‘Discipline’ Archives
When You’re Happy, They’re Happy
I recently had a baby boy, and during the expected lack of sleep and increased irritability on my own part, I noticed something very important. When I am in a bad mood, easily annoyed and snappy, so are the students.It’s not like I’ve been [...]
Should I Be Allowed to Beat My Students With an Enormous Wooden Paddle?
I just read an article "To Paddle or Not to Paddle Students" on CNN. This is crazy, and yes, this article was just written today, in the year 2010.Over 200,000 kids were BEAT last year in the United States of America because they misbehaved in [...]
Blame the Parents — I Do
Last year at Back-To-School-Night, I was pleasantly surprised to see both parents of a struggling student show up. The student was in my accelerated 9th grade class. She had an F, she didn’t do any homework, and always came into my classroom [...]
Let’s Make a Deal: How to Help Fading (and Failing) Students at the End of the Year
Everyone loves the end of the school year, especially the teachers and students. The parents, maybe not so much.The reason I like the end of the year so much is because it is such a clean break. At no point during the regular school year do I [...]
The Myth of the After School Conversation
Six Tips on How to Have the Talk I love it. I love it love it love it when I hear people give their two cents about how we should handle our worst students in our worst public schools.Whether it is idle chat I overhear at Starbucks, or on a [...]
Having a Little Ghetto in You
Honing the Proper Persona for Public School New teachers often express the same sentiments over and over when they take their first public school teaching job:I can’t believe these kids! They don’t care about anything!They are amazed at [...]
You Might As Well Get To Know The Security Staff — You Are One Of Them
How to Work With Security and Administration to Properly Discipline Students I know that some days I feel more like a security guard than a teacher. It seems that in between class I’m pulling kids apart who are trying to beat each other up, and [...]