Opinion
Equity & Diversity Opinion

What Happens When a Student Is Put Out of Class?

May 17, 2017 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

by Josh Parker

Every time I have to do it, I hate it.

When my student has to walk the halls to cool down from a conflict with me, I feel like a first-year teacher again. A middle/high school student again. Thirteen years into my career and it still feels the same way.

Let me tell you how it usually happens.

The student(s) in question enters class as my ‘Good afternoon’ greeting signals the start of class. Then, because I am a career middle/high school teacher leader, the students start talking. They talk when I give directions and when I don’t. When I use proximity control. When I won’t. The chatter gathers like smoke until it covers the class. At this point, I take offense and look for the fire, because where there’s smoke, there are (usually) students. When I find the culprit, we become parts of a power struggle that I do not intend to lose. I don’t. Eventually I ask the offender to leave the classroom.

I do not make a habit of asking students to leave my class, but every time I do, I feel a familiar pain.

Maybe because I was mischievous in school. I would sit right on a teacher’s nerve and pluck it like a string until I was whistling by myself on the way to an administrator. This tune did not change until I was a couple of years away from getting my diploma. When I got put out, I was afraid because my dad would find out, but I also felt isolation.

Scientists have said that the feeling of being left out is psychologically registered in the brain like physical pain. I felt that. Every time. Being blessed with parents who raised me well, I never offended to the point of making teachers my eternal enemies, but what about those students just like me who never re-acclimate to school culture? Or are blessed with parents who understand and communicate the expectations of school culture (read: Middle class)?

It starts with being sent out, and sometimes ends in suspension. Or expulsion. Or (years later, in a different context) worse. To be clear, students bear the weight of their decisions—every iPhone stands on its on charger—but what will be the result of our decisions to separate students from classes?

When I leave school to go home, I often see an older man who just sits on the broken part of a guard-rail next to the street. Cars crawl by during rush hour, but he is too tired to even beg for change anymore. He just sits. Put out. Like the trash. I wonder: When was he first put out? Where was he first put out? Will he ever come back? Who will be there for him when he returns?

As teachers, we are faced with hundreds of daily decisions related to students and classroom management, and we will have days where we have to send a student out of

the classroom. What we all must grapple with in a very real way, and what I am still thinking about in my practice, is if the type of student being consistently sent out is black or brown and male or female. Further, what relationship with authority are we establishing with them? When trust and decorum are breached, our actions either educate or alienate. The offenders in today’s classroom could grow to be tomorrow’s offenders in public. Power struggles in the classroom can foreshadow life or power struggles in the future, particularly when we fail to explore the power dynamics at play with our Black boys and girls. What’s more, we have to deeply reflect on our practices when students look exiled, even while in class. The answers to these questions may not just improve our practice and keep more students engaged with quality instruction, they may save their very lives.

Josh Parker is the 2012 Maryland State Teacher of the Year and a member of Board of Directors for the National Network of State Teachers of the Year. He currently serves as an instructional coach for the District of Columbia Pubic Schools. He will be presenting at NNSTOY’s national teacher leadership conference July 14-19 in Washington, D.C.

Source: Image from Pixabay by Unsplash licensed under Creative Commons.

The opinions expressed in Teacher-Leader Voices are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Events

Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Social-Emotional Learning 2025: Examining Priorities and Practices
Join this free virtual event to learn about SEL strategies, skills, and to hear from experts on the use and expansion of SEL programs.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Professional Development Webinar
Inside PLCs: Proven Strategies from K-12 Leaders
Join an expert panel to explore strategies for building collaborative PLCs, overcoming common challenges, and using data effectively.
Content provided by Otus
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Webinar
Making Science Stick: The Engaging Power of Hands-On Learning
How can you make science class the highlight of your students’ day while
achieving learning outcomes? Find out in this session.
Content provided by LEGO Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity Leader To Learn From Meet the DEI Leader Using Data—and Heart—to Foster Student Belonging
A district's DEI director uses data and an approachable style to do his work despite a challenging political environment.
9 min read
Ty Harris, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, delivers closing remarks and applauds students for their work during the Power of We event at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center at Old Dominion University in Virginia Beach, Va., on Dec. 18, 2024.
Ty Harris, director of diversity, equity and inclusion for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, applauds students at an event at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center at Old Dominion University in Virginia Beach, Va., on Dec. 18, 2024.
Parker Michels-Boyce for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Q&A Keeping DEI Work Alive in a Hostile Political Climate
Diversity, equity, and inclusion remains a target for criticism and elimination. A DEI director is navigating his way through it.
5 min read
Ty Harris, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, pictured at Bayside High School in Virginia Beach, Va., on Dec. 18, 2024.
Ty Harris, the director of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Virginia Beach school district, visits Bayside High School in Virginia Beach, Va., on Dec. 18, 2024.
Parker Michels-Boyce for Education Week
Equity & Diversity What the Latest Civil Rights Data Show About Racial Disparities in Schools
The U.S. Department of Education released new data from 2021-22 covering students' access to STEM courses, school discipline, and more.
7 min read
Photograph of three student engineers working on a new mechanical model. Multi-ethnic group of young people in a STEM class.
Alvarez/E+
Equity & Diversity Opinion No, Culturally Responsive Education Is Not a Synonym for CRT
If you're confused about what culturally responsive teaching means, here is guidance from educators on how to avoid common misconceptions.
10 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week