I came back from my 4-day turned 5-day weekend to a national disaster of a classroom. This is something that I would have expected from my students last year. Truly, I would have anticipated leaving the classroom for a few days, and returning to find my room in complete disarray - that's just how things went.
However, this year, I'd hope that my rapport and relationship with my students would have prevented them from acting in such a manner. After returning to my classroom, it was quickly apparent to see that it has not. And as such, I am sorely disappointed in my students. I do believe that it was not the fault of all of my students, because there are many of them who are just stellar. Sure, they may be a little disrespectful and chatty, but fundamentally are great kids. But there are a few who I am confident were the culprits to not only destroying my classroom, but stealing a lot of supplies from my closet.
Now, the supplies that they stole aren't necessary of immense value (maybe $20 at most), but it's the fact that they would get into my supply closet, and actually steal them from me. I'm truly hurt for those actions, because I really did believe that my relationship with my students stood for more than that. I guess that I was wrong.
So, in attempt to bring the guilty party(ies) to justice, I've devised my own version of the prisoner's dilemma. Here's how it works:
As it stands, if none of my students confess to who the guilty party is in the classroom, I'm going to call every one of their parents, and tell them that their student stole from me (I have a list of things that are missing) and that I expect compensation. However, the students have a chance to prevent this from happen by choosing one of the circumstances below, according to the guidelines I am going to give them.
Each student will have a chance to confess on a sheet of paper if they are guilty or innocent to committing any of the crimes I lay before the class. However, not only can they confess their own guilt/innocence, but they can claim their partners in crime as well.
1. Confess to their crime. If they confess to their crime, then I won't alert their parents of their misdeeds, but I will require them to compensate me for what they stole from me.
2. Claim innocence, but are guilty according to others. If they claim they're innocent, but other students said that they are guilty, then I will call their parents and inform them of what they stole from me, and explain that i expect them to compensate me for my loss.
3. Claim innocence, and are not condemned by their peers. In this instance, there will be no punishment.
In the rare event that all my students claim innocent, then all the parents will be called anyhow. I highly doubt this will happen.
The one situation that I can foresee happening is that someone claims that they're guilty, and then decides that they're going to bring down all their friends with them, even if they really were innocent. I'm not completely sure how I'm going to handle that one... But the bell's about to ring and I have to get ready for class. I'l let you know what I decide...
3 comments:
So how did it go?
And how will the situation be handled if the guilty parties, in an attempt to hide their crime, collectively accuse an innocent party, thereby ridding themselves of guilt, and subsequently punishing another?
@S-Bells - I considered that circumstance, which is why the students didn't get a chance to collaborate their stories, and thus pass punishment onto another. Plus, they're in 7th grade. Coming up with a strategy like that in the short amount of time... please.
@Katie - I found out who the guilty parties were. Their parents have been contacted, and compensation is in order. And on top of that, loads and loads and loads of guilt. It was great, and hopefully a very poignant lesson has been learned.
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