seriously, i kick them out of class. the principal's office is right there. and i am done with it. a very supportive staff.

One word:

Waterboard.

Minefield?

Can't you pay the students off with "extra credit" for a blanket, er recess party?

I'm sure you could go to the front office for some test papers while leaving the class alone to deal with this...student.

I gotta be honest, there were teachers that used to blister that ass for not putting your hand up and being called upon when I was a kid...holes in the paddle and all. You screwed around and acted like a jackass in class you got sent to the Vice-Principal's office...the Dean of Punishment.

Hell, I occupied a seat outside mine in junior high school. I was like his private screener. Wimpy crying babies got sent in. Hardened criminals got to go out back of the gym and smoke with me. I LIVED in that guy's hallway! He always had 3 things to offer up...

1) Paddling...over and done with.

2) Detention...You were going to miss your bus.

3) Bring in your parents.

#3 was a toughie. If you skipped #1 and went to #3...you might get #1 x2 at home!

You had to measure your options.

PS...when confronted with smoking in the bathroom...it's best to finish the smoke. They already busted you. You might as well finish it!

^WOW! if i told a kid to put it out, and he pulled that crap, i think i would smack him (in a way that wouldn't bruise (and no witnesses).

They also have the "light" system which works for most students. Especially if one of them has to move their light early in the morning, it seems to deter the kids from acting up the rest of the day. This one kid is just a case of his own though. Good news is that the administration came back and said this incident the other day was his 1 strike, anything crazy like that again and he's suspended.

I took lots of swats in highschool... they stopped giving them to me because they said it wasn't doing me any good.. Detension after school finally slowed me down because I would be late for work... if I didn't show for dentention it was an automatice 3 day suspension. which happened a couple times also...

it was funny to watch the first time offenders in there trying to lie their way out of skipping class... was much easier just to say 'yes I skipped' and go on..

#20 And if they're really bad, they get a smack across the forehead with a 2x4 that leaves a big, red mark.

#20 BTW, sounds like about the same mentality that kept Hester Prynne so chaste.

20 - We have a similar system, but with more colors. Each kiddo has a little pocket on the wall with colored cards in it - if they get in trouble, they have to pull the top card. Blue = no problems, green = one warning, but nothing meriting a consequence, yellow = 5 minute timeout during morning recess (you get to watch your friends play while you sit on the curb) and parents are notified, Orange = spend lunch recess in the classoom writing out an acknowledgement that you understand what you did wrong and how you could have better handled the situation along with an apology for your behavior. Parents are notified. Red = go directly to the principal's office and phone your parents. Conference WILL occur THAT DAY and consequences ranging from a written apology to suspension will be decided there. There's also the potential for immediate expulsion, but it has never happened. The kids bring home a homework log every night with a colored-in square representing the color they finished the day on.

In the library we use time out chairs (accompanied by a talk with the librarian), behavior slips for the teacher, return to the classroom and for 3rd grade and up we give them vocabulary sheets (they get to sit on the bench outside the principal's door with a vocab. sheet, a dictionary and a clipboardand expand their vocabularies, lol)

This starts in preschool - for the most part, disruptive behavior is nipped early on.

This thread is really interesting in that it highlights some real inconsistencies in the way that school administrators deal with certain student behaviors.

When my son was in his first couple of years in HS, he was getting picked on by a group of kids. One day one of them pulled some crap on him to embarass him in front of a bunch of students and he went after the jerk instead of backing down. I get a call from the Vice Principal saying my son's been suspended from school for that one incident, even though there was independent corroboration that he was provoked and that there was a pattern of bullying going on.

I've come to conclude that many school administrators go to one extreme or the other. Either they won't deal with truly violent and disruptive students or they dole out draconian punishment for the most minor, one time issues. Few exercise any level of common sense because they are so fearful of legal issues.