Teachers, don't do this

[Anonymous]

Don't sit the class clown next to a quiet kid "as a punishment" - that child is not a punishment.
Don't make one kid the regular partner for a disruptive or incapable student - everyone should have to take a turn.
Don't punish the class for individual behavior.
Don't let one kid scream at or mistreat another in the name of "they have to learn to work together." No adult would have to tolerate that from a peer.

[Anonymous]

Just know this is not best practice and a teacher doing these things isn't following guidelines.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you are saying: protect the class from the disruptive students.

Unfortunately we have very few tools to do that now. Parents don’t care if you call home, the administration tells us to stop sending kids to the office, and everyone gets promoted to the next grade no matter what. So unless the kid brings a weapon to school or something, nobody will give them any consequences.

[Anonymous]

This one time, in elementary school teaching, I decided to have a “talker table” I only said that in my head, but I put all the kids who need to verbally process every statement out loud together at one table.

We lasted a week and then the volume emanating from that table drove everyone else nuts. So, I disbanded it and the class clowns ended up next to regular kids “quiet kids” and we were all happier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you are saying: protect the class from the disruptive students.

Unfortunately we have very few tools to do that now. Parents don’t care if you call home, the administration tells us to stop sending kids to the office, and everyone gets promoted to the next grade no matter what. So unless the kid brings a weapon to school or something, nobody will give them any consequences.

I'm not asking you to protect the class from difficult students, I'm asking you not to use the other students as a shield between you and the difficult ones. You are the adult and a trained professional: don't dump this on the kids.

The disruptive kid can sit by himself. He can be partnered with someone different each day, or you can design your class so no one is partnered. He can lose, by himself, whatever privileges you were going to take from the whole class in your frustration. And you can fairly grade the kids who are trying, instead of retreating to group projects to avoid the issue.

[Anonymous]

It isn’t one kid. These days it’s 1/4 of the class or more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t one kid. These days it’s 1/4 of the class or more.

This is the problem. In my 5th period gen ed class of 30 high school students, I have 11 504s for adhd. All of them have the accommodation of "preferential seating near the point of instruction, away from distractions". I'd love for you to make my seating chart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you are saying: protect the class from the disruptive students.

Unfortunately we have very few tools to do that now. Parents don’t care if you call home, the administration tells us to stop sending kids to the office, and everyone gets promoted to the next grade no matter what. So unless the kid brings a weapon to school or something, nobody will give them any consequences.

I'm not asking you to protect the class from difficult students, I'm asking you not to use the other students as a shield between you and the difficult ones. You are the adult and a trained professional: don't dump this on the kids.

The disruptive kid can sit by himself. He can be partnered with someone different each day, or you can design your class so no one is partnered. He can lose, by himself, whatever privileges you were going to take from the whole class in your frustration. And you can fairly grade the kids who are trying, instead of retreating to group projects to avoid the issue.

Those poor children turned into human shields. So sad! Can’t you see they don’t need to be protected from difficult students, they just need to be…. Not a shield. Completely different! You can be out there stuck in the rain without an umbrella and not need an umbrella, just a raincoat or boots or an awning. Those aren’t an umbrella.

You brave teacher need to BATTLE these children into SUBMISSION (except mine! Mine will NEVER need battling!)to not protect my child.
- Larla Petri

[Anonymous]

My calm kid is always used as the therapy dog in classrooms. She hates it and we're leaving the school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t one kid. These days it’s 1/4 of the class or more.

This is the problem. In my 5th period gen ed class of 30 high school students, I have 11 504s for adhd. All of them have the accommodation of "preferential seating near the point of instruction, away from distractions". I'd love for you to make my seating chart.

OP here - all I'm asking is not to say "If you dont behave, you have to sit next to Larla."
Or "Larla can teach you this."

Larla gets to be a kid too, not a mini teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you are saying: protect the class from the disruptive students.

Unfortunately we have very few tools to do that now. Parents don’t care if you call home, the administration tells us to stop sending kids to the office, and everyone gets promoted to the next grade no matter what. So unless the kid brings a weapon to school or something, nobody will give them any consequences.

