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Thursday, July 20, 2006
Silence in the Hallways
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So many great questions came out in the earlier thread. I’m most fascinated by the debate over whether elementary- and middle-school students should be able to talk in the hallways when they change classes, go to lunch or to their “specials,” like art and music. (Yes, I know those “specials” are an endangered speces…)
Here’s what one teacher has to say in favor of “silent transitions”:
“I am a new teacher in an elementary school and my students will be getting silent lunch for talking in the hall. We will be traveling by classrooms where other students are learning, and I expect my students to be respectful of the teachers who are teaching and learners who are learning. I would expect the same from them as they come by my classroom. When I was in middle school, I witnessed terrible group fights in the hallway where my classmates were really injured. Our administrators resorted to having to lead us to every class in a quiet, straight line, even in the eighth grade. I am not surprised at all that administrators are calling for silent transitions. There is time for socializing during other parts of the day.”
Should kids be expected to be quiet at all times in the halls?
