During my prep period today I was walking from the office to my classroom after having copied some papers. Coming towards me was a student busily texting on his phone.
There's a drink machine near the end of the building, as just as he passed the machine he turned right--and walked straight into the wall, the edge of the building. I kid you not, he walked directly into the wall. The corner he meant to turn was perhaps 4 feet beyond him.
He wasn't supposed to be on his phone anyway during class time, but rather than call him out for that I just said to him, "There's a wall there."
He looked at me and said, "I was on my phone."
I replied, "I know." And continued on to my class.
I think it was in the NE Corridor (New York, Phili) but someone was doing that on the train station, walks off the loading area and right in front of a moving station.
ReplyDeleteLoved your reactions and comments to the kid. Sometimes humiliation and embarrassment are better consequences than anything else we can give.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a story - early in my career. I taught in a very large science classroom with traditional desks in the front and lab tables in the back. The tables, which had AC power outlets, were close enough that if the class was too large, I could use the tables as overflow.
A senior taking 10th grade science (!) was sitting at a lab table as overflow. He got a hold of an old wooden ruler and took out the copper strip and folded it into a fork shape. He then put the copper 'fork' into the AC outlet on his lab table.
A big pop, some wide eyes, and a red face told me exactly what he had done. After the class settled back down after the laughter, I decided not to discipline him. He had had enough discipline with the embarrassment and 110V.