Brittany+Puett

** Whatcha Gonna Do? **   ** Bad boy, bad boy ** ** How will you handle this, teacher? **
 * Brittany Puett **


 * Response #1 **
 * Three students continually talk during class, and then insist they aren’t talking. **

This scenario is very realistic in my internship. In my third period classroom there is a group of boys that continuously talk during the lesson. On the first day of my teaching, I attempted to handle the situation by kindly asking the boys to stop talking and pay attention to the lesson. However, they quickly began talking to each other again. The next day when the students came into the classroom, I informed them that they had new seats. I was really hoping that by separating the students that I could solve the talking problem. What I didn’t expect was that giving the students new seats would make the problem worse. The students soon struck up a conversation and began talking to each other from opposite ends of the classroom. This made their conversations louder so that they could hear each other. At one point, I was asking a student a question and from three seats away from me I could not hear what she was saying. At this point, I asked the three boys to step out into the hallway. I sternly, yet kindly, explained to them why their conversation was distracting to me and the other students. I made sure that they were aware of the classroom procedures and the consequences for breaking any of the rules. I was shocked when the students quoted the behavior chart in the classroom verbatim. One would think that if a student knows the rules that they would follow them. This is not true at all. I was finally able to resolve the situation by telling the students that if I had to ask them to quit speaking again that I would have to give them all a demerit. At East Cobb Middle School the discipline runs on a demerit card. Each student can only earn five demerits during each set of nine weeks. For each demerit there is a different consequence. For the first demerit the student receives a warning. On the second demerit the student receives a silent lunch. The third demerit results in in-team isolation (ISS) and a phone call home. If a student receives a forth demerit they will have an after school detention as well as a letter home. Demerit number five results in an office referral and a conference with the parents or guardians. The sixth demerit results in the students receiving out of school suspension. The students realized that I was not going to be lenient with the situation anymore. The students no longer communicate with each other during class time. I do think that there is a time and a place to have this type of conversation with students. While I want to make them aware of the negativity of their actions, I do not want to embarrass them in front of the classroom. I feel that by talking to them in front of the classroom would have caused an even bigger disruption. The problem does need to be handled as quickly as possible so that the students realize that you do have authority over them and other students. I also think it is appropriate to inform the students at hand that these consequences relate to the entire student body and that no student will receive an exception to any of the school policies. I do think that it is important to know, as a teacher, which battles to fight and which battles to let go. At no point in time should teachers surrender, so one must know ahead of time which route they are going to take. Personally, I believe that a battle should be fought if the student is being disrespectful or disrupting the classroom. Students must know that as a teacher I am responsible for making sure that the students are following directions. I will probably let go of battles if the problem ceases immediately before I say anything to the student. For example, with the pencil sharpening scenario I would have let that battle go.


 * Response #2 **
 * You’ve done everything you’d planned for the day and there are five minutes before the bell will ring. **

Personally, I would really enjoy having five extra minutes at the end of the lesson. This has happened a few times during my internship and it proved to be a great time to recap on the day’s lesson and allow the students to have a class discussion about what they have learned. Right now, we are reading __The Witches__ and if there is any extra time after the lesson I will ask the students’ questions about what we have read to make sure that the students have comprehended the material. This way I have also conducted an informal assessment. I will make sure that the students are staying on topic and discussing things that are relevant to that day’s lesson. I will also throw in a few questions that also tie into the lesson. For example, yesterday the students’ learned about Protagonists and Antagonists. So at the end of today’s lesson, I asked the students to identify the Protagonist and the Antagonists in the story. Now, I have tied in two days worth of material in around five minutes. By wisely using the last five minutes of class I am also showing that I am capable of thinking on my feet. Obviously I did not plan my lesson to leave me with extra time, but if and when it happens I need to be able to quickly prepare something for my students to do. I don’t ever want my students just sitting around because that is a waste of valuable class time. Each class is only 55 minutes in length and it is important to make every minute useful and beneficial. On some occasions, there will not be anything to recap. On Tuesday the Language Arts classrooms had to take Benchmark Exams mandated by the county. The exam was only 35 questions in length and did not take my students very long to complete. Each student is allowed the entire class period to take the exam, and thus I will not be able to have a class discussion to fill the gap in time because not every student will be finished. In this case, I would have students read a book, begin or complete homework assignments, or study for an upcoming exam. Even if I am not facilitating the students during that time I want to make sure that they are still doing something educational.