embarrassing him in front of the class. She would walk by his desk and without saying any-
thing, just tap on it quietly.
Rachel Gaglione—This student needs to be kept busy. Make him or her a monitor giving out
supplies, books, or homework. You can also let students know it is okay to get out of their seats to
go to the garbage can. Many students grow antsy when they are not allowed to get up. If they know
they can get up if they need to, they may be more able to relax. However, teachers need to empha-
size that if a student disturbs other people, they lose the right to leave their seat.
- A member of the New Teachers Network had an especially unruly class. Trying to es-
tablish some control over the class, she instituted lunchtime detention. Instead of calming
some of the students, the threat of detention seemed to make their behavior worse. What
should she do?
The problem with lunchtime detention was that students wanted to be there. The atmos-
phere was much nicer than in the cafeteria where students tended to push and shove each
other and the adults were always screaming. At lunchtime detention you could read, talk
with your friends, or play on the computers. We discussed the situation at a New Teachers
Network meeting and a number of members explained that they had “turned the problem on
its head.” Instead of having lunchtime detention, they made lunchtime an optional free pe-
riod for students who wanted to stay in the classroom. They established rules for behaving
during the lunch period, which students eagerly followed (and enforced), and stated that
students could not stay for lunch if they misbehaved during the regular class period. The
lunch period gave teachers a chance to develop relationships with students that supported
positive class leaders, calmed disruptive ones, and, by enhancing classroom community,
spilled over into the regular class periods. - As a younger teacher, I liked to play basketball with students during lunch or after
school. Sometimes students would curse at each other or use racial epithets. Should I re-
spond and if so, what should I do?
I decided to use the basketball games as teaching opportunities. Because the students
wanted me to play, they were prepared to listen to what I had to say. They also liked the
idea that, because we were not technically in school, they were not required to do what
the teacher said. The games helped me teach students how to work cooperatively, how to
care about and include others, how to work within rules, and how to control their tempers
when disappointed or upset. They also established contexts for discussions in class about
use of language and the impact of racial epithets on participants, communities, and the
broader society. - Students were asked to read an excerpt from George Washington’s Farewell Ad-
dress that discussed domestic issues confronting the new nation, summarize its main
ideas, and explain the historical context of the document. The previous year I had given
a similar assignment based on the Farewell Address, only the excerpt focused on foreign
policy concerns. One student handed in a paper based on the previous year’s excerpt.
What should I do?
Although the problem of cheating on reports has been exacerbated by the ability of stu-
dents to download material from the Internet, it basically remains the same. I caught this
student because the assignment had been tailored in a particular way. When an assignment
is unstructured or open-ended it is much easier to copy someone else’s work. I always warn
students, “I do not want to turn on my computer and find your report.” Sometimes, however,
the warning is to no avail. In this case, I decided to meet with the student and discuss what I
had found, but not the issue of cheating. If I accused her of cheating it would become a disci-
plinary matter and referred to the department chair for further investigation and potential
172 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS FOR BOOK II