Insights Into Teens: Episode 135 ”Dealing with Class Clowns”

INTRO THEME]
[INTRODUCTIONS]
Insights Into Teens: Episode 135 “Dealing with Class Clowns”
My funny and intelligent co-host Madison Whalen

Summary
What does it mean to be a class clown, and why do kids play the class clown? What can parents do if they’re kids are labeled as class clowns? And how should other students deal with class clowns? That’s what we’re talking about on this week’s episode of Insights Into Teens.

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[TRANSITION]

[SEGMENT 1]

What is a Class Clown?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20class%20clown
https://bit.ly/33sSpoD

A class clown is a student who tries to make other students laugh

According to Thoughtco.com class clowns are often natural-born leaders.
They are also individuals who really want and need attention.
Therefore, dealing with class clown centers on a way to channel their energy and need for attention into more positive avenues.

What does it mean to be a Class Clown?

https://www.understood.org/articles/en/why-kids-play-class-clown
https://u.org/3tHzsJi

Kids act like a class clown in lots of different ways, which can include

Giving joking answers when the teacher calls on them

Wearing clothes that are extremely loud, silly, or even offensive

Making a noisy entrance when they come into the classroom

Dropping things and making a big deal out of picking them up

When kids act this way, it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a “problem.”
But it often creates problems.
Goofing around all the time can disrupt class and annoy the teacher.
It can lead to being disciplined. It can impact grades, too.

Being the class clown can also affect your child’s social life.
Sometimes, other kids think it’s funny and want to be around your child.
But often, kids are turned off by clownish behavior and think it’s weird or annoying, not funny.

Why do kids play the class clown?

There are lots of reasons kids clown around like this.
If they’re getting a positive response, they might just like the attention.
That’s not always the case, though.

Kids who have trouble with self-control may have a hard time resisting the urge to do or say something they think is funny.
That’s often true of kids with Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) .
If the thought enters their mind, they act on it without stopping to think about the consequences.

Sometimes kids act up in class not to draw attention to themselves, but away from things they’re struggling with.
They clown around to hide challenges.
Here are some examples of things kids might try to cover up:

Anxiety
Bullying
Learning differences
Trouble with focus or organization
Being impulsive or hyperactive
Trouble with social skills
Stressful situations at home
Or Low self-esteem

Kids aren’t usually trying to be difficult.
They’re just trying to cover up their weak spots.
It’s better to loudly burst through the classroom door and have everyone laugh than to be laughed at because you lose track of time and are always late.
Clowning around is often a way to get ahead of criticism.

[AD1: SSE]

[SEGMENT 2]

What you as a parent can do

When your child acts out to get attention, there are ways you can work on the behavior.

Keep an eye on your child’s behavior and look for patterns

Share what you’re seeing with the teacher so you can work together

Ask your child how things are going at school

Identify your child’s strengths and give positive praise

Help improve your child’s self esteem

Find activities your child enjoys and is good at

Also, kids sometimes need help understanding the consequences of their behavior.
They may not see the effect their clowning around is having.
Or they may feel embarrassed by their behavior, but not know what to do instead.

During a calm time, talk to your child about how others are reacting, and what would be a better way to act.
If your child’s been clowning around to cover up challenges, you might get similar behavior when you try to talk about it.

You may have to have a couple of shorter conversations instead of just one.
Space them out so your child has time to think about what you’ve said and how to do things differently.

And if you think your child might be struggling at school, talk to your child’s teacher.
The teacher may be able to tell you about challenges your child is having.

How Teachers Can Cope with Class Clowns
https://geometrycoach.com/how-to-deal-with-a-class-clown-classroom-management-strategies/
https://bit.ly/3KqLooD

By necessity teachers must play a key role in dealing with class clowns
Both from the perspective of helping their students grown and improve and also from the functional need to maintain some level of order in the classroom
There are things that teachers can do that have proven effective in helping students who feel the need to be class clowns.

Get that student involved from day one.
Give them a role in the class and keep them involved in the lesson.
Do not give them down time.
If they aren’t confident in math don’t give them something to do in front of the class that they can’t do.
Start with a role like passing things out, taking attendance, writing down the answers on the board to problems that others are giving them the answers to.
That way when there are mistakes he or she has a hands on visual of why.
As they get more comfortable then get them doing more.

There are tons of moving parts in a classroom.
Just assign them tasks.
They will love it.
Even the students you think won’t will.
They all want to feel like they are important and being counted on.

Here is a list of tasks for your class clown that will soon become one of your favorite students.
Take Attendance at the beginning of every class so they don’t get distracted early
Pass out Papers
Write for you at board
Control the smart board or mirroring system
Pick which student answers the next question
Pass out calculators or anything else that needs to be distributed

[AD2: ENTERTAINMENT]

[SEGMENT 3]

Dealing with Class Clowns as a Student

https://www.wikihow.com/Ignore-Annoying-Classmates
https://bit.ly/3tHXnIH

While you may get annoyed at a class clown for being annoying and disturbing class as a student, there are ways you can manage your physical and verbal response to a class clown.
Instead of allowing them to get a reaction out of you, try some of these tips.

Calm and center yourself

Annoying class clowns tend to bring out the worst in us.
When you feel yourself getting frustrated and overwhelmed by the actions of those around you, take a moment to compose yourself.
This is important to ensure that your mind is clear and to avoid any irrational responses.
Take a long, deep breath in, followed by a slow exhale.
Continue to take deep breaths until you feel in control of your words and actions.
It might help that, while you’re breathing, focus on one simple mantra. Instead of your annoying classmate.

