At first glance, the answer just might be yes. It makes sense, right?
A student misbehaves and you give them a hand signal letting them know which rule was broken and the consequence. The benefits are:
- It’s quiet.
- It’s quick.
- It’s discreet.
- It’s respectful.
So what’s not to like? Well, a lot. Because in practice it doesn’t work. Here’s why:
They can’t see you.
When a student is misbehaving, it’s often hard to get their attention. If you limit yourself to a hand signal, then you’ll have to position yourself—often directly in front of them—for them to notice you.
They get confused.
No matter how demonstrative you are, hand signals can be misinterpreted. In fact, they often prompt students to ask you to explain. The younger the students, the more this is the case.
They don’t know who you’re targeting.
If you’ve ever tried using hand signals, you learn fast that it’s difficult for students to know who you’re targeting. You’ll often have two or three students gesturing and asking, “Me? What did I do?”
They don’t trust it.
Even if you have the attention of the rule-breaker and they understand the signal you give them, it’s human nature to want to be told. Verbalizing provides clarity and assurance. It’s why NFL referees have microphones.
What About Humiliation?
A common argument you’ll hear is that giving consequences publicly is humiliating for the student. This usually comes from an uninformed administrator.
This is nonsense.
Of course, you should never berate, raise your voice, or try to humiliate. But simply informing a student of what rule they broke and the consequence isn’t humiliation. It’s the truth.
You can’t hide it anyway. Even if you do try to use a non-verbal signal, your students can see the misbehavior. They can hear the disruption. Believing otherwise is silly.
Furthermore, if receiving a consequence in front of one’s peers adds an extra layer of remorse, so be it. It’s life. It’s not harmful to the student to have some accountability to the class they interrupted.
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Amen! Finally some common sense for classroom management. Thank you!
Yes!
Thank you for making this clear. I had wondered about giving consequence in front of the class. I have been giving consequences in from the class. I don’t feel guilty about it, but I realize the subtlety of staying detached from the consequence. It must be quick so you can move on. I still keep track of keeping the consequences – I tried the clipboard method – I have other things I will be doing – so I ask the teacher assistant to note the consequence. I need to keep working on staying detached like a referee.
Thank you. That’s great to hear. I wish it was the viewpoint of my school and district but it is not.
I appreciate this article. So much is made about humiliating students in front of the class that I often don’t know what to do. As a result, I ignore a lot. I am a teacher who loves teaching and can’t do it with my mouth closed. Thanks.
I love, love, love this piece of writing and could not agree more. I’m in California, where we have been encouraged to lower our expectations about everything. I have been teaching 7th grade for 36 years and refuse to do so. Students and parents complain that I am “calling them out” in class now. I tell them that “IT’s MY JOB!” to do so. I’m like a referee; if I don’t call it a tight game, the game will get out of control. When the classroom learning environment is out of control, very little learning occurs. Giving my personal best means calling a tight game to maximize learning. I’m about to retire and can’t wait to move away from the direction things have gone and are going. Don’t give up people. Don’t lower your expectations.
The analogy to refereeing and the need to call the game fairly so it doesn’t get out of control will hopefully help many young teachers (as well as seasoned) who struggle with the gumption it takes to “blow the whistle” and enforce rules/consequences. I will be borrowing this analogy as a school counselor in support of teachers!
This reassurance was just what I needed this week. I’ve been getting pushback from admin and even the guidance counselor that sideline is “humiliating” and that I should stick with positive reinforcement. I tried doing it their way for a week and behaviors (surprise surprise) immediately got worse. Thank you for this article.
Years back, an inquisitive and bright student broke one of the rules. Don’t even remember what the infraction was. Just told him to stop, and he immediately did. Next day, he broke the same rule. Told him to stop, and he did. Third day, broke the same rule. Told him to stop, and he did. Fourth day, again! This time told him to meet me in the hallway. Asked him what was wrong. Why did he do this three days in a row? He started sobbing and said, “You said every day was a new day.” Thinking about it, I realized he thought he could do the same wrong thing every day, and it would be forgiven as one mistake. So … I explained that every day is a new day, but not to break the same rule, and be forgiven, but to learn from the mistakes of the past, and not repeat them. Fifth day, the rule wasn’t broken. And … never again by him. Learned to state the “every day is a new day” opening week speech with a caveat “but not to break the same rule again ….” I still smile when I remember what he taught me (and if I every write that book, this is an incident to share).
Yes, I agree with two caveats. First, I’ve always made my verbal response to a misbehavior as public as the behavior itself was. For example, if a student wrote disrespectful graffiti about another student on their desk and other students weren’t aware of that, I would deal with it privately. Second, there’s an art to delivering a negative response to a behavior that I learned from Dr. Randy Sprick many years ago and it really works. You walk to within 3-4 feet of the student and lower the volume of your voice as you state the redirection or consequence.
Then immediately look away and move on with your class instruction. The other students can likely hear what you said, but it still gets the point across to the individual student respectfully. Immediately looking and moving away reduces the likelihood of a power struggle, and allows you to get right back to teaching without wasting everyone’s time.
I agree with publicly responding to a behavior that was public and privately responding to a behavior of which the rest of the class is unaware. The other students have seen the public behavior (blurting out, etc.). They need to see that it is dealt with fairly and calmly.
Just to clarify, is it only for younger students as it does not align with the high school plan?
Yes, that is correct.
Thank you for confirming I am doing something right as a substitute.
Whether hand signals, verbal or both a key factor in determining their potency is the fact students need to take the teacher seriously in the first place. If they think the teacher a fake or teacher wannabe it is doubtful any intervention is going to work. This is why the same students will act one way for teacher A then march down the hall to teacher B’s class and act completely different even though both teachers are using the same methods. In short, it’s not so much the technique that is responsible for getting the job done, rather the person using it.
If I get a speeding ticket while you are in the proximity of the flashing police car lights, I will be mindful of my actions. Life doesn’t secretly hide that I broke the law. From the laws perspective it should be a reminder to everyone that there are laws and they apply to ALL of us. Welcome to adulthood.
Thank you for sharing. It will go a long way for teachers.