Teacher’s Corner

See important information about consequences at Is Your Discipline Working? and Sticking to the Rules

 The following is a writing prompt and discussion topic that can be used with students about consequences.

What should happen if students break a classroom rule? Write about or discuss each of these three possibilities. Tell what you think is good and/or bad about each possibility. Include why you think the way you do.

A.  Nothing, until they break the rule many times.

B.  They should pay a consequence that connects to the type of rule broken.

For example, if they don’t do their homework they should have to spend recess time doing it.

C.  They should be punished in a way that hurts, so they won’t ever do it again.

For example, if they get in a fight, they should be kicked off their sports team.

Teachers, you can use this blog in classrooms. Here are two ideas about how.

1. For middle or high school parenting or child development courses:
   • Use the blog for discussion topics
   • Require students to research the topics and agree or disagree with what the blog is suggesting.
2. For all courses, especially English Language Arts:

• Use the blog for writing prompts for paragraphs, theme papers, journal entries, class starters, etc. Have students read the blog and respond to:
• Do you agree with what is being said about kids? Do kids really act, think or feel that way?
• Do you agree with what is being said about parents, grandparents, teachers and child caregivers? Do or should they act, think or feel that way?
• What would be your advice on this topic?
• What was left out of this article?
• If you were a parent, would you use any of this information? How?

Why can this blog be a useful teaching tool?

• Students that see connections between their coursework and their lives do better in school.
• Most students will either be parents one day or have children in their lives that they care about, so the topical information can help them build their knowledge about children and parenting and develop a positive image of the type of parenting they want to do.
• The new core literacy standards adopted by most states call for frequent writing in all courses.
• Newly developed end-of-course assessments to be used by many states will require that students demonstrate that they can think critically. These prompts help students practice critical thinking.
• Newly developed end-of-course assessments to be used by many states will require that students demonstrate that they can analyze what they read. These prompts help students practice analysis.