here's my dilemma, my kids keep throwing paper around the room...?

Question

it's not all of them, but it's always the same 3 or 4, and I am at my wit's end about it. I cannot send them to the office when they disrupt the class, I write them up, but they never go to "friday detention" since there are no consequences for not showing up, and parents sound shocked when I tell them this (oh, not MY son!) and really, I see no improvement on their behavior. what do I do??

Answer 1

If they throw paper, they no longer get paper. They can do their assignment on the chalkboard, standing up. Let the parents know that this is going to happen the next time so that there are no surprises for children or parents.

I think you will find that this game will become very old very soon.

Answer 2

As a parent I abhor this kind of behavior.As one of the Yahoo Answerers suggest get a hidden video camera in the class and show the tape to the principal and the parents.You deserve respect from the kids and the parents.It sounds like there is no support from abovefrom your boss.One thought is to use reverse pscychology. Try ignoring them because they are just doing it to get attention and want to see how far they can go with you.They are testing your limits.Once theysee you are not giving them attention they might stop.These kids also do it because theyare not interested in doing their schoolwork. At our school girls and boys sit at group tablesIts girl/boy girlboy and not sitting with their friends.You could also make the kids sit at the front of the class where you can monitor their behavior but not sitting together.You also have a right to put on the the report card at the end of term that the child is disrupting the class. Parents of these kids need to get real and understand that this type of behavior is not acceptable.If has to go on the report card so be it.As a teacher youcould also bring up the issue of no cosequences if the child does not attend detention at your teacher meetings and with the principal.Good luck.

Answer 3

I have only taught in private schools, so I'm not sure if you can enforce rules the same as I did, or not. I wouldn't stand for it. I would separate the offenders, have assigned seats, and overall DEMAND respect. I'm not sure if you can get respect once you've lost it, but it's worth a try.

The next time paper is thrown, call that student to the back of the classroom (or wherever you are) and tell them you will not allow that kind of behavior in your classroom. It is YOUR classroom. If they goof off, or show any disrespect at all when you are speaking to them, send them outside the door, where they are to wait for you to speak to them. You have to EXPECT them to obey, or they won't. Treat their disrespect like you cannot believe they would have the audacity to act that way. When your class is in order and working on something, go to the door and speak with the offending student. Make them understand that they cannot act that way in the classroom. If they can promise to return to their seat and act right, then they can. If they won't promise, they spend the class period sitting against the wall outside your classroom door. Again, I don't know if your school policies will allow you the freedom to do this, but that's what I have done. (You can't send more than one of them out there, though, so if that happens, you have to take different measures. I would pick other empty places in the room and have them sit down by a wall and wait to speak to you when you have the class organized. This might be uncomfortable for older students, but if they are going to act like preschoolers, you can treat them as such.)

If that won't work, I would suggest writing a note to parents that you MAIL (not send home with the student) that informs the parent of their child's behavior. Inform parents that from now on, when their child throws paper or otherwise disrupts your classroom, the parents will receive a note describing and dating the offense, and the student's grade in your class will be docked. I don't know what subject you teach, but I taught art and if the student did not give 100% attention, they sure didn't get an A+ for that lesson. Again, I'm not sure how you can do this, but I think if the parents are informed, you should have the right to dock the student for lack of participation. However, you have to follow through. Make sure you write down the student's name and offense so that you can take care of it later.

I hope this helps. Like I said, my classroom was run that way, but I may have had more freedom to enforce my own rules. I'm not sure how old your students are and how much help you will get from the principal or parents, but hopefully you will get the respect you deserve. It isn't fair to ask you to teach with paper being thrown around the room. Don't let them make YOU suffer; it should be the other way around.

Good luck!

