With the paddle no longer available for use in public education, teachers have had to get creative. We take away recess, or computer time, or make the child sit away from his friends at lunch. We positively reinforce with all kinds of systems... I've heard of kids being rewarded with sitting in the teacher's chair, with taking off their shoes in the classroom, with using the shredder, or with the promise of some bubble wrap to pop.
I have consequences on my mind.
Yesterday, a little first grader in the general ed. class was asking over and over and over and over if he could go to the book fair. [This is our week for the Scholastic book fair!] His behavior had been terrible all day, so we told him no... he could go tomorrow once he turned his behavior around. He kept asking to go anyway. The teacher got down to his eye level, and repeated herself slowly and firmly.
"Do you understand?"
He nodded yes.
A few minutes later, he asked to go to the bathroom. I think you know where this is going.... He came back about ten minutes later with a brand new book in hand.
Oh boy. He was in T-R-O-U-B-L-E. His teacher confiscated his book for the day, and called his mom after school was let out. Once she explained what had happened to his mother, and asked what course of action would be most appropriate, this is what mom said:
"Oh well, he never does things like this. The other boys told him he would be a loser if he didn't, so it's alright. Go ahead and send the book home with him tomorrow."
Um... excuse me? I just had a vision of him as a sixteen year old, standing at the doorstep with a cop by his side and the mother saying: "Oh well, he's never done drugs before. The other boys told him he would be a loser if he didn't, so it's alright. Go ahead and just let him stay home."
But who knows.... maybe she gave him a consequence after she got off the phone with the teacher. It just struck me as a very inappropriate response to the incident!
12 comments:
Yikes, that would drive me CRAZY!!! I feel like I am constantly calling parents to tell them about what latest antic their child was up to, to which their response tends to be, "I'll have a talk with him/her..." I always want to say, "A talk?? I hope you'll actually DO SOMETHING!" Can be so frustrating...
At least he wanted to read a book! Ha! Ha! dad
What a shame! I had hoped it would end that he wanted a particular book! Oh well - back to the manual on parent/child/behaviour!
Flash forward to when he's 40 & his mom says, "Oh well, the other crazies told him he would be a loser if he didn't rape women & store their chopped up bodies in the chest freezer." She needs to nip that in the bud right now!
Gotta love parents who always blame another child! Drives me crazy! By the way, not all schools don't paddle anymore. Mine sure does. I don't personally, but here teachers are allowed (with parent permission) and encouraged to paddle. I like trying to make a punishment fit the crime when possible!
Outrageous. Children need to understand that the world doesn't revolve around them and what they want, at the moment. That doesn't mean you beat the crap out of them, but it does mean their day is going to have some moments they're not going to like... bring back the paddle... that doesn't mean beat the crap out of them, just something to get their attention.... [stepping off soapbox] Come visit when you can...
That bums me out that the parent would be destructive to what the teacher was trying to do here--
Simply put: There are a lot of parents out there who should never should have been allowed.
I used to let students sit at my desk for the day...until a student had an accident in my chair and failed to mention it to me. She asked to go to the bathroom and i thought " Great! I can sneak in there and check my emails!" I think we all see where this went...I sat in urine. And it was only 9 AM. I think it's unnecessary to say that that was pulled from the positive rewards poster immediately!
Wow. Gotta love parents nowadays huh??
You just have to love those parents. And just as an FYI- I am one of those teachers who reinforce their kids with crazy stuff like bubble wrap. I think the strangest thing I've used as a reinforcer was my hair. I have a student that loves to smell my hair so I wont let him smell it until he earns it by doing work or following directions. It really does work though.
ummm... that last comment was wierd. You shouldn't be having kids smell your hair... and I don't want to know what you do with the bubble wrap.
Anyway, in my experience, just because a kid is driving a teacher crazy doesn't mean he is being bad, maybe the kid just rubs the teacher wrong. I realize this is just my opinion, but a concrete willful misbehavior deserves punishements set in place, not an artibrary last-minute punishment.
As for the parent, the kid paid for the book with her money, so it should be sent home.
The parent can decide the punishment at this point.
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