3/27
While waiting in the classroom to tutor, I saw the teacher do something interesting. He shuts his door when the bell rings and locks it, so no one can get in after the bell. He then proceeds to give out instructions with some students waiting in the hall because they were tardy. After he determines who is present and has time, he lets the other kids in the classroom. I completely understand why he does this because he wants to encourage students to be one time. They miss part of class and get a detention after being late so many times. Also I think he values teaching students manners and other societal skills because he is trying to instill in them to be on time. Perhaps he is even trying to show that he will not put up with their behavior. He is probably trying to show them that rules are important and have consequences if broken. He may also believe it manages time by being able to start right at the beginning of the hour. If he allowed students to come in as they pleased he would be distracted and unable to accomplish much with people coming in late and causing distractions.
There are problems with this method. It is probably to help minimize distractions and possibly manage classroom time. However, I can see how it does exactly the opposite of both of those. He has to put aside time to let them in and mark them down as tardy, which interrupts the flow of class. It probably also promotes socializing because he is no longer addressing the class. Then he has to regain control which has caused loss of classroom time. On top of that he also has to at some point, either on the students own time or during the class, explain to the tardy students anything they missed being in the hall. Being tardy is something that should be punished, but is it bad enough to have students miss learning or hearing instructions? Perhaps he thinks the students who are tardy do not value there class time. This is probably for the most part true. By having them wait outside though, the teacher is telling the students he does not care about their learning either. The students probably hold a lot of resentment towards him for this which results in the loss of respect. I think some of the students may even be feeling like it does not matter whether or not they get to class on time because he does not want them in the class. They have always met discipline, and it has not worked in the past, so why would it work now? I think the idea is good because it does help class start at the beginning and teaches students to be on time. Yet, it really does not help the students that do not care about class and are going to come late anyways. I think those students need a new approach. What I am unsure, but perhaps something that is different then constant punishment.
