Symptoms Not the Cure
Thursday, June 5th, 2008An Oregon teacher duct tapes a child to a chair because he couldn’t stop getting up.
Although this is example is obviously extreme, it seems typical of a lot of classroom “discipline” strategies. Similar to a lot pharmaceuticals, we treat the symptom and not the cure. Our problem stops but the cause of the problem never goes away.
How about looking at why a student keeps getting up in class? Could it be, as Garr Reynolds, basing his presentation on Dr. John Medina, suggests, that sitting for long periods of time is unnatural? Why is it we insist on having students sit for long periods even as research suggests that exercise and movement boost cognitive functioning?
How about giving the wandering student a job as a paper monitor, a door monitor, a bathroom break monitor…anything that gives him a chance to get up?
How about employing additional group work if the student gets up because of a need to interact with others?
How about presenting a lesson that engages him enough with what’s at his desk so he wants to stay there…an ant farm, a growing plant, a science experiment, an iPod, a still camera—pick one and I don’t think he’ll wander too far from it.
