It is said that classroom management is hard to teach
because it must be built from experience and from discussion with mentors. In this light I was wondering….
What classroom management techniques are you using? Did you
learn these in the field or in the classroom?
What difficulties are you experiencing? Be honest.
We could use this forum to share ideas.
You have been recommended a text by Nissman. What
helpful ideas/tips have you utilized or will you utilized from your Nissmam Classroom Management textbook?
What classroom management techniques are you using? Did you learn these in the field or in the classroom? What difficulties are you experiencing? Be honest. We could use this forum to share ideas.
ReplyDeleteI have been using classroom management techniques set up by my cooperating teacher. Our classroom has a reward system that works very well for our students. They receive a Lego for good behavior or outstanding classroom achievements. They may also lose a Lego for not following directions or inappropriate behavior. They earn a reward with 6 Legos at the end of the day and a prize with ten Legos at the end of the day. This system works well with the students because it motivates the students and allows them to stay focused because the reward is short term.
This system works great for overall classroom behavior. The students are aware of the expectations and the Legos are a simple reminder of either appropriate or inappropriate behavior. However, this system does not work for managing the classroom. We do not have an effective way to get the students quiet. This is something I have been closely observing to try to figure out. My students do not seem to respond to the typical clapping pattern or one hand up. My cooperating teacher just says something like “Okay class” or something to get their attention. While this does work, I still feel like there is something that could get their attention faster.
You have been recommended a text by Nissman. What helpful ideas/tips have you utilized or will you utilized from your Nissmam Classroom Management textbook?
The Nissman text has many tips for specific scenarios. However, I have not had to use it yet for anything. My cooperating teacher has been teaching third grade for many years and has tried many things. Therefore, he knows what works and what doesn’t. Currently I have been using him as a guide to any classroom problems. However, besides the immediate attention, there really aren’t many problems in our class. The students are very well behaved and are eager to please. However, with regards to the Nissman book, I do think this book would be very helpful in the early years of teaching when we are still trying to figure things out and learn what works best for us, our classroom, and our school.
I love the Lego idea Britt! I think using toys or items that are relevant and that they can relate to is a great idea. Legos are also colorful and fun and a great motivator. I also like how it's day to day so students have something to work towards every day.
DeleteWhat classroom management techniques are you using? Did you learn these in the field or in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteWhat difficulties are you experiencing? Be honest. We could use this forum to share ideas.
When I entered my classroom, there was no use of any attention-getting strategy. Most teachers have some tricks for getting the students’ attention. Personally, I use the Class, Yes technique from whole brain teaching. I say “Class” in some sort of variation and my students repeat “Yes” to me in the same variation. My students find it entertaining when I use an accent or change my pitch when I use this technique. In past placements I have seen and used other similar strategies such as Hocus Pocus (Everybody Focus), Mac and Cheese (Everybody Freeze), and All Set? (You but!). In a fourth grade classroom, I did not feel like any of these strategies were appropriate for this age group. As a class wide management strategy, we begin the week with writing RAINBOW on the board. If I have to give more than two warnings to the entire class, I erase a letter. If the students lose all of their letters before the end of the week, they lose the privilege of watching Reading Rainbow for the last 20 minutes of Friday afternoon (This takes the place of our normal homework time). This time is very rewarding to my students, so I have chosen to continue my cooperating teacher’s practice.
As for difficulties, I think I am just finding it difficult to manage the talkative behaviors. I have a group of students who consistently finishes work before the majority of the students. Thus, they are frequently left to chat with each other or distract students who are still working. I have begun making a constant list of approved activities for when they are finished their assignments. However, that does not stop my students from asking for other activities.
You have been recommended a text by Nissman. What helpful ideas/tips have you utilized or will you utilized from your Nissmam Classroom Management textbook?
I really like the structure of the Nissman text. I find it very helpful that I can go to the text and look for a specific behavior that I am dealing with to get solutions. I feel like other textbooks require some searching and page flipping in order to find what I was looking for but this is made easy. Personally, I find the suggestions for Calling Out, Frustration, and Attention-Getting Behavior to be the most helpful because it is the most applicable to my students. The most helpful suggestion was just to have very clear and explicit expectations for my students’ behavior. I know outline my expectations whenever I am giving directions for an activity.
Rachel, I think the "Class, Yes" attention getter is a great strategy. I don't personally use it, but I have seen it being used and the students seem to love it. I feel like it can be used with any grade and that the students would know that you mean business. When you include hand signals into other whole brain teaching strategies, like "clap-clap teach," it gets the students more involved and willing to listen and respond appropriately to you.
DeleteI also use the "Class, Yes" strategy to get my students attention occasionally. They really seem to respond well to it and like doing it as well. Emily, my co-op and I also like to use the "clap-clap" technique. We will say a direction or something then "clap-clap go" and then the students have respond with "clap-clap okay". This strategy seems to work well with my students and they like it. I think another important aspect of strategies like these is to mix up which ones you use, so that you aren't using the same ones all the time. Then your students may get bored with it and no longer respond to that strategy if it's used over and over.
DeleteI am using the "Class, Yes" strategy in my fourth grade classroom and it works pretty well. Like I said in my response it would work a lot better if I started from the beginning. I am hoping it will improve as I begin teaching more. I have not heard of the RAINBOW strategy before but it seems similar to the COCOA strategy my co-op uses. I think I will keep the RAINBOW strategy in mind for when I have my own classroom because I can choose any word. I am also having trouble with talkative students but the Nissman text offers a lot of great examples for help.
DeleteI really like the writing of a prize on the board, I saw a previous co-op use that for a prize that they were working for at the end of the week. I think that it is a great reminder for what they are working for, and if they can see it on the board consistently they are more aware of what they can earn and achieve!
