A student and positive payback
About a month ago a freshman boy did something silly to a freshmen girl. Without names attached, he took her notebook out of her locker and hid it in a classroom they both had (their lockers were next to each other). She was very upset that he did this and reported it to the other assistant principal (who sees sophomores). He told me and I called the freshmen down to give him a saturday morning detention (policy) and talk to him about it. He admitted to doing it and although I am not sure he understood how it affected her, he did realize he should not have done it. When I told him about the consequence he crumbled into tears. He is basically an immature 15 year old boy, who probably has a crush on this girl, and he pushes the limit at times. He was begging me for anything but saturday morning detention, but I kept saying I have to follow the policy (as I was feeling awful about it-he was in tears!) Finally, amidst his begging, he said, "Well, what if I write a letter of apology"? So, I thought for a moment and I figured I could go two ways with this
1. I could follow policy and continue with the saturday morning detention, which could satisfy policy, but would lose this kid in terms of respect for the next three years, as he matures and continues to do silly things (but in general is a good kid). OR.......
2. I could assign him two detentions after school (which I knew he would prefer to 2 hours on a saturday) and take him up on his offer (came from him-the best learning comes from people themselves) to write a letter of apology to the girl-which is actually a better "consequence" than sitting in detention for 2 hours on a saturday and would gain some respect in his eyes for future incidences, should they occur.
I chose number 2 and I felt really good about it. He showed me the letter the next day and I had him give it to her in front of me. The two of them walked out totally okay with each other, kind of laughing, etc.
Here's the positive payback.....I checked me email tonight (at 1 am because I cannot sleep) and there is a short email from him inviting me to the young republican/young democrat debate tomorrow after school. I thought, now that is a positive story about work (to counter the like 10 other negative stories I had to deal with today). Life is good and kids are so down to earth-give me a kid to deal with anyday over an adult! (I so wish I could tell you his name because it just adds to the humor of the story-oh well, someday)
1. I could follow policy and continue with the saturday morning detention, which could satisfy policy, but would lose this kid in terms of respect for the next three years, as he matures and continues to do silly things (but in general is a good kid). OR.......
2. I could assign him two detentions after school (which I knew he would prefer to 2 hours on a saturday) and take him up on his offer (came from him-the best learning comes from people themselves) to write a letter of apology to the girl-which is actually a better "consequence" than sitting in detention for 2 hours on a saturday and would gain some respect in his eyes for future incidences, should they occur.
I chose number 2 and I felt really good about it. He showed me the letter the next day and I had him give it to her in front of me. The two of them walked out totally okay with each other, kind of laughing, etc.
Here's the positive payback.....I checked me email tonight (at 1 am because I cannot sleep) and there is a short email from him inviting me to the young republican/young democrat debate tomorrow after school. I thought, now that is a positive story about work (to counter the like 10 other negative stories I had to deal with today). Life is good and kids are so down to earth-give me a kid to deal with anyday over an adult! (I so wish I could tell you his name because it just adds to the humor of the story-oh well, someday)
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