Dear Nedlam,
I sit next to an obnoxious and annoying person in one of my classes, and I can’t stand their remarks! It is distracting me from paying attention in class, and I get really irritated. How can I deal with this person?!?!!!
-Super Annoyed
Dear Super Annoyed,
If I’m being completely honest I think in every class there’s that one kid who tends to get on everybody's nerves. Normally I would say just try to ignore them and talk to your friends, or, if it got really bad, transfer out of that class. However, since it’s affecting your schoolwork, this is a situation where you can definitely talk to your teacher about it. If the person sits near you, ask the teacher if your seat or the person’s seat can be moved. In the case where this person makes remarks during the lesson, tell your teacher how it distracts you from the lesson and I’m sure they’ll be happy to talk to the student about their behavior in class, or address the whole class about appropriate behavior. Going to your teacher might seem a bit extreme for some people, but the teacher won't mention your name, and if you're serious about doing well in that class I highly recommend you consider it. If it gets more serious and your teacher doesn’t do anything about it talk to one of the counselors or a house principal. Those are the extreme measures, if you don't want or need to go that far then you can always try to take notes on the lesson, even when your teacher doesn’t tell you to so you are focused on writing down what she’s saying and have a reference for later in case you forgot something. If you’re really committed, and you ask your teacher for permission, you could also record the lesson in case you missed anything. Unfortunately, there’s not much I can tell you about how to handle this person, because you can only change your own actions, and this person can only change his/her own actions. Hopefully what I’ve told you might help. Good Luck!
