I'm sick of kids threatening me whenever I write them up and insisting I'm constantly lying on them just to get them out of my classroom. I had 2 students rough housing. They bumped into me, other students, furniture in the room, everything. I gave them a warning the first day. Second day it happened I got between them. Third day I'd had enough and wrote them up. They got a paddling (10th and 11th graders) and sent back to my room where they have been threatening me, my job, insulting my character, and my class content. What's the point of sending them back to the office when all they ever do is get a paddling that they don't care one bit about and come straight back to my room and refuse to do anything but try to enrage me?
IF a child threatened me I immediately call parents, let the admin. know and tell them if they dont take care of it I will alert the local law enforcement that I am being threatened. You dont have to take this. Ask that an eye in the sky be put in your room to record them. Those cameras are really small now and can get sound also. Good luck. Nobody deserves this and your other students are being impacted badly, too.
I thought that went out a long time ago. It was used when I was in school. and the students would straighten right up, and not act or get by with what they do now.
Any threats directed to you or the students should be properly punished. You must be in a charter or private school where paddling is allowed. When I first started teaching (1980) we were allowed to paddle students with a witness and had to write it up. I only paddled a few students in my whole career. However, when I was in school students were paddled quite regularly.
With that said, I don't think it will work on high schoolers and I don't know any schools that allow it anymore. Their parents should have to come in and conference with you and the principal. If that doesn't work I would get the school resource officer involved.
I must be old to remember paddling. I'm surprised so many of you have never heard of it. Not that I'm an advocate of it.
I hate to say it, because you came here to vent and not to have a back and forth about your schools discipline choices but...violence like paddling has data to show that corporal punishment is linked to aggressive behavior in children and teens.
You have a right to vent because no one deserves to be threatened and degraded while doing their job-It's just my 2 cents that you may get less aggression and retaliation from the kids with different form of discipline.
I would think that a paddling would actually up the "cool factor" for those students and make them more brazen as they postured for their friends about how much they didn't care.
I don't know the answer to your question, but I'm sorry that you aren't feeling supported ☹️
Maybe you could get a discussion started in your school about how paddling doesn't seem to be working to stop bad behavior. I bet those boys would rather get paddled than have to write an essay on respectful classroom behavior or have their parents come in for a meeting with you and the principal.
In the 70’s we had to have parent permission to get paddled. My brother forged my parents permission so he could just get paddled and get it over with. The other punishment was repainting bathrooms, halls, picnic tables, whatever needed it. He didn’t want to do the work.
IF a child threatened me I immediately call parents, let the admin. know and tell them if they dont take care of it I will alert the local law enforcement that I am being threatened.
I like this advice.
I would be immediately back in the office with the young men asking for a harsher punishment. If my p refused, then I think reporting threats to the police is called for.
I'm surprised corporal punishment still happens anywhere in the country. I'm not a proponent of it by any means, but there are some kids for whom any consequence in the world isn't going to be a deterrent.
About kids threatening you, it doesn't surprise me. I've had several kids threaten me (not physically): they're going to get me fired, they're going to call mommy and daddy, etc. because I have the nerve to try to make them do grade-level work and won't just let them cheat on their assignments and play on their phones all day. Kids know that most schools will give parents and kids whatever they want, no matter how wrong or ridiculous it is, to avoid conflict.
If this is what you mean by threatening you, I don't know that I'd tell the police about this as some are suggesting. If they're physically threatening you and you contact law enforcement, then it's less likely to backfire on you at your job.
Not even paddling? Well, some of them are just bad seeds! Being sarcastic here.
1. Probably too late now but, students should not be out of their chairs. Make sure you make that a rule and enforce it from a distance. Repeat the rule in a general manner really loud and address the entire class instead of the culprits. Do a seating chart, place your desk on the back of the room and monitor from the back. As soon as you see any movement, say clearly: raise your hand if you need anything in the classroom! Listen to what they do and say no until the rule is established for everyone.
2. Don't ever get between any of them, you are placing yourself in danger. I know you mean well but, from far away, your reaction, it may seem very threatening. Also, they can use this to their advantage. She touched me, she pushed me, I had to defend myself and etc.
3. The Adm. paddled them-horrific I know. However, how would you like a hug, candy and sent back to your room! What action(s) do you want from administration when you write them up? Make sure you know this yourself. Paddling seems to be a very harsh and embarrassing punishment.
4. Make sure you are documenting all these threats and what actions if any administration is taken for your safety and the safety of the other students.
5. I would have been really horrified at the paddling thing during my first years of teaching but now I have no sympathy for any of theses sadistic entitled lying monsters and their parents turning an blind eye. A natural consequence for their actions should be juvenile detention or placed in a very structure environment. This is what they really need.
