What to Do with a Student Who is Becoming a Problem

[Chef Dave]

Today was hands-on High School. All eighth graders in our district came to my high school to visit our CTE (career and technical education classes.)

My predecessor used to have kids watch culinary arts students grill burgers, cook fries, and pour beverages ... but since I haven't followed any of last year's procedures, I scrapped this idea in favor of having the kids customize their own pizza breads.

Culinary students cut 10 inch hoagie buns into four 5 inch quarters. They also made Marinara sauce and grilled and sliced onions and bell peppers.

Eighth grade students spread Marinara sauce over their hoagie buns and added their choice of toppings: sliced mushrooms, olives, pepperoni, onions, bell pepper, Mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese.

To keep track of each student's pizza, I used a permanent marker to number the parchment papers on two bun pans. One pan was numbered 1-16. The second pan was numbered from 17-32. Students placed their pizza bread on a number and were asked to remember this number so they could get their bread after we toasted it.

Culinary students toasted the bread, made fries, and dispensed beverages to the 8th graders.

To facilitate our production, I only used the most responsible culinary arts students. Irresponsible students were sent to the library with makeup assignments for written work that they had previously failed or simply not done.

Only one of these students created problems.

George, (not his real name), decided to not go to the library. He scribbled something illegible on his worksheet and went to the culinary arts department where he was intercepted by my assistant manager. The assistant manager sent him back to the library.

I had just walked into the commons area and was waiting for my 2nd section of 8th graders when I saw George at a vending machine.

"What are you doing out of the library?" I asked.

"Oh ... I'm finished with the assignment," he said. "I'm getting a drink."

I reminded George that he had been told to go to the library and that he wasn't allowed to leave the library until the end of the period. George shrugged and lifted his hand to put money in a coke machine.

"What are you doing?" I snapped. "You can't get a soda. You're not allowed to take food and beverages to the library. You're not even supposed to be out of the library. Stop what you're doing, go to the library, and stay there until the end of the period. GO NOW!"

George left.

As my 2nd section of eight graders entered the commons, I looked across the room and saw George in the counselor's office. The counselor's office opens on the library and has a big window that looks out on the commons.

George had gone to the library as directed and then had left the library, entered the counselor's office, and entered a connecting conference room that led to the office.

I knew what he was doing.

After reaching the office he planned to use the vending machines in the hallway outside the office and commons area.

I told the student council rep who was leading the eighth graders to excuse me for just a moment. I began walking towards the office.

George saw me coming and ran through the conference room, back through the counselor's office, and into the library.

I took George to the office on a disciplinary referral for being out of class without permission and for not following directions. I also told the building administrator that George's behavior had preempted time that I should have spent with the 8th graders.

I don't know what happened to George but I'm really peeved.

During the first semester, George was a model student. After the Christmas break he became a different person. I do not know why his behavior has changed.

For reasons unknown, George has decided to ignore academic assignments. He talks in class, doesn't read assigned sections in the textbook, and scribbles nonsense answers in illegible incomplete sentences.

He has gone from a 95 average to a 54, largely because he doesn't take written assignments seriously.

In addition to only going through the motions of today's assignment, he disregarded instructions. I later found out from the librarian that he only went to the library after I caught him in the commons area. I have no idea where he was for the first thirty minutes of class.

By sneaking out of the library to get a soda after having been told that he had to STAY in the library until the end of the period, he was insubordinate. His behavior also disrupted my session with a group of 8th graders

I have not had the opportunity to fully express my displeasure with his recent behavior or his overall attitudes towards written assignments.

Since we do not have school tomorrow, I plan to speak with him on Monday. I will offer the suggestion that George has choices when it comes to written assignments. He may either participate, do the assignment right the first time, and be rewarded with good grades and the opportunity to participate in hands-on cooking activities ... or he can goof off, talk, distract other students, and only go through the motions of doing an assignment ... in which case he'll get to do the assignment all over again.

After talking to George, I plan to isolate him in the culinary arts lab. While the rest of his classmates make ice cream from scratch, George will have to redo the assignment he was given today. He will have the entire period to work on the assignment and will be barred from entering the kitchen.

I will have chocolate syrup, candied cherries, toasted nuts, candy sprinkles, and whipped cream on hand so we can dish out the ice cream and make sundaes. Since it's against the county health code to eat food in the kitchen, the kids will have to go back to the lab where they'll eat their sundaes in front of George.

What do you think?

Is there anything else I can do to get George back on track?

[sgaestel]

Is he hanging out with different people? It sounds like speaking to his parents about his downswing should occur ASAP. Anytime good student starts failing, it is cause for concern.

I don't know that I agree with having all the other students in the class eat sundaes in front of this student. He may be having some issues that are causing his slide in the course, do you think isolating him in class is the right way to go about it?

