how to make students feel miserable...

[Liver]

I read something about the RIAA that made a lot of sense to me. The RIAA was complaining about CD / MP3 copying and how it can lead to the demise of their current marketing scheme. I think the author's comment may be useful here.

It is a free society, you are also free to fail.

 

[nfamous]

Do this on a wednesday:

Walk in the class, pick out the students who were supposed to go to the office, have them stand up, keep em standing, and then explain your displeasure with the classes actions. Tell the class that because the standing individuals seemed to be the instigators, the rest of the class has to write out a sentence 600 times, for the next day. Make it a bit longer, something that on average should take 30 seconds to write. And no computer help. Their entire night will be shot. The people standing don't have to do it though.

Do it again the next day, thursday. Except have the people standing write a one paragraph essay explaining why they are special and shouldn't have to go to the office.

On friday, have the essays read to the class, have the class vote if they liked the essays, and then have them write out a new sentence 1000, 1500 times, no matter what.

Repeat until their wills are broken. Making them copy whole pages from the dictionary/encyclopedia always does wonders too. Oh and their parents have to sign the papers too.

 

[J0hnny]

Originally posted by: nfamous
Do this on a wednesday:

Walk in the class, pick out the students who were supposed to go to the office, have them stand up, keep em standing, and then explain your displeasure with the classes actions. Tell the class that because the standing individuals seemed to be the instigators, the rest of the class has to write out a sentence 600 times, for the next day. Make it a bit longer, something that on average should take 30 seconds to write. And no computer help. Their entire night will be shot. The people standing don't have to do it though.

Do it again the next day, thursday. Except have the people standing write a one paragraph essay explaining why they are special and shouldn't have to go to the office.

On friday, have the essays read to the class, have the class vote if they liked the essays, and then have them write out a new sentence 1000, 1500 times, no matter what.

Repeat until their wills are broken. Making them copy whole pages from the dictionary/encyclopedia always does wonders too. Oh and their parents have to sign the papers too.

I like this. How would you enforce it if the instigators refuse to stand?

 

[tec699]

Originally posted by: hjo3
You don't know how to use commas properly... I'm going to have to call shens on you being a teacher.

Miserable much?

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: J0hnny

Originally posted by: nfamous
Do this on a wednesday:

Walk in the class, pick out the students who were supposed to go to the office, have them stand up, keep em standing, and then explain your displeasure with the classes actions. Tell the class that because the standing individuals seemed to be the instigators, the rest of the class has to write out a sentence 600 times, for the next day. Make it a bit longer, something that on average should take 30 seconds to write. And no computer help. Their entire night will be shot. The people standing don't have to do it though.

Do it again the next day, thursday. Except have the people standing write a one paragraph essay explaining why they are special and shouldn't have to go to the office.

On friday, have the essays read to the class, have the class vote if they liked the essays, and then have them write out a new sentence 1000, 1500 times, no matter what.

Repeat until their wills are broken. Making them copy whole pages from the dictionary/encyclopedia always does wonders too. Oh and their parents have to sign the papers too.

I like this. How would you enforce it if the instigators refuse to stand?

Pull them out of their seats and toss their chairs in the hallway?

 

[nfamous]

Originally posted by: J0hnny

Originally posted by: nfamous
Do this on a wednesday:

Walk in the class, pick out the students who were supposed to go to the office, have them stand up, keep em standing, and then explain your displeasure with the classes actions. Tell the class that because the standing individuals seemed to be the instigators, the rest of the class has to write out a sentence 600 times, for the next day. Make it a bit longer, something that on average should take 30 seconds to write. And no computer help. Their entire night will be shot. The people standing don't have to do it though.

Do it again the next day, thursday. Except have the people standing write a one paragraph essay explaining why they are special and shouldn't have to go to the office.

On friday, have the essays read to the class, have the class vote if they liked the essays, and then have them write out a new sentence 1000, 1500 times, no matter what.

Repeat until their wills are broken. Making them copy whole pages from the dictionary/encyclopedia always does wonders too. Oh and their parents have to sign the papers too.

I like this. How would you enforce it if the instigators refuse to stand?

Well, you probably already know who they are...if they refuse, just announce they don't have the balls to standup. say their names, and continue. They will probably stand up on thursday or friday. Have the principal in the class, just standing in the back. Mention serious, vague consequences for failure to listen. It's like the movie jaws.....it's scary if they aren't sure what will happen.

Just so you know I'm not a teacher, but I've have subbed and tutored. The above method comes from my 6th grade teacher, who taught in washington DC high schools for 10 years before coming to PA. We were petrified of making her angry.

 

[Linflas]

He sounds to me like a good teacher that just has a bit of learning to do himself. Part of being a good teacher in a situation like the one you described is having the ability to not react as if it is personal when stuff like that escalates. I suspect that once he calmed down he realized that himself.

 

[Dualist]

Originally posted by: hypn0tik
Fail all of them.

That's one way to make them miserable.

 

[MrChad]

Sounds like a tough situation xyyz. I'm a little curious about where you teach and about this teacher's prior experiences teaching.

My wife is a 9th grade math teacher in the Bronx and has to deal with this kind of disruptive behavior all day long. It is EXTREMELY frustrating, and it takes a certain kind of patience to be able to handle those situations day in and day out. That said, she knew that her experience would be a challenging one when she took the job. I'm wondering if your arabic teacher was aware of the discipline and behavior problems in inner city schools when he accepted the job.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Duality210

Originally posted by: hypn0tik
Fail all of them.

