Blog 6

Christina Mendez 10-14-08

Bog 6


From October 9 to October 14, 2008 I was in a behavior management list serve. During this period several people were discussing the issue of students falling asleep. People were addressing the issue and commenting to others how they handle it. The students were at the high schools level and even though I am not certified to teach high school I am always interested to find out what areas they have issues in and how people handle them.

Topic Headings

A. Include descriptions of classroom activities, resources, and issues that were discussed.

One man started the discussion off by asking what he should do that he has high school students who are constantly falling asleep during class and not do their work. He needed help as to how to address this issue.

B. Explain areas of agreement, disagreement, concerns, advice, etc.

A woman, who belonged to a program for underachievers at the high school level, responded to him. She was explaining that her and her partner have the person stand up for the whole class period if they need to wake them more than once. She also gave him advice from what she does with students who do not do their work. They have a no zero policy by having the student come during their lunch period to make up the work. If they do not come for that one, than it’s an hour after school. If the student still does not come than the team has a parent teacher conference. She explains that so far the students show up for the 3 H’s—Homework Half Hour. Another woman replied by saying that this is a very difficult thing to deal with. She says that these high school students spend to many things other than school work. Sometimes, parents are working and the students have to watch the younger siblings. If this is the case, she said she would have a parent teacher conference to discuss the issue. This way you at least have an un understanding. She feels that he needs to get involved personally with the issue of sleeping in the class. She feels that talking to them one on one will help with the issue rather than as a whole class. She explains that if there was an aid in the room, to leave the aid in charge of the class and take the student to a place where you can talk to the students without the student feeling embarrassed. She feels that this would work with some students. Another woman had agreed with this woman in the sense that they are doing other things at night, however, she feels that it is due to them playing video games, talking on their cell phones, and watching tv. She feels that he needs to talk to the parent to find out and explain to the parents their child’s status in school and the steps they need to take to resolve the situation. She also recommended when the students fall asleep and you wake them to have them fill out a form saying that they would rather sleep that do their work and show this to the parents, which shows them that there are consequences to their actions. Another person responded that if you see it is a constant pattern with sleeping, that maybe they need to turn their lessons around. She was saying to try to find out what they are interested in and relate the material to their lives. This way, she feels, the students will stay more focused in class because they will be interested.

Responses’ To Others Questions

A. Why did you choose to answer this particular question or make a particular comment.

I chose to comment on the woman who said to leave the aid in charge of the class and talk to the student about why he or she may not be sleeping. I responded by saying I do think it is important for the teacher to show the student that they care, however, if they leave the class to talk to the students they are failing the other students. This man has a responsibility to teach the students and he can’t just forget about the rest of the kids. He can do it at a time when neither one of them will miss out on teaching and learning.