How would you handle this situation?

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Give them each a piece of a paper and tell them they have to write down a name of who did it or say they don't know, and then pass it up to the front of the room, if no one knows then you double their homework

 

[Lola]

As much as i would hate my suggestion when i was in 7th grade, the only way they will know you are serious is if you punish the entire group.

Perhaps those that know are afraid that if they say something the person(s) that did it will "get them" later on for being tattles.

That is surpsing to me that they would be doing things that are that immature in 7th grade... :Q

 

[randay]

yarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[CollectiveUnconscious]

10-page research paper over a topic of your choosing due in two weeks. Must include 5 scholarly sources, no websites, no encyclopedias.

 

[MisterJackson]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
WALK THE PLANK!

LOL, I love talk like a pirate day.....the visuals are awesome!

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Medellon
I don't want to give extra homework either as homework should not be looked upon as a negative or punishment. Unfortunately security cameras being installed would raise all sorts of legal issues that I am not prepared to deal with.

Do you happen to remember being in 7th grade?

 

[Drakkon]

my 7th grade math class was probobly one of the worst classes ever. Not only did we do crap like this there were instances of smoking IN the classroom, a stabbing (with a pencil) and an incidient that was echoed around campus as "Dont mess with those smart kids" (we were actually the advanced math class) where we ended up making a male ex marine cry, run out of class leaving us with NO teacher not telling anybody he drove off, and quit the teaching profession.
That being said the only thing that broke through to our class was punishing the whole class. Extra homework, class detentions, etc they all pilled up until the few of us that couldnt take it anymore pinned a guy behind school one day and pounded the crap outta him for making it bad for the rest of us. After that we went on to learn wayy too much, teacher thaught that since we were all being so good she would delve into pre-calc in the last week.

 

[Extelleron]

Give a reward to the person who tells you who did it. Don't make it no homework, or give more homework to the whole class as a "punishment." Any good teacher would realize home work isn't something given to punish the student or taken away to reward, it's purpose is to practice what was learned in class.

Punishing the whole class may be effective, but it's certainly not the right thing to do, and is not going to get you much of a good reputation with your students. Don't even think about (what I believe you said earlier) "taking away restroom privelages." Use of the restroom is not a privelage but a right that you cannot deny as "punishment."

 

[montanafan]

Just giving homework to punish the whole class isn't really fair and it could backfire causing them to close ranks against you and blame you for the whole thing rather than the person who did the deed. You have to assure that the blame is placed on him/her and try to make him/her either take accountability or at least not come off as cool in any way for doing what they did.

I found that this works quite often, but it depends entirely on the character of the person causing the problems.

First of all, make sure that the person(s) you suspect are there when you tell the class this, otherwise it's pretty much all for naught.

You tell the class that though these are just pranks, they are causing problems for the people in the class and you need to find out who is doing it because it's not fair to the people in the class to have someone treating them with such disrespect. Tell them that you understand "in a way" their not wanting to be the one to tell on the person, but that if the person responsible won't own up to it on their own, then they should not feel any responsibility to protect that person because they are willing to cause problems for all of them by not coming forward.

Tell them that until you find out who did this, or until you think they have all learned something from this, you will be giving them a homework assignment each night on citizenship and character development, which will be for a grade. (You may have some of this stuff or you can find all kinds of it on the internet to print out and then either have them copy it each night and turn in or to take home and read and give quizzes on the next day in class. It's a little extra work for you, but hopefully you won't have to do it for long or at all.)

Tell them that they can avoid having to do this for long or at all if the person responsible for the pranks just speaks up and takes the responsibility themselves, after all, it's not like they're going to be suspended or anything, they're just going to get (insert your minor punishment here like lunch detention, etc.) It's up to them, they can be a standup kind of guy and do the right thing, or they can be a jerk about it to everyone, it's up to them. Tell them that personally you can't understand anyone having any respect for a person who would make them all have to do this, but you could respect them for being the kind of person that the others could count on to take responsibility for their own actions instead of making everyone else pay for it.

Then be prepared with the assignment and tell them that if the person doesn't come forward by the end of class, they'll have their first homework assignment that night. You may decide to tell them they have until the next day to speak up before the assignments start if you think the other kids might be able to put peer pressure on them to come forward by the next day. Whichever way you think will work best, but I've found that it's ususally best to hit them with the thought of the assignment right after the talk because if they have any character at all, it will have an effect on them.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[FoBoT]

yeah, put a bounty up to rat the bastage out

offer $20 for info leading to the capture of the dread pirate roberts

 

[KarmaPolice]

Hmmm First off..who would ever want to be a middle school teacher. I am considering being a highschool teacher..but middle school was just pure hell.

Anyway. I would punish the class...simple...thats the only way to get the point accross. Ask your supervisor if you can use a camera to catch the act...if you cant...just punishment. I remember middle school..it was so bad because there was no consequenses at all.