Choose to remain silent

When an annoying classmate intentionally, or perhaps unintentionally, pesters, teases, or provokes you, the only thing you have control over is how you respond.
Don’t fuel their negative behavior with poor behavior of your own.
Choose to remain silent.
Silence is not equivalent to weakness or cowardliness.
Rather, it can be the mark of a strong individual who has control over their emotions.
While some situations benefit from inaction, others do require our attention.
If a classmate is bullying you or others, stand up for what is right.

Check your nonverbal responses

In addition to expressing our annoyance with witty remarks and spiteful comments, our bodies also convey our annoyance with eye rolls, mutters, and disgruntled faces.
If you are truly going to ignore your annoying classmate, you need to limit or minimize your physical response to their behavior too.
Don’t groan, sigh, or roll your eyes when they do or say something that gets on your nerves.

Put the incident in perspective

At the moment, it is easy to fixate on the annoying behaviors of others.
Their quirks can consume our thoughts and drive us mad!
To prevent yourself from overreacting, you must ask yourself this:
does their annoying behavior negatively affect my life beyond this moment?
Most of the time, the answer will be “no.”

Pay no attention to the class clown

Jokers, or class clowns, devote their time and energy to providing comic relief for the classroom.
When you are in the mood for the class clown’s antics, their jokes are hilarious; when you are not in the mood, their attempts at humor can drive you mad.
Since class clowns thrive on the reaction of their “crowd,” the best way to ignore a joker is to have no physical or verbal reaction to their jokes.

Class clowns aim to please and are highly sensitive to criticism.
If you can not remain silent, a choice remark could put a temporary end to their comedy bit.

If you get in trouble for something the class clown did, don’t overreact.
Remain calm and ask the teacher to speak with you after class.
When you are speaking one on one with the teacher, explain your side of the story and apologize for any inconvenience you may have caused.
Work with your teacher to develop a plan on how to avoid situations like this in the future.

[TRANSITION]

[CLOSE]
Closing thoughts shoutouts

[OUTRO AND CREDITS]

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00;00;01;14 – 00;00;07;19
Narrator
Insightful podcasts. I informative host.

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Narrator
Insights into things.

00;00;17;24 – 00;00;41;05
Narrator
A podcast network. Welcome to Insights into Teens, a podcast series exploring the issues and challenges of today’s youth. Your hosts are Joseph and Madison, as well as a father and daughter team making their way through the challenges of.

00;00;41;05 – 00;00;42;16
Narrator
The teenage years.

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Joseph
Welcome to insights into teens, this is episode 135 dealing with class clowns. I am your host, your ghost. Oh no. Wait, that’s the wrong podcast. I’m your host, Joseph Whalen and my funny and intelligent co-host Madison Whalen. Everyone on today, Matty.

00;01;12;12 – 00;01;14;25
Madison
I’m doing all right. How about you doing all right?

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Joseph
So you were back full time in school this week? Kind of go for you.

00;01;20;17 – 00;01;24;05
Madison
I don’t really like it, and I don’t want to be around people. Yeah, but.

00;01;24;18 – 00;01;38;23
Joseph
I blame you. I’m sure we’ll muddle through this like we have so much during these difficult times. Yeah, like Winston Churchill. Anyway, so what are we talking about today?

00;01;39;02 – 00;01;40;23
Madison
Today we’re talking about class clowns.

00;01;40;27 – 00;01;56;07
Joseph
Yes, we are. So what does it mean to be a class clown and why did kids play the class clown? What can parents do if their kids are labeled as class clowns? And how should other students deal with class clowns?

00;01;57;20 – 00;02;18;17
Joseph
That is what we’re talking about on this week’s episode of Insights Into Things, but before we get into that, I do want to invite our listening and viewing audience to subscribe to the podcast. You can find audio versions of this podcast listed as insights in the teens, video versions of all the network’s podcasts or listeners.

00;02;18;17 – 00;02;36;09
Joseph
Insights into things and you can find us anywhere you get a podcast, Apple or Spotify, Google, Stitcher, etc., etc.. I would also invite you to write into us, give us your feedback, tell us how we’re doing. Give us your own suggestions on what you’d like us to talk about here and what topics you’d like us to cover

00;02;37;06 – 00;02;56;16
Joseph
. You can email us at comments and insights into things dot com. We’re on Twitter at twitter.com. Slash Insights Underscore things on Facebook. You can find us at Facebook Dot Com Slash Insights Into Things podcast. We’re also on Instagram and Instagram dot com slash insights into things.

00;02;56;16 – 00;03;03;27
Joseph
Or you can get all of that and much more on our official website and insights into things dot com. Why are we ready?

00;03;04;03 – 00;03;06;00
Madison
Yes, we are right.

00;03;11;03 – 00;03;30;20
Joseph
So what is a class clown? Now, the pure, strict dictionary definition from Merriam-Webster says that a class clown is a student who tries to make other students laugh, and that really sums it up. But I wanted to dig a little bit deeper into the definition, and I did a little bit more research.

00;03;31;01 – 00;03;51;04
Joseph
And according to a website called Fort Kokum, class clowns are often natural born leaders. They are individuals who really want and need attention, and therefore dealing with class clowns centers on a way to channel their energy and need for attention in a more positive attitudes.

00;03;53;14 – 00;04;14;05
Madison
So what does it mean to be a class clown? This comes to us from understood dawg. So kids act like class clown and a lot of different ways, which can include giving joking answers when their teacher calls on them, wearing clothes that are extremely loud, silly or even offensive, making a noisy entrance when they come into the

00;04;14;05 – 00;04;29;22
Madison
classroom or dropping things and making a big deal out of picking them up. When kids act this way, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a problem, but it can often create problems goofing around all the time can disrupt class and annoy the teacher.

