and you were out sick and got a bad report from the sub, how would you discipline the class? I already layed down the law...I won't say how yet, but putting yourself in my shoes, what would you do? BTW...Jr level English/American Lit.
In my class I have an out. On fridays we have free choice day. Classes that misbehave usually have typing lessons on Friday instead of Free Play. When I taught regular type classes we took care of those problems by assigning discipline related work. We had a Code of Conduct that we had the students copy(it was a 1 page paper written in Times size 10 single spaced). It contained information on classroom behavior, citizenship and other things. We sent the copied paper hom ewith the kids in a sealed envelope and an explanation of why they were getting it(for individual problems with the 2nd copy the parents got a note explaining what happened the next time we had behavior problems with the student). It was to be returned signed by a parent or a trip to the office was in order. Or you could just put out nasty candy and have them eat it like mentioned above. Just don't pee in a bottle and make them wear it like cologne CK
All good advice, although I can't just let it go. In laying out the ground rules in my class, I have made it well known they are accountable for their actions. I have made it clear to them that I will treat them like the young aduts they are UNLESS they give me reason to treat them otherwise. As part of this class, I inform them of the competencies and foundations that SCANS has established, as well as going over the 15 Employability Qualities put forth by SCANS. These qualities, competencies, and foundations include: individual responsibility, self management, integrity, diligence, respect, and prioritization. I simply applied their behavior to a job market, made them question themselves as to their adherence and practice of SCANS, explained to them that they would get a slap on the wrist THIS TIME ONLY (vocab work today...instead of answers only, they must write out entire sentence 3X), and if this happened again, all of their assignments would be submitted in essay form until I got tired of watching them write. There is dead silence in my class right now. I told them that we start fresh next time we meet, and to learn from this so that it won't happen again. BTW, SCANS is the Secretaries Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (in regards to the workplace) and we use those guidelines to establish the type of work ethic that is to be used in the classroom.
Probly the most annoying thing you could do is assign them(don't let them pick) to groups to give 5-10 minute presentations on some boring topics. Then you can have fun watching them sweat in front of the class.
Bring in a baseball bat, and a can of mace, and stuff like that and say. When the final bell rings, your ass is mine.
Tell them they embarassed you, and you had a special surprise planned for them but because they misbehaved there will be no surprise anymore. Go hard on them the first day. Have them write a letter of apology to the sub. Might scare them by giving a quiz for a grade (but later say it didn't count).
I suggest you go around the room and ask each individual person why they acted the way they did and discuss matters with them. Maybe the next time they wont act the same way. Punishing them wont change much.
Having been a teacher, and a sub, I know the difficulties. I would let them know that you will leave work for them to do next time the sub is there. Have some emergency lesson plans and worksheets already ready that can be used any time that you are out. Make sure the kids know that the work they do when a sub is in class will count as two quiz/homework/test grades. I remember when I was a sub, there would always be a few students in classes that didn't do the work, even though it was easy. They just felt that having a sub meant they could take the day off. One teacher implemented the work counts double when a sub is there policy, and that whole class, groaned and grumbled, but they did their work. I remember one guy who I'd had in another class, didn't do the work before, but in the class with the work counts double, policy he was warning the other students that they had better do their work, and became a leader in a good sense for that class.
I would also try to embarrass and humilate the students infront of each other. Get the class all divided against each other.