Luckily you have two days to cool off and figure out the best avenue to take. I am sure you will do the right thing. Good Luck!!

[JustTess]

Perhaps peer pressure, being bullied or made fun of? .... If he knows you would be catching him break rules, perhaps he's asking for help... in a strange way.

If you let the other students eat sundaes w/o him it moves him further from the whole class.... and the idea is to have him cooperate like all the students are to behave. Of course if he can't prepare or eat properly then perhaps he can watch and learn.

[Chef Dave]

Is he hanging out with different people? It sounds like speaking to his parents about his downswing should occur ASAP. Anytime good student starts failing, it is cause for concern.

Thank you for your reply.

George moved here shortly after the school year began. His girlfriend joined him during the Christmas break and is now living with his family. She graduated from another school last year and is currently unemployed.

His parents have talked about opening a restaurant but have no restaurant experience.

They want to have an eclectic menu. They want to have waiters toss bread at anyone who orders it. (I think they're going for a "fun" laid back atmosphere.) They only want employees who "want to be there" as opposed to people who are just drawing a paycheck. I don't think this latter idea is realistic.

They've already decided on an initial menu and have set prices ... which I don't see how they can do since they don't have a wholesaler and don't know what the production cost of each dish will be. For that matter, they don't have a site and have no idea what their expenses will be in terms of utilities and rent or mortgage.

George has missed a few Mondays supposedly because he and his parents had stayed up late on Sunday working on menus.

I think that between the proposed restaurant and the presence of his girlfriend, George has been quite distracted.

Even though this may explain his decline in grades, it doesn't explain his conduct this morning.

There is absolutely no excuse for insubordination and I think there should be some sort of consequence. I may skip the ice cream idea and have him scrub the grease traps instead.

Still, your point about contacting the parents is a good one. It's a bit late to call them now - but I could call them tomorrow morning.

With regards to the grades, CTE has some fairly stringent requirements. Since we're Federally funded, we must abide by a number of requirements. One of these requirements is that students must pass all instructional objectives within a given strand with an 80% or higher.

Failure to pass every strand in a given standard will result in a loss of Federal funding. In other words, we only receive funding for students who are demonstrating success in our program. We receive no funding for students who experience success in some areas (like food production) and failure in academic areas.

I am required to teach and document competency checklists for strands in food chemistry, nutrition, menu planning, processes of metabolism, enzyme reactions in food, leavening and fermentation, sources and uses of carbohydrates etc.

George does not have the option of picking and choosing which elements of the culinary arts curriculum he would like to learn. He needs to learn everything I teach and if he refuses to take these assignments seriously, I really don't have a problem with having him sit out and do the assignments over ... and over ... and over ...

I've already hit all of the production requirements for the year - so I could literally spend every remaining school day drilling and testing and reteaching and retesting ... until he gets his act together and demonstrates that 80% mastery that I'm looking for.

[dangercat]

I hope that you can work something out with George. It's hard to see a student go from being an A to a D student so suddenly. I know that if I hadn't had the support of wonderful teachers my last two years of high school that I would have completely failed. I know that talking to them and working with them is what really helped me. I wasn't insubordinate, but I definatly stopped doing the work the way I had used to. I hope it works out.

:) Brook

[KyTeacher1954]

When a good student goes downhill like that it usually is for a good reason. Sounds to me like some personal life problems. maybe a new set of friends, trouble at home or with g/f. I wuld try talking to him and find out what is different now.

[busbus]

I do believe that something is going on with George. If you have had a good relationship with him and he trusts you, perhaps you can really have a "heart-to-heart" with him.

So that he is on the same page as you, it might be necessary for the two of you to go over the state/school district competency checklist. If he is serious about CTE, then he needs to be reminded of his responsibilities.

Finally, it could be that you need to conference with George and his parents in order to help to resolve George's issues.

Oh, I would not allow the students to eat sundaes in front of George after he has been isolated and doing a written assignment. I think that that would be cruel and could cause further problems ... not only with you, but between him and other students. (You know that students can be cruel. ;))

[sgaestel]

George may need someone to talk to as well. Perhaps you could be that person he needs?

[DarrenB]

Continual punishments will most likely only push that student further from where you want him to be. That being said, you don't need to become his best friend, either. He wouldn't want you as a friend right now anyway.

I'd try having "the talk" with him and telling him something like, "I can't help but notice how things have changed since the beginning of the year. I sure like that previous student better. If there is anything I can do to help you be successful, I hope you'd let me know." Then try the short check-in every day, something like, How's today looking? Or "Staying out of trouble?" ...always with a laugh.

The guy wants attention and is getting it from you. Wouldn't it be nice if you could subtly refocus that attention towards the positive?

Good luck!

Darren Barkett

[Chef Dave]

I had a talk with George today.

It turns out that he thought I was giving the class "busy work" assignments because we did a lot more cooking activities during 1st semester and are now doing more academic work.