DeleteIn my kindergarten classroom, I’m using the techniques that my cooperating teacher uses. She has a strike system for behavior. If she has to remind a student to be quiet more than once, she gives him/her a strike. This strike serves as one warning. Once three strikes are given to a student, the student must flip his/her bear from yellow to orange. These bears are laminated shapes attached to a little ring, and there are different colors on each students’ ring. They start off on yellow and if a student gets three strikes for talking or bad behavior, he/she flips the bear to orange. If the student continues to talk and somehow gets three more strikes, he/she flips the bear again to purple, which has a worse consequence than just flipping to orange. There are other colors and consequences after purple if the behavior continues, but I am not sure what they represent. All of the students except for one have only had to flip their bear to orange during my time in the classroom. All of the students know what my cooperating teacher and I expect from them. Once they have to flip their bear to orange, they tend to be quiet and respectful for the rest of the day. Some students even learn their lesson after just getting one strike. They know right away what they did, and they don’t end up getting any more strikes throughout the day.
ReplyDeleteMy class is a very talkative one, and I find this behavior to be the most difficult to control. When one student starts talking, the rest of them feel the need to talk too. I try to be “on top” of the talking during my lessons, but I don’t always catch everything that my cooperating teacher normally would. Also, I tend to not be as strict as my cooperating teacher when it comes to giving strikes. I need to work on this because if the students see that I am not following through with what I tell them, they’ll take advantage of me. I need to make sure I give students strikes the second I hear them talking during an inappropriate time because they will then learn to respect me more.
I have not used any of the tips from the Nissman book yet, but there are a lot that I can incorporate into the classroom in my future. I like a few of the tips they give for Attitude Change – I have a student in my class who has an attitude and is just lazy about completing her work. She always just sits in her desk and writes words and erases them to make it look like she’s doing work. I like how the book mentioned that I could give this student more experiences to be successful with her work. When she knows she correctly completed an assignment, she gets very happy. She enjoys succeeding, but gets frustrated with difficult assignments. In addition, I like the ideas/tips for Sitting In Seat and Talking in the Classroom. These two behaviors are ones that you would expect kindergarteners to have trouble with. There are a few students who we always have to keep telling over and over again to sit down the right way and to be quiet at the right times.
Emily,
DeleteI know that being consistent in discipline can be very hard. Sometimes, I also find it difficult to always be mindful of when my students are talking too much. I feel like I have the opposite problem because my cooperating teacher has a more laissez- faire type of management during lesson times. Her style welcomes conversation during the lesson time. I personally found that really hard to adjust to because having 27 students all feeling comfortable to talk while I am teaching can be a little crazy sometimes. At the beginning, the students would often tell me things while I was teaching. They would say things like "After reading workshop, Mrs. Williams gives us a 5 minute break." At first, I felt like I did not have enough authority over the students. After talking with my Co-op, I realized that the students were just trying to help me to get acclimated their regular schedule. Now, whenever my students speak without being called on, I just give them a simple reminder like "I appreciate that you want to share your thoughts but next time please wait until after I am finished with the lesson."
I also have students that want to share stories (I am sure you can relate if you are in kindergarten). So I began giving out colored post-its if they have a story. I just tell the student that I want to hear their story but this is not the best time. When we have free time, they are allowed to come to me with their post-it to share their story. I know it is a little corny, but my students have really gotten into it.
Rachel,
DeleteMy cooperating tells the students who are talking to stop talking RIGHT AWAY unless they are talking to me. I guess since they are in kindergarten, she wants to prepare them for first grade and everything after that. She really believes in raising hands to talk and not calling out during lessons or when they are working.
All of my students want to share stories all the time. I LOVE your idea of giving out the colored post -its for the students to write down their stories for later. That's a great idea :)
Even though my students are in 2nd grade, I still find that they really love to share off-topic stories during lesson! I love the idea of the post-it notes because I hate shooting their stories down, but it is also important to learn when to talk about them. I might start using this!
DeleteMy students tend to do the same thing with stories. It is great that they want to share and that their comments are on topic, but that truly does eat into instructional time. My co-op. taught me a hand signal which indicates the amount of time that students have to share their stories and once my hands come together, they must stop. I also tell them that I'd love to hear their stories and ask if they could please save it and share it with me during recess or free time.
DeleteWhat classroom management techniques are you using? Did you learn these in the field or in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, we have a few different classroom management strategies that we use. For individual behavior, we reward students with tickets. If they answer a tough question correctly, are working quietly and following directions, or even just making good choices they get rewarded with a ticket. On the other side of that, we also take tickets away for bad behavior. If I have to remind someone more than once to stop talking while someone else is talking then they owe me a ticket. Students can cash in their tickets for many things like sitting next to a friend for the day, or they can save them to spend at an auction that my co-op has at the end of the year. My students really like this ticketing system. For group behavior, every day, we have the students rate the day on a scale of 1-5 twice a day. We do it once before lunch and then once at the end of the day. Whatever the students decide on, they get that many links (paper clips) to add to our chain. The chain hangs from the ceiling and once it hits the floor the students get a class reward.
Other classroom management strategies I use are "eyes on the ceiling, eyes on the floor, eyes on me." This helps to grab their attention and transition on to the next activity. All of these strategies I have adopted from my co-op. They really work well in his classroom and with his students.
What difficulties are you experiencing? Be honest. We could use this forum to share ideas.
Some difficulties I have had are keeping students on task when transitioning from one activity to another. My co-op suggested that I call out and reward students who are modeling the correct and positive behavior. If students are going from the carpet back to their desks I have been trying to make sure I reward students who are showing positive behavior with tickets. These models definitely make a statement to the rest of the class.
You have been recommended a text by Nissman. What helpful ideas/tips have you utilized or will you utilized from your Nissmam?
