The Smart but problematic student................what to do? We are being asked to give suggestions

Early this fall a new student was added to our seventh grade class roster. After hearing terrible stories about him and his behaviors as well as learning about his 2 out- of- school suspensions during the first three weeks of school I was particularly worried.  This particular student is violent, disruptive, and rude.

Despite all of these problems, this student is not classified in any way nor does he have in-class support. His intelligence takes leaps and bounds over any child in the class and  because of his intelligence he is placed in all enriched classes.   He is at the top of every class.  However, he has behaviors that constantly disrupt the class.   For example, he calls out, taps things with a pen, hits (students and teachers), gets up and walks around.   He “gets into people’s faces”  and,  worst of all, he  disrupts every other student in the class. He’s a powder keg and at a moment’s notice he is capable of having a major explosion.  Any amount of confrontation or singling out will cause him to explode. He has already hit a teacher and guidance counselor as well as poked me with a ruler as I walked by his desk.  He is a distraction to other students and their learning but has yet to be removed from our classroom or school because of his high intelligence.

      If you were put in the  situation of teaching this child in this particular class how would you handle him?  What type of tactics would you use to control this students behavior?

As a 7th grade team we have met and come up with strategies such as:

• giving him 5 opportunities to raise his hand and speak,
• putting 3 post-its on his desk 
• removing one every  time he speaks
• asking him to do things around the classroom. 

None of these strategies appear to work and as the days go on he becomes more of a distraction. What recommendations would you make to me as the student teacher and the classroom teacher in order to prevent this disruption?

Charter School pros and cons. Where do you stand? Lorrie poses that question

The New Jersey educational system has been criticized greatly in recent years as being ineffective.  Some reform proponents strongly advocate the creation of charter schools as a panacea for solving all of the perceived problems in the current school system.  Some of the pros and cons are as follows:

Pros

·         Choice.  They introduce alternative places for parents to send their children for education.  They often offer wider varieties of academic programs than do traditional schools.

·         Class size.  They tend to be smaller schools thus they have smaller class sizes and lower teacher- to-student ratios.

·         Less regulation.  Some regulations that public schools must conform to are lessened for charter schools (e.g., no salary caps for administrators, operate independent of district control, standardized testing requirements)

·         Greater accountability.  Charters are usually granted for 3-5 years.  They must reapply to remain open and need to be successful in order to attract students.

Cons

·         Fewer resources. They receive public funding but this funding does not apply to the facility or start-up costs.

·         Less regulation.  The lightening of rules and regulations for charters that public schools must follow could lead to the exclusion of important standards.

·         Inequality. Charter schools may not meet all of the needs of students in the community or local area or may exclude disadvantaged children (e.g., special needs, transportation costs)

I have heard some teachers in my school argue that if charter schools continue to proliferate, the public school system may ultimately become a world of special education students only with all other children farmed out to various charter school environments.  What do you think?  Are you a proponent of charter schools?  Do you think there is room for public and charter schools to co-exist?

Matthew Haines asks about teachers and the law

It has recently come to my attention that one of the teachers in the school in which I am student teaching had been convicted of a DWI. This made me question the idea of offenses and sentences with regard to teachers. My question is if a teacher is convicted of a crime or offense, how should the school deal with the situation? Should others be notified, and if so, who? Should parents be aware of these types of issues? Should the school itself hold the teacher accountable and should there be grounds for dismissal? Should all of these actions depend upon the severity of the offense, and if so, how is that decided upon? I find this to be a very interesting issue, seeing that as future teachers we are prepared to understand the fact we are always under the microscope in the general public's eye. Where should all these lines be drawn so we have a clear indication of who we should be as teachers?

Josh poses a question about teaching outside of certification

There is an increased concern over budgets in school districts around the state.   As a result, schools have slowly down-sized and there is fewer faculty and staff even in the face of increased student enrollment.   Unfortunately, my observation is that teachers are being moved around and forced to teach subjects in which they have little or no experience and, additionally, for which they have no certification. If you were a  first or second year teacher and were asked to teach a class outside of your discipline or certification how would you approach this situation?    What questions would you ask and where would you begin to ask those questions?  

Josh Getka

Lauren has questions with regard to the new antibullying law

There is a new Harassment Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) law that has been recently been enacted in New Jersey.   This new law makes schools responsible for bullying that occurs in schools, but also for any incidents of bullying that happen off school grounds.   Moreover, these off-campus bullying incidents for which schools are now responsible need not take place during school hours.   Do you think this is a reasonable requirement to place on schools?    Or, do you think that this off-campus bullying should be taken care of by parents?     Following is a website with additional information about the new law.    

http://www.njea.org/issues-and-political-action/anti-bullying

Matt asks is ADHD a fictitious problem?

I  don't mean to say there is no such thing as attention deficit disorder, I am not qualified to say that there isn’t such a thing.  I know that there are a great many psychologists and pediatricians who think there is.   But I also realize that this topic is still a matter of great debate.  What I do know, for a fact, is that kids are being routinely medicated.   And it may not be their fault.   Children are being besieged with information and forced to give their attention to a variety of stimuli:   computers, i-phones,  advertisements, hundreds of television channels.   

Are we penalizing our students for getting distracted?  It seems to be that it is not a coincidence that the growth of ADHD has risen in direct proportion to the growth of standardized testing. And what is happening, I believe, is that our young children are being given drugs that shut down their senses.      Why is this happening?   Shouldn’t we be waking them up?   

Now the big question is how do we set about waking them UP?   How do we set about to cultivate divergent thinking skills of our students?  How do we cultivate their ability to see lots of possible answers to questions that are being posed?    Divergent thinking requires that our students thin laterally rather than in a linear fashion. 

Students need to be encourage to answer more abstract questions and to see the multiple answers that exist in the more  sophisticated questions posed by the teacher.   In essence,   we need to encourage students to think at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy Ca they do this if we are prescribing “calm-down” medicine?     My question is this………….in an era of ADHD how do we educate our students so that they can benefit from and hone their divergent thinking skills?   How do we keep our students involved and learning interactive while at the same time covering the prescribed curriculum and preparing them for standardized tests?   

Are teachers effective if students scores improve or are kids just "smart?" Lisa asks the question.

The NJDOE’s Excellent Educators for New Jersey pilot program has taken off, with 11 school districts helping to shape this new system of teacher evaluations. Its core principles include:

Evaluations based equally on both learning outcomes (including, but not limited to, standardized test scores) and effective practices (classroom performance)

Replacement of the “satisfactory/unsatisfactory” ratings with a four-tiered scale of “ineffective,” “partially effective,” “effective,” and “highly effective.”

Criteria favoring student progress rather than absolute performance for our highest-need students.

While I do believe that this program’s parameters are more meaningful, I think NJ can do better for its teachers and its students. I remain unconvinced that standardized test scores have any place in teacher evaluations. Generally speaking, the schools with the students who score in the highest percentages, advanced proficient and proficient scores, do not necessarily house the most “highly effective” teachers.  It is generally true, however, that schools in which students score in the higher ranges on standardized tests, are located in districts in which there is a higher socio-economic class.  These students usually produce higher scores on standardized tests.  We could address this “class” issue by emphasizing individual progress, and giving students grade-level entrance and exit assessments for evidence of significant learning and skillful teaching. Such evaluations would indicate the amount of individual learning that has taken place that year -for each student, with his/her assigned teacher - measuring student and teacher progress from September to June.

What are some other suggestions for finding out if teachers are teaching and students are learning?