Police Pepper Spray 8-Year-Old Boy

ABC News reported yesterday an incident involving 8-year-old Aidan Elliot, a second grader who was shot with pepper spray by police after teachers were unable to de-escalate his explosive behavior. Immediately following, angry mom, Mandy Elliot, took to media outlets across the country to defend her son's behavior and condemn the actions of the police. Despite repeated previous altercations at school where police had to be called, and young Aidan admitting to fashioning a makeshift shank from a piece of wooden molding, Ms. Elliot found the pepper spray to be excessive. She added that she also wanted police to get special training in dealing with children. Hmm... Or maybe, I don't know, she could work on improving discipline at home. Aidan (admittedly) has behavior and aggression issues, but that's no excuse to allow these kinds of events to happen. If anything, children with these problems benefit from more structure, not less. Take a look at the video below. Watch it closely, and then scroll down to see if you noticed what I did... (Direct link here if embedded video doesn't load.)

Her son - the boy who had to be physically removed from school for threatening to kill students and teachers - is sitting in his room playing video games. I'll ignore the obvious irony of the game being a violent first person shooter to focus on the fact that there was clearly no consequence at home for his actions. I just don't get it.

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Philosophy of Classroom Management

About a month ago, I was pulled from my classroom to attend a full day department meeting. Behavior problems in my room are almost non-existent (or at least as non-existent as possible for middle school), so I’m never too worried about having a substitute cover for me when I have to be out. But when I returned, I found a note on my desk explaining that all of my classes were excellent, with the exception of one student who was disruptive and disrespectful.

This particular boy has a good relationship with me and has never been a problem in my room, although is occasionally trouble for other teachers. The next day when I saw him, I pulled him in the hall, read him the sub’s note, and promptly assigned him a week of lunch detentions.

Here’s my philosophy on classroom management:
I’m pretty loose with what students can and cannot do in class. I don’t have lists of rules posted around the room, and I certainly know the importance of choosing my battles. But my kids know that there is a very clear line drawn in the sand. They quickly learn to stay behind that line. If it is crossed, there is consistent and immediate consequence.

Yesterday I called in to work to help my wife take care of our brood of sick children. It was an unplanned absence but I emailed lesson plans and work in for the sub so I was not anticipating problems. This morning, I arrived to find a familiar note on my desk. It was a different sub, but the same boy, and same defiant, disruptive behavior.

When I pulled him in the hall, he said he knew why he was in trouble and he was aware of the consequence for his actions. He’ll again be enjoying my company as lunch partner for the next week.

But this got me thinking. I always assume that clear and consistent consequence is the way to deal with behavior problems. But if that’s the case, then why did he act up again when he saw a substitute sitting in my chair? Is punitive consequence ineffective, or is he just a little too impulsive and thick-skulled for it to work after only one instance?

What is your philosophy for effective classroom management?

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