00;04;30;10 – 00;04;48;14
Madison
It can lead to being disciplined and can impact grades as well. Being the class clown can also affect your child’s social life. Sometimes other kids think it’s funny and want to be around a child, but often kids are turned off by clownish behavior and think it’s weird or annoying and not funny.

00;04;49;11 – 00;05;08;25
Joseph
So why do kids play the class clown? So there’s a lot of reasons why kids flying around like this. If they’re getting a positive response, they might just like the attention. And I, you know my experience, I find that to have been a lot of the things that motivate a class clowns, but that’s not always the case

00;05;09;15 – 00;05;27;15
Joseph
. Kids who have trouble with self-control may have a hard time resisting the urge to do or say something they think is funny. That’s often true with kids, with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. If the thought enters their mind, they act on it without stopping to think about the consequences.

00;05;28;19 – 00;05;45;23
Joseph
Some kids act up in class not to draw attention to themselves, but away from things they’re struggling with the clown around the hide challenges. Some of the things that they might try to cover up are anxiety, bullying, learning different differences or difficulties.

00;05;46;17 – 00;06;11;22
Joseph
Trouble with focus or organization being impulsive or hyperactive. Trouble with social skills. Stressful situations at home or even low self-esteem. Kids aren’t usually trying to be difficult. They’re just trying to cover up their weak spots. It’s better to loudly burst through the classroom door and have everyone laughed and be laughed at because you lost track of time

00;06;11;22 – 00;06;32;01
Joseph
and are always late. Clowning around is often a way to get ahead of criticism. So, OK, that’s a very good definition of what we’re going to refer to as class clowns, do you? And don’t name any names, but do you know any class clowns that you have to kind of experience in your day to day activities at

00;06;32;01 – 00;06;32;16
Joseph
school?

00;06;33;13 – 00;06;47;17
Madison
Well, I definitely think everyone kind of has to experience class clowns during high school, and I definitely had my fair share of people who I’ve met that or people who were in my classes that definitely fit the definition of a class clown.

00;06;48;17 – 00;06;50;27
Joseph
Do you think you’re a class clown?

00;06;51;29 – 00;07;00;17
Madison
Probably not, because I don’t really like the attention, and I never really try to crack jokes all that much, especially not to interrupt class.

00;07;00;25 – 00;07;17;00
Joseph
OK? Do you find that you ever have a need to cover up any of these things, like anxiety or bullying or trouble with social skills or anything? Or do you do you find that you’re ever in a situation where there’s a need for you to cover those up for a comfort level?

00;07;17;22 – 00;07;31;07
Madison
I mean, like, I would tell jokes to my friends to kind of just cover up a bad feeling I’m feeling, but like, I don’t really do it in front of a whole, whole group of people. It’s usually just a couple of friends.

00;07;31;07 – 00;07;33;21
Madison
I make a slightly dark joke, but that’s kind of it.

00;07;34;08 – 00;07;52;04
Joseph
OK, well, what happens if something embarrassing happens to you? Like, I know, you know, a lot of times we’ll make mistakes and goofs in and miss lines on the podcast and stuff. And I’ll kind of, you know, go along with those, you know, go with the punches and laugh about them and kind of highlight them out of

00;07;52;09 – 00;07;58;11
Joseph
out of fun. And you tend to not like to do that. Why is that?

00;07;59;12 – 00;08;15;18
Madison
I don’t know, I just don’t really find my humor as a way to cope with that kind of stuff, or at least it’s not the first resort I have. The first resort for me is kind of just to curl up into a ball and just pretend that I didn’t exist.

00;08;16;11 – 00;08;17;21
Joseph
I’m not sure that’s any help.

00;08;18;21 – 00;08;26;28
Madison
I know, I know. It’s probably not the most healthy way to deal with it, but a lot of times I just kind of want to walk away from the scenario and just forget about it.

00;08;27;02 – 00;08;50;04
Joseph
Right? Well, I’ll be honest, I don’t think I was ever a class clown, but I was. I was not above injecting humor into situations. You know, one of the things with me is. There’s a there’s a rush of adrenaline when you can make someone smile or make someone laugh.

00;08;51;14 – 00;09;13;29
Joseph
And I think that’s sort of what drives me to to do some of the things that I do is I like entertaining people. Right? You know, I think most people kind of get a rush from that. And usually what happens a lot of times when I employ my sense of humor, it’s a very self-deprecating sense of humor

00;09;14;27 – 00;09;35;28
Joseph
. And part of that is to kind of diffuse situations. You know, I’m a big guy. People look at me and they either are a intimidated by me or be outraged at my size or whatever it is. And having been a big person my entire life, I people always made fun of me.

00;09;36;23 – 00;09;50;10
Joseph
And there’s a certain point in time in your life where you let that sort of thing get to you. You worry what other people think and then there’s another point in you reaching your life where if you beat them to the punch, then you diffuse anything that they say.

00;09;50;28 – 00;10;07;17
Joseph
So a lot of times my self-deprecating humor is really that it’s it’s me defuzing the situation before someone has a chance to try to capitalize on it. Hmm. And that’s what I do with our mistakes here. You know, we miss a line or I flub something or I hit the mic and I make fun of it.