That's one way to make them miserable.

Except that makes no difference in many inner city schools. Many of them have been failing every year. The school cannot afford to keep them in the system, so it pushes them on.

This is compounded by the fact that these kids have experienced so many failures in their education that they have given up on trying to succeed. It is extremely hard to motivate a kid who has failed year after year to try their hardest.

It's a very challenging situation. The normal "suburban" ways of thinking about school discipline do not necessarily apply here.

 

[BriGy86]

Originally posted by: J0hnny

Originally posted by: nfamous
Do this on a wednesday:

Walk in the class, pick out the students who were supposed to go to the office, have them stand up, keep em standing, and then explain your displeasure with the classes actions. Tell the class that because the standing individuals seemed to be the instigators, the rest of the class has to write out a sentence 600 times, for the next day. Make it a bit longer, something that on average should take 30 seconds to write. And no computer help. Their entire night will be shot. The people standing don't have to do it though.

Do it again the next day, thursday. Except have the people standing write a one paragraph essay explaining why they are special and shouldn't have to go to the office.

On friday, have the essays read to the class, have the class vote if they liked the essays, and then have them write out a new sentence 1000, 1500 times, no matter what.

Repeat until their wills are broken. Making them copy whole pages from the dictionary/encyclopedia always does wonders too. Oh and their parents have to sign the papers too.

I like this. How would you enforce it if the instigators refuse to stand?

make it an assignment, worth points, A LOT of points, the millitary does things like this to break soldiers in boot camp

if some one fails and makes the group fail that person gets to sit and eat candy and pop while the others do push ups and watch, this makes the rest of the group hate that one person and the group usually fixes itself

 

[BriGy86]

but you might want to give the kids an alternative, write the apology letters, if they don't then do the essay deal

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Fail them anyway. Fvck them. I was reading the WSJ when I was their age. If they can't get with the program, at least send them straight to the bottom where they belong. Half of them will probably end up on welfare or in prison anyway. Stop wasting any more taxpayer money on them then you need to and cut them off now.

PS: I have no problem with teachers having handguns in their desks to assist in this process of weeding out the scum of society before they try to spread their misery.

You're a real ray of sunshine, you know that? This beautiful world you live in, full of smiling happy people--how do I achieve it?

 

[darkamulets]

Originally posted by: nfamous
Do this on a wednesday:

Walk in the class, pick out the students who were supposed to go to the office, have them stand up, keep em standing, and then explain your displeasure with the classes actions. Tell the class that because the standing individuals seemed to be the instigators, the rest of the class has to write out a sentence 600 times, for the next day. Make it a bit longer, something that on average should take 30 seconds to write. And no computer help. Their entire night will be shot. The people standing don't have to do it though.

Do it again the next day, thursday. Except have the people standing write a one paragraph essay explaining why they are special and shouldn't have to go to the office.

On friday, have the essays read to the class, have the class vote if they liked the essays, and then have them write out a new sentence 1000, 1500 times, no matter what.

Repeat until their wills are broken. Making them copy whole pages from the dictionary/encyclopedia always does wonders too. Oh and their parents have to sign the papers too.

You sir remind me of my 5th science teacher. She and you sure do know how to instill fear into the hearts of the young`en. I VOTE FOR THIS, it'll humble them.

or

Offer them the choice of writing the apology. If they choose not to; have them do the above stated procedure. Just don't tell them you'll do this if they don't write the apology. Let them tie their own rope.

 

[BrokenVisage]

Originally posted by: Colt45

Originally posted by: Lyfer

Originally posted by: hjo3
You don't know how to use commas properly... I'm going to have to call shens on you being a teacher.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: chcarnage
*pushes thread*

Anything new?

yeah, thanks for remembering for us

 

[dabuddha]

Flog those moronic children.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: KLin
Can we bring spanking back to school discipline please?

it works...i dont care what people say...smack the sh1t out of a misbehaving kid and he's not gonna pull that sh1t agian.

 

[oboeguy]

Sounds like par for the course, with a charter school in a rough area (is it?). Your principal needs to grow a pair and suspend and / or expell the instigators. It's not your job to handle this.

 

[montanafan]

Were the students who did this expelled? If they were not disciplined appropriately by the administration then they are not going to feel as if they did anything wrong and may even be proud of themselves for the power they were able to wield getting rid of the teacher. If they were punished, then you may be able to get something out of them.

Though the suggestion about the standing and writing might work with younger kids, I think it would only serve to cause resentment against the teacher assigning it, especially if what they are assigned to write is just junk. Though many may quietly blame the trouble-makers, they would feel even more angry with the teacher, feeling that they are being punished for the actions of others and that it is the teacher's job to punish these students, not theirs. It could also easily cause them to close ranks against the teacher for this injustice.

You say these are really decent kids and have a conscience, if that's true and your goal is to get this other teacher to come back without the "run out of town" label, then your best bet is to talk to a couple of the troublemakers who are seen as leaders by their peers and convince them that what they did was wrong and that getting this good guy back is the right thing to do and in their best interests. Then get them to be your allies in talking to the others and convincing them to write the letters of apology as well. Peer pressure and the desire to fit in are much stronger with kids this age than any sort of threat or punishment.

First and foremost though, they must be punished personally for what they did. In a situation like this our school would either suspend them for an extended time or assign them to lunch/after school character education classes that take up their free time and are very painful to the kids because they are taught to individuals or pairs, but not large groups. Kids hate being taught stuff like this one on one by a teacher.

Good luck!