Crime and punishment in the 21st century

by Anthony Lawrence Kelly

There are many tiring aspect s of classroom teaching. Aside from the daily grind of meetings and assessments, we have the small matter of successfully managing groups of typically 10 to 30 children, whilst still striving to achieve what we like to call 'learning objectives'.

From experience, I've learned that disease prevention is preferable to symptom management, thus, I would like to briefly discuss some simple ideas and techniques to help us avert misdirection and chaos in our classrooms. However, first I would like to take a trip back in time, many moons ago.

Once upon a time there was a young boy and a rather robust, may I say in the kindest way, battle axe of a primary school teacher aptly named Mrs. Marshall, a wonderful, no nonsense lady was she, with ample bosom and half lens glasses assisting her stern yet kind eyes.

The boy was a real pain. You know the type, pulling girls' pony tails, carefully placing drawing pins on other children's seats and rubbing his hands together with gleeful anticipation as they crouched to sit down, as well as stealing equipment and hiding it whilst desperately trying to maintain a dead pan expression whilst victims searched for their missing item.

One would be right in thinking this child was a mischievous rapscallion who was the kind of child that, along with a couple of scamp-like partners in crime, immediately doubled, nay tripled the time Mrs. Marshall had to spend dealing with nonsense, this would be true. Mrs. Marshall was, however, a wise old lady, and she had learned that, over her many years of teaching, sanctions alone were insufficient to re-model the behaviour of the most bothersome rascals.

Often, it is true that badly behaved pupils feel disconnected or, as the jargon goes, 'disengaged' from the learning environment and / or social environment of the classroom. Mrs. Marshall was all too aware of this, so she gave these children some classroom jobs, most memorably the responsibility of reading the daily temperature as a reward for good work. Soon every child wanted to be the temperature monitor.

Here are some strategies that one could use in the classroom to keep children busy and / or motivated.

(1) Rewards (certificates / badges reflecting effort and / or achievement in school; team points; can play educational games online for one period while others work in their books; taking the register in the morning; sit with a friend).

(2) Responsibilities (classroom equipment monitor; line leader; date monitor; deciding who may go for break first based on desk tidiness and classroom conduct for that morning).

(3) Choices (selecting the end of term movie; first choice of games / toys during golden time).

Finally, for those students who have strict parents, the 'phone call home' can be one of the most terrifying moments of one's school days, however, this need not be so. The phone call home is typically assumed as a negatively-motivated action, but this premise need not be so. Parents love nothing more than to have beautiful words spoken of their children, and children seek comfort, approval and rewards from their parents, so to phone home and tell a parent how super their child has been this week, or this term, can do wonders for guiding a child towards being a positive role model in school.