00;10;07;17 – 00;10;20;20
Joseph
Enjoy it. Don’t try to hide it. You know, embrace it. We’re all humans. We all make mistakes. So there’s nothing wrong with it. And when you kind of turn it into a comical situation, people can laugh about it, enjoy it.

00;10;20;20 – 00;10;21;20
Joseph
It makes you look more human.

00;10;22;08 – 00;10;28;00
Madison
I guess the reason I’m probably not a class clown is that I don’t really find myself particularly funny.

00;10;28;17 – 00;10;40;27
Joseph
And I think that was one and I wasn’t a class clown either. Like, I had about a 30% hit rate on jokes I would I would say something that was funny and I might get a laugh out of people.

00;10;41;11 – 00;10;58;09
Joseph
And then I’d always try to follow it up and there’s a line that you that you shouldn’t cross where you’re working the crowd too much. And I had a in my youth. I had a nasty habit of crossing that line and it wasn’t inappropriate or anything.

00;10;58;09 – 00;11;12;04
Joseph
I was just, you cross that line and it just wasn’t. The joke falls flat. It’s not funny anymore. So it’s very it’s very situational. A lot of times. But nowadays I know not funny. And that’s what’s funny about some of the stuff that I do.

00;11;12;05 – 00;11;15;16
Joseph
You know, I I a master of the dad jokes.

00;11;15;24 – 00;11;16;06
Madison
Yeah.

00;11;17;18 – 00;11;31;23
Joseph
So anyway, so that’s what we’re talking about with class clowns. I think there’s definitely a place for class clowns. We had several of them when I was in school, and they all kind of fit into the categories we talked about here.

00;11;31;25 – 00;11;34;20
Joseph
Do you have a lot of class clowns in your in your school?

00;11;35;12 – 00;11;48;26
Madison
I mean, like, there’s always kids that like try to crack jokes and make everyone laugh, so. And like, yeah, there are definitely kids. They kind of just act out to a point where like, yeah, they can definitely be considered class clowns.

00;11;49;27 – 00;11;54;14
Madison
So, yeah, I’d say there’s a decent amount in my school.

00;11;54;24 – 00;12;12;24
Joseph
Yeah, it was funny, like going through school myself. There was always the joke class clown person. Then you had the props class clown person, you know, the kid that would bring in the hand buzzer or the plastic pooh and stuff like that and get jokes that way.

00;12;13;08 – 00;12;31;00
Joseph
And then you had like the physical class clown, you know, the kid that was always falling down or falling off chairs or leaning back. And, you know, so you kind of had an array of class clowns and they were all almost like different performance artists and they kind of all had their own little thing.

00;12;31;19 – 00;12;49;23
Joseph
And some of the kids who were class clowns were in like drama club and stuff like that. So it was almost it was almost like. A Broadway show where each person has their own talents, kind of hmm. It’s a shame that like they never would coordinate or anything like that together.

00;12;50;04 – 00;13;06;05
Joseph
And they always only had one in any class. You never had more than one. And I and you may have I don’t notice. I didn’t think I noticed it, but I think you probably didn’t just because you didn’t want one shown the other up because they are their attention, how they go for all the attention.

00;13;06;18 – 00;13;20;27
Joseph
So anyway, so it could possibly be a problem. There are some downfalls to it. So we’re going to take a quick break. We’re going to come back and we’re going to talk about what you could do as a parent if your kids are class clown.

00;13;20;27 – 00;13;56;08
Joseph
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Joseph
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00;14;32;16 – 00;14;48;29
Madison
Welcome back to inside the Nadine’s today we’re talking about dealing with class clowns. And now we’re going to talk about what you can do as a parent to deal with your student, your kid who’s a class clown. So when your child acts out to get attention, there are ways you can work on the behavior.

00;14;49;17 – 00;15;05;00
Madison
Some of these include Keep an eye on your child’s behavior and look for patterns. Share what you’re seeing with the teacher so you can work together. Ask your child how things are doing at school. Identify your child’s strengths and give them positive praise.

00;15;05;28 – 00;15;10;27
Madison
Help improve your child’s self-esteem if your activities your child enjoys and is good at.

00;15;12;03 – 00;15;29;10
Joseph
You can also also kids sometimes need help understanding the consequences of their behavior. They may not see the effect of their clowning around its having, or they may feel embarrassed by their behavior, but not know what to do instead during a calm time.

00;15;29;26 – 00;15;42;20
Joseph
Talk to your child about how others are reacting and what would be a better way to act. If your child has been clowning around to cover up challenges, you might get similar behavior when you try to talk about it.

00;15;43;17 – 00;15;59;02
Madison
You may have a couple of shorter conversations instead of just one spaced them out, so your child has time to think about what you’ve said and how to do things differently. And if you think your child might be struggling in school, talk to your teeth to your child’s teacher.

00;15;59;12 – 00;16;02;29
Madison
The teacher may be able to tell you about challenges your child is having.

00;16;04;04 – 00;16;20;09
Joseph
And that’s one thing I have to say that I’ve been very impressed with your school this year is that the teachers are very supportive of the students. And you know, obviously we’re not in a situation where you’re a class clown or it’s affecting your your schoolwork or anything.

00;16;21;07 – 00;16;38;05
Joseph
But it’s important to keep that communication open with your teachers, no matter what. I mean, you even had specific incidents earlier this year where that line of communication proved to be very helpful. Do you see the teachers in school doing much to?

00;16;39;05 – 00;16;43;08
Joseph
Kind of curb any of the the behavior out there that’s coming from class clowns.

