Thursday, December 3, 2015

A Choice


Back to the 8th grade science class. We're getting to the end of these stories. I should finish them before the end of this year. This particular technique works in all sorts of classes, but it was particularly helpful here. 

"This isn't my seat."

Turns out a boy was in her seat, so she took another girl's seat, displacing her, too. I only got the boy to move by letting him know this was a punishable offense. (Detention.)

Naturally, this incident made it into my note.

Wednesday, there was a new warning on the board about assigned seats or detentions.

Yet, I still got the questions. They wanted to sit next to their friends. (Obviously, this was not a good idea.)

Instead of a flat no, I gave them a choice. Sure, they could sit there. But the payment was a detention.

I got no takers. I guess the price was too high.

16 comments:

  1. That's one way to handle it. Glad the risk of detention prevented more problems.

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    1. I was kind of afraid one of them would take it.

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  2. I wonder why they just can't do as they are supposed to do! I guess I am way old-fashioned!

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    1. They're 8th graders. That's par for the course.

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  3. Smart offer. Doubt they'd be allowed to sit next to their friends in detention, either.

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  4. Yeah, they can get up to trouble when they're with their friends. But I'd ask to sit next to my friends, too.

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  5. That's why the teacher has a seating chart so they don't get to sit by their friends :) I do like the choice you gave them; good one!

    betty

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  6. kids pushing the envelope and you standing firm = everybody doing their job.

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  7. Then there are the kids who it doesn't matter who you sit them beside they're still going to talk.

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  8. Great way to handle this situation.

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  9. Perfectly done!

    I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I got two stepchildren (twins) their senior year of high school. It was quite an adventure! This post reminds me of one of my strategies when they were testing me...as they did, of course!

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