Incident with student teacher in Math class
The young student teacher held out the chalk as she asked, “Who would like to work this problem on the board?” Mitch was oblivious to all the students around him slumping in their seats, as if that would make them harder to call on. Apparently it worked, because Mitch was startled to hear, “Mitch. Come up here and do this problem for us.” Now it was Mitch’s turn to use the invisibility cloak, by pretending not to hear her. The teacher spoke a little louder, saying, “Hurry up, Mitch, we’re running out of time.” When Mitch refused to move, she walked to his desk and set the chalk and eraser down in front of him. When prompted again, Mitch muttered, “Call on someone else.” With her hands on her hips, she insisted, “Get up there now, or go wait for me in the Dean’s office.” As she turned away, she heard what sounded like, “… bitch” as the eraser flew past her ear and exploded in a cloud of white chalk dust, startling her and enraging her. Within minutes, two hall monitors were escorting Mitch to the Dean’s office. And after hearing of Mitch’s ‘attack’, the Dean suspended him from school indefinitely. The supervising teacher, backed by the teacher’s union, did not want Mitch back in school.
Mitch’s behavior and the school’s response looked something like this:
| Behavior
Mitch cursed and assaulted a teacher. |
| Response
Mitch was suspended immediately and plans were underway for him to attend an alternative school for kids with behavior problems. |
At the prompting of Coach Carson, who had known Mitch for years, the Dean took a more careful look at Mitch’s behavior and what motivated it. When the Dean quizzed Mitch about the incident, he was struck by Mitch’s belief that the student teacher just wanted to humiliate him in front of the class; that she knew he couldn’t do the problem on the board; and that was why she called on him. He said he tried to refuse, but she kept making him look like he was afraid to do the problem and afraid of her threats. That’s when he threw the eraser, saying, “No way did I try to hurt her. That was just a brush back pitch, if you know what I mean.”
In the end, the Dean had a more compassionate view of Mitch and some better ideas about what kind of response was needed. What stood out from his interview of Mitch was his powerful fear of humiliation in front of his peers. Consequently, that fear far outweighed any threat by the teacher. Failure to work the problem on the board would have been humiliating and eventually, giving in to the teacher’s demands would have been humiliating.
A more competent Mitch might have handled the situation with a quickly scribbled note, “I don’t know how to do this one” or humorous excuse, “Coach said I wasn’t supposed to do anything stressful on game days”.
At issue was a lack of genuine self-esteem or the ability to think and communicate effectively. But more specifically was the fact that Mitch was way behind in his math class. If he were competent and confident in his understanding of the math, going to the board would not have been humiliating. In fact, it would have been the opposite. Consequently, the Dean devised a more effective and targeted response.
| Issue
Lack of genuine self-esteem; Lack of math competence |
| Emotion
Fear of humiliation |
| Behavior
Avoidance, refusal, defiance, and then threats (to avoid what threatens him with humiliation). |
| Response
Mitch must earn the right to return to school by getting completely caught up (and slightly ahead) in math. Caught up means passing chapter tests with scores of 85% or better. |
It was frustrating and humiliating to Mitch to be held out of school and away from his friends and participation in sports. With the help of a tutor, he was motivated to meet the Dean’s expectations so he could return to school.
Genuine self-esteem, emotional competence, logical thinking, communication, and internal discipline were developmental competencies that played into the problems Mitch was facing in the incident above and with adolescence in general. Self-esteem is enhanced through mastery and competence. Tolerating the frustration of “learning from your mistakes”, which is an essential part of learning math, will also be promoted with his “earn the right to attend school” program. Logical thinking and internal discipline are also improved through the study of math. This will not be a cure all for Mitch, but it is a very structured and achievable intervention that targets an area of developmental delay. Success in this focused area will be a valuable template that can be applied to other areas of Mitch’s life.
Let’s look at the Dean’s IEBR Analysis and A MESS Approach next.