The Nissman text has some really great classroom management strategies. I have a number of students who call out during lessons and Nissman recommends that you praise the student who does not call out, but waits to be called on. I have used this in my class and it works really well. I'll say something like, "Wow thank you Noah for raising your hand. What do you think?" Then if I can, I try to go back to the person that called out, but is now raising their hand.
Laura, my co-op has "Stretching" time between activities. We say "circle up" and the students form a circle around the desks and we stretch, run in place, act like animals etc. The kids think its fun and it gives them an opportunity to be out of their seats and act crazy for a minute or two. The last phrase is always "Freeze, now walk slowly back to your seat and get out..." I think it really helps me with my transitions.
DeleteLauren, my cooperating teacher suggested the same idea about rewarding and complimenting students who are well behaved, instead of always going right into drawing attention to the negative behaviors of other students. I have seen that it can be really successful, and it has helped me see how much the students really want to please us. They love recognition, and sometimes that can be just as positive, if not more rewarding to them than a physical reward.
DeleteLauren, I have also been having issues with transitions. I like the idea of calling out students who are modeling proper behavior. I'm going to try that! Another thing that I do is take away Legos after transitions are not completed after a given time. My cooperating teacher will give them a time limit for a given transition. Anyone who is not at the final spot when the timer goes off owes a Lego!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe classroom management strategies that we use are school wide, classroom wide and individual systems. The school wide system is a green ticket that can be given for classroom behavior, hallway actions and everything in between that a teacher views as above and beyond from the students. The students are then able to hand them in at the office, so they are a part of a school wide raffle. Our classroom reward system is called "Popcorn points". When the class is acting appropriately and maintaining their behavior, the teacher pulls a ticket that awards them points. Once the students earn 100 points they will get a class decided reward. Then there is an individual behavior system. The students receive or pull sticks depending on their behavior. This system monitors students behavior in and outside the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI personally have carried over the teacher's reward system during my instruction time. The students are familiar with the system, but I am not a fan of the individual rewards. After reading our text, I had wanted to try the idea of writing positive post-it notes on the students' desk as reinforcement. I have found this to be the most helpful with the most challenging students in the classroom. One particular student has been saving the post it notes and looks back at them continuously. In fact, he even asks me everyday if I will be changing the color of the post it. I think this strategy has really helped me reinforce the positive behaviors because it allows him to realize that I know he can act appropriately.
Another observation that I had made was that it is easier to be strict with the students in the beginning and then loosen up as you continue. For instance, the students would call out and have side conversations while I was teaching, but when I took away popcorn points, the students were much more on task. Student's should not be expected to automatically behave. They will need to be reminded of the expectations in different situations, so they can succeed.
Difficulties that I have experienced are the talkative students in the hallway and lining up to leave for the hallway. Student's are always arguing about the correct line order and I have decided that I would like to start calling particular characteristics to line up the students. For example, blue shirts line up then pink, etc. I think this will help decrease the amount of arguing. And for the Nissman text, I believe it is a great tool to have. It helps with small and big challenging behaviors that you are unsure how to handle. It has a handful of information right at our fingertips.
Kimmy, I agree with you when you talk about being strict in the beginning and then loosing up as you continue. My Co-op told me to do the very same thing when I first started teaching in the classroom. It's easy for students to take advantage of student teachers and try to get away with little things that the teacher wouldn't let them do. I like how your school does a school wide classroom management. I think that's an awesome Idea. It's so funny you say you have students arguing about correct line order because I see the very same thing with my students.
DeleteWe have a whole class management system and an individual management system as well that the students really respond well too and it has been easy for me to pick up and feel comfortable using these systems. Our whole class system is that they get marbles in a jar if the whole class does something well or positive. We also take out marbles if the class as a whole is not behaving well. Once all the marbles are in the jar the students get to choose their class reward. The most recent one was that we had a camping day a few weeks ago. We use leader tickets for our individual system. If we see a student doing something positive or behaving well we give them a raffle ticket, which they write their name on and put in a basket. Every Friday we then pick a handful of tickets from that basket and the students who have their ticket chosen get to pick a prize from the prize box that my co-op has.
ReplyDeleteI have picked up other classroom management techniques from my co-op as well for getting the students attention. One that we use is counting down from 5 and by the time we get to 1 the students are expected to be quiet and ready to listen to the teacher. Another strategy we use is "place you hands on your ... if you can hear me". We usually do two or three rounds of this before all the students are ready to listen. We also use the "class, yes" technique that Rachel mentioned above as well as the "clap-clap, go" technique that I mentioned in my comment on Rachel's post.
Like others have mentioned my class is very talkative as well. I try to allow time for them to share by having them turn and talk to a partner during a lesson, if I can see that a good majority of my students have something they want to share about a lesson. My co-op and I also say "I'll wait" if our students are talking during a lesson and then we wait until they are quiet before we continue. The students seem to respond well to all of the techniques that I have mentioned.
I agree with everyone else so far that the Nissman textbook is a very beneficial tool for us to have. I personally have not had to use it for help in my student teaching yet. However, I think it will be helpful during my first few years of teaching when I am kind of on our own and figuring out what works best for our students, classroom, and school.
Holly I also have not really used the book yet. I think that with us going into the year half-way through it is much harder for us to change a response to a particular behavior. This book would be much more beneficial as we get our own classrooms so that we can decide what we feel is the best way to manage behaviors. I have never seen the "class yes" technique used in a real classroom and I would be interested to see how it works. I am not sure if I would be able to implement it, but it would be a cool thing to see.
