I made a 7th grade girl cry. I'm not proud of this. But it kinda couldn't be helped.
I had been warned that 4th period could be "immature". I had also been warned that the teacher had a strict no cell phone policy. I had already dealt with a boy eating in class (after he had been told not to) and another boy who seemed to think he could choose any seat in the room he liked.
And I won't even go into the girl who bellowed "whale" while I was trying to give instructions. When I questioned her on this utterance, she informed me that she hadn't been talking to me. Well, clearly, but that doesn't negate my question.
Ahem.
The class was working quietly (as they had been instructed to do). I happened to look over towards the corner, and I caught another girl with her phone out apparently taking a picture of someone across the room.
Um, no.
They had been warned about cell phones, so I went to confiscate. And surprisingly, I got no protest from the girl. She handed the device over, and she went back to work.
Later in the period, the girl raised her hand. She had a question about the assignment. And she was crying.
She asked her question. I asked her about her tears. She told me that she was going to get into so much trouble. I answered her question about the assignment and moved on.
At the end of the period, I returned her phone to her. I probably would have even without the tears. It's so rare that a confiscation goes without even a bit of protest or a period of hearing about how unfair I was. Besides, I did write her name down. She's probably going to get a detention. Which, considering the infraction, seems like a fair punishment to me.
So were they crocodile tears to try to get her phone back?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. I could be wrong (and frequently am), but she seemed genuinely upset.
DeleteIt's like there's no connection between actions and consequences. There's an easy way to avoid trouble. Very easy. Too easy apparently.
ReplyDeleteIt's the age. Hopefully, she got a lesson in keeping the cell phone put away. We'll see.
DeleteYour first paragraph totally made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem fair. She got the phone back eventually, but didn't totally get away with breaking the rules.
True. I'm pretty sure she got a detention, and the fear of future punishment from her parents might be enough so that she doesn't do this in the future.
DeleteClass rooms need rules. My youngest son lost his phone once for using it in one of his classes.
ReplyDeleteWell not going into it, a lease he learn his lesson.
Coffee is on
He got it back though, right?
DeleteSeems like natural consequences to me. Rules are there. If you break them and get caught, you pay.
ReplyDeleteI could have taken it a step further and turned the phone into the office. Then her parent would have had to come and retrieve it.
Deletewell, we can all be a bit emotional when we're 13...and I still can't believe schools allow kids to have cell phones in class.
ReplyDeleteYou have to wonder what she knew her consequences would cause that made her cry like that.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I got called to school to pick up son's cell phone that he had misused in class (I was not amused and this is now more than 10 years ago). He just got more clever on how to use it (sadly).
betty
It would be good if they could learn from their mistakes. Sadly I doubt this is the last time she'll pull her phone out at school.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see. She might learn her lesson. She might not.
DeleteAh teaching is not easy, is it?
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a good Halloween :)
I suspect she might think twice before doing it again. As for the girl who screamed out "whale"... grrrrr.
ReplyDeleteAh yes. That also got a write up in my note. The teacher said anyone whose name was left would get a detention. That detention was well earned.
DeleteNext time the kid calls out whale, maybe you could stop the class until every kid had called out the animal they want to be, or they think they look most like, and tell her she's already had her turn?
ReplyDeleteFunny. But I didn't want to cause more chaos.
DeleteHopefully a lesson learned for the future.
ReplyDeleteStrange delay there. It seems like she would have argued or something initially, but to randomly cry later on just seems odd.
ReplyDeleteI don't know when she started crying. I only noticed it later.
DeleteWas she going through pms? I mean they are getting younger every year:)
ReplyDeleteI don't know about younger (I was a year younger when I started). She might have never gotten into trouble before.
DeleteI wondered how teachers could get away with "phone confiscation". I mean parents give their kids a phone for a reason (and yes, I know it's not so they can play on it during class). Hopefully she learned her lesson and realizes that maybe next time she won't be so lucky (and get her phone back).
ReplyDeleteIt's not like the kiddos don't get their phones back. No parent would let the school get away with that.
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