[Kinderkr4zy]

I was talking with some teachers the other day and I talked about how I keep my students admonishments and consequences personal, just between the student and I. I felt that if you call some kids out in front of all of their friends it would just humiliate them and then it would only escalate their behavior and damage the relationship that is the foundation of classroom management.

Boy oh boy was I lamb blasted and told I was wrong. I was told, quite vocally and passionately:
They should be embarrassed in front of friends if they cant behave and maybe their humiliation will teach them a lesson. I was told these kids need to learn to deal with public humiliation if their behavior is disrupting teaching. And if it escalates them well they just need to learn to deal with it.

I was shocked. This goes against everything I have ever been taught about behavior management. I refuse to demolish the "safe place" and mutual respect feelings I try so hard to create in my room. I refuse to treat any child in a way that I wouldn't want my own child treated. Is this a common belief? Am I in the minority?

[dee]

How can humiliating a child, whether 7 or 17, ever be a good thing????

Wrong on so many levels.

[MissESL]

I will call out behavior when necessary. An example might be if I’m in small group and a student is goofing off across the room. I will call out that behavior and tell them to knock it off, as well as make a blanket statement about remembering expectations in that setting.

But truly, it’s more of a private thing. I am not able to leave students to talk in the hall, but I try to call kids up to talk quietly.

No one accomplishes anything when behavior disruptions escalate.

[apple annie]

I try to think pretty much practice the golden rule. Treat students the way you would want to be treated. Would I want my principal calling me out and embarrassing me in front of my peers? Of course not. Kids are human beings with feelings. When in doubt (or even when not in doubt), err on the side of grace.

[Fenwick]

Humiliating a student almost always guarantees their revenge. The "lesson" is - When adults see a problem they don't like they go public and embarrass the person. Since students learn their social skills from watching adults it should not surprise anyone watching a student apply the lesson when interacting with others. That is, you get what you give. If a teacher yells across the room as a "technique" to quell disruption they teach students when disrupted - start yelling. Then the same teacher will often jump all over students for yelling when they had a hand in promoting it.

Teachers resort to humiliation for a number of reasons; most common being they don't know what else to do. They lack the requisite skills to bring about change that protects the student from public embarrassment. At the exact time the student and general public are looking for someone to live up to the title of "professional" they get no better than a dysfunctional adult. And, yes, although rare, I know of teachers who believe students "deserve" to be disgraced. Too often it's a perverse "pay back"; hurting the student because they feel hurt.

[Gigi814]

I teach primary, so some of my students have personal behavior charts that go home in their folder each day. Those are private. I have a positive behavior management system in my classroom so many times I will publicly call out students who are making good choices to come up and take some gold tags. I do not believe in public displays of negative behavior, and that includes embarrassing a student.

[Lakeside]

...I was shocked. This goes against everything I have ever been taught about behavior management. I refuse to demolish the "safe place" and mutual respect feelings I try so hard to create in my room. I refuse to treat any child in a way that I wouldn't want my own child treated. Is this a common belief? Am I in the minority?

Not in my book! I find that my students (and as a sub, I have a lot of them, for multiple years in a row) very much appreciate an individual approach to helping them grow.