“I will call on students that raise their hands, and my name is not ‘Teacher.’”
“But why can’t I call you that? You ARE a teacher!”
Classroom management is something I really believe is one of my strengths. Yet this year, I feel like I’m having difficulty getting all of my students on board. I’m frequently getting outbursts like the ones above. I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing differently this year, but I think that it’s simply that the dynamics my students bring to the classroom are a lot different than what I’m used to.
This year presents a really unique challenge for me: My students will be as quiet as possible when I give them an in-class assignment to work on. It is sometimes so silent that I can hear a pin drop. (And yes, I know this is not a usual occurrence in special education resource rooms!)
But other times, my students will be the complete opposite and will not stop talking. Don’t get me wrong, I am so excited that they are comfortable enough to want to share their ideas. But it’s getting so bad that everyone is talking all at once.
What really works for me is “Give Me 5.” I think most students are familiar with the concept: The teacher counts down from five, and by the time she gets to one, the class should be quiet. (I am not claiming to have thought this up; I have just adapted it from different teachers I’ve seen and ideas I’ve come across on the internet).
I just made mine a little more specific—each number corresponds to a specific thing the students should do. By the time I get to one, all of the students should be looking at me. I always like to make sure I am in a different spot in the classroom when I do this, so I can ensure that I have the attention of the whole class.
My “Give Me 5” works really well when the whole class is talking at once, but now I’m finding that my students just talk out of turn when they have something to say. Once again, I’m super excited that they want to share their ideas, but they are doing so at the expense of their peers.
So now we’ve introduced “Hands Up to Keep it Full” to encourage the students to raise their hands when they have something to contribute in class. With this interactive chart, the students either take away or add a marble (with the aid of the Velcro) depending on whether they forgot or remembered to raise their hand. While this hasn’t ended the talking out of turn, many times the students will catch themselves if they talk before raising their hand.
I try to have my students work in cooperative groups whenever possible, as I think they can learn so much by working with their peers. However, my students really struggle with this. I really thought that I did a good job putting my groups together, but lately I’m getting a lot of one student doing the work while the other ones sit there. Or the students will tattle on each other constantly. I did go over norms and rules for working in groups at the beginning of the year, but I am now wondering if that is something I should revisit.
Some days I feel like I’m doing too much and introducing too many things to keep my classroom management under control. Other days I feel like I’m not doing enough. I would welcome any advice or tips on classroom management.
Any thoughts on what you think is working for me—or things that I can do better?
What about if you used a Talking Stick? Or talking feather. (A feather would probably be less likely to be used as a weapon.) I knew of some teachers who did this when I was a kid, and I was reminded of it when watching an episode of "The Middle." Only the person holding the special object can talk! That MIGHT work as a tangible way to let them know when it is not okay to talk and when it is!
Posted by: Angel Read | October 16, 2011 at 08:43 PM
Classroom management is very important in every classroom. The students need to respect you as a teacher and respect their peers when they are sharing an idea. I am currently student teaching and the school that I'm in uses "Give Me Five". I have seen this to be very effective because it gets the attention of the students and it reminds the students of the five actions they should be doing, instead of the talking all at once. I take a student into a general education room during morning meeting time and the teacher in there uses this strategy over and over again to keep the students in line.
Students also get stars for good behaviors and earn a treat or an extra recess when they receive a certain number of stars as a class. I feel that it is important to find something that is important for the students to work for to influence good behaviors. This may be different for every student or age level. For example, students at the high school level don't care if they get a recess so you could reward their good behavior with eliminating a difficult assignment or giving them ten extra points on an exam. Finding something that is important to the students is critical when implementing a behavior management plan.
Also, I believe that the students need to see their progress on their behavior management plans. The marbles in a jar is a great idea and the students can see their progress on this. In another one of my placements, the teacher had a strike system. She had a sticker chart and if the students had a good day, they got a sticker. If they got in trouble, didn't complete an assignment, or behaved badly, then they got an "x". If they had three "x's", then they didn't get to participate in the end of the quarter party or the auction and had to do work while the other students got to watch a movie or something rewarding. This really worked with this population of students because it was third-sixth grade and this party was very important to them.
To conclude, I believe that classroom management is one of the most important attributes to teaching and a successful classroom. But a teacher must find what is important for their students to work for. With trial and error, a teacher is able to find which classroom management strategy works best.
Posted by: Megan Flock | October 16, 2011 at 09:50 AM
Classroom management is something I've noticed with being a student teacher. One of the classrooms I go into to provide service in the teacher feels see can't control her classroom this year. She keeps saying I don't know why after all these years of teaching why I can't control my class. She uses similar techniques like you and they seem to be getting better. I have some difficulty with one of my students, he receives rewards throughout the day and I have been having to tell him I have to take away 5 minutes from his reward. I will let him gain them back if he remains on-task and good behavior the rest of the lesson. Trying different things always seems to help figure out new ways of controling the class.
Posted by: Rachael | October 15, 2011 at 05:32 PM
When I was reading this blog I was struck as to how I had a similar experience when I went into an art classroom to observe and teach a lesson. When I first observed the class, the teacher was using the same tactics you were. She had a simple "Give Me Five" countdown, and at each number, there was a different task that had to be done. One example was for when it was five, the students had to sit in their chairs. This went on all of the way down to one. This was a great system, and one that I would be interested in trying out when I begin my student teaching next semester. I may have to adapt it a bit, because I will be in a special education classroom. However, I think that this technique could work very well for me, especially in group situations.
I also noticed that the art teacher I observed used the marble technique. Whenever one of the students did something that they were supposed to, such as raised their hand or picked up without being asked, the student got to put a marble in the container. When the container was full, the class got a free day. This worked very well in keeping the class motivated especially since the class was rather large, 35 kids or so. This system is another one I may want to try in my future teaching endeavors. I think it is very important that students have something to work for and a goal to aim for. The added benefit of the reward might to wonders in keeping the classroom manageable.
In previous experiences, I have tried to work in groups, even as small as groups of 2, and this was a difficult experience. I had never taught like that before, addressing a group of students at once, at least not for extended periods of time. Although, this went a long way in bettering my classroom management skills. I think that if I can continue becoming comfortable with this, I will become an even better classroom manager.
Thank you for sharing your experience, and for reminding me of useful strategies to use for time management.