today two boys got into a fight in the cafeteria during our lunch period. It was pretty bad, knock down drag out. Of course my first priority was to protect the other students from being hurt but i found myself being pushed into the fight that my very large male administrator refused to jump in and break up becuase kids were pushing me and my fellow teachers to get to the fight. Finally another male teacher jumped in and got punched several times trying to pull the kids apart. We also have a very pregnant girl in our class that I was trying to sheild from the chaos. The students we have this year have an awful track record for violent fights. I was wondering if anyone had any seasoned advice for when such situations occur?
Usually, the kids break up their fight when teachers start screaming or blowing their whistles. I think it's ridiculous that teachers were thrown into the fight. Does your school enforce their punishment for fighting? Fights seldom happen at my school. If a fight doesn't stop after screaming, I'd say call the cops. They are trained to deal with that. Whenever there seems to be animosity with students I stop far away. I am not getting into that drama.
As a hockey ref we are taught to not disengage fighters until two of us can come from behind the fighters and grab...this prevents you from getting hit. If you are the only one on scene....sometimes a loud yell can scare the fight to a stop....or stick a clipboard between the fighters. As a male I can usually just physically separate the students, but I know many female and smaller teachers who are afraid to do this
