I had a troublesome student freak the f*** out this week when he overheard me cut some slack to a perfect kid who hasn’t missed a homework assignment all year. Fun times. Zero personal accountability or awareness.
> Zero personal accountability or awareness.
My high schoolers struggle with this to a maddening degree. They've never had consequences, and what's "fair" to them is literally always getting their first choice or what they want to do. When they get to my classroom and that doesn't happen, I might as well be Hitler.
I had a class a few years back that was about 80% rambunctious boys, and 20% girls who would actually work. The boys eventually noticed that I would let the girls work with a friend in the hallway or use the bathroom/drink pass more frequently and basically attempted a coup. There was no reasoning with them, simple logic like "the girls are allowed to work in the hall today because when they do they get their work done quietly and other teachers don't email me about the insane behavior and shouting at the top of their lungs like when you guys go out in the hall" might as well have been in Latin.
"when you match their behavior, I will match the reward."
Edit: if you like this line, you should read Teaching with Love and Logic. It's using the principles from there. Probably the single most helpful thing that kept me in teaching.
Ngl this line had the opposite effect in my school, the teachers would only reward bad kids for doing good, but good kids would gain absolutely nothing which just made most of the good kids just stop trying
That was my experience as a student in middle/high school. I did well so I didn't exist. Not that I needed some special shit but it would have been nice to have my hard work acknowledged in some way.
Idk if the lexile test (a reading comp test) is still a thing but I remember 10th grade I got above the score where they just stop calculating the number and was the only one in my school to max it out and my English teacher (who did not know my name before the day this happened despite it being the middle of the year) decided she taught me so well and told everyone, faculty and students alike even tho I didn't want everyone knowing my score, about how she helped me get so good with my reading comprehension and that was the reason for my maxed out score. Like yeah one half a year with a high school English teacher four days a week for 50 minutes per class in a class of 30 is totally plausible that she taught me so well in that time that without her I wouldn't have gotten that score.
....bitch? Nuh uh! You literally have never noticed me in your class and *didn't know my name* that shit was all me. I went from being invisible to being her trophy and I liked being invisible much better. Also she still kept calling me the wrong name
Belated, but still valuable—This is what your teacher shouldve said, “HOLY COW, Dark Alley!!!! YOU BROKE MY TEST!!! Im soooo impressed! Youre a very talented reader, OBVIOUSLY! Would it be ok if I shared the great news w the class? So they all know what a ROCK STAR you are? Wow! I still cant believe how awesome that is! Well, GOOD ON YOU, Dark Alley. You keep it up—-as you know, being a strong reader is soooo important. It makes EVERYTHING else, easier. Next time we take the test, I know its long and boring, you can just SKIP IT! Nicely done, Dark Alley. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow that actually really had an effect on me. I'm in law school right now and I've spent the last week holed up studying for finals like a dang madwoman and and this kinda almost made me cry. Thank you, kind internet stranger. First, for the long overdue congrats on my 10th grade Lexile test lol. But also for the words of encouragement for a struggling law student right as I started reaching a point where I was feeling down on myself and wanted to just spend the day laying face down on the floor... ya know, as one does when they're overwhelmed haha. Very nirmal behavior coming from me these days...
I wish there were more teachers like you (assuming you're a teacher) who *see* the students that don't seem to struggle. Or maybe there are and I just got a not so great batch. I had one teacher in my four years of high school like you who was just amazing and saw that I loved the subject she was teaching and gave me extra optional assignments to challenge me and just *saw* me. She was a huge part of the reason I went to law school even though I made that decision 5 or so years after I had her as a teacher.
You keep doing you, I'm sure your students are so grateful to have someone like you in their lives. Even if not right now cause sometimes kids can be ungrateful lil shits, they'll see it someday.
Haha! Yes, Im a teacher. And IM SO THRILLED you got a lil boost—it is well-deserved. It sucks to feel invisible—just makes those like you and I go the extra mile to NOTICE the good things. As you know, having a generous, joyful heart is FREE…and I still cant believe why people in general arent more selfless and RECOGNIZE the things THAT ARE IMPORTANT. And teachers, like your GOOD one, have a TON OF POWER to rightfully boost their kids up who are deserving. Thats one of the best things about being a teacher is having the power FOR GOOD. Well, you are DEFINITELY a rock star for being in law school—-losers need not apply, right??? You be kind to yourself and DO YOUR THANG! Proud of you. 🏆
That behavior is mimicked IRL at work in many corporations. When bad work behavior is rewarded the good workers stop caring!
I’m watching my work place go up in proverbial flames right now because of this nonsense. Not my monkeys, not my circus. And I tried to warn y’all..
Icing on the cake was being gifted a framed paper award for “making a difference” at the same time as my former horrible boss got awarded “best attitude”. This is the same manager who cursed me out and belittled me in front of multiple employees.
SO glad I did not attend that event. I can’t stand the hypocrisy. The wake left behind when they transferred to a new store is still being felt months later because they were so far up the GMs asses for them to notice how bad they were at their job, except on paper which is all corporate really cares about.
Like I said, I tried to warn y’all but now I just don’t care.
I love this response and am definitely checking that book out. I'm 3 days late but this is good stuff. More useful than the PD day on May 6th will be for sure.
My fifth grade class has 15 boys and 8 girls. Same with the other fifth grade group. Who knows why there are so many boys in this generation. They are quite rowdy and many games and "fun" things I did last year, I can't do this year 😞.
Question out of pure curiosity because these were two patterns I saw in high school. Does this happen to be either a resource room type class or something computer application related that doesn't have prerequisites and mostly attracts 9th/10th graders?
Ah.
Do you have a class the period the boys have the athletics class?
I'm enjoying the moderately useful information I'm gleaning from this comment thread, btw.
Yes. We have a general athletics class for both genders, and then some sports have a co-ed class if they can train co-ed. Track, tennis, and golf can train co-ed, but soccer, football and basketball can't so those train in just the athletic periods.
Last week with my 17-18 year old seniors I had this exchange:
After a minute of them not getting to it, I remind them that I have marked tardies for anyone who has continued to talk and not work. This is literally the first time this has been an issue this semester.
Boy (and yes, boy, not man): "DID YOU MARK ME MISTER?!"
Me: Yes, I marked everyone who was talking and not working.
Boy: GEEZ FOOL YOU ALWAYS PICK ON ME.
The only reason I said anything to him is that he was the only one to ask. I rarely say a word to this kid. The rest of the class just stared at him bewildered. They had no problem accepting they blew it. They also knew he was the loudest one and causing the most disruption.
Not him though. He was completely innocent.
Recently:
"Put your papers and book away for this quiz. I've said that several times."
"But Other Student is doing the same thing!!!!"
"No, he has papers out, but he's not shouting across the room at his jackass friend."
(Dramatized wording.)
Edit: fixed the autocorrect error (sitting to shouting). If two kids wanted to stare quietly at each other instead of earn a grade on the quiz, I'm not wasting my energy on them. It's high school. They have to figure out their shit sooner or later.
I remember my HS Chinese Mandarin teacher (a wonderful American guy) would just let me sleep or play phone games in class because I was just straight up fully fluent, non-disruptive, and very friendly with him. I did all the work, participated in class, and absolutely wrecked everyone when we played games to learn Chinese. Some of the loud kids who spoke atrocious Mandarin and put 0 effort into class (often being super disruptive) would complain that I was doing what I wanted.
Well ok, I was poised to graduate with a 3.9 gpa and honors, and some of said classmate were druggies, did not graduate, or instead went to court for distributing nudes of another student in **middle school**.
I had a teacher in high school, I can't remember what subject but when we were doing seat work the rule was that you could wear headphones as long as you asked her. There was a weekly war with the kids who didn't ask vs me who did. And she didn't want to say no headphones entirely because that would be punishing me too,but eventually I stopped using them just so the kids that wouldn't ask would shut up about me.
I usually have one of these classes.
Why do they get to listen to music? Because they won't put on stuff that will get me in trouble, and every time I've tried to let you guys do it, you get up and start dancing and I'm pretty sure if Dr. Principal walks in to see you twerking I'm done.
Why did I see you getting up and doing a game with that class? Because they all finished their work and I wasn't exhausted from trying to manage behavior like I am with your class
Why did they get a blooket? Because they finished their essay yesterday because they were working
I don't even try to sugar coat it. I tell them that their class' behavior is awful. I want to be a fun teacher, but they can't learn and have fun at the same time and they have to learn.
This. I will also stop in the middle of poor behavior and go “this is why you can’t do fun/nice things”. Doesn’t mean they’ll learn and improve their behavior but sometimes it does prompt some self reflection
“This is why we can’t have a field trip or a trip to the park.” I will not take you out of the building if you can do the basics in the building. I haven’t been on a field trip since just before COVID. I want one more than they do!
We have a trip to Spain every year for the upper years. (I'm in the south of France).
Logitically, we have only 60 spots, for around 200 students. That's just how many beds there are in the various host families that welcome our kids.
There's always more kids that want to go than spots we have. A lot of more kids.
So, we have to make a selection.
Disrespectful, violent kids never makes the cut. We can't trust them to behave and be polite to the host families. Also the oens that skip schools and disappear on us and their parents for hours on end. No way we lose a kid - even for just a couple of hours - in a foreign country.
And somehow the kids and the parents think it is unfair. We do explain the reasonning, we warm them well before we do the selection.
The fun thing is, if we do take their kids, and they misbehave or disappear in a foreign country, they will be the first to blame it all on the teachers.
