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T O P I C : Disrespect toward Women Rachael asks the question: How should young women teachers handle boy students who do not treat them respectfully? Posted October 26, 2008
 R E S P O N S E : Would You Speak Like that Stephanie Stidham writes: It is certainly hard to get the boys to respect us since we are young. One way my mentor always handled this in her room was to ask them if they would speak like that to their grandmother. They would either say "no" or say "yes" sarcastically. She would then tell them about the importance of respect and that she demanded it in her classroom. She also added that if they couldn't handle it, they didn't have to be in the room and could sit outside and work alone. My mentor and I had one problem student (see my question!) who was very disrespectful to me and wasn't stellar to her either. This method worked fairly well with him because once he was put in the hall to do his work, there was no one to laugh at him, and no one to feed off the negative energy. Basically, he got bored and lonely out in the hall, and would decide he was ready to come back in the room. Another important thing is to nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand. With our problem student, if he walked in the door with an attitude, my mentor would speak to him immediately about her expectations and making good choices. This seemed to be effective because once he was on a roll and getting a reaction from his teachers and classmates, it would often snowball out of control. Basically, I feel like the role of "intern" lends itself to a little bit of disrespect because the kids know we are not their teachers...so don't worry, you aren't the only one! Posted November 16, 2008
R E S P O N S E : Yellow Card, Red Card Katherine Collier writes: My current mentor had a problem with this at the beginning of the year, and I ended up having the same problem when I entered this rotation. There were four sophomore boys in her classroom who were disrespectful and just wouldn't listen when told to focus and stop talking. They would talk to one another across the room in the middle of instruction. She ended up using a "yellow card" and "red card" system from soccer as her discipline model. Because there was a sports reference, they completely understood it. Also, once a student behaved in a way to earn a yellow card, the trial period for no more disruptions lasts for two weeks. If there was any objection from the student, her response was, "You don't argue with the ref, or you'll get kicked out of the game." It worked like magic! All of a sudden, they reacted as if they were in a sports arena and not a classroom. When I had to hand out some yellow cards, I said the same thing, and it worked like a charm. Also, when you're walking around the classroom with a handful of yellow cards, the students become intimidated. If one gets handed out, they all immediately react. Neither of us has had to hand out a red card, but once they get a yellow card, we fill out a discipline report and just don't put in the date. Once the two weeks are over, we throw it away. By having it ready to go, there wouldn't be a hesitation to use it if the student acted out in a way to deserve one, and they (as well as the rest of the class) are very aware that they had fair warning. Posted December 6, 2008
E-mail your suggestions and comments to fbowles@uark.edu 
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