Submitted by Leslie (not verified) on February 5, 2008 - 11:46.
I agree with most of your comments! My son was a very disruptive student and really didn't care about school. I had the record for parent/principal & parent/teacher conferences for his middle school. I'm not kidding - the principal had me on his speed dial! 6 years later and I'm still the ONLY parent to have EVER been on his speed dial!
At the time, I worked at another school approx 5 miles away. The school staff & his Dad and I were all at the end of our ropes.....we had tried everything we could think of to help him be successful @ school and to care about his education. Finally, my husband spent 2 days going to every class w/ our son.....what an amazing difference that made! The class clown was no longer "cool" with Daddy hanging out w/ him. Dad also got an inside view of how the schools worked and how aggravating it was for staff to have kids like our son. Problem was solved for the remainder of that year!
Our son's apathy toward education came from many different fronts. He was clinically depressed. He was diagnosed as BiPolar. We had him in counseling, which sometimes helped and sometimes didn't. BiPolar medications turned him into a zombie and a child we didn't recognize. He started caring about his education when he enrolled into our local alternative high school. He has always been good working w/ hands-on projects and assignments; which they utilize a lot. He was also able to take several welding courses, which he loved! He got school-to-work credits for maintaining a job within the community and only had to attend school for 3 hours a day. The staff DID have the time to talk to him, find out what was happening in his life and offer him assistance when he needed it; whether that was counseling, academic assistance, a kick in the butt (verbally), etc.
Thomas Sergiovanni once said,"The children we teach will not care how much we know until they know how much we care." This is very true. I have worked for my school district for 14 years; 10 in the alternative high schools. We get students the "traditional" schools have given up on or washed their hands of. I have close friends that teach in these large schools and they DO have over 130 students per day! HOW & WHEN do they have the time to check the emotional well-being of every student? How is a math teacher to instruct 47 students in a 45 min class period? Of course many of the discipline problem students act out because they don't understand the material and help isn't available when they need it - now they have time on their hands to disrupt others!
In the smaller school, we had an average of 15 students per class - we had time to check w/ Johnny to find out when his last meal was or where he was sleeping last night. When a student hasn't eaten in a few days, is sleeping in his truck in the cul-de-sac and is trying to figure out where to get gas $$ to make it to school tomorrow; he will have a very difficult time learning reading, writing & math. His attitude will probably not be good - at that point all it takes for Johnny to lose it is another rude student or a non-intentional slight by a teacher. Johnny's now a discipline problem because he lost his cool and responded inappropriately; he's sent to the office where admin throws the book at him and reaffirms his impression that no ones cares. Johnny now drops out because, "Why bother - they all hate me anyway. They don't care. I'm just stupid."
Many of today's youth do not parents/role models at home to teach them social and behavioral skills to avoid problem behaviors. Effective in-school suspension programs that utilize a counseling/behavior modification component have proven to be successful in assisting these students improve their behaviors. Limiting school sizes, class sizes, teacher workloads, etc would give staff the TIME to care and dig deeper into Johnny's issues!
The bottom line as I see it: It is our job as educators to teach students how to be successful, contributing, productive citizens within our schools and communities. Out of school suspensions DO NOT work toward that end goal. We need to guide students and provide them with the problem-solving skills they need to walk that road alone later in life. I believe knowing someone cares about them individually and the power of positive reinforcement, versus negative reactive measures, benefit students with behavioral issues more than anything else.
Suspensions
Submitted by Leslie (not verified) on February 5, 2008 - 11:46.
I agree with most of your comments! My son was a very disruptive student and really didn't care about school. I had the record for parent/principal & parent/teacher conferences for his middle school. I'm not kidding - the principal had me on his speed dial! 6 years later and I'm still the ONLY parent to have EVER been on his speed dial!
At the time, I worked at another school approx 5 miles away. The school staff & his Dad and I were all at the end of our ropes.....we had tried everything we could think of to help him be successful @ school and to care about his education. Finally, my husband spent 2 days going to every class w/ our son.....what an amazing difference that made! The class clown was no longer "cool" with Daddy hanging out w/ him. Dad also got an inside view of how the schools worked and how aggravating it was for staff to have kids like our son. Problem was solved for the remainder of that year!
Our son's apathy toward education came from many different fronts. He was clinically depressed. He was diagnosed as BiPolar. We had him in counseling, which sometimes helped and sometimes didn't. BiPolar medications turned him into a zombie and a child we didn't recognize. He started caring about his education when he enrolled into our local alternative high school. He has always been good working w/ hands-on projects and assignments; which they utilize a lot. He was also able to take several welding courses, which he loved! He got school-to-work credits for maintaining a job within the community and only had to attend school for 3 hours a day. The staff DID have the time to talk to him, find out what was happening in his life and offer him assistance when he needed it; whether that was counseling, academic assistance, a kick in the butt (verbally), etc.
Thomas Sergiovanni once said,"The children we teach will not care how much we know until they know how much we care." This is very true. I have worked for my school district for 14 years; 10 in the alternative high schools. We get students the "traditional" schools have given up on or washed their hands of. I have close friends that teach in these large schools and they DO have over 130 students per day! HOW & WHEN do they have the time to check the emotional well-being of every student? How is a math teacher to instruct 47 students in a 45 min class period? Of course many of the discipline problem students act out because they don't understand the material and help isn't available when they need it - now they have time on their hands to disrupt others!
In the smaller school, we had an average of 15 students per class - we had time to check w/ Johnny to find out when his last meal was or where he was sleeping last night. When a student hasn't eaten in a few days, is sleeping in his truck in the cul-de-sac and is trying to figure out where to get gas $$ to make it to school tomorrow; he will have a very difficult time learning reading, writing & math. His attitude will probably not be good - at that point all it takes for Johnny to lose it is another rude student or a non-intentional slight by a teacher. Johnny's now a discipline problem because he lost his cool and responded inappropriately; he's sent to the office where admin throws the book at him and reaffirms his impression that no ones cares. Johnny now drops out because, "Why bother - they all hate me anyway. They don't care. I'm just stupid."
Many of today's youth do not parents/role models at home to teach them social and behavioral skills to avoid problem behaviors. Effective in-school suspension programs that utilize a counseling/behavior modification component have proven to be successful in assisting these students improve their behaviors. Limiting school sizes, class sizes, teacher workloads, etc would give staff the TIME to care and dig deeper into Johnny's issues!
The bottom line as I see it: It is our job as educators to teach students how to be successful, contributing, productive citizens within our schools and communities. Out of school suspensions DO NOT work toward that end goal. We need to guide students and provide them with the problem-solving skills they need to walk that road alone later in life. I believe knowing someone cares about them individually and the power of positive reinforcement, versus negative reactive measures, benefit students with behavioral issues more than anything else.