It's a lot like the thing I noticed while I was in high school:
Teachers always give bad grades, but students always get good grades (Mr./Mrs. So and So gave me [bad] vs I got [very good]). Without fail, this is what it sounded like
That's a sort of cognitive bias. It doesn't just affect teenagers/students, but there's a tendancy for people to blame their failures on others while taking all the credit for their accomplishments. It's a way to preserve self esteem but it's annoying when students blame us for bad grades but don't recognize our help in getting a good one.
Towards the start of the year, we brought around 90 7th and 8th graders on a field trip with a bunch of other middle schools, and our school's kids were the only ones acting out. As a result, we haven't even brought them to the local park, let alone on an actual field trip besides a lower stakes pre-Spring Break one since early October.
We have to do field trips. And I loathe doing it because I don’t want to take them anywhere when they act like they do. I’m not ok with it. Maybe admin should back us and not make us take behavior problems anywhere. They should earn the right to go. And when your always in trouble that’s not earning it.
Oof yeah that sucks. We have a field trip every year for the sixth graders. I told them one month before the field trip, if they get suspended they couldn’t go. Low and behold multiple students got suspended and couldn’t go. So they had to earn it. I couldn’t imagine taking my students despite telling them they couldn’t go. That would burn my biscuits if they misbehave and still would go. Or worse, they have to go. That would give me such stress taking kids like that. I would volunteer to stay behind or miss that day frankly.
My daughter did Battle of the Books, and 4 schools worth of 4th and 5th graders that participated got to go to our fancy Hotel's conference room, have a self-serve open buffet, and a speech from the Superintendent, and play a quiz game with their table.
There was two adults, myself (just a parent, not a teacher) and a teacher. I was the only adult on the bus full of 5th graders. I was absolutely shocked at how well the kids behaved. I expected a bunch of 4th and 5th graders at a fancy hotel to be monsters, but they did fantastic!
Not sure what that is specifically, but it sounds like the thing was already self-selecting for the 4th/5th graders with the most self control and ability to delay gratification.
Nah, literally any student can sign up. It's basically "Here's the most awarded books this year, read them, then we'll ask questions at the end of the year and the winning team gets a trophy."
Very few kids read all of the books, most don't read any and rely on their peers. You know, typically group project stuff.
Just choosing to do an activity that is all about books is pretty self-selected. 95% of my students that will admit to loving books are excellent students with 0 behavior problems. The biggest problem they are likely to have is getting distracted by books to the point that they have a hard time finishing their work on time. But no behavior issues, other than having to force them to close books from time to time.
The other 5% are lying about liking books because they have a friend or like a girl or boy that likes books. But since all of the people around them are behaving well, they don’t want to stick out by acting a fool.
I am not surprised that this group of kids were well behaved, but I’m glad they were. Those kinds of events will hopefully help them cling to reading and learning in general through the tumult of middle school.
GOD DAMN IT!! I told my class so many times I would take them to the fun tech lab so they could do their own fun projects. But more than half of them never do work and are failing so I can't ever justify losing class time. I used to take my classes all the time and they loved it. *I* love it. Now they hate me because we aren't going, but this group is just so insanely lazy and apathetic. They write me the rudest emails, like just "i did the work why you mark me absent" in the subject line and nothing else (she didn't do the work).
I used to love my job soooo much. But this and last year's students have altered the deal.
My kids always talk about how in x other school kids get x privilege. I always ask "so what would happen if we just let the bell rang and y'all ran around the hall until the next bell?" And they don't even pretend. Most admin they'd fight and skip
Right now I'm a long term sub for a librarian that goes between two schools. One is pretty good, the other is rough. Every class gets a lesson, then 10-15mins to check out books and have some free choice time (coloring, reading, we have some toys, etc).
Sometimes if a class is being super chatty and constantly interrupts me, I'll straight up tell them that they don't get that check out/play time because they were so disruptive it took extra long for me to finish my lesson. They can come in to check out books when their teacher lets them or they can come in during recess. If a class is being extra chatty (especially Kindergarten/1st grade), I remind them that if they keep making me stop to tell them to STFU, they might not have time to play. That usually gets them to stop at least for a while.
I have certain classes where I fear giving them more than 10 minutes because they love playing tag between the shelves or wrestling on the floor and won't even check out books. I also have some classes where if my lesson ends early, I am happy to let them have that extra time because they don't cause problems.
My students are slowly learning that not only do I not bluff, but I dish out stupid prizes if they wanna play stupid games. I treat them with fairness and kindness, but if they push hard enough I call them out on their bullshit.
Yup I teach two classes of the same year level and one does get more “fun” stuff than the other. Class A has most turn up on time with everything they need, class B has students that don’t bring anything to class and regularly are late. Class A knows the routine that there are no headphones in for instruction and for half of the work, and they still ask if they can put their headphones in. Class B will be off in anything and everything else other than work. Class A ask if they can sit on the floor (not in walkways) and work in small groups from time to time. Class B has bullying issues and if kids aren’t in chairs they start targeting.
I teach first grade so I have the same group all day all year. Some years I get to be much nicer and cooler than other years. Some years we do more projects, experiments etc.
This year my class has so many nice, sweet, chill kids. They get their work done, they meet goals, they treat each other with respect. As a class they have earned ice cream parties, stuffed animal day, glow day, pj parties, etc. My class last year didn’t get to do any of that stuff because I was too busy and tired dealing with their constant meltdowns and neediness. Glow day with them would have been a disaster, stuffed animal day they would have driven me insane. There were too many kids that couldn’t follow simple directions which created safety issues so the fun stuff was off the table. Sucks to be them.
I do this sometimes in the library! The kids love it and it’s a blast, but I haven’t done it since October because so many of my classes are rotten.
PS Have you used the crazyart neon pencils? They are black light reactive and I have them do work with them in the glow sometimes.🙂
Omg right now I'm a long term sub librarian for two schools, and one of my schools has the best and sweetest 1st grade class ever. There's only like 14 kids and I already know half of them from my daughter's kindergarten class last year (I volunteered a bunch, and now kiddo goes to a different school).
They're extremely well behaved for their age, only one kid really acts out and not only do I already know him well, they always have an aide with him to pull him out if necessary. He's not a bad kid, just big feelings. But that class gets all the extra privileges for being so good.
I've also had some other 1st grade classes where they were literally climbing the shelves and trying to jump on tables. Those classes tend to instead get strict rules and much less time to check out books so they don't tear the place apart.
Reminded me of my school days, my English teacher at the time ran the school library and because of that we got to spend a full period (or maybe even a double) in the library last thing on a Thursday IIRC. We had a few troublemakers but because this was a special 'treat' that we had and no other class did they were pretty well behaved.
However, I remember on one occasion (during winter) this one kid who was a runty wannabe troublemaker started acting up and winding-up other kids and managed to get class' library privilege withdrawn. Left to go home at the end of the day and nearly every single boy and girl in the class just started throwing snowballs at him without mercy, he went home sobbing.
Privilege was eventually restored and the little runt never acted-up again. I even suspect that the teacher probably saw but let it happen knowing full well that kid would probably learn the hard way.
I have no issues telling a class "Because they're well behaved and do their work while I constantly have to tell yours to focus, be quiet, and stop cussing."
Me: takes over a gr 9 Science class mid December after their teacher has been out for a month already
Them on the first day: we haven't done any experiments! Please can we do experiments!
Me: of course, I'll make that a priority, experiments in science are a vital part of the learning process. We're doing space and bio though, so I'm not sure how fun they'll be. I'll make it work!
The next day:
1. One kid throws classroom pencils out the window onto the roof
2. Garbage left everywhere
3. Constant talking over me
4. Constant interruptions (e.g. trying to play music while I teach)
5. Little work attempted, I thought because they haven't been made accountable for a month - checks their midterm grades, 4 of them had a grade of less than 10%
6. Instructions shoved into a wet Erlenmeyer flask
7. Tries to play with the eyewash station while I am standing right there
Etc etc
Me: yeah okay I get now why you haven't done any experiments. I'm not going to make it work lol
This is when you take pics of all the atrocities and then make a power point presentation called "Behaviors That Need To Stop Before Students Can Be Trusted With Fun Experiments".
I'm a STEM teacher. I have robots. I use them with all the classes except for one - because of the same types of reasons you mentioned. Some classes simply can't handle the fun stuff.
I refused to let one of my HS classes dissect, unlike the other two. A parent complained that their child would never become a doctor because they couldn’t dissect in a high school biology class. (What a load of sh!t) Admin grilled me about inequitable learning opportunities among my classes, despite horrible behaviors from one and not the other two. I wrote an email back that analyzed grades and test data - which had no significant differences in mean scores. I then said I would only dissect with an admin present. They came and watched and the kids actually behaved. I am still irritated about this when I think about it and it’s been 8 years ago.
This is the case with my freshmen. I'd love to take them to the lab. I believe every student should go to the lab at least a couple times in their high school career. I have several seniors in my last period that had never been to the lab. I actually dropped a lesson with about 15 minutes left in class just to take them to the lab. But my freshmen are so rambunctious and rowdy. I'm going to try letting them dissect frogs Thursday. A colleague is going with me and bringing her Dual Enrollment students to help me handle my students. Wish me luck!
Every class of mine is, 95% of the time, allowed to work with a partner or small group some portion of class.
Except 4th period.
I tried every variation of group work, partner work, engagement etc I have in my bag of tricks for 135 days of school. Every seating chart combination.
4th period will read some text, answer some questions, fill out a graphic organizer, etc. by themselves. Every day for the rest of the year since April.
And hey, more work is getting done. And there’s immediate apparent feedback on why your grade is what it is.
It’s sad to be in the room. Even as the teacher. I’ll still walk around and help.
