Things couldn't be going more swimmingly in Mrs. Paige Turner's literature class. She's teaching her own personal favorite, A Day No Pigs Would Die -- the ultimate tear-jerker. Mrs. Turner is overwhelmed at how emotionally invested her students have become in the story, and she revels in the impact that the book may have on their love of literature, not to mention their overall outlook on life, as they learn such values as kindness and treating your fellow life-traveler with respect. The kids are taking turns reading paragraphs aloud from the last chapter, and Pinky is just about to become chops, loin and rind. There's nary a dry eye in the schoolhouse, even on the faces of the most cynical youngsters.
But then there's that kid. We parents know him -- Johnny Hooligan. Johnny intentionally engineers a foul noise with his tongue (covering his mouth with his hand so that if he is accused, he can deny guilt.) In fact, every time the name "Pinky" is uttered, he repeats the action, and the intimate connection the class had been sharing of a boy's love for his pet pig is irrevocably shattered. It is an experience more or less emotionally robbed from the other 23 kids in the class. Even after being warned numerous times, Johnny does not desist. No one else is laughing, but Johnny is amused by it enough for all of them.
Finally, the class finishes reading the book and Mrs. Turner excuses her students eight minutes before the bell. Pinky has died. So has the moment she had hoped to share with the class.
This isn't Johnny's first transgression of the kind. He acts out on a regular basis. (The stunt he pulled during a reading of The Lovely Bones the previous semester was particularly offensive.) His parents have been called in a few times, but they never seemed to take much of an active role in improving his behavior, and consequently it hasn't improved. So, because nothing can be done aside from sending him frequently to the principal's office or detention (which alters a delinquent's tendencies as much as a week or two of jail time alters those of a hardened criminal) the teachers relinquish their efforts to turn him around and instead just learn to tolerate him. Or worse, ignore him.
Who benefits? Certainly not the other students. Why must those 23 kids in Johnny's class lose precious learning time while a miscreant (who isn't paying attention or learning anything anyway) is allowed to create all sorts of distractions? Not the teachers. The constant interruptions halt the usual flow of lessons and cut down on the amount of material that they are able to cover. Not even young Mr. Hooligan, who is only hurting himself with his fraudulent flatulence. Looks like it's a pretty sour deal for everyone involved. So why is it allowed to continue?
For the same reason that books are banned from school libraries, or that works of art are taken down from cafeteria walls, this behavior is allowed. There is a pervading fear in schools -- as well as in many other public places -- that someone is going to take offense and make a federal case out of it. Granted, moving a child from one class into another that resembles a special needs track is more potentially rife with controversy than removing a work of literature from a bookshelf, but the thought process is the same.
Administrators are hesitant to give permission to manually weed out the mischief makers because of their fear that the amount and severity of backlash will not be worth it.
They may be right. Parents of rotten eggs don't see them that way. They will make any number of excuses to justify their child's actions so that no one can criticize their parenting skills. OK, fine. But why should I, the parent of a couple of good eggs, have to suffer the consequences of their failings? Shouldn't my children have the right to receive an education uninterrupted by fart sounds?
Regardless of how many feathers it may ruffle, we need to seriously consider other options than merely that of letting the rabble-rousers stay because it's easier than shaking things up. Think about the real cost here. If 23 students each lose 30 minutes of class time every day over the course of a 40-week school year, that's 2,300 hours lost because of disrupting influences. Just imagine how many more pop quizzes might have been given in that time. (This last point will probably not be a very persuasive one among high school students.)
It is a touchy topic, to be sure, but one that deserves our attention. If a student is given numerous warnings and is subject to regular disciplinary action, and still the lesson is not learned, then perhaps they should be placed alongside others of a similar ilk. After all, that's the way things are done out here in the real world, and isn't preparing our children for the real world what we're supposed to be doing anyway?
You really couldn't think of anything better than Shmoop?
Teachers have to be ahead of the kids, and you can't get in the way. If the parents have problems, tough, they can find another school. You have to be smarter than the people you lead, and you're saying you can't manage it.
