It really could have just been “Smacked them on the head with a rolled up workbook”. I could easily see this woman doing what teachers do on a daily basis – tapping a kid on the head who is misbehaving/sleeping/talking. Chances are the teacher shocker knows the kid and knows that it isn’t remotely about free speech and the kid is just lazy and likely talking to a classmate. She obviously misjudged the situation and now will probably lose her job in a knee-jerk reaction to a child that just didn’t want to do what the teacher said. Proximity works on most kids. Some kids need some level of tactile/physical reminder of the world around them. First year teacher me would be apoplectic at how I casually steer a kid with their shoulders or grab a backpack loop to keep a kid from leaving the room early because I ended the lesson early so we could clean up. Physical contact is a regular part of my job. I could write up a kid for throwing paper at another kid, demand he pick it up and create a power struggle, or whack them on the head with my extra copies that I’m carrying around and ask them to stay after for a minute where I’ll ask them individually to pick up the paper. Guess which one gets me the respect I need to get my job done? Or she kicked his ass and deserves jail time. Who knows. Either way, it can be considered assault. We demand teachers be stand-ins for parents, but they have to tip-toe around kids if they want to be 100% safe. I’m not trying to be an apologist, but when it comes to “Other People’s Children” you have to speak in a language they understand, which is often physical.