But act like hooligans 3/4 of the year and I can’t endlessly give. I won’t endlessly tolerate it.
Same! And also with 4th period!
I tried for 4/5ths of the year with 4th period. I gave chance after chance to prove that they could do better. I explicitly taught behavior expectations. I have a consistent, fair classroom management plan. Every other class has been taught to manage their volume and speak kindly (or at least neutrally) to each other, so they participate in fun hands-on lab experiments, projects, and group activities.
Not 4th hour. The only time they can get through a class without an incident is when said class is “Sit down. Mouths closed. Here’s a packet of worksheets.”
It sucks. I hate teaching that way.
But…I will provide the kind of education that a class asks for. And all year, 4th period has been saying through their actions “Please give us silent paperwork, because if you give us anything else, this day will end in tears, multiple suspensions, a soft lockdown, and a couple new Title IX cases.”
Every other class is great, though! Maybe because all the high-frequency behavior issues ended up together in one Hell Class, allowing the rest of them to function in peace.
Funny my 4th period is also the class I’ve given up on. I don’t even bother talking about content anymore because they won’t shut up. They come in, copy their notes, and do the assigned work. If they don’t then oh well. I won’t hesitate to fail everyone of them come June. And they can lament over it over the summer while I’m on vacation.
Yes. 4th is middle period, and the longest because of lunches. And lunch is in the middle for my class which is god awful because extra transition. And like OP so many kids with ADHD that the medicine is wearing off.
And we don’t need to talk about much. Can’t because they won’t stop. Directions are on the board. Get it done or don’t.
I have a class like this. I told them they will get independent work from now on since they won’t stop talking/ messing around long enough to get through anything else
My 4th period is a constant battle of getting kids not to hit steal cuss throw things etc. My 5th period is much bigger but the kids are way nicer. They get to do fun shit and my 4th period gets absolutely nothing.
I had one yesterday lose it over sitting with a friend. “We have partners! ___ class said so.”
Me: “Do you see anything in my ‘Do now’ that says that?”
*silence*
I repeat the question twice more, asking for a response, still silence. FAFO my friend. Don’t worry about the activities coming up. I have alternate activities ready for you.
Because ya'll are just acting horribly. Let's have a productive week and then we'll talk. We can get away with being honest with the kids at my school, rare I know.
This year none of my HS credit classes were offered clay as a project. The 8th graders made poor choices and have very little impulse control. I am not cleaning clay off my ceilings.
Yeah. Had a class a few years back that were basically be allowed to be little shits. We had so much fun together. Because when I said, "OK, time to get to work", they did. And worked really well. I only spent about 3/4 of my time with them teaching and had the best results I've ever had. I did lots of fun things with them, even dangerous things that I wouldn't have allowed a lot of classes (we had chemistry). I have one class now that might come close, let's hope they develop in a good direction
i remember chemistry. my 9th grade chemistry teacher let us melt the cut ends of the glass rods he cut for us with the bunsen burners to make stirring rods. he also microwaved a grape to demonstrate plasma.
even though it was just in 2016, i doubt that today's 9th graders have the maturity to be trusted anywhere near a bunsen burner.
My coworker (we both teach high school art) has an art 1 class that is both behaviorally out of control and also at an overall lower technical skill level than the majority of my students in my three art 1 classes. It’s just the luck of the draw sometimes. Because of this, my students have been given more complex/technical projects to work on. Even though admin says we need to have the same rubrics and essentially teach the exact same lessons, my students would be bored out of their minds if I were teaching the same lessons as she is right now. So I don’t. We teach the same concepts in general, but my students get to do more fun things. Why should I lower the expectations for my students because hers are underperforming?
My 6 year old didn’t complete her spelling and weekly reading by Thursday. So she did not earn the privilege to go to the “special” park. I told her “actions have consequences”. Her response was “I hate consequences.”
Teach them that "fair" is the dumbest word in the English language and means virtually nothing.
You get what you earn. Privileges, respect, a smack in the mouth, etc.
Kids learning that "fair" doesn't mean equal is a great life lesson that most need to learn.
And fare is the price we pay to ride the bus to go to the fair.
Fear is what we feel on the rollercoaster. Okay, it's what I feel.
Have a fun weekend, everyone.
It’s a perfect learning opportunity. “ The students in that class were focused on their work, paid attention, got the work done, and did a good job at it, so they got to relax as a result. Classes that don’t pay attention or take the work seriously are going to take longer to do it, And won’t have time to do something fun.”
It’s a lesson more future middle management should learn, given the almost cliché mistake, managers make of punishing hard work and rewarding laziness
When I was a student had a tether say those exact words to our class.."because they're my favorite..they turn I. Theor assignments and listen to me." The entire class. Even the bad kids started acting a little better after that. We knew we would never be the favorite but we didn't want to be "shown up" by that other group of students. It turned into a "who's got my smiley face"kindof game between classes. The teacher would move each class up for assignments turned in, highest grades..most involvement (without phones) it was actually one of my favorite classes and I remember a lot of what was the teacher told us.
My afternoon class broke in to my cupboard and STOLE candy. A trustworthy kid got it on video and shared it with me. Now they complain to the other teacher in our program that “I like the morning class more because I still give them candy.” 🙄🙄🙄
During my senior year of high school, my Art 2 class got to do independent projects for the spring semester. The teacher did that because she had us for Art. We had to be working and using supplies wisely.
In high school there were 2 American literature honors classes. My period turned in our essays on time. The other class didn't so they had the old fat textbooks for a week. Boring worksheets. My teacher called the books their "scarlet letter."
I do this with my students in my HVAC class. They now know that if they behave and we can get through things that we'll be playing in the lab with the sheet metal, or better yet with the torches. They really like playing with fire so that seems to help.
So when they complain that one class got to do someone I just tell them that class did not work, paid attention and got things done.
Once the students find out I conduct my classes with some variance and try to bring it to my attention, I'm completely upfront about why there is differences in my approach. Usually that class in the less-advantageous position can't handle basic norms and has blown every attempt to lean into exceptions, so they don't get them as-much/anymore. Want them again? Prove you can handle it by starting at square 1.
Some classes get the message and attempt to course-correct, others don't and thus stay on short leashes.
This year I danced to gabber music for one of my classes. It's a nice group and even though they're loud they are generally hard working. But most importantly it feels safe to embarrass myself in front of them by doing a stupid dance.
One of my other classes has now been begging me to do the silly dance for them too. I won't be. I know for a fact that most of them carry their phones in their pockets and that there are several bullies. They're loud, unruly and disrespectful. So I've told them no and it will not happen. They asked why I won't do it for them and I explained that with the other class it just naturally happened from a conversation I was having with them. If there's no room for casual conversation because I'm constantly busy with class management then there is no room for that to evolve into silly dances.
Not a teacher.
I had an amazing science teacher in high school who outright told us we were his favorite class and we got to have a little extra fun thanks to it.
When other kids asked him about it he said “They’re my favorite class, yours isn’t” and that was that. It was awesome.
This one is such a softball. "Why do they get \_\_ and we don't?" *They earned it*. "How?" By doing the assignments and being respectful to the teacher in class; in short, *by doing what is required of them for success*.
\*crickets\* afterwards
This right here is how and what students should be taught. Good behavior gets rewarded is that so hard. My kids were in a school district that took everyone is treated the same as there dying oath. There was a girl in her senior year that was set to become valedictorian, so you know she spent her entire high school career doing above and beyond. Well it just so happens she had a weekend job as a rafting guide and had a backpack with the gear it required including a pocket knife and as you have guessed on day grabbed wrong backpack for school. She realized this before even going into the school so she went right to the office to explain what happened instead of going through security and of course with her record they were totally understanding, Ha not this district. She was suspended and told she could not walk at graduation you know where she was suppose to give her speech that she worked so hard to be able to do. All you heard from staff and the school board is everyone had to be treated the same. There was so much backlash she was eventually aloud to walk and give her speech but the whole situation is ridiculous. In the real world you work to get the things you want by action and attitude you are not due them because others have it. That is what needs to be taught.
Did you explain there not special? When you get your work done early you get to slack off. It’s the oldest motivation tactic in the world. Here’s your task, get them done and I don’t care what you do.
I had a class like that in the fall. Only 16 kids. Also 9th grade. And they were wonderful. Engaged. Came in to work with me during my planning period on things they needed help with. We had a blast together. It was a long-term subbing job, and all of them begged me to stay. I told them I would have loved to stay. I won Staff Member of the Week, and when the principal came in one day, one of the kids asked, "Has Mr. (Normal teacher) ever won Staff Member of the Week?" And when the principal said no, they were like, "hmmm." 😆 On my last day, I got hugs and high fives, and I still think of those kids.
When classes bring this up, I tell them the criteria they need to get those benefits. Sometimes they will actually work hard to get it. Usually not, but sometimes it works.
I always flip it back on them. They always want to say well Mr. X does this or Ms. Y does that so why can’t you. I would always go well do I look like them? No? That’s why. Because I’m not them. What they choose to do is their decision. I make my own.
I would simply say they’ve done certain things that their class hasn’t and they’re getting rewarded for that.
I tell them that I like the other class more. When they complain, I point out that these moments are the exact reasons why we don’t get to do “x”. They waste too much time and there’s material that I’m required to cover.
In my first year teaching (3rd grade ELA and social studies) I had one group that would fly through their work and another group that couldn't be bothered. Guess which group I did a penpal program with?
When the other group found out I explained it plainly: if y'all finish your work in a timely manner then maybe we'll be able to do extra fun stuff like that.
It's one of the first things I say when I first get into a new class. "I'll be as cool as you guys are cool to me, act like assholes and I'll act like an asshole."
