Is it ever okay to give up on a student(s)?

Have you gotten parents involved? 7th grade sucks. I taught it for a few years and…nope, never again. At that’s age, I think getting parents involved and giving whatever consequences you can is about all you can do.

BUT, as cliche and “teacherish” as it sounds, maybe try to build a decent relationship 1 on 1 if you haven’t. The reason I say this is that last year I had a 7th grader who was a terror AND his parents were terrors. I started giving him a lot of consequences, like detentions, but I also started helping him on hw after school and talking more with him 1 on 1 where he wasn’t trying to impress his friends. He didn’t turn around 100%, but it was enough that I didn’t dread seeing him anymore and he was acting better for me than for his other teachers

/r/Teachers Thread Parent