Obeying rules

This report will outline a critical incident which occurred a month ago during a test that my students in 6^th year B at high school were doing. The main topic of the test was passive voice. It included the use and form of the passive in all tenses and modal verbs.

These students’ work in class had been irregular. One of them, John, had had disruptive behavior during 4^th year and had to repeat the course the following year. At present  he has caused some problems but not that much as the ones he had before.

Some trouble with this student arouse when he decided to talk to a fellow-student as if they were comfortably sitting in a bar while doing the test. Some minutes before, two other students had also asked some questions about the vocabulary on the test in a loud voice. And I had warned them that the next time any of them talked during the test again, I would take their tests away and give them the lowest mark without correcting it. Only a minute had passed after my warning when John started asking Alex, a vey able student, the meaning of a word on the test. Alex answered his question ignoring what I had explained with respect to these attitudes before.  

So I asked them to hand their tests in but both refused. I told them their mark would be registered all the same. As they had had such a arrogant attitude, I decided not to confront them so I let them finish their tests. But I gave him the lowest mark all the same.

Ten minutes after these students had handed in their tests and left, they came back and asked me to talk about the incident. I agreed with them but only after letting them know that I had already made my views clear and that I would not change my mind with respect to their marks. I did this quite emphatically in such a way they could perceive I was really upset. At that moment, John took a step forward and looked at me in the eyes. I decided to remain silent and managed to show confidence although the angry look in his eyes had made me feel tense. But I think it must have been confidence what made him turn round and go out. All the same, while closing the door, he warned me his mother would come to school to talk to me about this incident.

The following week, his mother came so we had a long talk. She was very respectful and her words seemed quite reasonable. She told me about the problems John had had before and asked me to change my mind with respect to his mark on the test. I explained everything that I had told her son before: passive voice is not the problem, disregarding rules is what really matters. She did not question my judgement and accepted my point of view.  

             I offered John the chance to give a lesson and compensate for his mark on the test but he has not taken it yet. However, these days he has been working hard in class trying to engage in all the activities with a good disposition. It seems he has understood that in order to be respected, we must respect others as well.