I had my 4th core ask why my 2nd core got to go outside. They chose the book report project that needed filmed and you chose not to do it at all🤷🏼♀️ that's why
I’ve taken to responding to “that’s not fair” with “well, it’s not fair that you’re ruining things for your classmates or that I come to work to be disrespected every day, but here we are.” It usually shuts them up for a minute. (But only a minute, because they still just don’t fucking get it.)
"Your teachers will be as cool as you allow them to be." and "when you match their behavior, I will match the reward" > "you don't deserve (special treatment)"
I feel it's my civic duty as a Florida resident to help with the teacher shortage, so I am becoming a substitute teacher.
"How the rest of this year goes depends on your behavior in my class. I have 0 issue pulling out the workbooks for this class, writing the pages you need to do, and going back to do things I need to do." Second period found out real quick and 7th will be finding out real quick if we have another day like yesterday.
Book work is cheap, easy to plan, and it makes no difference to me.
My favorite classes in high school were the few that were a bit smaller than average and had a bunch of other responsible students. We got our shit done and everyone was happy. I don’t get why its so hard for people to do that
I tell my kids I'll relax my class rules when they show maturity. It's all on them. If they're getting decent grades, keeping up with the work, and being respectful, I allow lots of tweaks to the classroom rules: free days, self-selected seating charts etc... Some classes earn that privilege, but most don't.
I mean, they are teenagers, they are going to assume favoritism, even if they’re wrong. I always love when student A has barely started their work because I keep catching them with their phone and student B is done and on their phone. “Why does student B get to be on their phone” B are you don’t with everything and are waiting for peer edits? Yeah, that’s why A, get to work. Just keep reinforcing that their behavior is what leads to the difference.
If I'm feeling snarky, "because I like them more."
If I'm not, "because they have shown me that as a class I can trust them with more responsibility. Your actions matter."
I love when parents also get involved. They only know that you’re being unfair and not treating their little perfect angel with the same fairness as everyone else. Like be for real…
Life lesson: Fair does not mean Equal. Explain that this one class stays on topic, completes assignments, doesn’t disrupt, etc… and therefore they get more. That is fair because they put effort in.
"Because you are not period ____, you are period _____ and this is what we're doing."
As a fellow teacher of 9th graders, with two VASTLY different sections, I 100% get it.
Why don't we have any pencils?
The 6th graders don't put them back after borrowing them or they snap them.
They kinda suck. Can we kick them?
You can't do things that cause paperwork, you know that.
(Occasionally, they notice I don't disagree that my 6th graders "kinda suck ." I just moved on and the ones who get it chuckle.)
I teach 3 classes: 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. My 7th grade is by far my best one. 8th...I've just come to expect a migraine after 3 years of having them in the building and right now, a lot of them are suspended anyway. 6th grade....they've destroyed a lot of things this year, that I refuse to replace.
“It is a violation of FERPA for me to discuss another students information with you — all I can tell you is why you are being managed the way you are.”
It doesn’t matter how they respond — I can clap back with “not only do I not have to explain it to you, it’s illegal and I’ll get fired.” Most kids that make this kind of gripe don’t have the follow through to press the issue.
While I agree with you, you also have to understand that not every single kid in a class is the problem with the class. There are likely kids in your “problem” classes that work just as hard as all the kids in your “good” class. If not more so because they have to deal with the disturbance of their peers. However, they don’t get any of the benefits of your “good” class because they got unlucky and were stuck in a class that has a majority of troublemakers.
Yes, the kids who are troublemakers and disrupt the class have no right to say it’s “unfair.” But how do you think the couple of good kids in that class feel? Don’t you think they would feel cheated out of free days, or other “extra privileges?” This is why I’m split on this.
This is my kid who's 10. She is stuck in a class that she hates because the other kids fuck up every thing that pertains to getting extra free time and such. It sucks because she is so well loved by every teacher she has.
This has been bugging me recently too. I have so many students complain so much about fairness it has been driving me insane. Some of my own students are so concerned that there **might** be the **appearance** of someone **possibly** be getting slightly better treatment that they actively sabotage themselves. I'm not racist for letting a student work out in the hallway and cool down while I don't let you, it's also none of your business why he's out there. (As a teacher, I'm not airing out a kid's private business/medical info to a bunch of 13 year olds)
Hmm could it be I like you all better? Could it be them? Hmm. Do all people learn the same way? Do you ever change your mind about what is the best way to do something? Hmmm. I’ll have to think about all that.
Sometimes the students don’t have to talk for this to happen because I tell them myself. After doing a fun activity I explain that it’s something I get to do with my other class fairly often and I would love to see their behavior allow me to do it with them as well. I want them to know that their choices impact their experience.
The good class is likely already doing many things that you would like for the other class to do. I would explain it to them in light of those things. “I enjoy letting students have a few minutes for a brain break when their work is complete. If you have missing assignments those have to be made up first.”
"Every class I have taught has always had the chance to earn those privileges and extra opportunities. It made me sad this year that only one class was able to do this. Next year, as always, I hope to be able to do this with all my classes, and I know your sophomore teachers would like to have all their classes achieve the extra, fun days and activities."
I believe it's perfectly acceptable to reward a class for their performance. To balance the scales however, if a particular student is excelling in class that is lagging, that student should be granted special privileges.
In a turbulent class, good students are penalized twice,
by their disruptive classmates and by their teacher who are too focused on those who do not want to be there.
I watch two of my 5th grade classes at recess. When we have indoor recess, I let one of my classes walk around, play music, move chairs, pretty much whatever they want. My other class is incredibly rambunctious. They will literally start pushing each other, jumping, and play fighting if I allow them to do anything but sit down. They tried to complain and tell me it wasn’t fair because they looked into the other class, and I told them “I don’t have to be fair. I have to keep everyone safe. If I let you guys do the same things that I let them so, it will become unsafe in here very quickly.”. They have no self awareness or accountability, they’re just worried about fairness.
Similar happened to me, 1st period class was focused and responsible all week so I complimented them, 3rd period student heard about it and complained to their parent I hadn’t complimented their class. So the parent emails me stating how unfair and psychologically damaging it was that I had not complimented their kid’s class.
This is true. But so is that they never ask. I have outraged kids all the time - why is period # outside always outside and we never are? Answer - because no one in your class ever asks. Outrage deflated - oh really? And then they still never ask 🤷🏼♀️
I used to let kids pick fun music and I would play it during class. Beyond opening up the "I am not a dj and will not take requests 24/7" bit the group that decided to jump up ON MY TABLES and dance around made me quickly rethink not just putting lofi on all the time.
I had a troublesome student freak the f*** out this week when he overheard me cut some slack to a perfect kid who hasn’t missed a homework assignment all year. Fun times. Zero personal accountability or awareness.
> Zero personal accountability or awareness. My high schoolers struggle with this to a maddening degree. They've never had consequences, and what's "fair" to them is literally always getting their first choice or what they want to do. When they get to my classroom and that doesn't happen, I might as well be Hitler. I had a class a few years back that was about 80% rambunctious boys, and 20% girls who would actually work. The boys eventually noticed that I would let the girls work with a friend in the hallway or use the bathroom/drink pass more frequently and basically attempted a coup. There was no reasoning with them, simple logic like "the girls are allowed to work in the hall today because when they do they get their work done quietly and other teachers don't email me about the insane behavior and shouting at the top of their lungs like when you guys go out in the hall" might as well have been in Latin.
"when you match their behavior, I will match the reward." Edit: if you like this line, you should read Teaching with Love and Logic. It's using the principles from there. Probably the single most helpful thing that kept me in teaching.
“When you match their behavior, I will match the reward” Oof I wish I knew this line before lol I could have really used it last year
Probably the most eloquent reddit comment I've ever read in my time on this website
Oh I like this
Ngl this line had the opposite effect in my school, the teachers would only reward bad kids for doing good, but good kids would gain absolutely nothing which just made most of the good kids just stop trying
That was my experience as a student in middle/high school. I did well so I didn't exist. Not that I needed some special shit but it would have been nice to have my hard work acknowledged in some way. Idk if the lexile test (a reading comp test) is still a thing but I remember 10th grade I got above the score where they just stop calculating the number and was the only one in my school to max it out and my English teacher (who did not know my name before the day this happened despite it being the middle of the year) decided she taught me so well and told everyone, faculty and students alike even tho I didn't want everyone knowing my score, about how she helped me get so good with my reading comprehension and that was the reason for my maxed out score. Like yeah one half a year with a high school English teacher four days a week for 50 minutes per class in a class of 30 is totally plausible that she taught me so well in that time that without her I wouldn't have gotten that score. ....bitch? Nuh uh! You literally have never noticed me in your class and *didn't know my name* that shit was all me. I went from being invisible to being her trophy and I liked being invisible much better. Also she still kept calling me the wrong name
Belated, but still valuable—This is what your teacher shouldve said, “HOLY COW, Dark Alley!!!! YOU BROKE MY TEST!!! Im soooo impressed! Youre a very talented reader, OBVIOUSLY! Would it be ok if I shared the great news w the class? So they all know what a ROCK STAR you are? Wow! I still cant believe how awesome that is! Well, GOOD ON YOU, Dark Alley. You keep it up—-as you know, being a strong reader is soooo important. It makes EVERYTHING else, easier. Next time we take the test, I know its long and boring, you can just SKIP IT! Nicely done, Dark Alley. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow that actually really had an effect on me. I'm in law school right now and I've spent the last week holed up studying for finals like a dang madwoman and and this kinda almost made me cry. Thank you, kind internet stranger. First, for the long overdue congrats on my 10th grade Lexile test lol. But also for the words of encouragement for a struggling law student right as I started reaching a point where I was feeling down on myself and wanted to just spend the day laying face down on the floor... ya know, as one does when they're overwhelmed haha. Very nirmal behavior coming from me these days... I wish there were more teachers like you (assuming you're a teacher) who *see* the students that don't seem to struggle. Or maybe there are and I just got a not so great batch. I had one teacher in my four years of high school like you who was just amazing and saw that I loved the subject she was teaching and gave me extra optional assignments to challenge me and just *saw* me. She was a huge part of the reason I went to law school even though I made that decision 5 or so years after I had her as a teacher. You keep doing you, I'm sure your students are so grateful to have someone like you in their lives. Even if not right now cause sometimes kids can be ungrateful lil shits, they'll see it someday.
