Half my class threw paper during a quiz. How would you handle this?
I'm a first year teacher. Today during a quiz, about half my class started throwing paper balls around. The environment got loud and disruptive enough that I genuinely don't think the other students could focus and do their best work.
Important context: I explicitly told the class before the quiz started that anyone who spoke during the quiz would get a zero. I made it clear. They knew.
I wrote down the names of every student who threw paper. I know exactly who did it. I have already write them up and wrote up the students talking
I can't split the room or do detention make-ups easily due to scheduling.
My current plan:
· Toss today's quiz entirely (not fair to the kids who were trying)
· Give a new quiz tomorrow on the same material
· Deduct 10 points from the throwers' scores on tomorrow's quiz
· Warn the class beforehand that any disruption tomorrow = automatic zero
But part of me feels like since I already said speaking = zero, I should actually follow through and give the throwers a zero on today's quiz, or make them redo it tomorrow, or both?
Is that too much? Or is that just following through on what I said?
Thanks in advance.
Posted Aug 29, 2026, 3:03 AM UTC