how many times?

[thehallway]

how many times should you have to tell a student/s to sit down during a sixty minute class period? ten? twenty? thirty? more? tell them to stop talking long enough to listen to directions. tell them to get out a book, or a pencil/pen or a piece of paper and not have it take them over half the class to do that cuz they are busy doing other things like walking aimlessly around or asking to go to the bathroom so that they can answer a text message. that is if they don't sit down and try to text on the dl cuz they are so slick a teacher would never notice them doing that.

how many times do you tell a student/s to do something productive that does not involve practicing his boxing moves or copying someone else's work or throwing something at someone or stealing something from a bookbag. how many times/ways do you beg a student/s to behave like a student in a classroom appropriate way. and i don't mean sitting there silently staring and listening to the teacher spout crap. i mean work as they talk/multitask.

i mean before it becomes ridiculous and disrupting and you should have the right to ask them to leave so that the few kids in class that want to do more then socialize/be stupid in school can?

Comments

[kazbaby]

And this is why I no longer like children. Really this is a daily occurrence in this household. I've given up.

And you are my god for still putting up with that shit.

[thehallway]

ah, girl. i feel for you. i know how hard you've worked over the years with the kids.

and i know how much you've invested in loving them and hoping for them. you've put up with a lot. and you need to take care of yourself.

[princessofgeeks]

how old are the kids in question?

[thehallway]

i teach freshmen. so they range from almost 15 to almost 16 usually during the time i have them. and they have spent the better part of that lifetime in a school and a classroom.

and yet they really seem to have no clue about boundaries of behavior, even after a year in high school. they come into high school thinking they can do what they want, when they want, how they want, if they want and that they will get what they want when they want. and no one in admin seems willing to disabuse them of that misconception.

not all of them. i have some great kids. who i constantly feel like apologizing to for having to put up with shit i am powerless to curb because we can't impose consequences for behavior. and i'm really having a hard time with that, especially in light of people like arne duncan and others who insist that if only we as teachers got better at working hard and teaching then kids would all become college graduates. and that it's all our fault if they don't. cuz other countries do it.

well, no. other countries like japan and germany and india do not guarantee education as a right, it's a privilege. one that is earned beyond a certain compulsory point, in schools where students are respectful and hard working, go to school for longer periods of time, for six days a week, and who do homework and get tutored for hours after school so that they can complete and achieve.

education is viewed vastly differently in these countries, by students and by parents as well as by teachers. what people in admin and positions of policy making here don't seem to understand is that.

sorry for the rant. i sound like such a bitch, but it's five classes until final exams.

[heathen_outpost]

At the age of 15, I want to give kids punchcards, like at a cafe. Every time they ignore direction and do something stupid, punch the card. After 10 punches, they get shipped out of class to work on an assembly line at a poultry factory for a month, unpaid. Repeat as necessary until less stupid...or productively employed.

[gigerisgod]

nice idea.

[thehallway]

omg, thank you. i have been saying forever that we don't need to suspend these kids out, that just rewards them. and we don't need in-house suspension so that their parents are inconvenienced by having them running amok at home, we need community and/or school service. can't behave in a classroom? spend the hour cleaning bathrooms or floors or doing something else productive.

and consider it on the job training for your career choice.

[princessofgeeks]

if it's 15 and 16 year olds, twice.

so sorry you're getting no help from your bureaucracy. maybe there's some psychology or "best practices" that are focused just on classroom that you can work with.

the end of the year is SO HARD.

i teach college freshman, but at least someone has paid for them to be there, so there's a tiny bit more motivated.

hang in there.

[thehallway]

thank you. the end of the year is hard, but this is just brutal. i just spent the last hour of our last faculty meeting of the year being yelled at for our failure to make these kids successful.

i sound like such a epic failure as a teacher, but honestly, i've been in the building for ten years and have never had to call security to remove a student. i don't even write referrals for students since i normally handle that on my own.

and honestly, i have a good track record with my kids. i teach freshmen, but my kids come back to me as seniors asking for letters of recommendation to places like nyu and u of m as well as local colleges and universities. i write letters to my kids' POs, too.

i wish i could find some best practice that we haven't tried to make this work.

if you don't mind my asking, where do you teach? community college or university. i ask because our community college professors and instructors constantly complain about the lack of skills, lack of work ethic from their students, some of whom used to be our students.

is it the same with you?

[princessofgeeks]

I'm in the mid south and I"m not seeing lack of work ethic or skills in my college students, most of whom are getting associate's degrees.

I'm seeing a general decline in the old fashioned kind of reading and writing skills because of the impact of TV, something no English teacher could possibly single-handedly challenge.

but the degree of motivation and cooperation one gets in college compared to HS? really no comparison.

good luck.