00;16;43;28 – 00;16;56;16
Madison
I mean, like a lot of the times, they kind of like try to curve ball like after the class kind of laughs. Can they kind of just curve ball it back to the lessons so everyone can kind of still continue with the lesson?

00;16;57;12 – 00;17;20;22
Madison
They might sometimes try to get the class clown to participate so they know like they’re doing it right. I mean, even today, like there were like. Like, I’ve had specific instances where two of the students who were in the scenario today had been class clowns and they were kind of on their phones which like, yeah, you probably

00;17;20;22 – 00;17;34;10
Madison
shouldn’t be doing that. And my teacher basically kind of just took the phone and basically just asked them what they were doing, what we were basically learning. And so that, you know, they were able to be kept on track right now.

00;17;34;10 – 00;17;38;28
Joseph
Do you find that kids that are class clowns are disruptive in class?

00;17;39;29 – 00;17;57;13
Madison
I kind of I feel like sometimes they go for opportunities, there’s one specific class clown, like every time someone asked them a question they like when the teacher normally ask them a question, they kind of use it as an opportunity to make people laugh.

00;17;57;25 – 00;18;06;14
Madison
I’ve had, like a lot of instances in my history class where this class clown was asked a question and kind of tries to make other people laugh.

00;18;07;01 – 00;18;15;27
Joseph
Now do you think they’re trying to compensate for something or cover something up? Do they know the subject matter they’re talking about? Or is it, you know, just they want the attention?

00;18;17;08 – 00;18;38;08
Madison
I think like they might somewhat be covering it up because like a lot of the times like. The thing is, I know that there are people in my history class that will try to cover up the fact that they don’t really have an answer to it that they basically like would just try to like, make people laugh

00;18;38;08 – 00;19;00;04
Madison
and like instead of making and kind of like how we mentioned earlier, how instead of them, if instead of people laughing at them for not being knowing the answer they would, they’d basically kind of like, make fun of they’d like, turn it into a joke and like kind of redirect the situation.

00;19;00;14 – 00;19;07;29
Joseph
Now is the school, you know, do they do any kind of discipline on on class clowns, like do the teachers crack down on them or anything?

00;19;08;14 – 00;19;20;15
Madison
I mean, like, I think like they probably would, but I think like they kind of are somewhat subdued enough to the point that, like it doesn’t require incredibly harsh discipline.

00;19;20;19 – 00;19;41;22
Joseph
Yeah. Well, and that’s the thing, you know, teachers are really experts at handling class clown. That’s kind of part of the job. By necessity, teachers have to play a key role in dealing with class clowns, both from the perspective of helping their students grow and improve, and also from the functional need to maintain some level of order

00;19;41;22 – 00;19;59;14
Joseph
in the classroom. There are things that teachers can do to help that have proven effective in helping students who have the need to be class clowns. You know, one of the things they do is they get the student involved from day one, give them a role in the class and keep them involved in the lesson.

00;19;59;28 – 00;20;12;03
Joseph
Don’t give them any downtime. If they aren’t confident in math, don’t give them something to do in front of the class that they can’t do. That’s, you know, one of the things they’re going to do from a defensive standpoint is being class clown, like you’re saying.

00;20;12;12 – 00;20;28;27
Joseph
Mm-Hmm. Start with a role like passing things out or taking attendance or writing down answers on the board to problems that other others are giving them answers to. That way, when they are there, when there’s mistakes, he or she has a hands on visual of why.

00;20;30;00 – 00;20;33;00
Joseph
As they get more comfortable, we can get them doing more.

00;20;34;00 – 00;20;47;19
Madison
Another thing teachers can do, or that there is a ton of moving parts in the classroom. Just assign them tasks. They will love it. Even the students you don’t, you think, won’t. Well, they all want to feel like they are important.

00;20;47;19 – 00;21;00;25
Madison
And being counted on are a list of task for your class clown and that will soon become one of your favorite students. Think attendance at the beginning of every class so they don’t get distracted early. Pass out papers.

00;21;01;02 – 00;21;12;10
Madison
Write for you on the board. You can do all the Smartboard, a mirroring system, pick what student enters the next question and pass our calculators or anything else that needs to be distributed distributed.

00;21;12;25 – 00;21;20;29
Joseph
So do you find that your your teachers tend to do any of these things to try to keep the kids involved and keep them distracted from being class clowns?

00;21;21;09 – 00;21;36;14
Madison
I know that, like my math teacher would kind of like, have us do extra credit, have people answer questions? My history teacher also kind of like tries to get people to answer a normally kind of aims for the people they kind of joke around more.

00;21;37;10 – 00;21;55;18
Joseph
That’s a very good point. That was kind of leading into my next question. You know, you’re you’re a straight-A student, you’re a good student. You like to participate and raise your hand and give answers. Do you find in in classes where you have these class clowns that the attention shifts away from the good students?

00;21;55;18 – 00;22;03;16
Joseph
Do you feel like you’re being neglected or you’re there’s a detriment to you as a good student because of these class clowns?

00;22;04;01 – 00;22;25;04
Madison
I mean, like. In terms of at least being called on, I would say some of my teachers kind of noticed that the smart kids keep answering questions and let’s try to redirect it to other students, and it hasn’t entirely been the most detrimental.

00;22;25;05 – 00;22;40;22
Madison
But when they don’t have the answer and you like, kind of have to keep relying on them, it gets to a point where it is somewhat detrimental. And the closest example I can really come up with is during virtual when we were on AutoCAD.