 

[DrPizza]

That's definitely a pita situation...
<-- also a teacher and would *NEVER* want to teach middle school - not because of the kids, but because the material is boring.

homework should never be a punishment.
(And, running laps for sports teams should never be punishment either... I've never figured out how coaches convince students that it's punishment, while kids on other teams (cross country) specialize in running laps. No wonder so many people grow up to hate running and wind up overweight. But, I digress)

Questions: Same kid being targeted? If so, you have a bullying problem. In that case, I'd go way out of my way to stop it.
And, if you can speak one-on-one with the kid being bullied, you'd probably be able to narrow down your list of suspects quite a bit. Regardless, it's often hard to get someone to be the "tattle-tale" - even on this forum, that seems to often be a popular opinion (and as such, I'm surprised no one has said "who cares" yet.) When I was an RA in college, someone ripped a bathroom stall out and threw it through a window at the end of the hall... someone axed down a door... thousands upon thousands of dollars in damage was caused by a very small number of students. The entire floor knew who did it; they made a pact to all agree not to tell me, because they knew the university would throw out those responsible. So, they split the costs. 20 years later, I wonder if they've ever regretted that choice.

One idea; I don't know if it would work or not: First, give them a lecture on bullying - there are some incredible resources, videos, etc. on this. Make sure that it's fairly emotional - make sure they realize what the real consequences can be. Give them a quiz at the end... Questions 1-4: whatever, just to get them to answer some simple questions. Then, "is it possible to stop being a bully without help?" And, "who put the gum on the seat?" (or something along those lines... you can probably come up with a better sequence of questions. But, turn the situation into a positive learning situation for the class if possible, rather than punishing everyone. (Although the punishing everyone would still work as an alternative, even if you tried this approach.)

 

[imported_Rat]

Originally posted by: Medellon
Well of course I can punish the whole class and take away restroom and break privileges but I really dislike having to punish students who I know are innocent.

They're all in on it. And extra homework is beneficial.

 

[jagec]

watch Full Metal Jacket.

 

[Kenazo]

Who's the kid that's the most timid and least likely to be the culprit. Arrange it ahead of time, but punish him. Just tear into the kid and give him some really unfair punishment. The rest of the class will feel so bad for him that someone will tell.

 

[imported_Rat]

Originally posted by: Kenazo
Who's the kid that's the most timid and least likely to be the culprit. Arrange it ahead of time, but punish him. Just tear into the kid and give him some really unfair punishment. The rest of the class will feel so bad for him that someone will tell.

No, they'll just feel better that they're all out of danger and the unpopular kid was punished instead.

 

[montanafan]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
That's definitely a pita situation...
<-- also a teacher and would *NEVER* want to teach middle school - not because of the kids, but because the material is boring.

homework should never be a punishment.
(And, running laps for sports teams should never be punishment either... I've never figured out how coaches convince students that it's punishment, while kids on other teams (cross country) specialize in running laps. No wonder so many people grow up to hate running and wind up overweight. But, I digress)

Just a comment about the running sports teams thing.

When I coached basketball I would of course run them a lot to get them in shape to have stamina for the end of the game and a lot of times would make it a competition/pride thing, like who could run the fastest suicide and keeping up when running stairs, etc. But I would also make them run laps or suicides when we were practicing foul shots and someone missed for two reasonss:

1) To emphasize the importance of making foul shots in a game. I would tell them that if people miss their foul shots in a game, it's going to make them all have to work harder to get those missed points back, so we were going to do it in practice like it would work out in the game.

2) To have them practice their foul shooting technique under game conditions. When they shoot foul shots in a game, especially near the end, they're tired and that can affect their shooting. If someone stepped up to the line to practice their shots after just standing around the lane waiting their turn it wouldn't be the same, but if they had to step up there right after running a suicide, it would be more like in the game.

 

[Kenazo]

Originally posted by: Rat

Originally posted by: Kenazo
Who's the kid that's the most timid and least likely to be the culprit. Arrange it ahead of time, but punish him. Just tear into the kid and give him some really unfair punishment. The rest of the class will feel so bad for him that someone will tell.

No, they'll just feel better that they're all out of danger and the unpopular kid was punished instead.

And if that's the case, it was an interesting social experiment.

I don't mean the lose, just the shy, really nice kid.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus
go rent 'The Substitute' with Tom Berenger. Full of good ideas.

:laugh:

 

[I Saw OJ]

Gotta punish the whole group, soon the innocent people who dont wanna do the work for because of some punk will get fed up and rat him out.

 

[uberman]

Punishing the group with extra work may put pressure on the perpetrators and extinguish the behavior.
Take a look at proximity, who had access to your hand cleaner, I assume at your desk. Then relate that to where the crime was committed. Go over your seating charts for subsequent offenses. Look for a pattern.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
Gotta punish the whole group, soon the innocent people who dont wanna do the work for because of some punk will get fed up and rat him out.

Spot on..

This is the way it is in basic training. Mass punishment for everyone, even if it was just from one guy fvcking up.. Eventually.. we all got tired of it.. We straightened the fvck up, on our own time..


You need to lay the hammer down.. don't be a pushover.. If you do not dish out any punishment, your students are going to look at you as a big pushover; all bark, but no bite.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
Gotta punish the whole group, soon the innocent people who dont wanna do the work for because of some punk will get fed up and rat him out.

Thats what I was thinking.

Sucks for the group but will resolve the issue.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Security Camera

word

 

[dullard]

I scanned the posts, but didn't read most of them. So sorry if this has been asked before.

Who is supervising the room? Where are you when your stuff is taken, when kids are misbehaving, etc? If you are out of the room and can't be there during that time period, can you have your school assign a supervisor during those few minutes when this incident occurs?

Having the principal sitting in the room during that time for a week might get the message across.