NYC Educator: On Sleeping Children

NYC Educator: On Sleeping Children:

On Sleeping Children

Kids get sleepy in class. It's a fact of life. Sometimes they just say the hell with it and put their heads down. Personally I don't much care for that. First of all, it's kind of rude. Second, it's not particularly conducive to learning. Finally, I'm abundantly aware that when the principal walks in and said kid appears to be sleeping, it will not be the kid, but rather me who suffers the consequences. I'm okay with suffering the consequences for my own mistakes, but I don't much wish to suffer for the consequences of allowing unacceptable behavior in my students.

Years ago I used to walk by the desks and kick the bottom, commenting on what a clumsy oof I was for doing so. This usually stunned students into picking up their heads. However, I had one student who regularly reeked of marijuana, and he did not much care for having his afternoon reveries disturbed. This kid went home and told his dad that I regularly hit him in class. An investigation ensued, and my students all reported this did not occur ever. But I recalibrated my approach.

My next step was to walk around the class, saying whatever it was I had to say, but raising my voice to maximum level when I passed a sleeper. This seemed to work, and did not provoke any formal complaints from the kids. But when you're in a trailer adjacent to another, sometimes other teachers take exception. They may be giving a test, and from time to time question the instructional value of incredibly loud screams during said test.

On Christmas, I received a gift of a sonic screwdriver replica. This is a tool that Doctor Who uses for various tasks on the TV show. The replica is a strange-looking object that extends and makes odd and spooky noises. When placed to the ear of a sleeping student it generally causes a