Answer 4

This would be rather amusing if it were not a disruption to the overall class structure and learning. Don't know if this will help you or not, but one of my favorite teachers, a history teacher, though thats not relevant to this story. Anyhow, he had a standing rule in his class, if you didnt like what was going on, all you had to do was construct a paper airplane and from the back of the room, toss it into the garbage can beside his desk. If you were able to he would give you a pass to go to the library for that period. If you failed, and no one ever managed the feat, you had to write a 5000 word essay on the subject of the day. This was a fair bargain and every kid understood that and every kid respected him for it and rarely did he have any trouble from one of his students.

Answer 5

Send a letter home every time by postal mail with a copy of your detention write up.

Physically isolate them. Gap the chairs. move them to the four corners of the chair grid. Even in crowded classrooms, small gaps can be psychologically important.

Rearrange the kids in the class -- surround each of them with girls.

Physically remove the temptation -- have them store their supplies on a bookshelf, and insist on them asking permission to go get them. Hard to toss what you do not have.

one might ask WHY you can not send them to the office when they disrupt class, that sounds like an administration which is failing in their duty to support you. How sad.

Answer 6

Is it safe to guess that this most likely a lower grade level? If they're pretty young, they're most likely to be in the "Personal Reward" moral stage, meaning that they will avoid punishment if their personal needs are satisfied. Use positive, or negative reinforcement.

Positive: Give them something for being good. "All right, class, if no paper is thrown for a whole week, the class will be rewarded with candy on Friday!". That's if they like candy. If they like something else that's appropriate, offer that. By offering this, the kids who don't throw paper might get on your side to help you tell the paper-throwers to stop what they're doing, and it'll teach the kids who throw paper that it's wrong.

Negative: "All right, class, if paper is thrown this week, I'll give out more homework". Give them an offer of something they don't want, or offer to take away something that they do want.

Both are effective, so long as what your offering is effective, though positive reinforcement is my choice.

Also, showing them who's boss is really important, but they might not really understand "This is MY classroom. You're interuppting the class." Yes, it is your classroom, but "I can still throw paper in YOUR classroom". Kids sometimes like the challenge of annoying the teacher. Talking to the children individually will work on some kids, though. Make sure you talk to them individually though, so that they don't get any empowerment from his or her peers.

But I'm 16, and I'm not a teacher, so I dunno! Good luck!

Answer 7

This is why is decided not to get teaching degree. We took the power to control the class away from the teachers. When I was in school if you had acted like that you would have been dragged out into the hallway by your ear and paddled.
What kind of school are you teaching at? I knew things were getting bad but not being able to send students to the office and no discipline at all.

Answer 8

I'm in seventh grade and the same thing happened in one of my classes.

The teacher threatened to take away anything "fun" (such as videos) and we'd have to do just bookwork. That stopped the paperthrowing. I assume that the kids didn't want to be blamed for losing all enjoyable activities for the entire class.

If this doesn't work, perhaps have them come after school to your classroom or whatnot to pick up every last bit of paper on the floor and write sentences or something. If they don't come, then there SHOULD be a consequence, such as 1st offense=something, 2nd offense, etc.

If it gets too out of hand, you should be able to send them to the office.

Hope this helps!

Bri

Answer 9

Have the kids write you up, for writing them up, for throwing paper.

Tell these children you are sorry they are writing you up, for writing them up, all wrinkle up the papers as you say sorry, and have you and the children walk to the garbage can and throw these write-ups away, for around a week.

Then after a couple of days or a week, apologize and ask the children if it is okay that you'll never be written up again, for writing them up, and you hope they would agree no?

Answer 10

wow kids suck.
erm - I have no experience with this but I'll give advice anyway.
Sounds like they are desperate for attention and even negative attension will do. Let's take them all together into a room and have a very mature chat with them. The chat will be only questions no statements or advice. Keep their backs to the door like on a business interview so they know you are in control. Ask them:
"When you throw paper, how does it make you feel?"
"Do you get embarraced when you get told off?"
"How would you like our classes to be conducted?"
"What would you rather be doing?"

The goal is to see if you can become their friend by showing empathy for their situation. If you get under their skin, they might want to impress you rather than get your attension in a negative way. let me know how it goes.