Your weak approach results in kids being labelled and medicated instead of learning.
BTW, have you ever SEEN a pig? Some of your kids may have, and you might want to address the issues in the book, instead of trying to keep them as emotional infants. They're in school to grow up, not to validate your mother status.
Most events involving humans need on-site judgment, so I won't propose any recipes here - but teachers who can't handle a classroom - or administrators who won't let them - might be better employed elsewhere.
You're upset because some kid is making fart noises in the back & mocking your attempts to get all the kids crying about sausage in emotional lockstep?
ROFLMAO! It's not rocket science. The kid is mocking you, because you've put yourself in that position. Aren't you supposed to be teaching him how to behave, before you teach him to cry about pigs?
Most kids will explore, and if you've picked something silly like crying about pigs, the smart ones will be somewhere else. You talk about this kid wasting others' time, you're doing a pretty good job of wasting their time yourself. This one has no better ideas than sit in the back & make fart noises, and it freezes your brain. You never think there are probably several others smart enough to stay quiet & think what a waste of time you are to be crying about sausage.
CONTD
"Perhaps Johnny's behavior is symptomatiÂc of something about Johnny that desperatelÂy needs attention, not scorn." This type of thinking is the problem. Johnny needs to learn that, sometimes, it's not about what Johnny needs. Sometimes it is what the other 20+ kids in the class need.
"The key to eliminatinÂg disruptive behavior to make it "uncool" to the other students." The other way is to make disruptive behavior so unpleasant that even a kid as stubborn as I was back in the day, will get the message.
I send my kids to private school and I can guarantee that Johnny would stop being disruptive after a couple of "visits" to the office.
Perhaps Johnny's behavior is symptomatic of something about Johnny that desperately needs attention, not scorn. Rotten eggs and good eggs? Shame on you.
Admonishing the wrong student for some misdeed that another student commits, would be considered harmless. The action would be supported by the principle.
It is only when a Judge does something really wrong that a higher court will intervene. Once the teachers are not terrified of teaching Huck Finn, and can actually discuss its meaning in context, things would improve.
4. A recognition, that for better or worse, the teacher is THE authority figure in the classroom. That authority not to be questioned, unless clearly abused.
5. It would also be helpful if school boards imposed a dress code on teachers requiring them to dress as if they were going to work in a "downtown office".
6. It would also be helpful if the school board invoked a clear "non-fraternizing" policy regarding relationships between students and adults in the school.
Of course that would not apply to close relatives working the school.
This would, of course create a law suit (Search: Missouri teachers Facebook in the Huffington Post search box).
7. Uniforms for all students in all grades.
None of these "innovations" would cost any money.
Part I
TINA:
I am compelled to fan you because you write sensibly and honestly.
You have also said something that I hadn't heard expressed before".
"The key to eliminatinÂg disruptive behavior to make it "uncool" to the other students. When peer pressure works the opposite way and students discourage bad behavior, at the very least the disruptive student is silenced and may not learn anything but he or she stops disrupting others. something that I have not heard, which makes sense".
Can't that be done, by putting the student, presuming s/he is sane, in a small room, with old textbooks, all alone, for the rest of the day, or for a "reasonable period".
Designed properly there could be a number of small rooms supervised by a teacher's assistant. If need be, the walls and doors could be "padded" with gym mats.
Apparently parents have found "time out" to be an effective teaching method.
How about this. If, in the sole judgment of the teacher, the entire, the entire class was "reasonably" well behaved, then the entire class would get a small reward, each and everyone.
Little kids love stickers. Of course the rewards could be adjusted for grade level.
For older ones, something that smells good, or a poster. It would take some thought for the older ones.
To be Continued
Part II
On the other hand, if a fifteen old feels s/he has been deprived of something because of the bad behavior of another, I would think there would be really intense pressure.
Of course the kids would moan "unfair", but parents have gotten used to that.
