Threats do work

I guess you just have to be careful of which ones.

Regular readers may already be aware of my fourth year class from *DOOM* who made my live a little miserable at the start of the year. Finally, I'm getting a grip on them and not quite by the throat in preparation for a violent throttling as I'd been worried I might do.

I had three of them out of the class the other day, and two ended up with punishments. Which, I admit, it took far too long to get back. However, I had issued them and they were marched out to see the PT as well. That alone settled a handful of the rest down. So I ran with it.

Before the latest lesson I made it very clear that I was sick of previouis behaviour - that I didn't expect to see any inappropriate use of the computers during the lesson, including browsing the web when work was supposed to be being done. This was their warning. No more. If I saw something I shouldn't - punnie. No questions, no arguments.

Two punnies = 1 detention. Each detention would be longer than the previous one.

Every single pupil was on task, or at least didn't misuse the computers. The three who usually mess about at least had the correct program up, even if they showed no intention of doing any work. Most importantly, they didn't disrupt anyone else. Some of the class who routinely get very little done positively rattled through the task given. Not perfect work, but at least it was being done.

We'll see how long this lasts...