Help! Super rude high-level student

[Jrong]

  Make that student your official co-teacher. Allow your real co-teacher to mark papers in class. Either he will be a great asset in your class. Or he'll hate being a co-teacher so much he'll try to get out of it and be more civil when dealing with you.

YES^. I started doing something similar to this about 3 weeks ago and it changed the whole dynamic of the class. One kid was always acting up or tuned out (just like I was when I was in 'school' :-) and it was extremely difficult to keep other kids on track b/c of this. I assigned him the position of "controller" (hell, I know that sounds bad, but it works). His job was to operate the digital spinwheel, keep track of points, and make sure students say words correctly when we're playing a game. He's very smart, just not usually interested. As soon as I made lil' bossman "controller" the whole class had a remarkably pleasant and 0-stress atmosphere AND he became very, very happy -- he just needed to be the boss of something. By having a level of control over others he actually became much more submissive to me and makes the class a breeze and more fun for everyone.

[roosh]

I had a similar student who I eventually snapped with, I took him outside the class and gave him a dressing down. He couldn't understand a word I was saying, but he knew I was annoyed with him. He has been somewhat better behaved since.

I think a major issue however is just a lack of engagement; because of his level the classes are not challenging and he acts out. It might be worth putting him sitting on his own and giving him something more challenging to work on, while you teach the rest of the class.