to think a detention shouldn't be fun?

[whoops]

Ds had a detention at school last week and when I asked him what he had to do in it he told me that it was great he got to read any book he wanted so got to read a Pokemon book.
How is that going to put him off wanting a detention? to me it make it sound fun and won't put him off being naughty at school.

Maybe he is saying this to put a brave face on it.

Could it be that just getting a detention is a bit humiliating so by talking like this it makes him feel better about it.

YANBU my daughter got a detention (actually deserved for once, she didn't shut up in english class) and they let them watch a dvd??!! HOW is that a punishment??!!

I make them copy out of the dictionary, beginning with "a", with all definitions, etc. I keep what they write, and if they come back again, they pick up where they left off.

Or have them write an essay: "My favourite door" or "Inside a ping-pong ball" - these are for the smartarses.

I get parents complaining I give detentions at inconvenient times. Well duh.

YANBU but in my ds's experience detentions were seen as an extension of the school day where he'd meet with his friends in the warm and in relative comfort and discuss football or upcoming social events.
Duty manager was in charge, had no authority, was often drunk and wasn't really bothered what any of them did so long as they stayed in the room. Any major disruption in the class guaranteed DM would dismiss them early so often only did 10 minutes anyway.

Detentions should all be like in The Breakfast Club imho.

echt I used to make them copy out the dictionary too!

there are a couple of boys in my ds1's class who are constantly on lunchtime detention and they get to draw pictures and chat with each other. doesnt seem like much of a deterrent to me, so YANBU.

No he wasn't puting on a brave face as he has told me what he has done on each detention he has had today he had part dentention to finish his work as he was messing around in class. He is only 8 and already on his final warning that if he has 1 more full lunchtime detention he will be excluded at lunchtimes

My students get to copy, or do their missing homework if we have got to detention stage with that.

DS has just had his first detention (and it had better be the last, if he knows what's good for him ). They had to copy out a chapter of a book (not of their choice!) in silence.

I teach languages and give them a list of words and a dictionary. They have to look up all the words!! They don't like doing that.

I would never make a detention fun - it's not fun for me having to supervise them - why should they enjoy it?

Wemake them sit and do nothing at all - they waste our time in lessons, we waste theirs after school.

That said, sometimes I wish I could get said kids hoiked out to finish their coursework, as a crappy grade potentially impacts on their choices and definitely impacts on my results!

My son gets made to write out the rules of cricket. Deviously clever punishment as they are apparently very long and boring. Just like the game itself

At ds1's previous school, they used to get set work to do in detention. Apparently this was because they didn't want them using detention to complete unfinished/undone work/homework, if that's what they'd been sent to detention for. They had to do their detention work and then do the unfinished work at home.

Mind you, this didn't stop ds1 - he is exceptionally organisationally challenged, and one memorable fortnight, he managed to have a detention every day for forgetting to take his homework in!

I used to have a detention practically every night (I'm dyspraxic, and also a smartarse, which is a leathal combination) and i didn't mind at all. It meant I didn't have to walk home at the same time as the crowds which I hated (plus I was bullied) and I would sit around writing smartarse essays about why PE was equivelent to physical torture or how GCSE coursework was a massive waste of time and effort. Either that or I had to read textbooks, but, again, I enjoyed that.

I eventually got taken out of some lessons entirely, and got to spend the time teaching the special needs kids to read, which was brilliant, and far more interesting than colouring in maps in Geography!

The best punishment was in PE-if you messed about getting changed (and of course, me being dyspraxic, it started off as me just getting changed as quick as I could. Obviously it was soon me doing it on purpose) you didn't have to do PE and got to sit in the warm history classroom reading about exciting historical events. How that was meant to be worse than getting balls thrown at you in the freezing cold and mud by scary popular kids I have no idea.

Hmm, I still can't decide if I was a brilliant, free-thinking genius, or a self-important smartarse at school...I'm thinking the latter, as at the age of 24, I still have no degree or career, and in fact am quite happy at home with the kids, which is something I swore I would never do. I was going to be a rock and roll poet, and possibly some kind of socialist campaigner in my spare time...

24? You're practically a child - plenty of time for a degree and career!

Aye, i'm just going with the flow, plenty of time for rock and roll once the kids are grown up!