A colleague of mine was running a test in her grade 10 French Immersion classroom and one of the highest performing boys repeatedly spoke out during the test. When the teacher warned him of the consequences for disrupting the test environment, he challenged her, claiming she was singling him out unfairly. This was not an isolated event. The teacher felt she was not able to resolve the issue. She called the vice-principal in. He came in during the next test and said that if any student spoke out during the test everyone in the class would receive zero.
Is this an effective intervention? Will this create an appropriate form of peer pressure, or will this unfairly penalize the innocent students?
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Well, first of all, said teacher would end up undermining him/herself in the eye of that particular student. By not personally dealing with the issue to the end and pawning it off onto the Principal, he/she is also not encouraging dialogue. Perhaps the teacher could come up with a system that required Ss to use speaking cards before or after the test with rewards for silence during the test.
ReplyDeleteThey could also change the way they assess Ss. Perhaps instead of a paper test, they could devise an assessment where his verbal skills were challenged. He could actually be a part of a small group of Ss who would fare better within that type of testing.
It is most definitely a form of peer pressure as said S's peers would be on the lookout for any indication of an outburst and even at the of group discipline, would still be bent on exacting their own revenge.