Friday, 8th period 2:30pm.
James* is sitting in his assigned seat in the back row of the classroom. Usually an active and restless student, James is sitting listlessly in his seat staring at the blackboard where I am writing, not taking notes. At first, I will admit, I was pleased that James was quiet and not disrupting the class so I continued to teach my mini lesson.
2:45pm (20 min until the weekend)
Shortly after, I noticed my cooperating teacher, Mr. Frank*, move over to James’ side of the room. A quick scan of the back row indicated to me that my Mr. Frank was making his way over to James whose head was now resting on his desk, with his eyes closed – he was clearly sleeping. Although I was still in the middle of my mini lesson, I split my focus slightly to listen to how my cooperating teacher was going to deal with James. Mr. Frank’s first attempt to wake James began with two short knocks on his desk. After a minuet or two, when James made no response, Mr. Frank proceeded to lightly tap him on the shoulder, and when that didn’t work, shake him slightly. At this point, James woke up, and he was not very happy – he began to make a scene. “Yo…Why’d you wake me up” said James loudly. I couldn’t hear Mr. Frank’s response because it was whispered, however, after class he told me he had said, “you are in class, you need to sit up, pay attention, and take notes”. “Is class over?” James immediately replied. “No,” Said Mr. Frank, “You need to stop messing around and become part of this class, you are losing points by being disrespectful and not participating.” “Nah, I’m tired, I wanna sleep, why you gotta be on my grill all the time”. At this point, I could tell that Mr. Frank was beginning to lose his patience; the entire class had moved their focus from my mini lesson to the disruption that was taking place in the back corner of the classroom. Mr. Frank remained cool. This time, he responded to James loud enough so the whole class (who was listening in anyway) could hear. “James, you have a choice. You can wake up, sit up, and participate as a member of this class and get credit for being here – or you can go to room 470A [the office were students are sent for behavior and dress code violations] and sleep there until the vice principal is ready to discuss this problem with you.” At this point, James sat up, gathered his things, looked Mr. Frank in the face, and, without a word, got up and left the classroom. I did not see James again until the following Monday.
3:15 (The weekend has begun)
I asked Mr. Frank to give me a run down of what happened. He filled me in on the parts of the dialogue I had missed while teaching my lesson and explained why he had given James the choice to stay and get credit for being in class or leave and get a zero. He explained that in general, students make the right choice, change their attitudes, and become functioning members of the class. Unfortunately, in this case, James was not willing to become a member of the class and opted to leave. “It was his choice to stay or go,” said Mr. Frank, “part of being in school is learning some accountability.”
Final Thoughts
The practice of giving students the choice to stop disrupting/sleeping/being out of dress code/etc. and be active members of the classroom or to report to room 470A is a practice I have seen on more than one occasion, and in more than one classroom. The teachers with whom I have discussed this practice all swear that 9 out of 10 times the students ‘buck up’ so to speak and get with the program. However, of the three times I have witnessed this personally, two of the students have elected to report to room 470A and only one chose to remain in the classroom.
* Indicates pseudonym has been used.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteIn the instances in which you have observed teachers giving the students the choice of going to room 470A, and in this incident specifically, did the teachers try to use any incentives to keep the students in the classroom? Other than telling James he was loosing points for sleeping in class, did Mr. Frank offer any other reasons to James as to why he should not have been sleeping in class? Does it seem as though there is some sort of criteria as to why the students are given this option or does it seem to vary depending on the teacher, student, classroom, day, etc.?
Is this an isolated incident with James? Or is he a repeat offender of falling asleep in class?
ReplyDeleteKristen,
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, James is usually more of a problem then a pleasure. This was the first time I have seen him fall asleep in class (then again I only see him one period a day, so I can not be sure wether or not this is something that happens more frequently in other classes). He is however, incapable it seems to sit still - he is always getting up and walking around in the classroom - or talking to other students.