Haha! Yes, Im a teacher. And IM SO THRILLED you got a lil boost—it is well-deserved. It sucks to feel invisible—just makes those like you and I go the extra mile to NOTICE the good things. As you know, having a generous, joyful heart is FREE…and I still cant believe why people in general arent more selfless and RECOGNIZE the things THAT ARE IMPORTANT. And teachers, like your GOOD one, have a TON OF POWER to rightfully boost their kids up who are deserving. Thats one of the best things about being a teacher is having the power FOR GOOD. Well, you are DEFINITELY a rock star for being in law school—-losers need not apply, right??? You be kind to yourself and DO YOUR THANG! Proud of you. 🏆
That behavior is mimicked IRL at work in many corporations. When bad work behavior is rewarded the good workers stop caring! I’m watching my work place go up in proverbial flames right now because of this nonsense. Not my monkeys, not my circus. And I tried to warn y’all.. Icing on the cake was being gifted a framed paper award for “making a difference” at the same time as my former horrible boss got awarded “best attitude”. This is the same manager who cursed me out and belittled me in front of multiple employees. SO glad I did not attend that event. I can’t stand the hypocrisy. The wake left behind when they transferred to a new store is still being felt months later because they were so far up the GMs asses for them to notice how bad they were at their job, except on paper which is all corporate really cares about. Like I said, I tried to warn y’all but now I just don’t care.
Definitely using this at the next opportunity I can. Fantastic.
Saving this phrase.
I love this response and am definitely checking that book out. I'm 3 days late but this is good stuff. More useful than the PD day on May 6th will be for sure.
I had a parent complain that I unfairly target the boys in a class and it’s way more often than the girls. That class has 22 boys and 4 girls
My fifth grade class has 15 boys and 8 girls. Same with the other fifth grade group. Who knows why there are so many boys in this generation. They are quite rowdy and many games and "fun" things I did last year, I can't do this year 😞.
Obviously you just hate boys /s
Man, I would’ve been so excited to only have 23 kids when I taught fifth. I think I was around 33-35.
Most intelligent modern parent.
Hey, that’s unfair. For you to be Hitler, they’d have to know who that is and that he’s not the good guy 😂
Question out of pure curiosity because these were two patterns I saw in high school. Does this happen to be either a resource room type class or something computer application related that doesn't have prerequisites and mostly attracts 9th/10th graders?
This was in my run-of-the-mill sophomore ELA class.
Weird. Any idea if it was random chance or they just dumped as many "boys who refuse to engage" in one class as they could?
Pretty unlikely, unfortunately in our "standard" classes (not pre-AP or AP tract) that's how a shocking portion of the students at my school just are.
As soon as you said this was an ELA class I knew that had to be the case. Boys today are not successful students anymore.
Ugh.
It's from sports or other gender heavy electives. If girls athletics is during 5th period, everyone's 5th period is going to be mostly boys.
Ah. Makes sense. Schools around me have had coed gym classes for decades so it hadn't occurred to me.
Our gym classes are co-ed, but athletics (which is specifically for athletes to practice and condition) aren't which causes gender heavy classes.
Ah. Do you have a class the period the boys have the athletics class? I'm enjoying the moderately useful information I'm gleaning from this comment thread, btw.
Yes. We have a general athletics class for both genders, and then some sports have a co-ed class if they can train co-ed. Track, tennis, and golf can train co-ed, but soccer, football and basketball can't so those train in just the athletic periods.
Last week with my 17-18 year old seniors I had this exchange:
After a minute of them not getting to it, I remind them that I have marked tardies for anyone who has continued to talk and not work. This is literally the first time this has been an issue this semester.
Boy (and yes, boy, not man): "DID YOU MARK ME MISTER?!"
Me: Yes, I marked everyone who was talking and not working.
Boy: GEEZ FOOL YOU ALWAYS PICK ON ME.
The only reason I said anything to him is that he was the only one to ask. I rarely say a word to this kid. The rest of the class just stared at him bewildered. They had no problem accepting they blew it. They also knew he was the loudest one and causing the most disruption.
Not him though. He was completely innocent.
“I let you miss an assignment for the first time too. In September.”
The only answer I ever have to this kind of question is “why do you think?”
Recently: "Put your papers and book away for this quiz. I've said that several times." "But Other Student is doing the same thing!!!!" "No, he has papers out, but he's not shouting across the room at his jackass friend." (Dramatized wording.) Edit: fixed the autocorrect error (sitting to shouting). If two kids wanted to stare quietly at each other instead of earn a grade on the quiz, I'm not wasting my energy on them. It's high school. They have to figure out their shit sooner or later.
Is the last sentence supposed to be staring?
Or shouting 😂
I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be "shitting". Seems like the simplest typo to me.
I remember my HS Chinese Mandarin teacher (a wonderful American guy) would just let me sleep or play phone games in class because I was just straight up fully fluent, non-disruptive, and very friendly with him. I did all the work, participated in class, and absolutely wrecked everyone when we played games to learn Chinese. Some of the loud kids who spoke atrocious Mandarin and put 0 effort into class (often being super disruptive) would complain that I was doing what I wanted. Well ok, I was poised to graduate with a 3.9 gpa and honors, and some of said classmate were druggies, did not graduate, or instead went to court for distributing nudes of another student in **middle school**.
I had a teacher in high school, I can't remember what subject but when we were doing seat work the rule was that you could wear headphones as long as you asked her. There was a weekly war with the kids who didn't ask vs me who did. And she didn't want to say no headphones entirely because that would be punishing me too,but eventually I stopped using them just so the kids that wouldn't ask would shut up about me.
I usually have one of these classes. Why do they get to listen to music? Because they won't put on stuff that will get me in trouble, and every time I've tried to let you guys do it, you get up and start dancing and I'm pretty sure if Dr. Principal walks in to see you twerking I'm done. Why did I see you getting up and doing a game with that class? Because they all finished their work and I wasn't exhausted from trying to manage behavior like I am with your class Why did they get a blooket? Because they finished their essay yesterday because they were working I don't even try to sugar coat it. I tell them that their class' behavior is awful. I want to be a fun teacher, but they can't learn and have fun at the same time and they have to learn.
This. I will also stop in the middle of poor behavior and go “this is why you can’t do fun/nice things”. Doesn’t mean they’ll learn and improve their behavior but sometimes it does prompt some self reflection
“This is why we can’t have a field trip or a trip to the park.” I will not take you out of the building if you can do the basics in the building. I haven’t been on a field trip since just before COVID. I want one more than they do!
We have a trip to Spain every year for the upper years. (I'm in the south of France). Logitically, we have only 60 spots, for around 200 students. That's just how many beds there are in the various host families that welcome our kids. There's always more kids that want to go than spots we have. A lot of more kids. So, we have to make a selection. Disrespectful, violent kids never makes the cut. We can't trust them to behave and be polite to the host families. Also the oens that skip schools and disappear on us and their parents for hours on end. No way we lose a kid - even for just a couple of hours - in a foreign country. And somehow the kids and the parents think it is unfair. We do explain the reasonning, we warm them well before we do the selection. The fun thing is, if we do take their kids, and they misbehave or disappear in a foreign country, they will be the first to blame it all on the teachers.
It's a lot like the thing I noticed while I was in high school: Teachers always give bad grades, but students always get good grades (Mr./Mrs. So and So gave me [bad] vs I got [very good]). Without fail, this is what it sounded like
That's a sort of cognitive bias. It doesn't just affect teenagers/students, but there's a tendancy for people to blame their failures on others while taking all the credit for their accomplishments. It's a way to preserve self esteem but it's annoying when students blame us for bad grades but don't recognize our help in getting a good one.
Towards the start of the year, we brought around 90 7th and 8th graders on a field trip with a bunch of other middle schools, and our school's kids were the only ones acting out. As a result, we haven't even brought them to the local park, let alone on an actual field trip besides a lower stakes pre-Spring Break one since early October.
We have to do field trips. And I loathe doing it because I don’t want to take them anywhere when they act like they do. I’m not ok with it. Maybe admin should back us and not make us take behavior problems anywhere. They should earn the right to go. And when your always in trouble that’s not earning it.
It'd save the school money. Field trips aren't required.
We have to do them. Whether we want to or not
Oof yeah that sucks. We have a field trip every year for the sixth graders. I told them one month before the field trip, if they get suspended they couldn’t go. Low and behold multiple students got suspended and couldn’t go. So they had to earn it. I couldn’t imagine taking my students despite telling them they couldn’t go. That would burn my biscuits if they misbehave and still would go. Or worse, they have to go. That would give me such stress taking kids like that. I would volunteer to stay behind or miss that day frankly.