DeleteDuring student teaching I have been using a combination of my co-op's classroom management plan as well as a component from Whole Brain Teaching. My co-op's technique includes a COCOA log to sign when the students are misbehaving and strikes on the board when the whole class is misbehaving. When individual students are being exceptionally good they can receive tickets and when they get 30 they can get a prize. When the whole class is being exceptionally good they can receive COCOA letters. When they receive enough letters to fill the whole word (15 times) they get a class prize. This management technique seems to work very well. The students, for the most part, are well behaved and my co-op has control of the classroom. She has implemented and followed up on the plan since the beginning of the year and I think that is why she has a successful classroom environment.
ReplyDeleteLast year I was in a classroom with Whole Brain Teaching and I really enjoyed it. The whole atmosphere was structured, engaging and supportive. Since my classroom now already has a plan in place I only took one aspect of Whole Brain Teaching into my experience. I am using the "Class?/Yes!" technique to get the students attention when they are noisy or working in groups. I say "Class?" in some way and the students respond with "Yes!" in the same way I said "Class." The students then fold their hands and put their eyes on me. This technique has been working pretty well for me but I think it would work better if I was able to start from the first day of school and incorporate the other aspects of Whole Brain Teaching also.
What difficulties are you experiencing?
The difficulties I am having with my co-op's plan is just feeling comfortable enforcing it. I always want to give the students multiple chances to refocus their learning and I feel a little bad making them sign the book. My co-op always tells me not to be afraid of enforcing the management plan but I am still having trouble being stern. I think I am getting better at it the more time I spend their and I know that when I have my own classroom I will be able to enforce the plan right from the start.
Difficulties that I am having with my plan is that I do not get to use it that often yet so the students are not too comfortable with it. In the beginning only a few students would respond to my prompt but now that I am teaching more the students are getting better at it and it is working. It makes me proud when the students say "Yes" together and get quiet because I implemented this plan all by myself. I hope that by the end of my student teaching the students will be 100% comfortable with it.
What helpful ideas/tips have you utilized or will you utilized from your Nissmam Classroom Management textbook?
One technique from the book that I will utilize is the suggestions for working with argumentative students. A few students in my student teaching classroom often give attitude when prompted to do tasks. Some suggestions from the book include: not confronting the student in a group situation, maintaining an appearance of control and allow for role playing. When students begin to argue, they disrupt the classroom and the other students' learning so it is important to keep the situation under control. Another tip I will use is the suggestions given for dealing with calling out. I actually have some difficulty with this because I ask the students a lot of questions and sometimes I respond to the students calling out and other times I will tell them not to call out. But when I tell them not to call out I still answer the ones calling out. Some tips from the book include: praising the student who does not call out, ignoring the student calling out, be consistent and persistent and do not answer the comment or question and remark with displeasure. I am hoping I can use these techniques and others form the book to support my teaching development.
Alex, I am having some of the same difficulties. I feel like I should give students another chance before I do something about it. But as my days have gone by, I find it to be easier and easier. One way that I have learned to get by it is to not think about it twice. I still find it hard though!
DeleteI agree with you, Sara. It does get much easier over time! Being in the classroom every single day has really made such a difference. Having this blog to bounce ideas off of each other is also very helpful. Thanks for sharing, Alex! I feel like it will be easier, as you said, when we have the students from the beginning of the year and can establish our own rules right off the bat.
DeleteMost of the classroom management techniques that I am using I picked up from my school and my teacher. I use a statement called “give me 5” which is when the students need to make sure that their eyes are on the speaker, their mouths are quiet, their body is still, their ears are listening, and their hands are free. There is also a program in place for the whole school, which is the chime. The teacher rings the chime three times to get the students attention and they are to stop what they are doing and focus on the teacher. There is also a take a break section in my room where if the students get two warnings, they must take a break so that they can get themselves under control. I found this useful because many times the situation is causing the behavior and by removing the student from that situation for a minute the behavior stops.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I thought was strange at first was that there was no typical classroom management system set up with colors or rewards. After talking with my cooperating teacher, she found that by setting up a very structured classroom at the beginning and slowly introducing privileges, such as computer use, to the students there has been little behavior problems. One of the difficulties that I faced at the beginning was not being assertive enough and I let some things go by that I should not have. However, as I continue to teach in the room, I am being more assertive and letting the students know what behavior is acceptable and what behavior is not.
I have honestly not used any strategies from the Nissman textbook. My class needs a very structured environment and change really messes with their behavior so I have tried to keep my management style consistent with what they have been used to. One thing I do like about this book that Rachel mentioned was that it is organized by the problem and I can go and look up strategies for something specific. One thing that my students have been struggling with lately is transitions. I think this is because the inconsistent days with all of the snow we are having. I was hoping that this book would provide me with some strategies, but I have not found anything yet. I do have a few students who call out frequently. The strategies that Nissman suggests are what I use in the classroom and I have seen this behavior slowly diminish because the student realizes that I will not call on her after I remind her to raise her hand.
Laura, I also have not had a need to use the Nissman text to solve a problem yet. I have found that my co-op's experience is my greatest resource! I agree that the snow has played a role with some recent classroom behavior. I think that my students have forgotten what it is like to have a full week of school and also have forgotten some of the expectations. In this situation I have found myself reminding the students of the expectations.
DeleteI totally agree Anna! Since the lack of consistency has been lost due to snow days and 2 hour delays, the students forget what is expected of them, especially during transitions in an activity or to special.
DeleteI agree with you both! The snow days and delays have really thrown the children for a loop. Sometimes I completely understand why they are acting the way they are because there has not been any structure, especially for those students that absolutely need it to stay on track.
DeleteI agree that the classroom management techniques that I use are built from experience and discussion with my mentor. I first learned about these techniques in the classroom and have since seen them used effectively in the field.
