Comments on: Preventive Medicine: Keeping Students on Task http://www.classroomdiscipline101.com/classroom-management/2008/06/12/more-preventative-medicine/ Classroom Management and Classroom Discipline Strategies from the Real World Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:31:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Craig Seganti http://www.classroomdiscipline101.com/classroom-management/2008/06/12/more-preventative-medicine/comment-page-1/#comment-1232 Craig Seganti Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:29:44 +0000 http://www.classroomdiscipline101.com/classroom-management/?p=27#comment-1232 You can give the students something they know for sure how to do to test if they really can't do it or not. If they still complain you know they are just complaining. Social promotion puts teachers in this quandary constantly of having different level students grouped together. Put me on the golf course with Tiger Woods and see if I catch up to his level, or just bring him down... There is no easy answer here. Individualize as much as possible (an unfair request to a teacher unless you get paid for private tutoring as well) and try to find materials that keep everyone engaged. Usually it is too high level work that bores unruly students, so give them something really easy to build confidence, and take it from there. Use your intuition to separate true inquisitiveness from manipulation..the one will convert to the other quickly if students sense you are too eager to please! Hope this helps. There is a lot more to be written on the subject but I will develop it another time. You can give the students something they know for sure how to do to test if they really can’t do it or not. If they still complain you know they are just complaining.

Social promotion puts teachers in this quandary constantly of having different level students grouped together. Put me on the golf course with Tiger Woods and see if I catch up to his level, or just bring him down…

There is no easy answer here. Individualize as much as possible (an unfair request to a teacher unless you get paid for private tutoring as well) and try to find materials that keep everyone engaged.

Usually it is too high level work that bores unruly students, so give them something really easy to build confidence, and take it from there. Use your intuition to separate true inquisitiveness from manipulation..the one will convert to the other quickly if students sense you are too eager to please!

Hope this helps. There is a lot more to be written on the subject but I will develop it another time.

]]> By: bbrown http://www.classroomdiscipline101.com/classroom-management/2008/06/12/more-preventative-medicine/comment-page-1/#comment-1216 bbrown Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:48:33 +0000 http://www.classroomdiscipline101.com/classroom-management/?p=27#comment-1216 Hi Craig I have just read your book and many of the elements are ones that I have subconsciously stumbled upon in the 12 yrs or so of teaching high school students (12 - 17 yo in Australia). Having work that is doable and meaningful has become a bug bear because of the range of abilities in students in the classroom. What may be meaningful in one student is not in another. 2 questions? How do we address most of the students' notion of 'meaningful'? When a student says 'I don't know how to do it', I actually can't tell in some cases if it is real. Any ideas on what to look for? Hi Craig
I have just read your book and many of the elements are ones that I have subconsciously stumbled upon in the 12 yrs or so of teaching high school students (12 – 17 yo in Australia). Having work that is doable and meaningful has become a bug bear because of the range of abilities in students in the classroom. What may be meaningful in one student is not in another. 2 questions? How do we address most of the students’ notion of ‘meaningful’? When a student says ‘I don’t know how to do it’, I actually can’t tell in some cases if it is real. Any ideas on what to look for?

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