Part1:Incident and analysis (300-‐400words)
This incident that I am commenting on is one that will remain with me for a long time. This happened on my first practicum here and was a use of physical activity to punish and humiliate a group of children into "acting appropriately". There were two situations that occurred that had the same outcome meaning that the children needed to perform running drills at lunchtime on the school field with the watching eyes and cheers/jeers of the other children playing games and sports on the field.
The first situation that caused the event to happen were uniform based and to a large extent not the action of the child but the parent and also were class based with the children from the lower socio-economic area of the class punished for not having the correct school uniform. In my opinion the parent and children had made a best attempt with the uniform but had failed in their choice of school shoes (they were not considered polishable). These children were brought up and publicly shown as worst practice.
The second group was also to do with clothing and were those who did not put their clothes in their bag or tote tray and whose clothing was found around the class. These children were brought up once a piece of clothing was found and asked to identify it (this was easy as all the children’s clothing seemed to be named) and names were written on the board for future punishment.
In this class breaking from the norm was seen as rebellious and unacceptable and the use of running drills as punishment seemed to be his way of breaking the kids and making them succumb to the will of the class and teacher. Having them lose lunchtime and be publicly shamed appeared to be the way to create order in a classroom. My view of this at the time was shock, I was not a fan of humiliation and physical exercise as a punishment having been on the other end many times having gone to an all boys' high school and parents may see this as punitive or an overreaction. This is counterproductive, it creates a controlled class and pliable children but does not make for a comfortable and happy work environment, it can create an environment of fear and an underclass within the room. The victims here are those who are generally great kids but ones that come from the poorer homes and those who had difficulties adapting to the rigid classroom structure (I had difficulties here with adapting too).
There were many options for alternative punishments and ways to deal with the problem. My first port would be to make a pile of the clothing and have the children stay and have to collect each piece before they leave for lunch or home, alternatively note the names from each piece of clothing and have them on a clothing report to their parents to make sure that all is accounted for if it is seen as such a problem. But for the children with the incorrect uniform, making contact with the parents is first point of call and explain the situation to them and how this does not fit with the schools code and maybe negotiate an outcome.
Select one specific event from your participation in physical activities/sport/physical education classes and analyse it-‐ this event could be either positive or negative (please ensure it is a specific incident and not a complete lesson or summary of events).
You could be a participant or observer in this particular incident. An example of a personal experience/ ”teaching as usual”incident might be specific event where physical activity was used as punishment or where praise, represented here as a commentor statement, was only given to the elite athlete.
Using the questions above analyse this observation to identify the taken-‐for-‐granted assumption that this practice is deemed appropriate (and by whom). Essentially, you are undertaking reflective writing by recalling and analysing a‘criticalincident’.
The following questions(adapted from Francis 1997) are to be used as a guide for an objective (non-‐judgmental) analysis of the selected personal experiences/”teaching as usual” incident. They are to be used as subheadings in the analysis.
• What happened here? (What was I doing? What were others doing?) – context in which the experience/incident occurred
• What was I trying to achieve?
OR What was trying to be achieved?
• How might others give meaning differently? (teachers, students, parents)
• What alternatives for action were there?
• Who was disadvantaged/advantaged?
• What are the taken-‐for-‐granted assumptions?
This incident that I am commenting on is one that will remain with me for a long time. This happened on my first practicum here and was a use of physical activity to punish and humiliate a group of children into "acting appropriately". There were two situations that occurred that had the same outcome meaning that the children needed to perform running drills at lunchtime on the school field with the watching eyes and cheers/jeers of the other children playing games and sports on the field.
The first situation that caused the event to happen were uniform based and to a large extent not the action of the child but the parent and also were class based with the children from the lower socio-economic area of the class punished for not having the correct school uniform. In my opinion the parent and children had made a best attempt with the uniform but had failed in their choice of school shoes (they were not considered polishable). These children were brought up and publicly shown as worst practice.
The second group was also to do with clothing and were those who did not put their clothes in their bag or tote tray and whose clothing was found around the class. These children were brought up once a piece of clothing was found and asked to identify it (this was easy as all the children’s clothing seemed to be named) and names were written on the board for future punishment.
In this class breaking from the norm was seen as rebellious and unacceptable and the use of running drills as punishment seemed to be his way of breaking the kids and making them succumb to the will of the class and teacher. Having them lose lunchtime and be publicly shamed appeared to be the way to create order in a classroom. My view of this at the time was shock, I was not a fan of humiliation and physical exercise as a punishment having been on the other end many times having gone to an all boys' high school and parents may see this as punitive or an overreaction. This is counterproductive, it creates a controlled class and pliable children but does not make for a comfortable and happy work environment, it can create an environment of fear and an underclass within the room. The victims here are those who are generally great kids but ones that come from the poorer homes and those who had difficulties adapting to the rigid classroom structure (I had difficulties here with adapting too).
There were many options for alternative punishments and ways to deal with the problem. My first port would be to make a pile of the clothing and have the children stay and have to collect each piece before they leave for lunch or home, alternatively note the names from each piece of clothing and have them on a clothing report to their parents to make sure that all is accounted for if it is seen as such a problem. But for the children with the incorrect uniform, making contact with the parents is first point of call and explain the situation to them and how this does not fit with the schools code and maybe negotiate an outcome.
Select one specific event from your participation in physical activities/sport/physical education classes and analyse it-‐ this event could be either positive or negative (please ensure it is a specific incident and not a complete lesson or summary of events).
You could be a participant or observer in this particular incident. An example of a personal experience/ ”teaching as usual”incident might be specific event where physical activity was used as punishment or where praise, represented here as a commentor statement, was only given to the elite athlete.
Using the questions above analyse this observation to identify the taken-‐for-‐granted assumption that this practice is deemed appropriate (and by whom). Essentially, you are undertaking reflective writing by recalling and analysing a‘criticalincident’.
The following questions(adapted from Francis 1997) are to be used as a guide for an objective (non-‐judgmental) analysis of the selected personal experiences/”teaching as usual” incident. They are to be used as subheadings in the analysis.
• What happened here? (What was I doing? What were others doing?) – context in which the experience/incident occurred
• What was I trying to achieve?
OR What was trying to be achieved?
• How might others give meaning differently? (teachers, students, parents)
• What alternatives for action were there?
• Who was disadvantaged/advantaged?
• What are the taken-‐for-‐granted assumptions?
I am shocked that a teacher would use that sort of punishment for such a trivial event out of the children's control. I believe the "punishment should fit the crime" and that it should be appropriate for the behaviour. i think your suggestion of getting the children to collect the clothing themselves or send a note home to come back with correct uniform were much more appropriate.
ReplyDeleteI have been in a similar situation, however the child in question actually enjoyed running, so they almost wanted to be caught doing something 'naughty' so that they would get to go for a run.