Write On

     Remember the days when your punishment for misbehaving in class might be to write "I will not ______" statements over and over and over again, ad infinitum? (No? Me neither. I was a pretty good kid. But bear with me here. I'm making a point...)

     Although it seems like these types of punishments are behind us (which is good, since Bart never really seemed to learn his lesson, now did he?), there's another type of repercussion for bad classroom behavior I'd like to discuss that also involves writing.

     Throughout my career in education, I've witnessed the following type of scenario many times. Young Bob or Sue acts up in class. Young Bob or Sue gets several warnings from the teacher. Young Bob or Sue continues to act up in class. Teacher pulls young Bob or Sue aside and delivers the repercussion: you must write a letter of apology (a paragraph about what you did wrong, an explanation of your behavior and how you will improve, etc.). Now I am all for setting behavioral expectations in our classrooms, and following through with students when they are not meeting those expectations yet. But fellow teachers, I must implore you: Don't make writing a punishment. The underlying, hidden message this sends to the misbehaving student (and to his or her peers looking on, as well) is "You've done something wrong and the best way I can punish you for this is to make you -- gasp -- write a paragraph! Because we all know that writing is a horrible, awful task that no one would ever want to do, so that's what you get for acting up." 

     Please understand. I know that no teacher actually thinks that writing is a punishment. And any teacher who requires a student to write as a consequence for misbehaving does not actually have the above thought process. But we have to be careful in thinking about how our messages may be received (consciously or subconsciously) by our students. And none of us want them to associate the act of writing with something negative. Let's vow not to do this and to make it as antiquated a notion as poor Bart writing all those "I will not ____" statements up on the chalkboard. Let's explore other ways to set behavioral expectations and to work with students who don't meet those expectations in our classrooms.

Tyler, Jimmy. "Bart writing on chalkboard." Photo. Flickriver.com 17 Apr. 2012. 15 March 2013. <http://www.flickriver.com/photos/14531705@N00/4529445838/>.