The question is this week... What is a creative classroom management technique you use to maintain order/engagement?
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Chapter 3 Creativity
This chapter made me tired. (Haha) The energy level to maintain creativity is tiring but I found it to be so true... Think about how well your students respond to those really creative and fun lessons/activities you plan. I think they know we have put in extra effort just for them. Another thing I liked was how the district introduces teachers each year. (This might be a great idea for JCS the year we combine.)
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The best and most creative thing I have ever done to promote classroom behavior was home visits. When parents see that I care enough about their child to visit them at home, in the summer, they get on board. The students hear positive things from the parent about me and then they want to do better for me. This year is the first year all the parents did not sign up for me to visit. (That says a great deal about this year's group!)
ReplyDeleteThat home connection has proved itself to me again, with simple planner reports. Making notes for parents in the student's planner (like in the lower grades) has really helped. It is odd because normally at this age you don't do such, but I will take all the help I can get! :)
One of the jobs in our classroom is "substitute". When a visitor comes in the room or I have to step out (which is only in emergency situations obviously), I have a student who is the substitute. She walks over to the clip chart, and drops clips if anyone is doing something he/she isn't supposed to do. My students' behavior is so much better (during those moments where I can't keep my eyes on them) since I started this.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to make sure everyone has a job for the week and rotate so every body has a turn. In the beginning on Fridays, students had like 10 min to serve as trainers or supervisors teaching that person for the next week. Jobs like teacher's assistant,homework hornet, or tick toc technician were jobs everyone wanted.
ReplyDeleteI know my experience is mostly secondary, but the best management tool I ever used was weekly class newsletters/progress reports. The front page contained a detailed summary of what we did during the week, and a list of upcoming important dates/assignments. I also included some tidbit about learning, homework, etc. to give parents something to ponder. On the back was the student's updated progress report. I highlighted work that needed making up, and I also put notes beside homework zeros and commented about behavior. When a student made an exceptionally good grade, or brought up a grade (like a vocabulary or grammar quiz improvement), I also noted it. For all of my students, this process took a great deal of time, but I reaped so many benefits from it. I mailed these reports, so parents never had an excuse to say they hadn't seen their child's grades/progress. Students always paid more attention after the first couple went home because they knew I would talk to their parents about anything! I also varied the days I mailed them so that the students couldn't predict and intercept them! ;-)
ReplyDeleteGiven the nature of my job, one of the ways that I manage my classes is my voice. I know that sounds very simple, but it works for me. In high school I was very involved in drama. My teacher told me my voice was one of my strengths and I could do different voices. In other words I had such a loud mouth that I did not need a microphone. ;-) When I am in the class I try to be very aware of my pitch and volume. So that if I have to change my voice, even by a little bit, it gets the students attention. Sometimes I use different voices to keep their attention, especially if I am reading or talking to them. In my classes they also have to work as a table to "impress me". Those tables get to line up first, all of them get smiley faces or stickers, or sometimes I brag on them to their teachers.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I want to see if this publishes!
ReplyDeleteI just typed for an hour!
ReplyDeleteI do not think that it will post!!!!
ReplyDeleteI will just read poetry for behavior management.
ReplyDeleteI have used sticker charts. At the end of the week if they did not move a clothespin, they got a sticker for their chart. I started out with when you get 10 stickers, you get a prize, but I found that they lost interest, so I changed it to 5. They really tried to work hard to get the prize and it worked good.
ReplyDeleteI didn't use brownie points this year, but I will probably do it next year. I will get a cheap cookie sheet to hang on the wall. When the class does something good they will earn a brownie point. When the class gets 10 brownie points I will bring brownies for them to eat.
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