00;22;42;15 – 00;23;03;04
Madison
My teacher, like, wanted kids to participate, but certain kids weren’t going to be giving the answers and and were basically saying that they didn’t have the worksheet. They didn’t have the word didn’t do it. I was kind of just and like my teacher was kind of determined, like to get them to work and in a way was

00;23;03;04 – 00;23;11;06
Madison
somewhat detrimental. And I’m pretty sure my other friend who probably feels the same way about this can also kind of attest to it.

00;23;11;19 – 00;23;15;24
Joseph
So do you think that the class clowns are disruptive in your school?

00;23;16;18 – 00;23;36;07
Madison
I mean, like. And certain ways they can be like, sometimes they can say like a stupid response that like is meant to be laughed at and again distracts from the fact that they might not actually have an answer, right?

00;23;36;10 – 00;23;55;25
Madison
Or they might ask a dumb question or something like that just to make people laugh and like at times like. Like, they don’t do it to an excessive point, to the point where it’s like, OK, like we can we get plastic going, like there are instances where that has happened and I’m just like, OK, can we move

00;23;55;25 – 00;24;04;13
Madison
things along, please? But I guess in the whole of it, it’s not entirely the worst thing.

00;24;05;03 – 00;24;08;17
Joseph
Do you find them funny or entertaining at all?

00;24;09;28 – 00;24;12;21
Madison
Oh, not really.

00;24;14;17 – 00;24;15;18
Joseph
Everybody’s a critic.

00;24;15;27 – 00;24;36;12
Madison
I’m sorry. It’s just like their attempts at humor just fall flat for me, like they just I’m I’m sorry. But the one class clown basically asked the most stupid stuff and like, it happens over and over again. And at this point, I’m just like, This sounds stupid.

00;24;36;13 – 00;24;38;02
Madison
Why do people find this funny?

00;24;38;18 – 00;24;42;29
Joseph
So you’re you’re you’re seeking more high brow humor than anything.

00;24;42;29 – 00;24;58;17
Madison
And the thing is, there’s one particular class clown who is still in my classes. In fifth grade, we literally had a notebook where someone would write down everything stupid that he said in fifth grade. Yes, that existed.

00;24;59;08 – 00;25;02;14
Joseph
OK, so he’s consistently been a class clown then.

00;25;02;21 – 00;25;03;07
Madison
Yes.

00;25;03;11 – 00;25;17;17
Joseph
OK, interesting. Well, we’re going to take our last break here and I’m going to come back and we’re going to talk about how. Students deal with these class clowns might be very interesting. We’ll be right back.

00;25;26;02 – 00;25;47;24
Narrator
Insights into entertainment, a podcast series taking a deeper look into entertainment and media. Are husband and wife, team of pop culture fanatics are exploring all things for music and movies to television and fandom. We’ll look at the interesting and obscure entertainment news of the week.

00;25;50;01 – 00;26;08;04
Narrator
We’ll talk about theme park and pop culture news. We’ll give you the latest and greatest on pop culture convention. We’ll give you a deep dove into Disney, Star Wars and much more. Check out our video episodes at youtube.com.

00;26;08;04 – 00;26;20;15
Narrator
Backslash insights into things are audio episodes and podcast insights into entertainment dot com or check us out on the web at insights into things dot com.

00;26;27;27 – 00;26;40;00
Madison
Welcome back to insights in a team. Today we’re talking about dealing with class clowns. And now we’re going to discuss how to deal with a class clown as a student. And this comes to us from wikiHow dot com.

00;26;41;04 – 00;26;54;09
Madison
So while you may get a note of the class clown for being annoying and disrupting classes student, there are ways you can manage your physical and verbal response to the to a class clown instead of allowing them to get a reaction out of you.

00;26;54;11 – 00;27;08;11
Madison
Try some of these tips. The first step we have is to come and center yourself a note in class. Clowns tend to bring out the worst in us when you feel yourself getting frustrated and overwhelmed by the actions of those around you.

00;27;08;20 – 00;27;27;02
Madison
Take a moment to compose yourself. This is important to ensure that your mind is clear and that and to avoid any irrational responses. Take a long, deep breath in, followed by a slow exhale. Continue to take deep breaths until you feel in control of your words and actions.

00;27;27;21 – 00;27;33;21
Madison
It might help that while you’re breathing, what goes on one simple mantra instead of your annoying classmate?

00;27;34;11 – 00;27;37;14
Joseph
I think that’s safe advice anytime you get angry at anything.

00;27;37;17 – 00;27;37;29
Madison
Yeah.

00;27;38;20 – 00;27;56;07
Joseph
The other option you have is to choose to remain silent. What an annoying classmate, intentionally or perhaps unintentionally pastors, teases or provokes you. The only thing you have control over is how you respond. Don’t fuel their negative behavior with poor behavior of your own.

00;27;56;26 – 00;28;14;18
Joseph
Choose to remain silent. Silence is not equivalent to weakness or coward meanness. Rather, it can be the mark of a strong individual who has control over their emotions. While some situations benefit from inaction and actions, others do require our attention.

00;28;15;12 – 00;28;27;11
Joseph
If a classmate is bullying you or others stand up for what is right and when we say stand up again, we’ve we’ve done talk bullying here. We’re not saying, go jump in this fight or get into the fray, but do what’s right.

00;28;27;11 – 00;28;38;14
Joseph
Get get a teacher involved, get an authority involved, let somebody know that something is happening and get the help that’s needed. Don’t just turn the other cheek and walk away and let it continue to happen. Mm-Hmm.