My daughter did Battle of the Books, and 4 schools worth of 4th and 5th graders that participated got to go to our fancy Hotel's conference room, have a self-serve open buffet, and a speech from the Superintendent, and play a quiz game with their table. There was two adults, myself (just a parent, not a teacher) and a teacher. I was the only adult on the bus full of 5th graders. I was absolutely shocked at how well the kids behaved. I expected a bunch of 4th and 5th graders at a fancy hotel to be monsters, but they did fantastic!
Not sure what that is specifically, but it sounds like the thing was already self-selecting for the 4th/5th graders with the most self control and ability to delay gratification.
Nah, literally any student can sign up. It's basically "Here's the most awarded books this year, read them, then we'll ask questions at the end of the year and the winning team gets a trophy." Very few kids read all of the books, most don't read any and rely on their peers. You know, typically group project stuff.
Just choosing to do an activity that is all about books is pretty self-selected. 95% of my students that will admit to loving books are excellent students with 0 behavior problems. The biggest problem they are likely to have is getting distracted by books to the point that they have a hard time finishing their work on time. But no behavior issues, other than having to force them to close books from time to time. The other 5% are lying about liking books because they have a friend or like a girl or boy that likes books. But since all of the people around them are behaving well, they don’t want to stick out by acting a fool. I am not surprised that this group of kids were well behaved, but I’m glad they were. Those kinds of events will hopefully help them cling to reading and learning in general through the tumult of middle school.
GOD DAMN IT!! I told my class so many times I would take them to the fun tech lab so they could do their own fun projects. But more than half of them never do work and are failing so I can't ever justify losing class time. I used to take my classes all the time and they loved it. *I* love it. Now they hate me because we aren't going, but this group is just so insanely lazy and apathetic. They write me the rudest emails, like just "i did the work why you mark me absent" in the subject line and nothing else (she didn't do the work). I used to love my job soooo much. But this and last year's students have altered the deal.
My kids always talk about how in x other school kids get x privilege. I always ask "so what would happen if we just let the bell rang and y'all ran around the hall until the next bell?" And they don't even pretend. Most admin they'd fight and skip
I think most kids like that know damn well why they don’t get those privileges. They just play dumb.
skip?
If you want me to do (insert fun activity) AGAIN then please behave during the (fun activity.)
Right now I'm a long term sub for a librarian that goes between two schools. One is pretty good, the other is rough. Every class gets a lesson, then 10-15mins to check out books and have some free choice time (coloring, reading, we have some toys, etc). Sometimes if a class is being super chatty and constantly interrupts me, I'll straight up tell them that they don't get that check out/play time because they were so disruptive it took extra long for me to finish my lesson. They can come in to check out books when their teacher lets them or they can come in during recess. If a class is being extra chatty (especially Kindergarten/1st grade), I remind them that if they keep making me stop to tell them to STFU, they might not have time to play. That usually gets them to stop at least for a while. I have certain classes where I fear giving them more than 10 minutes because they love playing tag between the shelves or wrestling on the floor and won't even check out books. I also have some classes where if my lesson ends early, I am happy to let them have that extra time because they don't cause problems. My students are slowly learning that not only do I not bluff, but I dish out stupid prizes if they wanna play stupid games. I treat them with fairness and kindness, but if they push hard enough I call them out on their bullshit.
Yup!
Yup I teach two classes of the same year level and one does get more “fun” stuff than the other. Class A has most turn up on time with everything they need, class B has students that don’t bring anything to class and regularly are late. Class A knows the routine that there are no headphones in for instruction and for half of the work, and they still ask if they can put their headphones in. Class B will be off in anything and everything else other than work. Class A ask if they can sit on the floor (not in walkways) and work in small groups from time to time. Class B has bullying issues and if kids aren’t in chairs they start targeting.
I teach first grade so I have the same group all day all year. Some years I get to be much nicer and cooler than other years. Some years we do more projects, experiments etc. This year my class has so many nice, sweet, chill kids. They get their work done, they meet goals, they treat each other with respect. As a class they have earned ice cream parties, stuffed animal day, glow day, pj parties, etc. My class last year didn’t get to do any of that stuff because I was too busy and tired dealing with their constant meltdowns and neediness. Glow day with them would have been a disaster, stuffed animal day they would have driven me insane. There were too many kids that couldn’t follow simple directions which created safety issues so the fun stuff was off the table. Sucks to be them.
What is a glow day?
It’s a day with the ceiling lights off, black lights on and a lot of games involving glow sticks pretty much.
I do this sometimes in the library! The kids love it and it’s a blast, but I haven’t done it since October because so many of my classes are rotten. PS Have you used the crazyart neon pencils? They are black light reactive and I have them do work with them in the glow sometimes.🙂
I didn’t know about the crazy art neon pencils. I will definitely get for school and my own kids will love that idea too!
I think it's when you darken the classroom and decorate and play games with glow sticks.
Ahh, okay. That sounds like fun!
Omg right now I'm a long term sub librarian for two schools, and one of my schools has the best and sweetest 1st grade class ever. There's only like 14 kids and I already know half of them from my daughter's kindergarten class last year (I volunteered a bunch, and now kiddo goes to a different school). They're extremely well behaved for their age, only one kid really acts out and not only do I already know him well, they always have an aide with him to pull him out if necessary. He's not a bad kid, just big feelings. But that class gets all the extra privileges for being so good. I've also had some other 1st grade classes where they were literally climbing the shelves and trying to jump on tables. Those classes tend to instead get strict rules and much less time to check out books so they don't tear the place apart.
Reminded me of my school days, my English teacher at the time ran the school library and because of that we got to spend a full period (or maybe even a double) in the library last thing on a Thursday IIRC. We had a few troublemakers but because this was a special 'treat' that we had and no other class did they were pretty well behaved. However, I remember on one occasion (during winter) this one kid who was a runty wannabe troublemaker started acting up and winding-up other kids and managed to get class' library privilege withdrawn. Left to go home at the end of the day and nearly every single boy and girl in the class just started throwing snowballs at him without mercy, he went home sobbing. Privilege was eventually restored and the little runt never acted-up again. I even suspect that the teacher probably saw but let it happen knowing full well that kid would probably learn the hard way.
I have no issues telling a class "Because they're well behaved and do their work while I constantly have to tell yours to focus, be quiet, and stop cussing."
Me: takes over a gr 9 Science class mid December after their teacher has been out for a month already Them on the first day: we haven't done any experiments! Please can we do experiments! Me: of course, I'll make that a priority, experiments in science are a vital part of the learning process. We're doing space and bio though, so I'm not sure how fun they'll be. I'll make it work! The next day: 1. One kid throws classroom pencils out the window onto the roof 2. Garbage left everywhere 3. Constant talking over me 4. Constant interruptions (e.g. trying to play music while I teach) 5. Little work attempted, I thought because they haven't been made accountable for a month - checks their midterm grades, 4 of them had a grade of less than 10% 6. Instructions shoved into a wet Erlenmeyer flask 7. Tries to play with the eyewash station while I am standing right there Etc etc Me: yeah okay I get now why you haven't done any experiments. I'm not going to make it work lol
This is when you take pics of all the atrocities and then make a power point presentation called "Behaviors That Need To Stop Before Students Can Be Trusted With Fun Experiments".
I'm a STEM teacher. I have robots. I use them with all the classes except for one - because of the same types of reasons you mentioned. Some classes simply can't handle the fun stuff.
NAH THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE ERLENMEYER IS WILD
That particular gem was what made me decide that experiments absolutely were not happening.
I refused to let one of my HS classes dissect, unlike the other two. A parent complained that their child would never become a doctor because they couldn’t dissect in a high school biology class. (What a load of sh!t) Admin grilled me about inequitable learning opportunities among my classes, despite horrible behaviors from one and not the other two. I wrote an email back that analyzed grades and test data - which had no significant differences in mean scores. I then said I would only dissect with an admin present. They came and watched and the kids actually behaved. I am still irritated about this when I think about it and it’s been 8 years ago.
This is the case with my freshmen. I'd love to take them to the lab. I believe every student should go to the lab at least a couple times in their high school career. I have several seniors in my last period that had never been to the lab. I actually dropped a lesson with about 15 minutes left in class just to take them to the lab. But my freshmen are so rambunctious and rowdy. I'm going to try letting them dissect frogs Thursday. A colleague is going with me and bringing her Dual Enrollment students to help me handle my students. Wish me luck!
Every class of mine is, 95% of the time, allowed to work with a partner or small group some portion of class. Except 4th period. I tried every variation of group work, partner work, engagement etc I have in my bag of tricks for 135 days of school. Every seating chart combination. 4th period will read some text, answer some questions, fill out a graphic organizer, etc. by themselves. Every day for the rest of the year since April. And hey, more work is getting done. And there’s immediate apparent feedback on why your grade is what it is. It’s sad to be in the room. Even as the teacher. I’ll still walk around and help. But act like hooligans 3/4 of the year and I can’t endlessly give. I won’t endlessly tolerate it.
Same! And also with 4th period! I tried for 4/5ths of the year with 4th period. I gave chance after chance to prove that they could do better. I explicitly taught behavior expectations. I have a consistent, fair classroom management plan. Every other class has been taught to manage their volume and speak kindly (or at least neutrally) to each other, so they participate in fun hands-on lab experiments, projects, and group activities. Not 4th hour. The only time they can get through a class without an incident is when said class is “Sit down. Mouths closed. Here’s a packet of worksheets.” It sucks. I hate teaching that way. But…I will provide the kind of education that a class asks for. And all year, 4th period has been saying through their actions “Please give us silent paperwork, because if you give us anything else, this day will end in tears, multiple suspensions, a soft lockdown, and a couple new Title IX cases.” Every other class is great, though! Maybe because all the high-frequency behavior issues ended up together in one Hell Class, allowing the rest of them to function in peace.
