Re: Rules and Consequences
Posted by zodea on 8/23/08
On 8/20/08, Sara wrote:
It depends on the school I suppose but in my school going over
> rules and consequences on the first day would kill the class.
> I want them to be enthusiastic about what we're going to do
> in the year, what subjects we'll cover, how interesting a year
> it will be. Rules and consequences makes it seem like the
> first day at prison.
It's funny you should say that. I made a poster for my room that
says "School is not Jail, you don't get CREDIT for time served".
Some of my students noticed it and asked what it meant. I told
them they couldn't just show up and expect to pass. They had to
actually learn something :-) Some of them didn't really believe
me!
I hand out a syllabus with rules and procedures and a lab safety
agreement on the first day of class. I ask that they sign it and
that their parents sign it. They keep a copy in their binder and
it is available to the parents on the internet. I go over rules
and expectations as needed.
I avoid layers of consequences. They are too hard to keep track
of. After the first week or two of school, I consider warnings
worthless. It's just giving kids permission to do something bad
one time. If every kid in the class does it one time each day,
my day is BAD! I don't think I should give the kid three or for
chances to misbehave before they get to a consequence that means
something to them.
I teach high school. I give kids a mark for bad behavior. They
have to stay with me after school to cancel the mark. If they
get three uncanceled marks, I give them a detention. If they are
going to play with me and have chronic misbehavior, they start to
get a detention each time they break the class rules instead of
mark (starting with mark number 10).
Most students don't get close to 10 marks. Those who do are well
known discipline problems and I'm not sure what else to do with
them. Detentions carry some pretty serious consequences at our
school and our principal is very supportive.
Probably more rambling than you wanted to here.
Good luck with your classroom!
zodea
Posts on this thread, including this one
- Rules and Consequences, 8/14/08, by Maureen.
- Re: Rules and Consequences, 8/14/08, by Posting consequences can come back to haunt you.
- Re: Rules and Consequences, 8/15/08, by Maureen.
- Re: Rules and Consequences, 8/20/08, by Sara.
- Re: Rules and Consequences, 8/21/08, by lynne/ca.
- Re: Rules and Consequences, 8/23/08, by zodea.
- Re: Rules and Consequences, 8/24/08, by lynne/ca with a question for zodea.
- Re: Rules and Consequences, 8/29/08, by zodea.
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