Useful punishments for students

[MissMaCo]

My students do their homework... because we're only in September. But I'm sure it won't last long. I'm against punishments in general but we are being told that students who don't do their homework must be punished. So I'm looking for useful punishments. For example, there's no interest in copying texts or exercises three times. The student won't learn anything by copying... I was thinking of asking them to learn some nursery rhymes by heart and "sing" them in front of the classroom !

Do you have any ideas ?
Don't forget that they have to be useful ! Thanks !

 

[Tomer]

make 'em sing!
and record it

or make them have a presentation about something in class
and grade them heavy for it

 

[MissMaCo]

interesting Tommie, thanks !

 

[beegee]

there IS a punishment for students who fail to live up to their responsibilities - it's called failing the grade. hold a student back while his classmates advance, and he'll learn quick enough.

i am absolutely disgusted you would actually consider humiliating a student in front of his peers like that. this is exactly the kind of thinking from teachers that has made me consider home schooling my child over the years.

 

[MissMaCo]

there IS a punishment for students who fail to live up to their responsibilities - it's called failing the grade. hold a student back while his classmates advance, and he'll learn quick enough.

are you serious ? that's shocking ! I've never heard of that in France. Is it often used ?

 

[beegee]

are you serious ? that's shocking ! I've never heard of that in France. Is it often used ?

you're kidding me, right?

ok, this thread needs some other parents in it.

...icelle?
...nb?
...BAWS?

 

[MissMaCo]

you're kidding me, right?

ok, this thread needs some other parents in it.

...icelle?
...nb?
...BAWS?

I don't get it sorry.
What would you do if a student never does his homework ? I'm just looking for useful thinks. Maybe the word punishment is too hard but I don't know evry English words yet And I don't need virtual parents even if I'd like to have Mr BAW as a father !

 

[Laura M]

are you serious ? that's shocking ! I've never heard of that in France. Is it often used ?

I've never heard of that either. That students parents would be up in arms that their child wasn't getting their education.

I'd prefer to be humiliated.


My teacher called me a dunce once infront of our class and told me I'd fail her class and I'd be really lucky if I scraped a pass. I came in the top 5% of the country in the public exams for her subject.

 

[beegee]

ok, so...

what exactly are the consequences for a child who doesn't finish his homework, classwork, has excessive tardies/absences?

are there none?

is it impossible to fail a grade in europe?


and if you "don't need virtual parents" who the hell are you asking?

 

[Tomer]

some students just need som motivation
they dont think about next year, just this year and mostly having fun
they dont immediattely think of being hold back
thats something for at the end of the year, when its too late
if they get some motivation now, they'll pass

 

[MissMaCo]

Humiliation ? I don't think it's the solution. It's quite hard. I can understand someone who doesn't do his work once, I mean that's not a huge problem, but if it goes on, what's the aim of going to school ?

I don't give much homework myself. I always try to make them work in class instead of making them passive while listening to what I'm saying !

 

[Tomer]

its the teachers job to motivate students and learn them something isnt it?
sometimes they have to learn the ahrd way

 

[Tomer]

are there none?

is it impossible to fail a grade in europe?

there are, but most teachers say what to do
a techer of mine had a little book where if you didnt do homework you had to pick a page
writing Bohemian Rhapsody with five different colours
drawing a van gogh painting
tell 5 jokes
just a little motivation to do your homework

i must say it worked

and it is possible to fail a grade in europe, but it should be preveneted if possible

 

[Tomer]

i typed a damn lot there

 

[Laura M]

you can punish and punish and punish a person and it won't sink in. you can only try and motivate a person so much. i've seen people at school who were real trouble makers and teachers spent a lot of their time trying to make them see the point in passing their exams. i met a lot of them this week saying they regretted they didn't listen at school and are now sitting exams at 20 i was doing when i was 15/ 16. i think holding a person back is wrong.

 

[MissMaCo]

motivation... what a word ! I have all my life to learn how to motivate teenagers. That's not a easy job. I try to propose different activities and not spend too much time on the same subjects. Technologies are a means to motivate students : computers, e-pals, TV... But we can't always talk of what they like, I mean, there are some programmes that we teachers have to do.