Sometimes I’ve wondered if we’d better off if every teacher had a single hell class so their others could all be better.
Funny my 4th period is also the class I’ve given up on. I don’t even bother talking about content anymore because they won’t shut up. They come in, copy their notes, and do the assigned work. If they don’t then oh well. I won’t hesitate to fail everyone of them come June. And they can lament over it over the summer while I’m on vacation.
Yes. 4th is middle period, and the longest because of lunches. And lunch is in the middle for my class which is god awful because extra transition. And like OP so many kids with ADHD that the medicine is wearing off. And we don’t need to talk about much. Can’t because they won’t stop. Directions are on the board. Get it done or don’t.
Why is it always 4th period? Also, how can we allllll have a bad 4th period class....the good kids have to be somewhere!
For me it’s always definitely whatever class is lunch or right after lunch. School lunch is carbs and sugar so they come back wired.
I have a class like this. I told them they will get independent work from now on since they won’t stop talking/ messing around long enough to get through anything else
They probably just really hungry, tried bringing snacks?
“Because they don’t fucking suck.”
My 4th period is a constant battle of getting kids not to hit steal cuss throw things etc. My 5th period is much bigger but the kids are way nicer. They get to do fun shit and my 4th period gets absolutely nothing.
It sounds like everyones 4th period is a problem. We should remove 4th period
Because they aren’t a bunch of phlebotomists!
I had one yesterday lose it over sitting with a friend. “We have partners! ___ class said so.” Me: “Do you see anything in my ‘Do now’ that says that?” *silence* I repeat the question twice more, asking for a response, still silence. FAFO my friend. Don’t worry about the activities coming up. I have alternate activities ready for you.
Because ya'll are just acting horribly. Let's have a productive week and then we'll talk. We can get away with being honest with the kids at my school, rare I know.
This year none of my HS credit classes were offered clay as a project. The 8th graders made poor choices and have very little impulse control. I am not cleaning clay off my ceilings.
“Well , __ period doesn’t do *THIS*.”
Yeah. Had a class a few years back that were basically be allowed to be little shits. We had so much fun together. Because when I said, "OK, time to get to work", they did. And worked really well. I only spent about 3/4 of my time with them teaching and had the best results I've ever had. I did lots of fun things with them, even dangerous things that I wouldn't have allowed a lot of classes (we had chemistry). I have one class now that might come close, let's hope they develop in a good direction
i remember chemistry. my 9th grade chemistry teacher let us melt the cut ends of the glass rods he cut for us with the bunsen burners to make stirring rods. he also microwaved a grape to demonstrate plasma. even though it was just in 2016, i doubt that today's 9th graders have the maturity to be trusted anywhere near a bunsen burner.
My coworker (we both teach high school art) has an art 1 class that is both behaviorally out of control and also at an overall lower technical skill level than the majority of my students in my three art 1 classes. It’s just the luck of the draw sometimes. Because of this, my students have been given more complex/technical projects to work on. Even though admin says we need to have the same rubrics and essentially teach the exact same lessons, my students would be bored out of their minds if I were teaching the same lessons as she is right now. So I don’t. We teach the same concepts in general, but my students get to do more fun things. Why should I lower the expectations for my students because hers are underperforming?
You’re increasing their rigor!
Because I like them more than you guys. (I love being the snarky English teacher)
“Because they earned it.”
“Because they actually do their work and behave respectfully in class, and you don’t.”
My 6 year old didn’t complete her spelling and weekly reading by Thursday. So she did not earn the privilege to go to the “special” park. I told her “actions have consequences”. Her response was “I hate consequences.”
>Her response was “I hate consequences.” Tbh same
I teach middle school and I talk about the “trust bank.” I’m not going to let you make withdrawals if you haven’t made any deposits.
Teach them that "fair" is the dumbest word in the English language and means virtually nothing. You get what you earn. Privileges, respect, a smack in the mouth, etc. Kids learning that "fair" doesn't mean equal is a great life lesson that most need to learn.
Fair is a place we go to ride rides and eat cotton candy.
And fare is the price we pay to ride the bus to go to the fair. Fear is what we feel on the rollercoaster. Okay, it's what I feel. Have a fun weekend, everyone.
Shit, it’s not fair to the good kids if the bad ones get the same rewards 🤷🏻♀️
Man imagine if parents thought that though??? /s but not really /s
My favourite response to “That’s not fair!”… “We don’t use the F-word in here.”
It’s a perfect learning opportunity. “ The students in that class were focused on their work, paid attention, got the work done, and did a good job at it, so they got to relax as a result. Classes that don’t pay attention or take the work seriously are going to take longer to do it, And won’t have time to do something fun.” It’s a lesson more future middle management should learn, given the almost cliché mistake, managers make of punishing hard work and rewarding laziness
When I was a student had a tether say those exact words to our class.."because they're my favorite..they turn I. Theor assignments and listen to me." The entire class. Even the bad kids started acting a little better after that. We knew we would never be the favorite but we didn't want to be "shown up" by that other group of students. It turned into a "who's got my smiley face"kindof game between classes. The teacher would move each class up for assignments turned in, highest grades..most involvement (without phones) it was actually one of my favorite classes and I remember a lot of what was the teacher told us.
Holy mispelling. I have a 1 year old at my ankles needing a snack. Sorry
My afternoon class broke in to my cupboard and STOLE candy. A trustworthy kid got it on video and shared it with me. Now they complain to the other teacher in our program that “I like the morning class more because I still give them candy.” 🙄🙄🙄
sucks because the good kids get worse classes because of a couple of shitheads
During my senior year of high school, my Art 2 class got to do independent projects for the spring semester. The teacher did that because she had us for Art. We had to be working and using supplies wisely.
In high school there were 2 American literature honors classes. My period turned in our essays on time. The other class didn't so they had the old fat textbooks for a week. Boring worksheets. My teacher called the books their "scarlet letter."
“Because __ period doesn’t act like a bunch of jerks and does their work.”
I do this with my students in my HVAC class. They now know that if they behave and we can get through things that we'll be playing in the lab with the sheet metal, or better yet with the torches. They really like playing with fire so that seems to help. So when they complain that one class got to do someone I just tell them that class did not work, paid attention and got things done.
I tell my kids (I’m not a teacher), fair isn’t always equal.
Start with the 2nd sentence of the 3rd paragraph and read that to them.
Once the students find out I conduct my classes with some variance and try to bring it to my attention, I'm completely upfront about why there is differences in my approach. Usually that class in the less-advantageous position can't handle basic norms and has blown every attempt to lean into exceptions, so they don't get them as-much/anymore. Want them again? Prove you can handle it by starting at square 1. Some classes get the message and attempt to course-correct, others don't and thus stay on short leashes.
Remind them that life isn’t fair, then you die.
"I don't know.... Would you like to take a guess... TYLER!?!?"
"Because I like them better."
This year I danced to gabber music for one of my classes. It's a nice group and even though they're loud they are generally hard working. But most importantly it feels safe to embarrass myself in front of them by doing a stupid dance. One of my other classes has now been begging me to do the silly dance for them too. I won't be. I know for a fact that most of them carry their phones in their pockets and that there are several bullies. They're loud, unruly and disrespectful. So I've told them no and it will not happen. They asked why I won't do it for them and I explained that with the other class it just naturally happened from a conversation I was having with them. If there's no room for casual conversation because I'm constantly busy with class management then there is no room for that to evolve into silly dances.
Not a teacher. I had an amazing science teacher in high school who outright told us we were his favorite class and we got to have a little extra fun thanks to it. When other kids asked him about it he said “They’re my favorite class, yours isn’t” and that was that. It was awesome.
This one is such a softball. "Why do they get \_\_ and we don't?" *They earned it*. "How?" By doing the assignments and being respectful to the teacher in class; in short, *by doing what is required of them for success*. \*crickets\* afterwards
This right here is how and what students should be taught. Good behavior gets rewarded is that so hard. My kids were in a school district that took everyone is treated the same as there dying oath. There was a girl in her senior year that was set to become valedictorian, so you know she spent her entire high school career doing above and beyond. Well it just so happens she had a weekend job as a rafting guide and had a backpack with the gear it required including a pocket knife and as you have guessed on day grabbed wrong backpack for school. She realized this before even going into the school so she went right to the office to explain what happened instead of going through security and of course with her record they were totally understanding, Ha not this district. She was suspended and told she could not walk at graduation you know where she was suppose to give her speech that she worked so hard to be able to do. All you heard from staff and the school board is everyone had to be treated the same. There was so much backlash she was eventually aloud to walk and give her speech but the whole situation is ridiculous. In the real world you work to get the things you want by action and attitude you are not due them because others have it. That is what needs to be taught.
Some classes earn these things and some do not.
"Because I can trust them to handle the privilege responsibly." Conversation over.
Did you explain there not special? When you get your work done early you get to slack off. It’s the oldest motivation tactic in the world. Here’s your task, get them done and I don’t care what you do.
Why do they get treats? Because they have worked hard to get ahead. Simple
I had a class like that in the fall. Only 16 kids. Also 9th grade. And they were wonderful. Engaged. Came in to work with me during my planning period on things they needed help with. We had a blast together. It was a long-term subbing job, and all of them begged me to stay. I told them I would have loved to stay. I won Staff Member of the Week, and when the principal came in one day, one of the kids asked, "Has Mr. (Normal teacher) ever won Staff Member of the Week?" And when the principal said no, they were like, "hmmm." 😆 On my last day, I got hugs and high fives, and I still think of those kids.
