Silly things teachers think will work

[NAR4]

One of the teachers at my child's school (he is in sixth form) thinks giving out yellow cards and red cards for 'bad' behaviour in class will somehow motivate 17 year olds.

At my 14 year old's school (a different school) he was asked to write a letter to Father Christmas during an English lesson. The teacher was dead serious. REALLY?

I pressume that nether of these teachers have children of their own, but should surely have been taught at uni that these things were completely age inappropriate.

[casma]

Totally inappropriate IMO. Teenagers are, on the whole, selfish people so to get them to react you need something which will impact on them (e.g. detention). If there are no consequences to having received a red card, why would students care about getting one?

I am not, however, a teacher so I would trust that they know what they're doing to manage the pupils.

[Celticlassie]

Unfortunately, a lot of 17 year old boys DON'T know how to behave and it does not fall to the ordinary classroom teacher to tell them to leave school. not that I haven't suggested it to them

I've used all sorts of 'childish' motivational techniques to get my senior boys to learn because unfortunately I'm still judged on their results!

[FromEsme]

Not just boys, in my experience. There are plenty of girls who won't behave themselves either.

[noblegiraffe]

I've seen GCSE students motivated by stickers which you would expect them to be too old for. Who knows what won't work with any particular group of students without trying it?

[41notTrendy]

Everyone's an expert. Sigh. The reason for what goes on in any classroom can be complex. And yes, sometimes it's poor teaching or misjudged situations. Assuming its always ineptitude is wrong.

[cloudpuff]

I agree with teachers getting the blame for students crappy behaviour, when it should fall to the students themselves and their upbringing.

My bestfriends son is very ermmmm challenging, she blames everyone for his appaling(sp?) behaviour, when spending half an hour in her household you can see its thier lazy parenting style, yet the blame the school and claim they are picking on him, in reality the teachers have been very very good with him and are the only ones trying to discipline him, I actually worry about this child and how he will cope when he hits his teenage years.

Sorry didnt mean to derail.

[cloudpuff]

I didnt mean I agree as in that they are to blame, I meant I agree in as it seems to they do get blamed.

[tethersend]

I have used circle time with 15 year olds- in fact, an Ofsted inspector observed me doing so. The lesson was rated outstanding.

[AViewfromtheFridge]

Casma, I would imagine the red card probably does have consequences - it will represent something, for example, a detention or extra work. Why would a teacher just stand around waving cards??

I do love a good bit of teacher bashing of a Saturday afternoon. Work 9-3, all those holidays, and even then they can't pitch lessons appropriately.

[casma]

The OP didn't mention a consequence, which I took to suggest there wasn't one (I haven't read the whole thread though). If there was, why would she be complaining about it being a method of discipline? With a consequence, I would imagine that method to be an effective way of disciplining anyone of school age.

[FermezLaBouche]

Or perhaps the OP didn't mention the cards being used with relevant consequences because she was too busy trying to convey how ludicrous the whole idea was. And don't even get me started on "I presume these teachers have no children of their own."

[AViewfromtheFridge]

I was so busy being outraged by the rest of it I didn't notice that! WHAT??

How on earth is there a correlation between how good/ reasonable/ effective a teacher you are and whether or not you have children of their own? Madness. Most of the people I work with say they were actually better teachers before they had children, because they had so much more time!

(And while I hate to be a pedant OP, if you're going to criticise anything to do with education, you should probably proof-read your posts.)

[webwiz]

I think the red/yellow card thing sounds like a really good idea - DS would probably respond quite well to that (year 11), a quick way of warning you are going a bit to far with the chatting/showing off (more likely to be showing off ) to get you back to focusing on the lesson.

[Knowsabitabouteducation]

I don't have bad behaviour in my lessons, but I believe that the yellow/red card thing is very effective.

Obviously, it comes from football, so immediately connects with many students.

It is something that a teacher can do non-verbally, so does not add to disruption of the lesson for those students who are eager to learn.

Teachers have other non-verbal strategies, such as writing a student's name in the board and adding tally marks to indicate the severity of the punishment.

I think the OP does not understand the reality of behaviour in schools today. It is very shocking for someone with a 10/20/30 year old memory of what school was like.

[exoticfruits]

If they can't behave in a sixth form lesson there is no point in them being there. As a parent I would give them a stark choice-stop messing about or leave and get a job.

[exoticfruits]

I think the OP does not understand the reality of behaviour in schools today. It is very shocking for someone with a 10/20/30 year old memory of what school was like.
As a parent I simply wouldn't put up with a school like that. Mine went to a comprehensive and it isn't the reality in all schools! Phone up-ask why they are teaching 6 form pupils who need a card system-why are they not asked to leave?

[Cartoonjane]

Some sixth formers love things that they last experienced when much younger. For example stickers are very popuar with my sixth formers. They love them in a sort of "ironic" ( that's tennager type ironic) way but are motivated by them. I don't know about red and yellow cards but all these things depend in the end on the personality of and relationship with the teacher using them.

[Cartoonjane]

exoticfruits they are not asked to leave because schools don't receive funding for students who don't compete courses. Also in some cases asking students to leave condemns them to the sort of life we want them to avoid. The next time I see them they might be doing something far worse than messing about in cass.

[exoticfruits]

In that case then whatever works-but it isn't where I would send my DCs.

[LynetteScavo]

I don't think yellow and red cards are supposed to motivate. More like two strokes and you're out.

I'd presume if you are sent out of the room during 6th form, you'd be very likely asked to leave school altogether.

At DSs school they are awarded points, and after 50 points they get a badge to wear on tier blazer.(Gold/silver/bronze) At nearly 14 he is desperate (like his friends) to get a badge. Bizarrely, I think he would be thrilled by a sticker.

His Spanish teacher gives out sweets, but he doesn't like sweets,so that's not too effective.

DS was most excited to find out you don't get detentions in 6th form. I pointed out that if you didn't know how to behave properly, and bother to do your homework in 6th form, you'd probably just fail your A'levels, and you should be old enough to realise that by Y12. It gave him something to think about.

[chloe74]

Its sad to hear (and I don't blame teachers) but it does seem some schools are really just glorified baby sitting services. It is ridiculous that you have to persuade a 17 year old to learn when they should be getting a job and learning the real world does not pander to their behavioral issues. No wonder many parents want to send their children to exclusive schools where learning actually takes place.

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

I'd love a card system at uni! I'd be doling them out all over the place, but instead I have to just glare quizzically until they stop chatting or texting or whatever.

There is a linguistics lecturer who throws smarties out in lectures to anyone who answers a question, whether rightly or wrongly. . He is very popular.

[noblegiraffe]

It'll only get worse when education/training becomes compulsory to 18.

[LynetteScavo]

I imagine 6th forms of certain schools will tighten their entrance criteria, when education to 18 becomes compulsory.

DSs school as for almost straight B's. And they get good A'level results. The local high school is more relaxed, the selective grammar asks for a certain amount of points (I haven't translated what that means yet).

(In my day you could get in anywhere with straight C's. What does that tell you?)

[exoticfruits]

It is about the only thing that I think is good about league tables. 6th forms in our area are very competitively marketed, and they jealously guard their position, so they would be asked to leave. They are monitored first which would mean that they took a report card to every lesson and the teacher would have to award marks for effort, results, homework done etc and if that doesn't work they are out.