 

[beegee]

i am honestly SO confused by your post, lara.

in one breath, you say that you've never heard of a child failing a grade for not living up to his/her responsibilities, then in the next, you say you were told by your own teacher that you would fail a grade if you didn't live up to your responsibilities.

 

[Tomer]

if you punish someone lets say humiliating once, lot of others will do their homework

 

[Laura M]

i am honestly SO confused by your post, lara.

in one breath, you say that you've never heard of a child failing a grade for not living up to his/her responsibilities, then in the next, you say you were told by your own teacher that you would fail a grade if you didn't live up to your responsibilities.

no im saying i've had teachers humiliate me. i worked hard at school and i have the grades to prove it. there was one teacher who had her favourites and others in our class she disliked and picked on us for no reason whatsoever. i prefered her humiliating me than taking a disliking to us and holding us back. she would give me grade D's for essays i worked hard on. i went to other teachers for advice after she told me i didn't need help they told me there was nothing wrong with my work. in my exams i took in her subject i got 97% and they weren't of a different quality to the work i had produced for her for 3 years.

 

[MissMaCo]

I usually don't grade the homework and I'll never put a 0 (that's the French system) to someone who didn't make his homework.
This morning, I went to visit a colleague in her classroom. I sat at the back near a student who... slept during the whole lesson ! How can we motivate him ? I mean, he's 16, almost an adult, right ?
What's odd is that my colleague hadn't even see him ! She was surprised when I told her !
I love to move a lot in my classroom. I never stay before the board. Nowadays the teacher is no longer the Master who delivers his knowledge. Nowadays, what we need is COMMUNICATION : between the students themselves, between the students & the teacher... The teacher somehow has to disappear from the classroom...

 

[Tomer]

some students are hopeless
some teachers too

 

[MissMaCo]

I hope I'll never be hopeless.

 

[Tomer]

im sure you'll never be

i got a few of them though

 

[Laura M]

I hope I'll never be hopeless.

I think you are and will continue to be an excellent teacher. I have amazing respect for my friends who are out teaching. It doesn't sound like an easy job.

 

[cell]

My students do their homework... because we're only in September. But I'm sure it won't last long. I'm against punishments in general but we are being told that students who don't do their homework must be punished. So I'm looking for useful punishments. For example, there's no interest in copying texts or exercises three times. The student won't learn anything by copying... I was thinking of asking them to learn some nursery rhymes by heart and "sing" them in front of the classroom !

Do you have any ideas ?
Don't forget that they have to be useful ! Thanks !

i dont think singling out a student by making him/her sing a song for not doing homework or an assignment is the way to go. grading a student by completing work, how well they did, is usually the system in the u.s. if im not mistaken. i understand it is a hard position to be in.

as a child, i was constantly humiliated, or singled out by teachers whether i did my work or not. and it does have lifelong effects. i can remember all those incidents like they happened yesterday.

i dont agree with those methods.

 

[ylimeU2]

I'm trying to remember what my teachers did to me when I didn't do my homework.

I know that I got in trouble. That didn't help.

They tried humiliation tactets. That didn't work, either.

They tried threating to fail me. That only made me want to do less.

Tough subject. I think part of it depends on the student. Do you think he/she is not doing the work because they are lazy and don't want to, or do you think they are not doing it because they don't get it?

If you think it may be they don't get it, could you try spending a little extra time going over stuff with the student?

 

[MissMaCo]

Actually, nobody has really brought me some new ideas on how to deal in a useful and not humiliating way with students who refuse to do their homework. I think we all agree on the fact that teachers shouldn't humiliate their students.

 

[Tomer]

i dont really
if im really humiliated ill do my homework next time
not like my former latin teacher that threatened with mean remarks

 

[MissMaCo]

Re: Re: Useful punishments for students

as a child, i was constantly humiliated, or singled out by teachers whether i did my work or not. and it does have lifelong effects. i can remember all those incidents like they happened yesterday.

i dont agree with those methods.

i don't neither. These are terrible teachers. I myself have some bad memories of some teachers like that. That's exactly what I reject.

 

[Tomer]

ask your students
they'll help