ReplyDeleteWhen I entered my class to student teach, my co-op had a few attention grabbing techniques already established. As I initially observed I saw how effective these strategies were and decided to continue using them as I took over the class. These strategies include clapping a rhythm that students repeat and counting down from 5. In doing these strategies myself I have discovered two things. First of all, I like to use the clapping rhythm if my students have materials in their hands and I want them to set them down. Since their hands need to be free to clap I find this to be effective. Secondly, when counting down from 5 I rarely have to count past 3 before the students are ready.
I think it was important that I used the techniques that my co-op had already established. At this point in the school year, the students are very used to the routine. I did however worry about using a technique too often. For example, I was worried that if I clapped a rhythm too often it might lose some of it’s effectiveness. To avoid this, I found myself adding in a few strategies that I have seen used before. I now like to say “If you can hear me, put your hand on your head” and so on. This has show to be effective and I like it because I can avoid having to raise my voice even a little to grab their attention.
As far as behavior management goes, I have also continued using the system that my co-op had built. This is a traffic light system, where all students start on green and will move to yellow after a few warnings. At the end of the day, the students are sent home with a paper that communicated their color and reason for being on that color. This system has been effective so far. When talking with my co-op at the beginning, she felt it was very important that I start using the system early. The reason for this was so that it would be consistent for the students and also so that they would start to see me as the teacher with the power. I have not had any difficulty with this and I have enjoyed being about to reward the students who have demonstrated good “green” behavior all week.
Many of the strategies that I learned are directly from the field, but I also learned some from the classes that I have taken here at the college. One of the strategies that I started to use from the beginning is that I let the students know from the beginning that I was not there to be their friend, but I was there as their teacher. I showed students that I “meant business” and that the expectations they have from my cooperating teacher is what I expect of them as well. The students know that I am there to listen to them if necessary. Another strategy that I picked up from my co-op is warning tags. If students are warned three times about misbehavior they are given a warning. When giving the student the warning tag, my co-op or I will explain to the student why the received the warning tag. It is important that students know why they are receiving that particular tag. A final strategy that I use when students are talking while I am talking is “Stop, Look, and…” Students are supposed to say listen when I say stop, look, and. Their eyes should be on me, no one should be talking, and they should be sitting up.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t had too many difficulties with classroom management. The students know that I am their teacher and know what I expect of them. When I received my midterm evaluation from my co-op, she had discussed with me that she likes the way that I set my expectations from the beginning and the way I interact with the students. Now that I am more comfortable in the classroom, she would like for me to “enjoy” the kids. She wants me to laugh with the kids and just enjoy who they are as individuals. I am working on balancing my professional role with the students. As a teacher, we do not want to cross our professional boundaries so I find it difficult to just “enjoy” my students.
One of the tips that I have utilized before is adjusting to school routines. When my students in my methods placement started school they had trouble adjusting to the new schedule that they were encountering. Students at times were unsure of what was going on next in their schedule. The schedule was posted in front of the room so when students were unsure of what was going to happen next in the day, I would tell them to look at the schedule posted in the front of the classroom. Another tip that I am currently using is bulletin boards. My co-op and I have a bulletin board for student work. We usually have a parent come in and take off the student work so we can put up new student work. Showing student’s work is important. Students should be proud of what they do and it should be noticed. There is a specific bulletin board that we use for social studies, English language arts, and student work. A final tip that I am using is classroom rules. Students were told of the expectations of them from the first day of school. They knew that there were consequences if they did not follow the rules. When students do follow the rules my co-op and I “praise” the student(s) or reward them with a green ticket (schoolwide behavior system), and/or table points. It is important to let students know what you expect of them and be consistent with the rules and consequences if they do not follow the rules.
I think it is great that you set high expectations and that it is working for you! Great job reflecting on your skills and knowing what you need to work on. Definitely make sure to enjoy the kids! I find that it is best to fit those times of "enjoyment" in during things like recess, and "fun" lessons, and story sharing time. It is important to have times during the day where the kids can just talk to you and open up. That is something that makes them want to come to school every day!
DeleteComing into this classroom, my co-op had informed me that this group was a challenge! Before I started teaching, we talked about what the management system could be. We did not want to change it up too much considering these students really needed structure. My students have an "Eye Like What I See" Board. When the class as a whole is doing something positive such as listening to directions, being quiet in the hallway, or participating during a lesson they will get a tally mark under our smiley face. However, if the students are showing negative behaviors such as, talking in the hallway, talking when the teacher is, not following directions, or being mean to one another, they will receive a tally mark under our sad face. This also transitions into specials because I have informed the specials teachers of this and they tell me when I go to pick them up what they have received for the day. At the end of the day, we count our tally marks and if we have more under the smiley faces than happy faces, we get a happy face sticker. When we get 10 happy face stickers the class gets to chose a class reward. If I could change one thing, I would have made the goal 5 at first. The students have not reached 10 yet and I feel as though because they have not reached it yet, they do not think it is possible so they are giving up.
ReplyDeleteFor individual behavior management, I use two different techniques- one for positive behavior and one for negative behavior. For the positive behavior, I have a little clear container full of eye-balls. The students that get the eyeballs during the day also get a positive note and dojo points.
For the negative behavior, students get a warning. If they do not respond to the warning, they lose five minutes of recess. If they still display this behavior at any time during the day, they need to move whichever rule card they broke, and fill out a behavior sheet for me. They then put the behavior sheet into their folder in front of the classroom. If they have to fill out 3 or more behavior sheets in one week, then there is a one-on-one conference with me to talk about their behavior.
In order to get the attention of the class during transitions I use things like "1,2,3 eyes on me" and "Class yes." I also like to do "hands on your head if you can hear me, hands on your nose, hands on your mouth." These seem to work pretty well, but it doesn't seem to always last for long. The students will give me their attention and about 2 minutes later, someone is whispering to a neighbor or playing in their desks or doing something other than the task at hand. This has been the main problem in my classroom. It gets a little frustrating because it feels like I am constantly talking to the same people or saying the same things over and over again. My co-op has suggested to focus on ALL positive behaviors and only praise children so that the other children see that, which works to a certain extent. However, most of the time, when a child is talking during a lesson it is distracting other people. How do I continue to teach a lesson when most of the students are distracted by one particular student.