00;28;39;28 – 00;29;04;04
Madison
You know, you should also check your nonverbal responses. In addition to expressing our annoyance with witty remarks and spiteful comments, our bodies also convey our annoyance with our rules, moderators and disgruntled faces. If you are truly going to ignore your annoying classmate, you need to limit or minimize your physical response to their behavior, too.

00;29;04;21 – 00;29;18;27
Madison
Don’t groan, sigh or roll your eyes when they do or say something that gets on your nerves. And I probably need to take this advice because that does happen to me. I’m not going to lie. So you should also put the incident in perspective.

00;29;19;12 – 00;29;36;11
Madison
At the moment, it’s easy to fixate on the annoying behaviors of others. The quirks can consume our thoughts and drive us mad to prevent to prevent ourselves from overreacting. You must ask yourself this does their annoying behavior negatively affect my life beyond this moment?

00;29;36;27 – 00;29;38;22
Madison
Most of the time, the answer is no.

00;29;39;18 – 00;29;54;18
Joseph
one of the most obvious things you can do is just pay no attention to the class. Clown jokers or class clowns devote their time and energy to providing comic relief for the classroom. When you’re in the mood for the class clowns antics, their jokes are hilarious.

00;29;54;27 – 00;30;10;15
Joseph
And when you’re not in the mood, there are attempts at humor can drive you mad since class clowns thrive on the reaction from their crowd. The best way to ignore a joker is to have no physical or verbal reaction to their jokes.

00;30;11;17 – 00;30;28;00
Joseph
Vast crowds into please and are highly sensitive to criticism. If you can’t remain silent, a choice remark could put a temporary end to their comedy bid. If you get in trouble for something the class clown did. Don’t overreact.

00;30;28;25 – 00;30;46;19
Joseph
Remain calm and ask the teacher to speak with you after the class. When you’re speaking one on one with the teacher, explain your side of the story and apologize for any inconvenience you may have caused and work with your teacher to develop a plan on how to avoid situations like this in the future.

00;30;47;08 – 00;31;06;19
Joseph
And you know, basically the overriding sentiment here is be the bigger person, be the mature person, be the rational person in this case, right? Mm-Hmm. Do you? You mentioned the one about, you know, no eye-rolling in nonverbal responses.

00;31;08;03 – 00;31;12;01
Joseph
How do you think these things will help you to deal with the Creative Cloud you have to deal with?

00;31;12;25 – 00;31;24;04
Madison
I mean, like I know we’ve had, I know that you and I have actually had talks about this when I come home complaining about annoying classmates. You normally just say the best way is to not give them a reaction.

00;31;25;06 – 00;31;32;17
Madison
And this is basically kind of what this is saying, like, don’t really give them a reaction. They don’t kind of. They just don’t really deserve it.

00;31;32;28 – 00;31;50;15
Joseph
And, you know, in the grand scheme of things, you’re responsible for your own actions. And if someone egged you on and gets you to react. Then you’re kind of losing that control, right, you’re letting them control you at that point.

00;31;51;12 – 00;32;13;08
Joseph
I don’t know. From my perspective, I always found out three very unsatisfactory to me when someone can provoke me into a response like that. Mm-Hmm. I think self-control is a little bit more satisfying to me. But, you know, people get on your nerves and knowing how to deal with that.

00;32;14;10 – 00;32;30;18
Joseph
Is going to help you in life, because, trust me, I haven’t been in school in a long time. And there are a lot of other people annoying in my life that I have to deal with on a regular basis, day in and day out, you know, between the work or customers or people in the store or rude

00;32;30;18 – 00;32;48;18
Joseph
drivers. So the techniques that they teach you here really are good techniques at work and just about any situation. You know, how do you control when when someone provokes you or elicits an emotional reaction from you? How do you usually deal with that?

00;32;49;13 – 00;33;06;08
Madison
I normally at least try to push it off and like occasionally I will do like the eye rolls and just groan slightly. I try not to get a huge reaction. I try not to make a huge reaction, like I don’t try to scream at them.

00;33;06;08 – 00;33;11;04
Madison
I kind of just moderno myself saying, Man, this person’s really annoying.

00;33;11;18 – 00;33;26;18
Joseph
You know, I have this gaming group that I talked to. You know, we do voice chat a lot. And there’s one or two people that get in there that can be very annoying for four different reasons. And I used to let it.

00;33;27;23 – 00;33;44;28
Joseph
Get to me and I used to get angry, and when I got angry enough, I would just log off and not even play the game anymore. And I’ve kind of gotten to the point that. I’m determined to not let other people make those decisions for me.

00;33;45;20 – 00;34;03;01
Joseph
You know, I want to play the game. I enjoy playing the game, so I’m not going to log off so someone doesn’t annoy me. I’m just going to ignore them. And this one particular person who. Always puts a jab in every every time you say something, you get some kind of smart remark back from them.

00;34;03;27 – 00;34;16;06
Joseph
And they do that strictly to get a reaction out of you. And for the longest time, they were getting reactions out of me. And then a week or so ago, I just I was tired of dealing with him.

00;34;17;03 – 00;34;35;07
Joseph
So I’ll make a statement and try answering someone’s question. They’ll throw that job out there and they’ll wait for me to respond and I don’t. And then there’s dead silence on the chat channel. And it makes this individual’s comments stand out as highly inappropriate when that happens.

00;34;36;06 – 00;34;50;24
Joseph
And they felt very foolish at that. So it’s one of those things where they’ll crack a joke or a smart remark. And you get nothing you get, you don’t even get crickets chirping. Hmm. And it shut them down immediately.

00;34;51;12 – 00;34;54;04
Joseph
And that same technique works in most social situations.

