Somebody's in trouble . . .

My substitute Friday had a lousy sixth period. Apparently a I had two students refuse to work or follow instructions. One student I know and the other gave her a false name (although I gave her a seating chart. . . ) So what to do?

The major problem I see with this behavior is how downright mean it is. Why would you torment someone like that? The substitute teacher is only there for one period, and I expect students to treat the sub like gold, particularly because the sub is the only one in the room who doesn't really know what's going on.

So, how do I get these misbehaving kids to recognize and correct their misbehavior?

I thought about kicking them off the computers for a week and sending them into other classrooms. That doesn't really teach them anything except, "Don't make Miss Anderson mad at you." A good lesson, but not enough.

Also, they wouldn't be able to complete any class assignments that week. That approach creates as many problems as it solves.

Instead, I'll get the whole class involved. I'm sure it was a lousy a day for everyone if the sub was frustrated, and I'd like the misbehavers to feel some peer pressure to improve. I'll start by asking the kids to list all the reasons why being a sub for our class is hard. Then, I'll have them list what they should do when a sub is here. Then, the kicker. I'll have the class brainstorm what should happen to students who misbehave. I'll write the whole list on the board, and tell students that I'll use their ideas to remedy the misbehavior from Friday. Then, I'll have the kids write me a letter explaining what happened Friday, what they were doing, and what they think should happen to the misbehavers. Also, I want to ask them who was especially helpful and have them brainstorm rewards for those students.

Cross your fingers for me, but I really think this will work well.

I'll get an immediate chance to assess the learning, because I'll be gone again on Wednesday. After Wednesday, I hope to reward my students for outstanding good behavior.

I've been stewing about this since Friday, and I found this solution at http://www.jimwrightonline.com/pdfdocs/subtchr.pdf Great ideas.