The student who does not follow school rules

When I was in high school if you were late to class you had points taken away from your grade...When I was in high school homework could also affect my grade...Now, it appears that our schools are in the middle of a transition where student grades may only be generated through the effective use of summative assessments. Which is great, and my teaching style matches this mandate - however I have noticed that many of the students now know that they do not "need" to be in class on time (or at all), and that their homework does not count (so why do it?). This has resulted in a serious issue - students are not following the rules of the school because there are little or no repercussions.
People are people - and will revert to self governing principles unless there is enforcement of rules within a system.

My suggestions for resolving this:
1) Be a consistent authority figure in your building
2) Make sure that you and your coworkers and enforcing the rules of the building
3) Remind the students of school rules
4) Provide reinforcement when rules are followed - especially by repeat rule breakers
5) Post school rules throughout your building

The student who does not follow school rules

When I was in high school if you were late to class you had points taken away from your grade...When I was in high school homework could also affect my grade...Now, it appears that our schools are in the middle of a transition where student grades may only be generated through the efective use of summative assessments. Which is great, and my teaching style matches this mandate - however I have noticed that many of the students now know that they do not "need" to be in class ontime (or at all), and that their homework does not count (so why do it?). This has resulted in a serious issue - students are not following the rules of the school because there are no reprocussions to their decisions.
People are people - and will revert to self governing proinciples unless there is enforcement of rules within a syetem.

My suggestions for resolving this:
1) Be a consistent authority figure in your building
2) Make sure that you and your coworkers and enforcing the rules of the building
3) Remind the students of school rules
4) Provide reinforcement when rules are followed - especially by repeat rule breakers
5) Post school rules throughout your building

Students who don't participate in classroom activities

Encouraging students to work on a subject that have little interest in is difficult. However, perhaps it is not a lack of interest that the student really is experiencing - I believe all of us can be interested in any form of knowledge, we simply need to be in the right frame of mind -- but instead of a lack of interest the study may be focused on experiences in their life outside of your classroom. The student may also have told by other teachers, or their parents that their efforts are hopeless because its "too late for them to pass".

Something I would like to mention quickly - a lot of the things I am writing about are not necessarily things that I experience in my own classroom - they sometimes are, or they are things I've observed in other classrooms, things i've experienced in my past, information gathered through discussions, or other observations throughout my daily experience.

So back to student participation, I did a little thinking and research and have found a couple practices we can do to increase participation in classwork.
1) Encouragement and rewarding participation from other students.
2) Call on the student when you are sure they will be able to answer correctly.
3) Demonstrate respect for the student's opinions
4) Structure the environment so that the student has multiple opportunities to positively interact with peers in classroom activities.
5) Make sure the student is clear on expectations and has all of the necessary materials.

What are some things that you do?

The kid that doesn't study

As I continue down my professional path I am noticing more and more that a majority of our students do not study.
Why is this?
What are the underlining reasons for this behavior?
What do you think?
(There are so many reasons why -- I would like to hear from some of you about what you think)

Now, I have possible solutions - but to generate these without a clear understanding of the reasons behind the student behavior is something I do not like to do...
1) Assess the level of difficulty - remind yourself if your kid has any documented learning specifications
2) Be sure the student knows what you are asking for - make sure they know what studying looks like
3) Make sure the student understands the natural consequences of failing
4) Maintain consistency of expectations
5) Communicate with home

The Technology Addiction

Due to the nature of nature our evolutionary characteristic to sit and conserve energy has lead to a serious dependency on the quick and easy. What we experience in our everyday lives is not at all anywhere close to what our original ancestors had to work with. Think about this - if you were to travel back in time 50,000 years and grab an ancient Egyptian or an Australian Aborigine and bring them back to our time they would be able to drive, use an ipad, text and eventually communicate just like us. The reality is that we used to have to work our ass off to get the necessary materials for our survival - and taking a break was rarely an option -- so when it was available we took advantage of it. In fact we are adapted to love chillin! it means we can save energy in case a tiger or hippo tries to eat us. If its fast, easy and smooth we as humans likey likey.
Now if we look at the concept of instant gratification in relation to the presence of communicative technology in our students lives a question arises: how can we adapt our policies and pedagogy to co-evolve with this transition of communication practices and experiences?
Its a losing battle - we can't fight the presence of cell phone use in our schools. The main issue is that students use these tools for negative purposes --to cheat, talk, bully, distract...
How does a school community compete with this reality?