The "thinkers" in the education industry would object on the grounds that the method was "draconian" and was actually "collective punishment".
To which I would respond, isn't the new buzz word "collaboration". Aren't team sports a system of collective rewards and disappointments?
The rewards could be timed differently, For the little ones, on the half day, for the high school seniors on the week.
Even if it is something nice the kids are going to get anyway, a one days delay, could be enough to make bad behavior "uncool".
I
Part 1 of II
Thank you for your excellent Blog. It captured, for me, a non-teacher, the despair that teachers feel. If there were such a thing as a five star rating for a Blog, I would give it to you!
A Proposal:
There is a model available to the educational industry to adopt that would greatly alleviate this problem. It would require something that is missing in the education industry.
It would require everyone, from top to bottom to "grow a backbone", and find some courage.
1. The school board to set aside a sum of money each year to quickly settle reasonable lawsuits, and fight frivolous ones. Fighting frivolous suits would probably in the short run cost the school board more.
But:
In many states those who file frivilous lawsuits or reject reasonable settlement, are required to pay the "prevailing party's" attorney's fees.
2. Having made filing law suits against the school board, "less delicious", every school board would adopt the policy, that unless a teacher or administrator has made a "signficant" error, she will be supported.
Offending a student, even unjustly, will not be considered "significant".
3. The model I am proposing is that of the legal system.
The Judge is presumed to have done the right thing, a higher court will support the Judge even if she has made a "harmless error".
You can't go in there looking and smelling like a mouse. Then you need command of the material, and be able to react to the way the kids react to it.
Disruptive kids get excluded. I'm not sure how closely I'd imitate the legal system, but the logic of listening & making decisions & moving on is necessary.
But can we really fail to see that in 30 kids, half are understandably laughing at the way this material is handled?
I agree with you. And of course you can't transfer the model of the legal system to the school, but the principle of not undermining your subordinates, is a good one.
Espcially if they have the responsibility of maintaining order, which is dependent on authorority.
I'm not sure exactly what the meaning of your last sentence is.
For a Reply from a successful teacher, who seems to figure out ways to keep order, search the replies by screen name: KIM ANDRES.
It would seem that the top heavy educational bueaucracy does nothing more that undermine the confidence and authority of the classroom teacher.
Most kids are fine but any classroom can be ruined by one or two bad eggs. And there is almost nothing a teacher can do about it.
Its a darn shame.
I agree there should be some avenues for student input into their learning, but this does not mean that they get to dictate all the terms. I am all for students getting some choice in what books they read, but those choices are selected by the curriculum staff, so no, you don't get to read Batman comics in American Lit. If Johnny doesn't like what his choices are, then his options are to either play through the pain of reading something he initially does not like, or take a different class.
We teachers do know what we are doing, and sometimes students do not make good choices. I didn't want to read Heart of Darkness, until I read the first chapter. Goodness forbid a teacher opens up a door that students didn't even know existed.
Second, it is not that Johnny does not share her passion. It is that he expresses this in a way that is a detriment to those students who do, or at least are willing to try to like what the teacher likes. They actually understand that teachers have some knowledge as to what is good literature, and are willing to at least give this book a try. If Johnny disagrees, fine. But when his expression of this impedes others from learning, that is HIS problem, not the teacher's.
Third, teachers don't force students to be in any class, especially in high school. If he wants out of that class, he needs to talk to his guidance counselor.
Last, teachers DESERVE to be on pedestals. We have earned our stripes, and it is a huge problem in our society that we do not put them on pedestals as we do our sports heroes.
Standing up to coercion and having no interest in being forced to do school does not make one a loser. It makes them people like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, and the majority of students who are frustrated with a school system they find boring and irrelevant.
My grandfather, 100 year ago found his high school classes boring. He worked out a deal - he would turn in the week's homework and then he got to go the library and read. He eventually became a high school chemistry teacher and department head.
If students's aren't interested in the class and are disruptive, get them out. At least let the other students learn.