Kizz
February 15, 2006 at 11:28 am
You made a list of things to work on, you wrote a blog entry about not being allowed to work AND I feel certain you spent a good chunk of time obsessing about not being able to work. Those things broke the moratorium. I don’t say that as a rebuke, just saying it to keep you honest while you learn the balancing.
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3 Comments.
S
February 11, 2006 at 8:04 am
No, I don’t think that my intent would be to come in there and not treat them with respect. My intent would be to go in there and enforce the (very reasonable) rules and establish an environment where actual learning can happen.
Discipline does not equal disrespect.
Would it be unpleasant at first? Perhaps, but they get to choose, by their behavior, how long the unpleasantness lasts. I’m not sure “dictator” is the right word to use, either, particularly because the rules of the classroom are those that they themselves chose at the beginning of the year. My purpose would be to reinforce the boundaries they set up then promptly disregarded.
It IS too bad that they can’t be integrated into other classes. No – “can’t” is the wrong word here – they won’t be integreated into other classes because of the shortsightedness of some of the administration. They are fully capable of functioning in an integrated classroom and, I think, of thriving there because of the positive influence of expectations and the lack of stigma that goes along with being a “400 kid”. I can see, if I look at the students individually and not as a group, that all of them have far more potential for success than they’re utilizing in this environment.
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