from the alternative school environment. Because of this, they need to be reminded of how to be a leader and not a follower. The school counselor should address these issues with the entire class and if this does not work, I would suggest creating a individualized behavior plan for the students that have the most negative behaviors.

I would suggest creating some type of behavior log for the student. It may even be beneficial to include the student and the parents in the creation of such a log. Furthermore, I would write up a contract for the student and parents to sign, acknowledging that they are willing and committed to changing the students behavior in class.

In situations such as this where it is more than one student portraying disruptive behavior it is difficult to take on the class as a whole. It may be easier to try and break them down one at a time to take back your role as the teacher; someone who should be respected and regarded at all times. Also, do not start with the kid that seems the easiest to get through to. Instead try taking on the most difficult and persistently disruptive student. If you can get this student to obey the rules and show you more respect it will set a higher example for the rest of your class. Try getting to know your students on a more personal level so that you can judge what form of punishment or consequence will be more like to have an impact on their decisions and actions.

I personally would inform the students that inside the classroom, their diruptions will not be tolerated because the classroom is a learning environment. They have a choice to start following the rules and be the model students they are capable of being or they can face the consequences and lose privelages because of their constant disruption of the class because it is unfair to the other students. They can consider that as their warning and the next time it will be a refferral for continuous disrupption of the class. I would also inform parents of those options as well. Become a strict teacher and stick to your guns. Start writing students up, send them to the office,and take away the priveleges the students enjoy most until start cooperating. Make an example out of the students who want to disrupt class for the attention and be consistent then the rest will behave once they see it wont be tolerated. One task that I have used and proven successful is make the entire class face a consequence for the actions of a few. Having their peers upset with them many times will regulate the few to better for the good of the whole and be in good standings with them. Not textbook but effective. While we want the students to be in a relaxed in environment in the classroom, they still need to know who is in control.

Maybe put in place a reward system for good behavior, and praise good behavior when it is demonstrated.

I think that first things to do is to try and get the school counsler and resource officer involved. Especially with the agressive students. I think what you have here is what they call a snowball effect some small things have created a bigger issue. First you need to get the aggressive behavior delt with then implement more strict rules to deal with the rest of the issues.

It is difficult when the students join your class and were not apart of the initial first week. Because this is such a large issue, I would suggest "re-doing" your first week of school behavior management introduction and system. Like if you worked with the kids to create a set of class rules, re-do this with the new class so they are invested too.