Here’s the scenario:
You witness a student break a rule, so you enforce a consequence. But then, out of nowhere, a student nearby denies the misbehavior.
In other words, they jump in and say . . .
“It wasn’t him!”
“He didn’t do it.”
“He was just sitting there.”
Or words to that effect.
Now, I must confess. The audacity to lie for a friend you’ve just watched push another student or cut in line, for example, is hard for me to wrap my head around.
It’s so blatantly ridiculous.
But it’s also commonplace, presumably because it works. Many teachers and adults buy the lie they know isn’t true, accepting it out of fear or meekness. So kids keep selling it.
I experience it every year the first few weeks of school. Using the strategy I’m going to share with you, however, puts a stop to it.
Here’s how it works:
1. Walk away.
I recommend turning and walking away as soon as you deliver your consequence. Always. Never hang around and wait for an argument or response from the misbehaving student.
This alone not only places the most weight of responsibility on the transgressor, but it keeps others from jumping in to defend them.
Turning away also shows confidence and conviction and sends the message, early in the school year, that you’re the leader of the classroom and know what you’re doing.
2. Ignore.
When you hear arguments and denials aimed at your back, you must ignore for now. Yes, it’s hard. You’d love to spin around and put the lying student in their place. However, at SCM we never create friction with students.
No matter how egregious their behavior.
Continue on with your lesson or whatever you were doing before the initial misbehavior. You can even pretend you didn’t hear them. Don’t make eye contact with the student who is calling out or even look in their direction.
3. Enforce.
The advocating student will get the message and stop trying to get your attention to battle for their friend. But you can’t leave it at that. Although you could enforce a consequence for disrespect, I don’t recommend it.
There is a more effective way. Once you’re calm and they’ve given up the charade, approach and deliver a consequence for calling out. Then turn and walk away the same as always.
Done just this way, it will leave them silent, humbled, and dissuaded from ever again dishonestly defending what is indefensible. That is, the sacredness of class rules.
Caveats
Of course, you must get it right.
Great teachers observe. They position themselves strategically. They watch shrewdly and are sharp-eyed and hyper-aware of their surroundings. They’re always ready to boldly enforce.
If ever you assume a rule was broken yet didn’t actually witness misbehavior, then you’re going to create resentment and a reputation for inconsistency. To have a well-behaved class, you must catch misbehavior and follow through like a referee.
It’s also smart to let your class know that if you do get it wrong—truly get it wrong—then they can make an appointment to politely speak with you. You’ll find that as long as you follow the steps above, this will rarely happen—as you’ll rarely get it wrong.
The most important lesson is to have a singular way of enforcing consequences that never changes and that enables you to follow through without fear, stress, or frustration.
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What consequence do you issue for calling out?
Does anyone have a list of consequences,
Consequences are in articles in the archives on the home page.
I have been following Michael Linsin for years, and to this day I have never seen a list of consequences (and I would love one!). He seems to leave that up to the individual teacher, but I would love to see a list. Better yet, I would love to see a blog devoted to it with reader input as to consequences.
I’m baffled you haven’t seen a list of consequences. I too have read this blog for years, most articles many times as a refresher. I would estimate I’ve read the list of three consequences in those articles approximately 150 times all told. If you somehow haven’t I’d either use the search function for the term consequences or look at the classroom management plan category. SCM covers many things but if I had to distill it to its essence the four rules and three consequences would be it, and both are ubiquitous around these parts…
The hardest thing to do as a teacher is to ignore and not respond to children who call out! When I am consistent in this, calling out decreases. 😅
Good morning to you. This is really a good read for me as I work at an alternative school, and the behaviors you described are sometimes what I see. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks! As a middle achool teacher, I’ve encountered this behavior multiple times. I look forward to implementing these logical steps in the new achool year.
Hi, love the articles! So relevant, specific and insightful! Quick question: what do you do when the person arguing on behalf of the offending student isn’t another student, but a staff member like a counselor? I was recently in a situation where a student of mine earned an F in my class but after explaining to his counselor why he failed the class, the counselor then went over my head to the principal to get me to pass him. I know it’s only semi related to the topic of this article but I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks.
Thank you for this article. I have to state that once, after I called a student out for using his mobile phone his class, he brought 5 of his friends for his defense after class. The student stated that he had been using his phone, but put it away when I had given him the first warning. When I called him out the 2nd time, he stated he was just fixing something in his lunchbox (from my vantage point, it looked like he was on his phone and hiding it behind his lunchbox unfortunately). His friends testified to it. So I gave the student the benefit of the doubt and retracted the penalty point for conduct and participation. To this day, it hasn’t happened again.
Is the student 2 -3 years or older than his/her peers in your classroom?
Request a meeting with the counselor and principal and discuss why they feel the student should not be held back. Bring the students grades and portfolio as backup.
Are the parents involved with the decision?
They are hurting the student, not you. You have your proof of the students academic grades and portfolio as well as the STAAR test grades.
Was the student accommodated for learning or were there any assessments provided for learning disabilities or language support?
I believe that it is important to always support the student in a positive, encouraging manner even when the student is not in my classroom.
I think this is in response to a different article…
I love this article! How do you handle behavior that you do not see? For example, if a student tells you something that another student did to them at recess or even in class.