I'm not asking you to protect the class from difficult students, I'm asking you not to use the other students as a shield between you and the difficult ones. You are the adult and a trained professional: don't dump this on the kids.

The disruptive kid can sit by himself. He can be partnered with someone different each day, or you can design your class so no one is partnered. He can lose, by himself, whatever privileges you were going to take from the whole class in your frustration. And you can fairly grade the kids who are trying, instead of retreating to group projects to avoid the issue.

Believe me, I understand your frustrations. I am the parent of a quiet little boy who shuts down when the room is too chaotic. He hates school.

But I have 34 students in my classroom designed for 25. We literally cannot move. There is no room to sit by themselves, or break apart groups of desks. They have to be grouped, because singleton desks take up so much more space and I literally do not have it.

I change seats every 6 weeks. That's the best I can do. I don't have time to make a new seating chart every single day. It takes me at least 30 minutes per class to accommodate every IEP and 504, figure out social drama of who will not be able to work with who, separate besties who will just get off task, etc. It isn't as though there is one chaotic child and 33 perfect angels. It's the old brain teaser with the fox and the rabbit and the lettuce crossing the river, and it feels like no matter what you do you mess it up and someone suffers.

[Anonymous]

My kids were always seated next to difficult kids. They got so tired of being used as a babysitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t one kid. These days it’s 1/4 of the class or more.

This is the problem. In my 5th period gen ed class of 30 high school students, I have 11 504s for adhd. All of them have the accommodation of "preferential seating near the point of instruction, away from distractions". I'd love for you to make my seating chart.

This. I had a class last year in which 1/3rd of my students had preferential seating away from distractions. It’s physically not possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t one kid. These days it’s 1/4 of the class or more.

This is the problem. In my 5th period gen ed class of 30 high school students, I have 11 504s for adhd. All of them have the accommodation of "preferential seating near the point of instruction, away from distractions". I'd love for you to make my seating chart.

OP here - all I'm asking is not to say "If you dont behave, you have to sit next to Larla."
Or "Larla can teach you this."

Larla gets to be a kid too, not a mini teacher.

I have never in my life stated that. But I have often moved the kid next to Larla for a quarter. Because that kid has to sit next to someone and they will talk less and focus more at that table group and the whole class will come out ahead.

But behind the scenes I am providing 10x the supports to that kid to try to keep them on track, engaged, quiet, on task. Larla isn't doing that. She isn't expected to teach or reteach or tell him to keep his hands to himself. Larla just isn't escalating the situation like Johnny or Emily does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t one kid. These days it’s 1/4 of the class or more.

This is the problem. In my 5th period gen ed class of 30 high school students, I have 11 504s for adhd. All of them have the accommodation of "preferential seating near the point of instruction, away from distractions". I'd love for you to make my seating chart.

Exactly. And this is precisely why we ended up pulling one of our kids out of a highly rated charter school (HRCS). It really felt like a full third of the class had an IEP, 504, or some other accommodation that needed to be navigated daily. We’re not begrudging the children or their families — every child is who they are, in all their beautiful and complex dimensions — but the cumulative weight of trying to meet so many competing needs in one classroom was undeniable.

For our child, who I guess you’d call neurotypical, it felt like he was never really the focus of instruction or support. Not in a resentful way — he was often amused by the “excitement” in class — but the overall environment was unfocused and not conducive to learning. It just didn’t work. And while it’s great in theory to have inclusive classrooms where all students learn to engage with difference, in practice it created a setting that simply didn’t meet our child’s needs.

We moved him to a private parochial school. It’s not high-SES by any means, but the classrooms feel… normal. Not perfect. Just normal. There’s not the same sense that the teacher is constantly trying to juggle a dozen different individual education plans while still trying to teach a coherent lesson. And yes, the school is upfront that it cannot accommodate many special needs — which sadly, or perhaps realistically, makes a big difference in the classroom dynamic.

Our son might say it’s a little less exciting, but even he recognizes that it’s a much better learning environment. And we’re relieved.