I substituted in an inner city school for a while. It can really be difficult. The principal told me he would keep the intercom on and all I had to do was call out if I needed help. He said that if I made sure that no one drew blood, he would be happy.

My main stratedy with hyper kids who can be out of control is to use a hand puppet. I came with a pillow case with a puppet inside. I walked around the room and allowed the kids to squeeze the bag and try to guess what was inside. Then I would hang the bag in a conspicuous place in front of the class. I would talk to it on occasion and tell the kids if they were really quiet, I would let them see what was inside. I would tell them it was someone special in there (not someTHING) If they began to get a little rowdy, I would jiggle the bag, hold it to my ear and pretend it was whispering to me... "it's to loud and I'm scared..." I would tell the kids that it might not want to come out if it's too noisey... make a big game of it. At the end of the class I would pull the puppet out who would talk to the kids, ask them silly questions, get scared and jump back in the sack if the class got too loud. Usually would have the kids sit in a circle in the floor and have the puppet tell or read a short story.. Worked pretty well.