A few days ago, I submitted a post on "logical consequences." I talked about how detention is not always the best consequence for students who are not behaving appropriately. I emphasized how the consequence that follows must be immediate. So, in this post, I want to offer my idea on an immediate consequence.
I have a student who constantly blurts out. He constantly talks while not raising his hand. He will wants to give answers, but he just blurts it out. I tell him once that if he talks without raising his hand, he needs to step outside, count to 60, and then quietly come back in. I only give him 1 warning. After that single warning, he is sent outside. If he comes back in noisy like he's trying to get attention, then I will send him back out to count to 60 again.
It seems to have some effectiveness so far, but I'm not completely satisfied with it. I'm not completely satisfied with it because it has not completely eliminated the blurt outs. I'm satisfied with it to some extent because #1 it has reduced its frequency and #2 it is an immediate consequence. As I said before in my "logical consequences" post, they don't have to wait 30 or how ever many minutes until losing time from recess. It's a consequence that can happen right away. Also, I just make a sign where I have a thumbs up, but I quickly point my thumb to the door. When I do that, he knows that I want him to step outside, count to 60, and then come back in quietly.
Something else that I need to think about further is whether the intensity of the consequence needs to escalate. Will sending that student out enough times lose its effectiveness? Will the student at some point not feel any loss in the consequence. So far, that is not the case. He makes it obvious that he dislikes it. If I need to escalate the intensity later though, how would I retain the immediacy of the consequence that I desire? Or, do I just need to become better at catching him engaging in inappropriate behavior, and thus make it more and more cumbersome for him to misbehave? Right now, I'm not sure. I'm putting faith in a positive answer to that last question.
In any case, if you decide to use my idea, let me know how effective or ineffective you think it is and whether the idea should be modified at all.
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