00;34;54;17 – 00;34;56;19
Madison
I just wish all the kids were kind of like that.

00;34;57;19 – 00;35;03;03
Joseph
Well, and that’s the thing. The problem is, is that class clowns are class clowns because they get an audience.

00;35;03;09 – 00;35;03;21
Madison
Yeah.

00;35;04;05 – 00;35;20;12
Joseph
And as long as they continue to get an audience. There’ll be class clowns. And the reality is a lot of kids want some kind of distraction in class, especially if it’s a long class or you’re doing a lot of work and you’re kind of deep into the class at this point in time.

00;35;20;13 – 00;35;30;02
Joseph
Kids all want of distraction. So they kind of welcome that, even if they might not find it funny. It’s that chance to sort of come up for a breath of air, you know?

00;35;30;08 – 00;35;41;24
Madison
Yeah, and that’s why I feel like I’m not a class clown. In fact, I’m probably the exact opposite of a class clown because I want class to continue, and a lot of people probably see me as a complete bore.

00;35;41;25 – 00;35;53;16
Madison
I’ve even had people who make comments about the fact that like, we’re just trying to have fun. Jeez. And then it’s like. OK, well, this isn’t really the place for it, but fine.

00;35;53;21 – 00;36;10;21
Joseph
Right, and and again, that’s not just a school thing you’re going to find in professional life. You know, you’ll be sitting in meetings and you’ll have meetings that drag on and drag on. And I’m usually the type of person in a meeting who tries to crack a joke and.

00;36;11;21 – 00;36;32;04
Joseph
And get people to react to it. That’s more to wake people up than entertain that point in time, because sometimes words have really long meanings in and I’ve seen people nod off in our meetings. Wow. So, you know, their coping mechanisms, we all have different coping mechanisms for different, different triggers.

00;36;32;29 – 00;36;51;20
Joseph
You know, it could be stress triggers that could be anxiety. They could be insecurities. And we all do something right. You have your own way of coping with things that you’re not comfortable with. So. But your ways tend to not not impact others, do they?

00;36;51;29 – 00;36;58;17
Madison
Not really, no. In fact, I try not to bother people for the most part. I’ve learned from those mistakes.

00;36;58;28 – 00;37;13;22
Joseph
Yeah. So and that’s really where the problem of class clowns come from is that they can be that disruptive presence. It’s OK to have fun once in a while. It’s OK to crack a joke in school once in a while and maybe lighten the tension a bit.

00;37;14;08 – 00;37;29;06
Joseph
But when it’s allowed to continue on too far. And it starts being a detriment to everyone learning. Then you kind of have to step in, the teacher really has to step in at that point in time and. Kind of bring some control back to it.

00;37;29;15 – 00;37;46;26
Joseph
Mm hmm. So I think that was all we had to talk about today. All right. We will take a quick break. We’ll come back and we’ll get your closing remarks on. Go for your closing thoughts.

00;37;47;07 – 00;38;10;04
Madison
All right. So to everyone out there, I just wanted to say that while class clowns aren’t the most problematic student, they can definitely become quite problematic very quickly. And I definitely think we tried to cover pretty much every outlook, whether it be the parent of a class clown, the teacher of a class clown or the fellow student

00;38;10;04 – 00;38;24;19
Madison
of a class clown. I definitely know I’m going to try to take some of this advice when dealing with class clowns on my own, and I would definitely recommend all of you who have to deal with class clowns to take as much advice from us as you can.

00;38;25;08 – 00;38;36;24
Madison
And I definitely it definitely helped me to kind of bring a different perspective on this, and I dove, and I hope it also helps you to bring a different perspective on this as well.

00;38;37;04 – 00;38;50;27
Joseph
All right. Excellent advice. Great take on it. And maybe after this, you’ll be a little bit more tolerant of class clowns as long as they don’t get too carried away. Yeah. So I think there’s a place for him out there.

00;38;50;29 – 00;39;08;20
Joseph
They certainly do help from time to time. Yeah. Before we do go, I would want to once again invite folks to subscribe to the podcast. You can find us listed as insights into teams for our audio versions or insights into things for our video versions.

00;39;09;14 – 00;39;28;03
Joseph
We’re listed on Pandora, Castro, Stitcher, Pod Beam, Buzz Brown, Amazon. Anyplace you can get a podcast, really. I would also invite you to subscribe or to reach out to us rather and email us at comments and insights into things dot com we’d love to hear from you.

00;39;28;29 – 00;39;43;29
Joseph
We’re also on Twitter at Inside’s Underscore Things We do stream five days a week on Twitch at Twitch Dot TV slash insights into things. If you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, you do get a free monthly Twitch Prime subscription.

00;39;43;29 – 00;39;58;27
Joseph
We’d appreciate it if you go through that our way or your versions of this podcast can be found on the web at podcast and insights into teens dot com. VIDEO Versions of this podcast can be found on the web, as well as podcasts that insights into things dot com.

00;39;59;20 – 00;40;07;06
Joseph
Or you can get links to all those and much more on our web site at insights into things dot com and you.

00;40;07;12 – 00;40;16;22
Madison
And don’t forget to check out our other two podcast insights and entertainment hosted by you and Mommy and then Ted Turner tomorrow, our monthly podcast hosted by you and my brother, Sam.

00;40;16;24 – 00;40;18;27
Joseph
Excellent. That’s it. Not the one in the box.

00;40;18;27 – 00;40;19;19
Madison
By everyone.

00;40;19;21 – 00;40;20;09
Joseph
By.