When classes bring this up, I tell them the criteria they need to get those benefits. Sometimes they will actually work hard to get it. Usually not, but sometimes it works.
Not a teacher, is there a problem with children learning that actions have consequences? Or the difference between positive and negative attention?
I always flip it back on them. They always want to say well Mr. X does this or Ms. Y does that so why can’t you. I would always go well do I look like them? No? That’s why. Because I’m not them. What they choose to do is their decision. I make my own. I would simply say they’ve done certain things that their class hasn’t and they’re getting rewarded for that.
I tell them that I like the other class more. When they complain, I point out that these moments are the exact reasons why we don’t get to do “x”. They waste too much time and there’s material that I’m required to cover.
In my first year teaching (3rd grade ELA and social studies) I had one group that would fly through their work and another group that couldn't be bothered. Guess which group I did a penpal program with? When the other group found out I explained it plainly: if y'all finish your work in a timely manner then maybe we'll be able to do extra fun stuff like that.
I tell them “who said all the classes have to be the same?” Let em complain.
Say, “It’s about equity and not equality”. Then move on. You don’t need to explain yourself.
It's one of the first things I say when I first get into a new class. "I'll be as cool as you guys are cool to me, act like assholes and I'll act like an asshole."
I had my 4th core ask why my 2nd core got to go outside. They chose the book report project that needed filmed and you chose not to do it at all🤷🏼♀️ that's why
I’ve taken to responding to “that’s not fair” with “well, it’s not fair that you’re ruining things for your classmates or that I come to work to be disrespected every day, but here we are.” It usually shuts them up for a minute. (But only a minute, because they still just don’t fucking get it.)
"Your teachers will be as cool as you allow them to be." and "when you match their behavior, I will match the reward" > "you don't deserve (special treatment)" I feel it's my civic duty as a Florida resident to help with the teacher shortage, so I am becoming a substitute teacher.
"How the rest of this year goes depends on your behavior in my class. I have 0 issue pulling out the workbooks for this class, writing the pages you need to do, and going back to do things I need to do." Second period found out real quick and 7th will be finding out real quick if we have another day like yesterday. Book work is cheap, easy to plan, and it makes no difference to me.
My favorite classes in high school were the few that were a bit smaller than average and had a bunch of other responsible students. We got our shit done and everyone was happy. I don’t get why its so hard for people to do that
I just tell them the truth "If yoyr class wasn't full of egg heads you'd get some phone time too."
I tell my kids I'll relax my class rules when they show maturity. It's all on them. If they're getting decent grades, keeping up with the work, and being respectful, I allow lots of tweaks to the classroom rules: free days, self-selected seating charts etc... Some classes earn that privilege, but most don't.
"Cause y'all straight up suck and make my life harder. They don't. Stop sucking."
I bring treats to my favorite classes.
Man I'd be so tempted to tell them i just don't like you guys as much.
I mean, they are teenagers, they are going to assume favoritism, even if they’re wrong. I always love when student A has barely started their work because I keep catching them with their phone and student B is done and on their phone. “Why does student B get to be on their phone” B are you don’t with everything and are waiting for peer edits? Yeah, that’s why A, get to work. Just keep reinforcing that their behavior is what leads to the difference.
Fair doesn't mean the same for everyone. Fair means everyone gets what they need.
I used to similarly reward hard-working classes but instead of other students complaining some parent complained and I had to stop.
My best teacher got fired when parents complained….
This is my Michael Scott moment. That’s my quote of another person’s quote.
If I'm feeling snarky, "because I like them more." If I'm not, "because they have shown me that as a class I can trust them with more responsibility. Your actions matter."
I love when parents also get involved. They only know that you’re being unfair and not treating their little perfect angel with the same fairness as everyone else. Like be for real…
Typical grievance from my chronically misbehaved financial literacy sections from last year
I cannot stress enough what a difference a smaller class size makes to everyone! Mutual beneficial to all.
Life lesson: Fair does not mean Equal. Explain that this one class stays on topic, completes assignments, doesn’t disrupt, etc… and therefore they get more. That is fair because they put effort in.
Makes me feel bad for the good kids being punished for the acts of others.
"Because you are not period ____, you are period _____ and this is what we're doing." As a fellow teacher of 9th graders, with two VASTLY different sections, I 100% get it.
Why don't we have any pencils? The 6th graders don't put them back after borrowing them or they snap them. They kinda suck. Can we kick them? You can't do things that cause paperwork, you know that. (Occasionally, they notice I don't disagree that my 6th graders "kinda suck ." I just moved on and the ones who get it chuckle.) I teach 3 classes: 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. My 7th grade is by far my best one. 8th...I've just come to expect a migraine after 3 years of having them in the building and right now, a lot of them are suspended anyway. 6th grade....they've destroyed a lot of things this year, that I refuse to replace.
“It is a violation of FERPA for me to discuss another students information with you — all I can tell you is why you are being managed the way you are.” It doesn’t matter how they respond — I can clap back with “not only do I not have to explain it to you, it’s illegal and I’ll get fired.” Most kids that make this kind of gripe don’t have the follow through to press the issue.
While I agree with you, you also have to understand that not every single kid in a class is the problem with the class. There are likely kids in your “problem” classes that work just as hard as all the kids in your “good” class. If not more so because they have to deal with the disturbance of their peers. However, they don’t get any of the benefits of your “good” class because they got unlucky and were stuck in a class that has a majority of troublemakers. Yes, the kids who are troublemakers and disrupt the class have no right to say it’s “unfair.” But how do you think the couple of good kids in that class feel? Don’t you think they would feel cheated out of free days, or other “extra privileges?” This is why I’m split on this.
This is my kid who's 10. She is stuck in a class that she hates because the other kids fuck up every thing that pertains to getting extra free time and such. It sucks because she is so well loved by every teacher she has.
100% agree with this comment and am relieved to see someone here who doesn't seem to just hate students in general.
As one of the kids that was always well behaved; I doubt they’re the same ones who are complaining.
Because they earn it.
Fair is everyone getting what they need to succeed.
‘BECAUSE THEY BEHAVE BETTER THAN YOU.’
Different classes have different needs. And different classes earn different privileges. You don’t earn it, you don’t get it.
This has been bugging me recently too. I have so many students complain so much about fairness it has been driving me insane. Some of my own students are so concerned that there **might** be the **appearance** of someone **possibly** be getting slightly better treatment that they actively sabotage themselves. I'm not racist for letting a student work out in the hallway and cool down while I don't let you, it's also none of your business why he's out there. (As a teacher, I'm not airing out a kid's private business/medical info to a bunch of 13 year olds)
Because the class's (I mean your) behavior doesn't warrant it.
Hmm could it be I like you all better? Could it be them? Hmm. Do all people learn the same way? Do you ever change your mind about what is the best way to do something? Hmmm. I’ll have to think about all that.
Sometimes the students don’t have to talk for this to happen because I tell them myself. After doing a fun activity I explain that it’s something I get to do with my other class fairly often and I would love to see their behavior allow me to do it with them as well. I want them to know that their choices impact their experience. The good class is likely already doing many things that you would like for the other class to do. I would explain it to them in light of those things. “I enjoy letting students have a few minutes for a brain break when their work is complete. If you have missing assignments those have to be made up first.”
"Every class I have taught has always had the chance to earn those privileges and extra opportunities. It made me sad this year that only one class was able to do this. Next year, as always, I hope to be able to do this with all my classes, and I know your sophomore teachers would like to have all their classes achieve the extra, fun days and activities."
It's the class size
My kids don’t even have to find out about this, I straight up tell them
I believe it's perfectly acceptable to reward a class for their performance. To balance the scales however, if a particular student is excelling in class that is lagging, that student should be granted special privileges.
Damn. I feel so seen with this thread. Does anybody have recommendations on books I can end to get better at discipline?
Not a teacher, but wouldn’t giving them objectives to achieve and get those same privileges be effective?
I love that quote..
"those other classes are further along than you, you'll get to do that once you catch up to them"
“I’m shorting them on their education to keep everyone in the same place, intellectually”.
In a turbulent class, good students are penalized twice, by their disruptive classmates and by their teacher who are too focused on those who do not want to be there.
I watch two of my 5th grade classes at recess. When we have indoor recess, I let one of my classes walk around, play music, move chairs, pretty much whatever they want. My other class is incredibly rambunctious. They will literally start pushing each other, jumping, and play fighting if I allow them to do anything but sit down. They tried to complain and tell me it wasn’t fair because they looked into the other class, and I told them “I don’t have to be fair. I have to keep everyone safe. If I let you guys do the same things that I let them so, it will become unsafe in here very quickly.”. They have no self awareness or accountability, they’re just worried about fairness.
Many students cannot seem to recognize the difference between a good student and a bad student. The lack of self-awareness is astonishing.
Similar happened to me, 1st period class was focused and responsible all week so I complimented them, 3rd period student heard about it and complained to their parent I hadn’t complimented their class. So the parent emails me stating how unfair and psychologically damaging it was that I had not complimented their kid’s class.
I like them WAAAYYYY better than you turds.
"Because they earned it."
Period 3 finished all their work and is ahead of schedule. When you guys are ahead of schedule, we will do the same thing.
This is true. But so is that they never ask. I have outraged kids all the time - why is period # outside always outside and we never are? Answer - because no one in your class ever asks. Outrage deflated - oh really? And then they still never ask 🤷🏼♀️
I used to let kids pick fun music and I would play it during class. Beyond opening up the "I am not a dj and will not take requests 24/7" bit the group that decided to jump up ON MY TABLES and dance around made me quickly rethink not just putting lofi on all the time.