I have a student who is new to the school. She has been late already a few times to my class. Yesterday she asked to get a drink of water twenty minutes before the end of class and never returned. I will have to deal with this situation today.
My plan is to speak with her privately before class begins ( assuming she arrives on time ). I will ask her what happened and listen to her story. If her story does not justify the behaviour, I will say to her that she needs to
A. earn some trust back because she lied about going for water
B. buy back class time by coming in at lunch to complete the work not done. The consequence for not doing this will be to sit in the hall and do independent work during class time in order to regain the privilege of resuming normal classroom participation.
C. If this does not remedy the issue, I will call home and try to get parental support to help this student follow normal procedures.
Your thoughts?
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Mr. Foster,
ReplyDeleteI would tend towards option B. Your expectations are clear and simple. The poor/unwanted behaviour has been identified and a solution that rests the weight of responsibility back on the student has been given. I liked how you worded option B by stating; "...in order to regain the privilege of...classroom participation." Most students do not see school as a privilege. They feel that if they behave poorly, you are punishing them. But with this wording you help them to see that they have "lost" a privilege because of their actions. Likewise, their changed actions can result in gaining that privilege back.
A word of caution though. Make sure you get the background information before jumping to any of these options. You didn't state what grade or age the student is; so there may be a legitimate, albeit embarassing reason she needed to leave 20 minutes early and not return. If this is simple defiance or apathy towards education then I would heavily consider option C.
If this student is otherwise well-behaved, I would lead with grace. Gain a better understanding and still consider option B as the best reasoning. Remember, even if she did have an 'accident', the other students don't need to know; but they will see that she was able to leave twenty minutes earlier with no resulting repercussion. So, for the sake of the rest of your students she may have to earn time back no matter what.
In all things remember that we are human. Speak the truth in love (Eph.4:15).
-Jordan Webb
Mr. Foster,
ReplyDeleteI would tend towards option B. Your expectations are clear and simple. The poor/unwanted behaviour has been identified and a solution that rests the weight of responsibility back on the student has been given. I liked how you worded option B by stating; "...in order to regain the privilege of...classroom participation." Most students do not see school as a privilege. They feel that if they behave poorly, you are punishing them. But with this wording you help them to see that they have "lost" a privilege because of their actions. Likewise, their changed actions can result in gaining that privilege back.
A word of caution though. Make sure you get the background information before jumping to any of these options. You didn't state what grade or age the student is; so there may be a legitimate, albeit embarassing reason she needed to leave 20 minutes early and not return. If this is simple defiance or apathy towards education then I would heavily consider option C.
If this student is otherwise well-behaved, I would lead with grace. Gain a better understanding and still consider option B as the best reasoning. Remember, even if she did have an 'accident', the other students don't need to know; but they will see that she was able to leave twenty minutes earlier with no resulting repercussion. So, for the sake of the rest of your students she may have to earn time back no matter what.
In all things remember that we are human. Speak the truth in love (Eph.4:15).
-Jordan Webb