Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Pencil Sharpener A few students in the classroom I am observing in get up unnecessarily several time during a lesson to sharpen their pencil. The pencil is not dull nor broken and the student will still get up to sharpen their pencil during instructional time. This distracts the other students and causes the misbehaving student to miss out on learning. The teacher I am observing has tried implementing a strategy where four fully sharpened pencils are given to each student prior to the beginning of class to limit the amount of times students need to use the sharpener. However, even with this new strategy, I witnessed a few students purposely breaking their pencil just so they could get up and sharpen it. What strategies could be used to prevent students from using the pencil sharpener as an excuse to distract themselves during a lesson? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) My CT had a cup of sharpened pencils and a cup for broken ones. Students weren't allowed to use the pencil sharpener. They just took a pencil out of the sharpened cup if needed. This stopped students from wanting to go sharpen and disrupt the class. Also, if it is the same student doing that everyday or several times a day, having a talk with them individually will be helpful too.