6. Please forgive me but I believe you need help with classroom management and this doesn't mean it is your fault.
7. I hope everything turns out OK. Sending you good vibes ))))))) your way.
Some clarification. We're a school in the south and corporal punishment is still a thing in a lot of schools. Parents have the ability to put on file that they don't want the school to use corporal punishment on their child. It should also be noted that students who have the option are always given the choice between the paddling and in school suspension. Most go for the paddling because whether we're allowed to or not you still can't do it very hard at all or you get repercussions there. I wish they'd do away with it. But ISS isn't doing anything to deter them either. They just view it as a way to get away from their least favorite teachers. And it's only a day or 2 so there's just nothing that you can really hold them accountable with. I have students threaten to get me fired, while disconcerting, don't truly worry me. I have some students talk about they plan to make me cry before the end of the semester and make me regret ever coming here, which could mean anything really, but it bothers me. One of the students doing this has threatened another teacher bodily harm, etc etc. I'm just at my wits end and honestly I think a student successfully getting me fired would be a relief.
"I have students threaten to get me fired, while disconcerting, don't truly worry me. I have some students talk about they plan to make me cry before the end of the semester and make me regret ever coming here, which could mean anything really, but it bothers me."
This is awful. I feel for you because I've heard similar things from kids, bragging about making other teachers quit or making them cry. I know a lot of it is just immature teenage bravado and not to take it seriously, but it's still hard to imagine anybody at any age bragging about making somebody else cry.
A lot of teachers are finding themselves in this position, where no consequences (where there are any; at many schools it seems, there are none) deter threatening behavior. They end up feeling like helpless and like they just have to take anything that kids want to do to them. There's also the fear that the kids will be increasingly emboldened and desensitized and continue to push the envelope. It's a very hard position to be in. Lawmakers in my state are trying to address the teacher shortage through various means, such as increasing pay, but I think working conditions like you describe (among others) are the true reason why so many people are leaving the profession.
I'm definitely not at all an advocate of corporal punishment, but it's too bad that states are making it harder to suspend even the most violent and disruptive kids from school for extended periods of time. I know OSS isn't ideal, but there are clearly kids out there who are going to be completely unaffected by traditional behavioral interventions (consequences, restorative justice, etc.) and consequences. These kids and the behaviors such as you describe and the ones I've seen clearly compromise the ability of other kids to learn. I think that for some kids, OSS is a necessary evil because they're sabotaging other kids' ability to learn.
Now that it has been confirmed what paddling is, I am appalled that this still takes place. Such punishment does nothing to deter bad behavior.
You wanna bet? I grew up in a time when the teacher could give you a swat immediately without any permission or yadda yadda yadda.........It worked with us. We didnt grow up to be violent or wacked out. And our parents were not happy if we were bad enough to receive it. Many got it worse at home. When I began teaching we still could paddle. I taught in a middle school one year (math). I did it occasionally and believe me it worked. Most never wanted to chance it. Some took the chance. Some you could paddle all the time and it didnt matter. They wanted just any kind of attention. It was a last resort and worked well with most kids. If you wanna call it child abuse ( a swat on the behind) have at it. I have seen real abuse walk in the door. You can see it in their eyes, from their demeanor and from the horrible stories we heard or they revealed.
Maybe we they would not behave like sadistic, entitled lying monsters if they had a little more discipline early on. Im just messing with you tfar. But there is some truth to it. Whenever I saw children behaving like the above comment you could always bet it was parental (or lack of) in their lives. I learned early on the worst behaved children were actually doing pretty good considering the horrible situation they came from.
As for paddling I know it is a terrible thing to hit a child. It teaches them that hitting is ok. It is abusive and demeaning etc etc. Answer me this. Why do children hit other children IF they do not see others hitting? If you have a three yr old that wants to bolt at the first chance would you rather give them a swat on the behind to save their life from traffic or protect their psyche instead. My dad spanked me with a belt till I as 12. But he loved me and showed me in 100s of ways. He did everything a real dad should do. I was 63 when he died last year. He was wise and loved my friends as if they were his children. Children need love and attention and they need discipline and direction. Spanking is just one way to discipline. Not the only or best way but a way that works with some. I NEVER smoked cigarettes because of my dad. I have many friends whose health is awful now from those things. Some children dont need it but trust me there are some that it will do them some good.
Whether spanking is right or wrong in a school system is debatable. I have mixed feelings on it honestly. But it's not working for these students in any case. My mom always said to find a child's currency, what will speak most to them for discipline. For me it was spankings. I didn't like the pain of it and so I avoided it and grew up to be a pretty great person. My little sister didn't care one lick about a spanking. So she got privileges taken away. And she's turned out to be a pretty fantastic person. It's all about finding the thing that speaks to the child. But I'm out of ways available to me to discipline. Kids don't care about spankings or ISS and those are the only consequences. I've talked to other teachers that have these students, it's not just me.
As far as classroom management goes, I can't have them sit down the entire time. I am an art teacher and they have to move around to get supplies sometimes or to clean up towards the end of class etc. I make them work and I make them clean up after themselves like responsible human beings. Most of my classes, even with threats, know better than to tussle in my room. Sometimes all the classroom management in the world will not keep a student from acting out. (I'm also a firm believer that we require students to sit in chairs too long and too rigidly. Even in high school younger bodies need to move and get energy out. My room is a safe space to get some wiggles out as long as you do your work. I have students stand, sit, and walk around to look at other's work for inspiration and it works fairly well, a few things I'll tweak here and there, but overall the more I tell them to sit, the more restless they get, the more behavior issues I have.)
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01-28-2019, 01:04 PM
Being sarcastic here.
