Deception and Seating Charts

For the sake of privacy, all names have been changed in the following account.

Today I subbed a very tough class. Six of the students switched names and attempted to deceive me the entire day. They responded for each other during roll, answered to each other's names when called on during class, and wrote each other's names on the work they turned in. When I handed out nametags to learn who they were, they wrote another person's name. One student even took an official school document with the other student’s name on it. I asked him at that point if he was “Jimmy”, and he lied to my face, saying, “Yeah, I’m Jimmy.” Two of them I caught because of a conversation with another teacher, and an aide exposed the other four. What was really bothersome is that no other students in the whole class told me the truth. Two of the chameleons were caught at the end of second period, but the other four were all the way into sixth period before the aide recognized I was calling one student by the wrong name. “That’s not Josie,” she said. “Josie sits behind her.” The students giggled. That tipped her off, and then the aide watched as I handed back homework and read the names. “This goes to her, and this goes to her.” By the time the deception was straightened out, the day was almost over.

I was mad. A joke I can handle, but out and out lying is another. What made it worse was that one student with a distinct behavior problem (defiance) did not take his medication that morning, then went by another student’s name. The teacher informed me where to send David if he acted up, but because of the name changing game, I sent a pseudo-David (who was also being defiant) out of the room. The real David ended up in the Principal’s office, who then became upset with me and the normal teacher for not having a better management plan and sending him to another class sooner. It was a catch-22: how can I send out the real David if another student claims to be David while the real David is lying to my face?

Moral of story: When you sub, especially Resource, Opportunity, or any class you suspect has students with behavioral problems, ask for a seating chart. A class chart with pictures or a copy of yearbook page is even better, so you can match names and faces. Verbally direct the students to sit in their assigned seats, or they will switch places. It is sad, but some students think deception is a game.