Required Post McGee

I'll be honest here. I didn't exactly follow the assignment on this one, but I adjusted it to fit what I needed to do in my classroom. A while back (at least it feels like a while back) I felt like I didn't know how to be consistent. I mean, apart from the most objective and strict rules, there's going to have to be an act of interpretation in assigning consequences; in addition, I was unsure how to balance respecting individuals' needs and differences while trying not to be "inconsistent." On the one hand, yes, I treat my students with behavioral IEP's differently than other students. The most effective way to manage these students is not necessarily to "enforce my consequences at every opportunity." Is that being inconsistent or responsive? Which should I try to be?

Instead of trying to be self-consciously consistent with one of my more challenging afternoon classes, I decided to instead make a similar effort to purge disrespect in all of my classes. I would give a warning for each first offense and then it was a referral after that. Every time. I made this clear. I was also given, am still given, and will soon again be given the opportunity to demonstrate how this procedure works on many occasions. While I still feel just as consistent (or am I still inconsistent?) as I ever was, this consistency has made a huge impact. Its gotten to the point where even 6th and 7th period will have quiet days (once a week, at most). That's good.

The plan for break is to pick my battles. I'm going to revamp my rules to a short list of two or three as close to objective rules as I can. I will die by these rules. Except in the rarest of extreme cases, I will give consequences for every infraction.

Management

Rules:
Right now my rules are the same they've been all year: Listen Carefully, Speak Respectfully, Act Reasonably, Take Responsibility for the Classroom Community. Practically speaking, my rules are basically: Come Prepared, Listen Silently While Mr. Weimer Is Speaking, Do Your Work, Act Reasonably. Before I just wrote those I expected those "new" rules to be farther away from my originals, so maybe that means I should simply rephrase the rules in my room and make a new poster. I guess that will be change number one.

Consequences:
I have changed my consequences to some degree. At the beginning, I decided to split apart major and minor consequences. Minor consequences could rack up as many checks (earning a writing assignment each); major consequences can earn detention and a referral. As it turns out, I have only assigned two detentions in class. Detentions have become a purgatory of sorts for the majority of students who never hand in writing assignments before I write them up for skipping detention. A minor consequence behind the most common consequence (writing assignments). In other words, I already have 20ish people for detention on Tuesday, 10ish people for the Tuesday after that, and some people in detention until after Christmas. There have been periods in which students have done my writing assignments, but recently I've almost completely stopped getting lines from any of my ninth graders.

In short, I've changed my plan by writing more students up and sending them out of my room; I've never really given detentions in class; I've been trying to tighten up on disrespect. Verbal abuse directed at me from my students is a management problem I hadn't fully anticipated and am still struggling to find effective ways to manage.

Rewards:
I've added a ticket system. I pull tickets and give candy every other Friday. They can also trade two tickets for a bathroom pass and five for a participation/hw pass.