There are two particular students in my class that give me attitude when given a direction. They seem to realize what they say after they say it, but do not think before they talk. I am taking tips from the book such as not confronting the student in a group situation, maintaining an appearance of control and allow for role playing. Another tip I will use is the suggestions given for dealing with calling out. I use the tips from the book that many others have used such as praising the student who does not call out, ignoring the student calling out, be consistent and persistent and do not answer the comment or question and remark with displeasure. This is definitely something that I need to work on because it is not always easy to ignore students or to not comment on something negative that they do. I feel like that will become easier with practice.
During junior block, the one thing I struggled with the most was classroom management. I believe this is something that a teacher will develop through their own personal experience and not through the books. One thing my Co-Op explained to me the other day was her classroom management is still developing and shes been teaching for many years. She also explained that each year she might use different techniques or styles of classroom management based on her students. Knowing your students and what will work for them best is a great way to develop good classroom management skills.
ReplyDeleteAfter working with 5 & 6 year olds for two days, I realized that having great classroom management skills is EXTREMELY important. The attention span of these students are extremely short and keeping them on track is very challenging. The times I found classroom management to be most important was when trying to have my kindergartners complete a multiple step project. The last thing I was struggling with was having my students follow direction to complete a valentines day present for their parents.
The Classroom Management skills I use within my class are.....
- Moving their tickets. Each student has a star and they start on the color green. If the student does good. they move their star up to blue for the day. If the student does bad things they move it down to yellow. Yellow represents a warning in the classroom. If the student continues to act out in the classroom they move down to red. If their star is on red at the end of they day they are to get a letter home. At the end of the day students take out their behavior charts. They color in the day depending on what color their star is on. If the students get 5 blue/green days then they get a price. At the end of the month if they have less than 4 yellow/red days they can participate in the end of the month class reward. This seems to work very week for the students.
- During lessons, I use classroom management skills such as, "1,2,3 eyes me, Touch your head if you can hear me, Clapping and students repeat the clap. All of these are great ways to get kindergartners engaged in back in the lesson.
Classroom management is still something I'm trying to develop and make better as a teacher. Hopefully after this student teaching experience I can say that I've improved a lot more than where I started off at.
I have learned a ton of behavior management techniques from our college courses, but the most effective way I have learned behavior management techniques has been in the field formally observing them and implementing them.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, I use a lot of different behavior management techniques. The most commonly used strategy is "1-2-3 Magic." In "1-2-3 Magic" students are given verbal warnings for their negative behavior. If the behavior continues, the students are given a 1, 2 or 3 depending on how many times the behavior has continued. Once they get to a 3, the students must sit on timeout for five minutes.
I also use a three tiered pin system where students start on green and are asked to move their pins down to yellow or red if they are display undesired behavior. Once on red, a slip goes home in their folder explaining why he or she was on red. Students do have an opportunity to go back up from yellow if their behavior changes and they act appropriately.
Sticking with the three colored system, we also use green, yellow and red pieces of paper hung on the front chalkboard to show what volume students should be working at in the classroom. If the volume gets too loud, the paper changes to yellow, which stand for whisper voices, or red standing for silence.
I have not experienced many difficulties implementing and carrying over the behavior management techniques my co-operating teacher has already established because the students know what is expected of them in the classroom. The biggest challenge has been refocusing the students when they get off track and begin to act out. I use lots of transitions throughout the day in order to keep the students on task and to maximize my instructional time to the fullest.
From the Nissman text, I liked reading through the various strategies and how many different ones there are. I have not used many of the strategies that the book gives, but I read through them and like many of the suggestions offered.
Becca,
DeleteI have also used most of these classroom management strategies at some point during placement. I like colored tiers because the students are able to see what color they are on and if they go to a color like yellow or red, they are able to understand why that happened. Also, I loved that it is also used for noise control. That is such a great way to incorporate the same system, so the students are familiar with it, but it is also in a slightly different way. It also allows the teacher to do less talking because they are able to just walk over to the board and change the color. The students will quickly pick up on that and (hopefully) lower their voices.
I have been using classroom management techniques that have already been set up by my cooperating teacher. Our classroom has an award system that works very well for the students. It is called, “the punch card reward system.” If the students do something that we find exceptionally good, we tell them that they can get one punch, two punches, or more, depending on how well they did. This means that when all their holes are punched on their note card they may turn it in for an award. There are a lot of rewards they can choose from. For example, eating lunch with a friend from another class room, being the teacher’s helper for the day, receiving a homework pass, etc. The students respond very well to this system and I can see them striving for it every day, especially when they hear that their peers are getting punches for their good behavior. My school also has a school wide award system, which the students strive to be better for as well. They have what is called a, “Falcon” booklet. When they do something that is very good they can receive a star in one of the three categories: responsible, safety, and respectful. However, if they do something that is not considered to be a good thing, they receive a comment in their booklet instead of a star. Too many comments earns them a bad consequence.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing we do in the classroom as our classroom management strategy is say, “If you can hear me clap your hands once, if you can hear me clap your hands twice, and so on.” The students are very familiar with this technique and it normally does not take more than saying it twice to get their attention. I don’t say it loudly, but I stand near a group of students and say it in a normal voice and they begin clapping, until everyone is quiet and facing me. This works great when students are working in groups around the room.
One difficulty I have found is getting students to transition smoothly between their math class (they switch classes for math). The students are very chatty when they arrive and it takes a few minutes to get them back on track and ready for the lesson. However, as I have been teaching, I have found new things to do to keep their attention focused and it seems to be doing well. I began to give them warm up questions every day, so that as soon as they arrive, they are to start the work silently at their desk.
