Friday, April 13, 2007

Hypothetical #1: The Purposeless Student

Let's say that the choir or band director has a substitute who knows nothing about music and is therefore just having a "study-hall" with the class. The sub sends 5 students to the library with a note. They are the only students in the library. They promptly go to the computers and start looking at web sites that feature prom dresses and shoes. What would you do?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This happens to me all of the time... since I'm not in charge of them (the sub is) I have to pick my battles... however, if they are playing games or looking at something 'inappropriate' THEN I can step in and remind them of the 'internet use policy'!

Anonymous said...

OK... so I just re-read the situation... if they are there w/o the sub... I can tell them to do something else... otherwise I have to pick my battles.

Anonymous said...

I would enforce our policy which is that only legitimate research and assignments are done by use of the internet. They could choose a book, newspaper or magazine to read. If they do not choose to do this I write them a pass back to class.

Anonymous said...

What did the note the sub sent with the students say?

debw said...

The note from the sub just listed their names and said "to the library". She even forgot to sign it.
BTW, my solution was to send them back to class once I could see they had nothing to do that was educational in nature.

Anonymous said...

Seems to me if the sub sent with with a note that gives no instructions as to what the students should be doing, she has just passed her problem off to you to handle. Send them back unless she has written down a task she expects them to do in the library.

Anonymous said...

I have had this happen, or at least something similar. I allow the students to use the library but do not allow surfing for prom dresses. If they tell me that they have nothing to do, then I tell them to return to music class.

Anonymous said...

It is my policy to not allow subs to send students to the Media Center. However, teachers may pre-arrange with me before their absence to allow a few students to come down to complete an assignment. On occasion, I will allow students to come down on a pass with the rule that they must only use computers to complete work.

Anonymous said...

I generally approach this from two angles. For students just browsing the web, I inquire, "What are you here to work on?" They respond by either providing me a legitimate excuse (ex: "my science project") and get to work, or they respond with a vague, purposeless answer (ex. "nothing much") and I send them back to class.

I have learned (the hard way) to deal with sub issues immediately. I find that subs at our school generally return, and if they don't learn our library expectations from the get-go they tend to abuse it. As soon as I spot a problem with any of the students they send (incorrect pass, too many students, no purpose for using library, etc.), I call the room, identify myself and politely but firmly explain our the situation and our expectations and that I am returning students back to them.