Adam and Eve probably made their kids write sentences- it's a punishment that's been around for a while. It has fallen out of favor in recent years because it is believed that writing sentences causes kids to dislike writing. Well, I've got some news from the principal's office- if students' level of proficiency is any measure for their affection for writing, then we've got a problem- many kids already do dislike writing.
When students get in trouble, the first thing that I do is have them write down what happened. This gives them a little time to reflect on the problem and explain it. Most of the time, however, I am so horrified by the students' lack of facility to write, that I first point out to them that they have misspelled several "no excuse" words, forgotten all of their punctuation, and used such simple language that it's difficult to understand the complexity of their problem.
As Emerson works to increase the rigor of our academic program, student writing becomes a key component because it is the most difficult of the four domains in language arts (the others being listening, speaking, and reading). As a school we need to increase the frequency, quality, and importance of writing in order to help more students meet state standards.
For the past 8 years, I have assigned a variety of consequences when children get in trouble. While I believe that counseling them and speaking with their parents are most important, I have generally then assigned the consequence of sitting on the principal's bench during recesses. Is this an effective consequence? For some students it does the trick and they never get in trouble again. For others, they try to disappear from the bench; they play around when they are on the bench; or they enjoy the time reading while seated in the shade.
Lately I've been assigning the consequence of writing sentences. I customize the sentence to the child's misbehavior, their ability to write, their age and their infraction. So far, I've seen good results. To practice copying a complex sentence that models appropriate grade level writing may not be such a bad idea. Apology letters and agreements to improve behavior will also be used with increasing frequency.
I would like to get your opinion about writing sentences. On the sidebar, I've added a poll. Please let me know what you think.
When students get in trouble, the first thing that I do is have them write down what happened. This gives them a little time to reflect on the problem and explain it. Most of the time, however, I am so horrified by the students' lack of facility to write, that I first point out to them that they have misspelled several "no excuse" words, forgotten all of their punctuation, and used such simple language that it's difficult to understand the complexity of their problem.
As Emerson works to increase the rigor of our academic program, student writing becomes a key component because it is the most difficult of the four domains in language arts (the others being listening, speaking, and reading). As a school we need to increase the frequency, quality, and importance of writing in order to help more students meet state standards.
For the past 8 years, I have assigned a variety of consequences when children get in trouble. While I believe that counseling them and speaking with their parents are most important, I have generally then assigned the consequence of sitting on the principal's bench during recesses. Is this an effective consequence? For some students it does the trick and they never get in trouble again. For others, they try to disappear from the bench; they play around when they are on the bench; or they enjoy the time reading while seated in the shade.
Lately I've been assigning the consequence of writing sentences. I customize the sentence to the child's misbehavior, their ability to write, their age and their infraction. So far, I've seen good results. To practice copying a complex sentence that models appropriate grade level writing may not be such a bad idea. Apology letters and agreements to improve behavior will also be used with increasing frequency.
I would like to get your opinion about writing sentences. On the sidebar, I've added a poll. Please let me know what you think.
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