NYC Educator: Spare the Cane, and Enable

NYC Educator: Spare the Cane, and Enable:

Spare the Cane, and Enable

by NYC Educator

About five years ago, I was asked to cover the class of an AP. It was a wondrous thing coming in from the trailers to a classroom full of computers, something I'd rarely seen. The kids were mostly doing something or other on them, and I mostly let them do it.

One boy kept listening to music on his iPod. I asked him to put it away, and he did. I carried on, doing whatever I was doing, while the kids carried on doing whatever they were doing. But a few minutes later, there was the same boy, listening to the same iPad. I explained to him that if the principal walked in, it would be me getting in trouble if I allowed him to listen to it, and he put it away again.

But five minutes later, he was wearing it again. The hell