My response was to show him a state competency checklist that outlines everything I'm required to teach.

I told George that although different teachers might choose to present the material in different ways, all culinary arts teachers in Arizona are required to teach the same instructional objectives.

Most of the instructional objectives have nothing to do with hands-on cooking are are academic in nature i.e. metabolism, enzymes, lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals etc.

Since I color code my checklists, I was able to show George what was taught during 1st semester and what was taught during 2nd semester.

His eyes bulged.

The talk went so well that I had a similar talk with the class. :)

In the meanwhile, George also understands that failing to follow directions by sneaking out of the library was extremely disrespectful ... so he'll be scrubbing grease traps tomorrow.

[KyTeacher1954]

Good job Dave.

[DarrenB]

Good! Now don't squander that students move towards you. Keep him close by building that relationship. He could have totally shut you out and remained a problem, but he's acknowledged where he went wrong and is showing empathy towards you, a tough feat for kids at this age.

Connect with him in a positive manner and build that relationship that will help him grow into the young man we need him to be.

Good work!

Darren Barkett
Helping Teachers Grow . com

[Chef Dave]

Nope ... I was wrong ... George is in trouble.

One of the things he told me on Monday was that he didn't understand why he couldn't go to the vending machine because all of his other teachers let him.

I checked with all of his other teachers.

Since I was out of town on school business last Friday, I didn't get the last e-mail back until today ... and surprise-surprise ... there are NO TEACHERS who let him go the vending machine whenever he wants.

I also had an e-mail from the principal. Had George apologized for not following directions?

Why ... NO! He hadn't. I hadn't been aware that he had been under instructions to do so.

So ... George lied to me ... and he failed to follow the administrator's instructions to apologize for his behavior.

Since he's been talking trash, I think it's only appropriate that he gets to scrub out trash cans tomorrow morning.

I am also calling his parents.

:mad:

[MissTeach]

Has George's behavior changed in his other classes also? If it has, then maybe all the teachers need to meet with his parents and create a plan for the remainder of the school year.

I think it is good that you are holding him accountable for his actions by having him clean items in the kitchen. That is the type of chores I gave my own children when they were growing up. It gives the student a chance to think about what they did and why they don't want to do it again!

[Chef Dave]

Has George's behavior changed in his other classes also?

The consensus appears to be that his behavior has changed. His grades are down in most subject areas.

One thing that changed in his home life is that his girl friend moved in with him. He moved here during the 2nd week of 1st semester. She moved here in January.

As far as I know, she is unemployed but plans to work in George's restaurant.

This is a whole 'nother issue with me. George's family wants to open a restaurant despite the fact that none of them have any restaurant experience. George actually missed one day of school to create and price menus ... never mind the fact that they don't have a clue as to what their food costs or other expenses will be ... which makes pricing a menu an exercise in hopeful expectations that have no grounding in the reality of production costs + profit margin.

Since she has already gradauted from high school and is not working it is possible that she expects George to "spend time" with her after school ... which would certainly explain his drop in grades.

[Aziz]

Chef Dave,

You said the talk you had with George was successful. Maybe if you show him you took him seriously, he will start to take you seriously. It sounds to me he took you seriously for a moment during that talk, and while his taking you seriously may have dropped the next day, all may not be lost. If you spend so much time disciplining him by making him redo assignments and scrub pants and pots and so on, not only are you showing you see him as a problem and nothing more, the disciplining loses its effect. I think it would probably be most beneficial to take the more compassionate approach. That has always been more effective with students I know.

I was in a similar situation as George. I got straight A's in school until Junior year when a series of unfortunate events happened and I plummeted to C's and D's. Suddenly, not only was doing an assignment for this class or that teacher difficult because of some vision problems that came back, they didn't seem so important. I still did my work because I had created for myself a set of morals, but my mind wandered to other things that were bothering me at the time. I remember wishing my teachers had taken more time to see why I was failing rather than just disciplining me and assuming the worst. Eventually, I found someone to talk to and went back to the eye doctor. As soon as the heart of the issue was taken care of, my grades went back to normal Senior year.

As a teacher now, I always try to hear directly from the student. If I were you, I would talk to him about how he feels about his parents' opening a restaurant and his girlfriend being around. There may be a whole piece of information his parents left out or that he was too afraid to say in front of his parents. If you are not the type to talk to your students on a more personal level or if you think he may have a hard time trusting you, maybe you could find someone for him to talk to.

-Aziz

[DarrenB]

Yeah, this will be one of those students you remember for years, most likely. I hate to think of losing students, but this one will be a difficult case for you. I feel your frustration and hope your student can turn things around for himself.

At some point, the student must decide for themselves what their future will be. At best, we can make the importance of their decisions clear to them while minimizing their negative impact on other students.

Hang in there!

Darren B.