During High School Lecture teacher asked bored looking students to repeat what was just said! (professor, paying)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"Oh no, we can't blame the kid for sleeping all day through class; it's just biology!"
"Oh no, we can't blame the kid for texting to his girlfriend throughout the entire quarter of Algebra 2; it must be my fault as the teacher for being too boring! I must construct new ways to entertain the kids all day long!"
"Don't wake up that poor sleeping student; that would be so heartless! Give them a pillow and a warm bottle of milk instead."
I see from the responses in this thread that liberal "blame-ologies" have done a great job of brainwashing our culture.
Look, let's cut the bull**** here.
1. When I was in high school, no kids slept in class - and I'm not that old at 32. Then again, I went to a privileged private school for rich kids . . .
. . . In my opinion, teachers who do not insist on some basic level of discipline in their classrooms are failing their students and should be pushed into a different line of work.
I'm not seeing the "blame-ologies" in this thread. Almost everyone in this thread would agree that we need to have high standards and hold kids accountable.
A few people here (teachers even!) believe, however, that this can be accomplished without being rude, uncaring, and disrespectful.
"As a student, would my esteem be lowered by my teacher expecting me to pay attention?"
Seems fairly evident. I am not paying taxes to pay teachers to talk to sleeping students.
It's always easier to be the "armchair quarterback." I think I would've been tempted to write notes remanding the student to the principle's office for failing to attend classes, and place a note on each of their desks. Let the administration determine the punishment. Then, again, I have had the luxury of determining my action without emotion.
Support those that are trying to do their jobs, or do the job yourself.
"As a student, would my esteem be lowered by my teacher expecting me to pay attention?"
Seems fairly evident. I am not paying taxes to pay teachers to talk to sleeping students.
It's always easier to be the "armchair quarterback." I think I would've been tempted to write notes remanding the student to the principle's office for failing to attend classes, and place a note on each of their desks. Let the administration determine the punishment. Then, again, I have had the luxury of determining my action without emotion.
Support those that are trying to do their jobs, or do the job yourself.
That's fine if that's your desired action...but generally administration frowns upon referring students for things you could have handled yourself. If every teacher sent sleeping students to the principal, administration would have no time to deal with anyone else.
I've been doing a lot of reading on classroom behavior management lately, before I start my student teaching. The overwhelming majority of texts I've read say that positive reinforcement has better, longer lasting effects than punishment. The teacher's goal is to motivate the student to WANT to learn, not to be afraid of misbehaving. When I've observed the better teachers during my field experience hours, they certainly don't allow sleeping in class, but they find ways to keep the student awake that don't involve embarrassing them in front of their peers.
What do you think of this as an instructional technique. In High School the teacher gets frustrated that the students are not listening to him, so in the middle of his presentation he looks out into the class and finds the sleeping students and walks up to them and asks them to go up to the front of the class and repeat what he just told the class. Of course the sleeping student has no idea what to say because he or she has been day dreaming. The rest of the class laughs at the sleeping student making a fool of himself. The teacher is angry that he was not being listened by some people in class and the previously sleeping student returned to his desk red faced.
The next class session has few sleeping students but the self esteem of the bored sleeping students is ruined. Is the teachers approach too harsh?
Hmm, the self esteem of the student was already crushed before the teacher did anything.
What I mean to say is that the student had little regard for his own self to act appropriately in the course and attempt to learn something.
Life is not all action adventure and fun, life is can be pretty boring-- a class is what no more than anywhere between 45 min to 1.5 hours?
I am a high school teacher and my typical response to sleepers is to send them to the water fountain to get a drink. The action of getting up and getting a drink usually does the trick. If the behavior continues I talk to the student, if that fails I call home, if that fails I talk to the student again and refer him to the counselor, if that fails I leave the student alone. I am NOT allowed to send a student to the office for sleeping.
As an educator I find modeling the behavior I want my students to follow is very helpful, I never grade papers in class, I never eat in class, I never just sit at my desk and relax. If my students are working on something I am up walking around the room asking and answering questions. If we are doing a lecture I am walking around talking so that I can spot sleepers and try to get them engaged.
On a side note: I am 29, I attended an inner city public school, there were NEVER sleepers in class and rarely was anyone disrespectful to the teacher. There is just very little respect for education in this country from all parties involved.
I'm not seeing the "blame-ologies" in this thread. Almost everyone in this thread would agree that we need to have high standards and hold kids accountable.
A few people here (teachers even!) believe, however, that this can be accomplished without being rude, uncaring, and disrespectful.
Yes, but that's the problem: a few people think that waking up a sleeping student and expecting them to actually pay attention in class is rude, uncaring, and disrespectful. Are we trying to teach teens, or are we trying to babysit them?
Yes, but that's the problem: a few people think that waking up a sleeping student and expecting them to actually pay attention in class is rude, uncaring, and disrespectful. Are we trying to teach teens, or are we trying to babysit them?
Waking them up is not disrespectful.
Expecting them to pay attention is not disrespectful.
Intentionally embarrassing anyone is disrespectful.
It is the teacher's job to manage the classroom. Good teachers accomplish this without being disrespectful.
Babysit? In general, teachers are not paid enough to be babysitters - but that's a different thread.
I think it is a good tactic. Sure, it is a little disrespectful, but so what? You have to earn respect, and a student who is sleeping through class has not earned the respect of the teacher. Why is 'disrespecting the student' always a bad thing? The end goal of school isn't to coddle a student's self esteem, it is to get them to learn, isn't it?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Are we trying to teach teens, or are we trying to babysit them?
