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Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?
Posted by 11 years as a teacher on 10/09/08

It is really important that you (or another more senior teacher)
bring this issue up to the administration. Does your school have
a faculty council or faculty meeting time? The administration
should not be allowing this. Calmly explain why it is such a
problem and focus on possible solutions (as you presented in your
post). Don't go into a blame game; just state the problem and ask
if there isn't anyway that it could be resolved so everyone got
what they needed. Again, sometimes a long-term member of the
staff who is highly respected can get further with the
administration than anyone else. Also, you could go to the
cheerleading sponsors first and ask if they could do it
differently in the future. We all appreciate being approached
first, before something is made public or our bosses are
involved. If you handle yourself professionally, these people
will probably respect you more in the end.

On 10/09/08, to all who responded...thanks...nd one more thing
about her wrote:
> I had this student last yr--in grade 7. (I now teach grade 8).
> I, and other teachers, had similiar problems with her. Last
> yr, I finally got here to where she'd come into class, sit, do
> her work, raise her hand, and etc. She's regressed. It is
> frustrating. As is the all-call announcement. To the poster
> who said 'coaches come in etc etc'...no, the cheerleader coach
> is the guidance counselor--who is here all the time--and
> another teacher--who is here all the time. I don't know why
> they can't call these kids for a few minutes after--or before
> school--or during homeroom. The disruptions, to me, interrupt
> with the teaching environment that we are supposed to be
> focused on--aka state testing etc. (as an aside...i don't
> think the guidance counselor ever sat one day in a teaching
> classroom--she went straight through to counseling, got her
> degree, and here she is, with absolutely no sensitivity as to
> classroom mechanics and goings-on.
>
>
>
> On 10/09/08, vet English teacher wrote:
>> I'm assuming you want what you do to make a positive
>> difference with her. Is that what you want or at this point
>> are you so frustrated you simply want her punished?
>> People shouldn't give advice without knowing your goal - what
>> do you want to achieve? What you do depends on what you want
>> to achieve.
>>
>> In my experience, kids such as this one get worse - not better
>> - after they're written up. They get more difficult to manage
>> not easier to manage. It's human nature and like the
>> certainty we have about the sun rising tomorrow morning, I'm
>> that certain this kid will get worse if written up. Unless of
>> course you have a wizard with kids Principal but I've found
>> most Principals not to be all that good with kids.
>>
>> If her writing is always tiny, that's a red flag about her
>> underlying skills and a sure sign of a learning difference. It
>> it's not, she still sounds like she's got issues to me -
>> processing issues, call them whatever we will - not every kid
>> has a personality or a profile that's well suited to school
>> and in the better world, we'd have a different kind of school
>> for such kids. Schools with more activity and less sitting,
>> schools with smaller class sizes etc. etc.
>>
>> But we don't and what do we do until then? Well, you told
>> when she couldn't go to cheerleading trials - did you tell her
>> when she could go? Don't assume she can figure that on her
>> own - she doesn't sound like a strong thinker. "Kelly, of
>> course you can't go now - we're taking a test but you can go
>> after class or during lunch or after school. This isn't your
>> last chance by any means. I hope you make the team."
>>
>> Modern people including modern kids argue - it's a societal
>> trait, it's now endemic in our culture. If you're asking how
>> to get people to stop arguing, turn back the clock of time is
>> my only suggestion. They didn't the 50s 'the Silent Society'
>> for nothing.
>>
>> In these situations- use your wits - not your seeming
>> authority because we have no real power over other peoples'
>> emotions. We cannot command people to feel differently than
>> they do and it's their emotions that fuse the situation.Kids
>> have emotional reactions - be savvy when they do and defuse
>> the situation. It's also endemic in our culture now to 'be
>> cool'. So coolly ask "what's up with this? What are you all
>> riled up about? Everything's under control. There's nothing
>> to get jumpy about." Middle school kids hear that and
>> especially her peers who will then turn to her with looks on
>> their faces like "Teacher's right. You're not carryin'
>> yourself cool."
>>
>> Find out if other teachers in the building - even one- has a
>> working relationship with this student. Then find out how they
>> ever accomplished it.... build bridges, not walls.
>>
>> My humble opinion - good luck with her.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>


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Posts on this thread, including this one


• should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/08/08, by Aggravated.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/08/08, by jh.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/08/08, by sb.
• Re: Hmm..., 10/08/08, by Mshope.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/08/08, by Rebecca.
• Re: Your school should be written up, 10/08/08, by i think.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by vet English teacher.
• Re: should I write a discipline...? Agree with Rebecca, 10/09/08, by ~connie (who loves Love and Logic).
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by Ima Teacher.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by to all who responded...thanks...and one more thing about her.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by 11 years as teacher.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by 11 years as a teacher.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by vet teacher.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by OP with a few more (longish)responses...to vet teacher et al.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by vet teacher.
• Re: What love and logic book?, 10/09/08, by bsk.
• Re: What love and logic book?, 10/09/08, by Rebecca.
• Re: Your school should be written up- Thank You!, 10/10/08, by Terri.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/10/08, by Terri.
• Re: Your school should be written up- Thank You!, 10/10/08, by Carolyn.
• Re: What love and logic book? Great book, 10/12/08, by Mshope.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/13/08, by Jawnte Everette.