April 13, 2005 Problems/Solutions

The sixth grade class that I subbed today was terribly behaved. It became so bad that I called the principal of the school and asked her to address the situation. The principal came, addressed the entire class, wrote up four students, and took them to other classes. However, the remaining students continued being rude to me and each other as soon as the principal left. The day began with 34 students and then tapered down to 28 or so as people were pulled out or sent to other rooms. It is the only instance where I left at the end of the day preparing to ask a teacher not to call me again. I have been subbing off and on since January 2003, and have never said that about any class.

I don't feel like a failure, just like I was trapped in a corner. As a sub, you have limited power to change the discipline structure of a class, and the one this teacher had was of limited effectiveness. The learning environment was a quintessential recipe for chaos: poor seating arrangements (tables where 4 students face each other, and some of the worst offenders were at the same table in the back of the room), “ditto” material (almost all worksheets, no hands-on activities besides coloring/drawing for 20 minutes), no posted rules or consequences, no extra chairs to reseat rowdy students, in a tightly packed and messy classroom. I honestly don’t know how the teacher can teach. There might be an implicit arrangement with the students regarding behavior, but I did not discover it.

To top off the learning environment problems, some students were placed in this class because they are the lowest performing sixth-graders. Finding that out is like getting punched in the gut. The odds of their academic success go lower and lower with each distraction factor you add to the equation, and this classroom was a veritable distraction buffet. However, this is what I learned today.

I learned that effective classroom discipline makes the students responsible for their behavior, not the teacher. For example, the system in place for this class was pointless, making the teacher responsible for the student’s behavior.

Here is an example. The teacher is teaching. A student acts out in a way that merits correction. The teacher must stop teaching and hand the student sentences to write, and/or fill out a detention form or a referral. If the student is being sent out of the room, the teacher must also gather worksheets for the student to do while he or she is in the office/another class. What a waste of instructional time.

While the teacher is doing this, other students see the teacher’s distraction as an opportunity to socialize, so they act up. This goes on for two minutes: the teacher tries to balance getting materials for the misbehaving student, keep the momentum of instruction going, and focus the other students in the room. After this cycle is repeated two or more times, the good students become frustrated because their instruction is cut off, so they act out as well.

Here are my cursory attempts at solutions:

Problem - minor offense: the student must write sentences. Teacher must provide sentences for student to write.
Solution: Direct the student to the sentence material to be copied, perhaps on a table or bookshelf in plain sight. Let him/her retrieve the material, and keep teaching. Keep the location of sentence-writing materials consistent. Prepare them beforehand if possible.

Problem - detention offense: teacher must fill out detention form, which interrupts class instruction time.
Solution: quick check by students name or number on discipline form, along with check or shorthand note of offense (example: if student broke rule #3, write “Joey Martinez - 3”. Keep teaching, and fill out detention form later.

Problem – student must be sent out of room; teacher has to gather materials to keep student occupied once out of room.
Solution: Prepare 2-3 packets of take-out materials beforehand. Give misbehaving student one packet and keep teaching.

Problem - Referral: teacher must fill out immediately and send with student to office.
Solution: pre-fill referral form as much as possible – your name, normal teacher’s name, room number, date (if possible).