I personally have not used any of the strategies in the Nissman textbook yet because the students are used to a certain way and I fear that implementing a new strategy in at this point in the school year would really throw them off. My cooperating teacher also really liked the way things are run and feels that they should stay that way. However, I do think this will be a great tool to use for my future classroom, especially when I am first starting out in the field.
I really like the punch card reward system. It is individualized to the student and it is up to them to earn their reward. I also like how there are a variety of prizes to choose from, giving students choices makes them want to strive for it more.
DeleteI also agree that I haven't used any strategies in the Nissman textbook for the same reason because the students are doing well with what is implemented. However there are some good ideas in the book that I can keep in mind for next semester.
In my classroom, I have also been using the classroom management techniques that my cooperating teacher uses. She employs the classroom “dojo” system, which is an application used on the iPad. She constantly gives specific students positive and negative dojos based on their behavior, and the students hear when she awards specific dojos. It is connected to her computer, iPad, and her phone, and I now use it on my phone. Honestly, the dojo system is a lifesaver for me. I knew coming in to student teaching that something that I struggled with the most was classroom management. I find that when students start to misbehave, the best thing I can do is draw attention to the fact that I am awarding negative dojos and the class immediately quiets down. In addition, I have learned from my cooperating teacher that if I see a negative behavior, that I first must draw attention to the positive behavior that another student is doing, which is also a technique that Nissman mentioned at one point, before addressing the negative behavior. If following that, the behavior still has not improved, then I must address the negative behavior. I never would have thought of doing that if it was not for my cooperating teacher. In addition, I have also learned how important it is to stay consistent. My biggest struggle was being inconsistent, in that I would ask for quiet, and some students would keep chatting quietly, and I would just move on. My cooperating teacher explained to me that if I give an expectation, then I must ensure that students follow my expectation and I cannot move on until then. I also struggle because I do not have the loudest voice, and my cooperating teacher has a very loud voice, which is very effective for maintaining order. I struggled at first with using my voice, yet I have also begun using nonverbal cues to get their attention and sustain it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my previous classroom teachers used the Dojo. It worked great! They really behaved well from the visual and auditory reminders. My students also customized their own monster so that made it fun for them.
DeleteWhat classroom management techniques are you using? Did you learn these in the field or in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, I am using many classroom management techniques. For the whole class reward system, my teacher uses a marble jar. If the students are being good, following the rules, staying on task, and listening to directions, my teacher or I will give the students marbles in the jar. If they are doing the opposite we will take them out. Once the jar is full, the students will get to choose a reward from a list of things.
For classroom management during instruction, I have used many things that my cooperating teacher has used. I have noticed how well it works for the students, and have experienced some failure in other ones that she has not used. The main strategy that I use is a count down. If the students are talking and I need to gather their attention back, I will count down from any number, and the students will be quiet by the time I am done. I have been extremely successful with this and will definitely use it in my classroom.
For transitions, the countdown is also effective, or sometimes my cooperating teacher will stand quiet and wait, or she will not allow them go anywhere until they are quiet and waiting in line properly.
What difficulties are you experiencing?
There are times when my classroom can be quite difficult. As well as other 4th grade students who come into my class for science and math. Some difficulties I have had problems with are when the students come in in the morning and getting them to start their work. I also find that when they come back from lunch and recess they have difficulty getting back on task. Quieting them down to begin work is quite the challenge.
What helpful ideas/tips have you utilized or will you utilized from your Nissman Classroom Management textbook?
I have not thoroughly looked through the Nissman book, but I have discovered that it is well organized and it is very easy to find strategies for specific issues. I like how there are a wide range of ideas and strategies. From the couple of strategies that I have looked at, I feel that there are some that are not practical. However there are some great ideas that I could definitely use in the future.
I've had difficulties with some students who come into my room for guided reading groups and reading clinic, especially in the hallway. I feel like it's hard to implement all the signals and behavior management things because I'm not sure they work the same in their classroom as they do in ours.
DeleteWhat classroom management techniques are you using? Did you learn these in the field or in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteMy co-op and I have been discussing this issue for a while. During the first week or so, I have had difficulties getting comfortable around my students and the school itself. But now that I've had more practice, classroom management gets easier and easier. I have learned a couple of ways to transitions or quiet down students in my textbooks over the course of a couple of years, but most of the classroom management techniques come from my teacher. She uses some that I have never heard of. One of my favorites is to say Red Robin, then the students say Yummm. I also learned some from remembering them when I was in elementary school, such as "If you can hear me put your hand on your head", etc. For transitions, there is a school wide call. When students are in line the teacher says All set? and the students respond with You Bet! This is easier to use because when we switch around for science, I know what call and answer they have already used.
What difficulties are you experiencing?
I think it is hard learning good classroom management skills. In Etown classes when we did lessons, if you just do one call and answer then students quiet down immediately. However, it is much different in my 2nd grade classroom. I have to use these techniques a lot and for different reasons: to get their attention, to lower the volume, to transition them, etc. It is also hard because I end up using the same two or three when my teacher has taught me a lot more. But I have been improving and it will get better with time.
I have not used any techniques is the Nissman book, but I do like some of the suggestions they talk about. I mainly have not chose to use them because the students are so set in their own transitions that I do not want to throw them off. But I may use them in my future classroom.
Sara, My teacher also uses a line reminder. She uses 3 S for Silent, Straight, and to the right side. I started using along with putting 3 fingers up so even if my students aren't listening they can see a physical sign to get quiet.
