I am a High school teacher and I TOTALLY disagree. Many of the students I see nhave no respect for authority b/c there have never been consequences for thier actions. Disrepect for any one, myself, their classmates, or visitors to my room is not tolerated. While I agree that a writing assignment is not the best form of discipline there have to be consequences for disrespect. I fell that if my students do not have some sort of respect for me and their peers my ability to teach is severly limited. why sould they listen to anything I say or ask them to do if they do not respect me? The classroom would be reduced to chaos. Little issues lead to bigger ones. Soemtimes the best way to deal with the big issues is to get rid of the little ones first. The fisrt time it happens they probably would have gotten a lecture about manners. If it happened agian I would be sending the to a administator who would probably assign them to afterschool detention where they do campus cleanup. after that it would be in school suspension or being sent home. At that point it is no longer about burping in class. It is about respect for authouity. They would be bieng purposely defiant. It sounds to be like it is probably not the first time they have done something like this.
I'll guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this. I teach respect for ALL people, not just because I'm a teacher, or someone in authority (can't stand that concept). That is why kids struggle to respect these days, IMHO. Why should there be different classes of people in which respect is shown? Kids need to show respect in ALL situations - burping is an annoyance, and hardly worthy of a huge essay assignment. Sending kids to the office for burping is totally not how we do things at my alternative school (we have a very high success rate because we utilize creative discipline, differentiated instruction, counselling, time outs, etc.) and honestly, I'm not sure how you can see this works except to get the kids out of your classroom? The consequence doesn't even fit the crime in this respect at all, IMHO.
Like I said, I teach at-risk kids, kids who have mostly no social graces, no manners, addictions, and many of them are ODD (Oppositionally Defiant) and ADHD, and I hardly have any issues in my classes. The teachers who do, are those with an iron fist, shouting out that the kids need to respect them because they are the teacher. I've lived and breathed this for 10 years, and it's amazing what respect is shown in my class to myself and their peers when it's handled in a much different way than just direct punishment (I don't teach punishment either, I refer to it as consequences for actions).
Teachers are varied in their strategies and styles, but this kind of thing I have seen amazing results from for over 10 years now - it's amazing what a positive effect mutual respect and kindness has when it is shared on an equal basis between both adults and kids. My students know that I have little tolerance for swearing and some other nasty habits, but do I send them to the office for it? Absolutely not, after a few reminders and a private talk, it is usually cleared up right away as the kids know I respect them as people and that I recognize that they are seeking attention. Once the attention isn't given, it's over and done with. Making kids write out essays or lines will not teach this mutual respect at all, of this I am positive.
Tiger
I was so proud of my class when they came back to me and they all were trying to protect this girl as they told me what happened. Many times kids laugh at other kids that are getting in trouble, but these kids saw something that they knew was wrong and they wanted it fixed. Some teachers don't have good classroom management. With that, you sometimes get punishments that don't fit the crime.