Nicole,
Sending students to 470F (I know I put 470A but I was mistaken) is never a first time measure. In Mr. Frank's class, unless you have been particularly heinous that day, being sent to the office is usually a three strikes your out type situation (although I have seen it happen on a first strike). In this particular instance, I am not entirely sure what preceded the incident i described. In the past, students are often told why they need to participate and pay attention (usually having to do with content knowledge, their education, being respectful to the teacher and their peers, in one case i heard Mr Frank tell a student that he had to stop doing what he was doing because he (Mr. Frank) was in charge and that was life. I asked about why Mr. Frank gave James the option to leave or stay, he told me that usually the students make the right choice because they do actually want to learn and that student self accountability is something very important. However, Im sure that the reasons for giving this option vary from teacher to teacher.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteHas James ever been given the option of participating in class or leaving before? If so, has he made the "wrong" choice before? Has James ever been sent to 470? Other than getting a 0 for the day, were there any other consequences for falling asleep/walking out of class?
Meghan,
ReplyDeleteJames is often given the choice of staying or going. Up until this point he has always made the right decision and stayed in class. Although he doesn't always participate. From my recollection, (and this could be different on days I have not been in class - Wednesdays and Fridays) he has been sent to 470 once but that was for refusing to be in dress code (for this kind of infraction, 470 is mandatory).
This is a 9th grade class so they are given a little more leeway than my 11th graders... From what i understand, there are no other consequences, you either stay and get participation credit for being there, or you leave and you get a zero.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteDo you think sending his out of class was the right choice? I wonder what the difference is between letting him sleep/ waking him up and moving on from the problem or sending him out of the class. Could there have been a different consequence that would allow him to stay in the classroom and have to listen to the lesson? Maybe being sent to 470 was a reward to James rather than a punishment. Some kids might not want to stay in class and so acting out and being told to leave class is what they want.
Also, do you think that giving his the choice to leave was a good idea? I know that you said that he usually chooses the right one, I can see it as giving him the choice is almost like giving him permission to leave. If the teacher said he could leave class, he was just doing what he was told. That might be the way he looked at the situation. I'm just worried that the next time a student wants nothing to do with class they will act out until they are able to leave.
I'm not trying to attack yours or Mr. Frank's teaching method. I'm just stating what I think, and of course I know that there are MANY ways to look at a situation.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteHow have these comments helped you to think about classroom management policy in your own classroom next year? What rules/consequences do you want in place? What happens when "james" falls asleep? What happens when he makes the wrong choice?
Laura, I agree with what people are saying here, but what I find most interesting is the fact that you seem to disagree with Mr. Frank's idea to send this student out of the classroom. Would you have done the same in this situation? Do you think there could have been a better way to handle this situation?
ReplyDeleteIn a reading from a while back, (I believe) Lemov said something about dealing with issues like this. This reading stated that when giving students options like this a teacher must only give choices that are acceptable to them. In this situation, sending a student out of the classroom to miss a lesson was an option that was acceptable to your cooperating teacher, but was it acceptable for you? How would you handle this situation in your future classroom?
Kristin, Alyssa and Meghan,
ReplyDeleteI am inclined to say that giving James the choice to leave the classroom is not something I personally, in my own classroom, would do. being sent to 470 is tantamount to receiving detention, so it is defiantly seen as a punishment by students - so i suppose it is really a trade off for them, the punishment of having to sit through class, or the punishment of detention. I know for me, staying in the classroom would have been the more acceptable choice, but I am not sure i know which is the less appealing choice in the eyes of this particular student.
In general, I tend to agree with giving the students choice to leave the classroom or remain - but I say that with stipulations. This kind of choice, in my own classroom, would be reserved for students who are acting out and being disruptive. A student who is sleeping, although not ideal, who, is for the most part not being disruptive (on account of his sleeping) would not be someone i would elect to send out of the room. I would however, wake him up as often as i could, and try to get to the bottom of why he is sleeping in my classroom - perhaps even calling the parents to see what his evening routines are like.
Alyssa's comment about not asking questions of students that don't have outcomes you would want is key - this is something i have thought about considerably when i began thinking about what i would want my classroom to look like. Although I am not entirely sure what kind of rules will be non negotiable in my classroom - I do know that I would like to avoid sending students out of my classroom when at all possible.
This activity has been useful. It is always nice to hear the incites of my classmates as they usually have very keen comments (which in turn cause me to think even more :) ).