Two of my students called home today.   I have had about a month of implementing our new program for behavior, and these two students are still requiring reminders, several times a day, to follow the expectations.   So today, I had it with them.  At lunch today, I had them call home. 

 I figured calling home was the worst I could do.  I have sent home notes, but kids are smart with notes.  They hand them to their parents with a long explanation of what happened,  while the parents are distracted and in a hurry.  Maybe they hand it to them as they pull up to the school drop off in the morning, “Hey, can you sign this from my teacher?” with no time for review.    If I were to call, the student would then get the opportunity to share, uninterrupted, his or her side of the story, with careful editing.   This way, when they call home in the middle of the day, the parent knows I am serious and I can listen to what the student says.   And to them, it is mortifying. 

 When I summoned the two students over to call, I heard several pleas of “just one more chance”.  I don’t know why they do this – I NEVER give them one more chance.  If they are asking, it is because they have used all their chances.    One of them cried.  He was terrified his mom was going to be mad.   And I said that I bet she was, but I had been angry for weeks, and his behavior hadn’t changed.  Now maybe if his mom was mad, he would see how serious this was and turn it around. 

I have yet to punish either of these students.    There is no benefit to punishment.  Both of these kids have been punished over and over and they don’t see it as a real threat.  We can’t do anything that is effective or creates intimidation.  We can take away recess and fun activities,  but there is always another activity or recess coming up. 

My afternoon with these two was better.  One of them continued to act up a bit, but settled down eventually.  It rained all day, and we were all a bit stir-crazy, so it was hard to tell what was misbehavior and what was cabin fever.  I am hoping tomorrow they respond better to reminders.  Only time will tell.