DeleteWhat classroom management techniques are you using? Did you learn these in the field or in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteI've been using many of the same techniques my co-op uses. We have a very similar style in that we avoid yelling/calling students out and use quieter management strategies such as calling a child's name or using sayings such as " that's a warning" or "that's a check". I had some difficulty with students walking in the hall but I've found moving quickly and making sure I'm in a position where I can see all my students and they can see me looking at them lessened the talking.
I've also found that building a relationship with the kids has helped. They know I genuinely care about them as individuals from asking them about their day and lives. They also know I want to help them learn and also have fun learning from how I've assisted in all lessons from the beginning of my placement.
My teacher has also demonstrated many times having "serious" heart-to-hearts with the kids about things like effort and behavior. She uses statements like "Can I be honest with you guys?" or " Can I tell you how I'm feeling?" to discuss those hard issues. I think it gives students this connection that their behavior isn't one way and that effects how others feel.
What difficulties are you experiencing?
I've had some difficulties with how to address one student who has TSS. He exhibits challenging behaviors with attitude and often gets into arguments with his TSS. I've talked with my teacher on when and if I'm supposed to intervene. She's given me guidelines but I still feel weird about the whole situation.
I've read Nissman strategies and seen some used in my classroom. I feel like it's a great text to go to when I have a problem but currently I've found little use for it in my placement.
I agree that building relationships with students helps classroom management get easier. I have a rowdy class of students so my cooperating teacher thought that when I was teaching the students were going to go crazy, and they haven't yet and we're pretty sure it is because I took the time to get to know each of the students on a more personal level.
DeleteWhat classroom management techniques are you using? Did you learn these in the field or in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteIn the classroom I use a variety of classroom management techniques that I have learned from my cooperating teacher. For example when we say "We were meant to be..." The students say "awesome" and they immediately know that they must be quiet and listen to the teacher. We also do the clap rhythms to get students attention. The voice scale is posted in all of the classrooms the students are at, and we reference it on a regular basis. An example we say that they must be at a 0 in the hallway. For our students with special needs, we have behavior plans that require a teacher to check over a sheet with very specific components and sign it after each block.
What difficulties are you experiencing?
Behavior management isn't very difficult for me, but one thing that I sometimes have trouble with is balancing keeping students on task and having fun and engaging lessons. I usually just stop in and check on cooperative groups when they get off task and ask them questions about the task and it usually gets them back to what they are supposed to be doing.
I haven't needed to use the Nissman book.
I agree that finding that balance is difficult. Being the teacher you want to let students know of your role. Its hard to find that balance with all the things you know you have to do, but you also want to get to know your students for who they are. My teacher has told me that when I am not teaching to just interact with the students. I have been trying to lessen my strictness and have some positive interaction with my students.
DeleteWhat classroom management techniques are you using? Did you learn these in the field or in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteMy coop uses many classroom management techniques. Some of these include having a treasure list. If students are doing the right thing, following directions, showing respect, etc. then they get their name on the treasure list. If they stay on the list until Friday then they get to choose a prize from her treasure chest. However, if a student is not doing what is expected then they get their name written on a board. If they continue to act up then they receive checks next to their name, the third check results in a phone call home. At my school they also use a counting system; by the time the teacher counts down from five the students should be quiet and ready to follow directions. I had some difficulty implementing this strategy because the students were not responding as well to me as they were to my coop. Instead I have implemented my own rewards/classroom management system. The students have the opportunity to earn "moonrocks" for the class (in a jar) by following directions, showing five things, showing respect and being a good friend. However, if the students are not doing what they need to be doing then I can put a moonrock in my jar. Each Friday we count up the moonrocks and record in on a graph. They can earn different prizes depending on how many moonrocks they have collected; but if the teacher has more moon rocks then they do not receive a prize. So far it is working well, but it has only been implemented for a few days due to the snow. I am also doing some whole brain teaching by saying "class" and the class then says "yes." They seem to enjoy this and listen right away.
What difficulties are you experiencing?
Classroom management was much more difficult when I first started student teaching in the classroom. The students were not used to me and they seem to test the waters quite a bit. However, since I have implemented my rewards system things are getting better. The only trouble is in the afternoon because the students are restless and are not as focused. I'm trying to make my lessons much more interactive and fun for them so that I can keep them on task.
What classroom management techniques are you using? Did you learn these in the field or in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteWhat difficulties are you experiencing? Be honest. We could use this forum to share ideas.
I personally believe that classroom management is one of, if not the most important element of a classroom. If you cannot get the students to listen to you, how are you ever supposed to teach them anything? In the classroom, I do things such as turning off the lights and having everyone freeze, saying “tap your shoulders if you can hear me, tap your nose if you can hear me”, and my co-op also has a bell she rings. This group is pretty good at coming back together if I ask them to. Some of these techniques were taught to us in the classroom, and others I learned from the field. I have worked at a local daycare for the past 4 years, so having so much practice on implementing these techniques made student teaching much easier.
As for difficulties, I think I am just finding it difficult to manage the talkative behavior during transition times such as out in the hallway, or while getting drinks after gym. As I said before, this group is pretty good at coming back together when I ask them to, but they can get really loud before that! My co-op and I are both working on this by implementing a clip behavior system, and we are constantly reminding the students that this applies both inside and outside of the classroom. In just a week, I have seen some improvements!
You have been recommended a text by Nissman. What helpful ideas/tips have you utilized or will you utilized from your Nissmam Classroom Management textbook?
I definitely like how I can go to the Nissman text and look for a specific behavior that I am dealing with to get solutions. In my experience with other books, I feel as though they require much more page flipping to find what you are looking for. I’ve found that the suggestions for “Calling Out” have been most effective. I have learned to give more explicit directions and expectations before starting an activity in order to reduce the amount of calling out. I haven’t used this text a ton, but am sure that when I move into my special ed. placement in the autistic support room, that I may refer to it even more.