Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Well, I had to throw out the entire reward system that I had (tickets to excellence) because I figured out that more kids were involved than I thought.

I did give me an opportunity to give this awesome speech to my classes, though. They were actually listening, I think. I struck some sort of chord. And believe me, that is not always the case. But I stood up and said,

"You have an opportunity, right now, to decide what kind of world to live in! You can let a few people ruin your class, ruin your fun, ruin your chances in life-- or you can stand up for yourself and take charge! It is not noble to protect those people who are hurting you. You are not being a friend by refusing to tell me who the guilty parties are. You are being cowardly and you are deciding that you have no rights. If you decide to do that-- well, then, you don't deserve to have rewards. You don't deserve to have fun. You don't deserve my respect. You don't deserve Tickets to Excellence."

After that, several kids gave me notes telling me who did what and who stole things. I am trying to teach them that the "good" kids outnumber the "bad" and that they need to take their classroom back. It is sort of working, I think.

But now, I have to create a new system. Off to Office Depot I go, to find unique paper and perhaps some rubber stamps. Yes, rubber stamps! Oh, these are the things that teachers love! ¶ 5:46 AM