Holy 300 followers! Love it! Thanks for visiting.
***
Yesterday was very productive.
Today, not so much as evidenced by the fact that it's approaching 2:30 and I am once again still in my pjs.
I wish someone could observe me and take notes indicating how I spend all of the minutes in my day. I bet I would be
I did sit down to write my daily page, so I am 2 for 2 on that little self bargain and that is good.
I also booked our tickets for the Sound of Music Tour in Austria on Friday. Apparently the 4 hour tour is filled with all kinds of singing. I don't think anyone wants to hear me sing, but I can't wait! Maybe hubs should wear his lederhosen.
Seriously, how cute is Mr. Sneaker in his traditional German attire?
So I guess the day hasn't been entirely unproductive, but the whole pj thing makes me feel like Miss Lazypants. Must. Get. Dressed. Maybe I should put on the lederhosen.
Rather than boring you with more details of my already confessed laziness, let's talk behavior management. Do you use a behavior management system in your classroom? I started a system mid year and I really liked it, so I think starting it on the very first day this year will be great and will produce even better results.
Here's the deal:
I have two calendar pocket charts hanging on the wall (one for each class). Each pocket has a label with a child's name on it. Inside the pocket are three small popsicle sticks. The teacher who I got this idea from used a calculator pocket chart but I couldn't find those so I used a smaller version and just got the mini sticks to use. Each of the child's sticks has his or her name written on it in black Sharpie.
I explain the system to my class in terms of making good choices. If they make good choices all week and keep all three sticks, on Friday they get 15-20 minutes of choice time which is like telling them they get unlimited access to a candy store because they just love choice time since they otherwise don't have any play time or recess time.
If on the other hand, a child chooses something that is not okay, I ask them to remove a stick from the pocket and bring it to me. I store all the "lost" sticks on a cup that I stapled high up on the wall.
On Fridays, I do a little "ceremony" with certificates. Any child that kept all three sticks gets a little yellow certificate with their name on it that says "Yay I made good choices all week." Any child that lost all three sticks, gets a refocus note. I don't give those out during the ceremony, but I do pull the child aside during the choice time (which they didn't earn) and we talk about what happened. I made the form really simple to fill out because I wouldn't keep up with it if it was complicated. The form lists our three school rules
- Be kind
- Be safe
- Be responsible
Overall I found that this system really worked. Each Monday the kids start with all three sticks and if they lose any they get them back the following Monday. Having choice time was definitely a great motivation and the certificates were an extra incentive for kids to keep all of their sticks. They also got to add a sticker to a little chart next to their name each time they kept all three sticks. Most kids hated losing sticks and really refocused themselves when they lost one without me having so say much more than bring me a stick. Yes, there were several kiddos who needed additional behavior support, but for the greens and the yellows (can you picture the triangle right now?) this system really worked.
I first discovered it when I visited a friend's Kinder classroom and I was FLOORED by how well behaved her kiddos were. Absolutely. Shocked. She said she was really strict with this system at the beginning of the year and she felt mean all the time, but it really worked and the kids learned that some stuff just doesn't fly in the classroom. I am excited to try it out from the getgo, yet I feel like I don't have it in me to be a "strict" teacher.
I'm just not. Yet, I don't think that is what I aspire to be either. I want to have clear expectations and I expect good behavior, but I don't want kids to be overly worried about making a mistake or being called out for every little thing. I have seen kids lose their mojo in classrooms as a result of having a teacher that was too strict. Last year I knew that kids were happy to be in my class and loved coming to school. Those things are very important to me.
Do you consider yourself a strict teacher? How so?
I am not at all saying it's negative to be strict--in fact I admire teachers who have classroom management down pat, but I need to do it the way I am comfortable with and I am working on focusing more on the positive and making the good choices so much more desirable than the poor ones that kids don't want to misbehave.
So the stick system in addition to all the awesome new social skills books I ordered from amazon (yes, you read that right..all the new books as in I didn't pick out my favorites I ordered all $150 dollars worth of my awesome list which I will get reimbursed for ) will hopefully make for a great year of successful Kindie managing.
I wish I had pictures of the sticks, but I hope you can use your imagination. I am planning to start out and allow them three sticks per day for the first month or so of school so they can get used to what kinds of things result in lost sticks. I will probably do a daily sticker for kids who have kept all three. At the beginning of Kinder I think a week is too long and I want them to have more frequent reinforcement for making good choices.
::PS have any of you read Punished By Rewards by Alfie Kohn? My friend who I worked with at the international school said that a parent of one of her students insisted she read it because this parent did not like her token economy system in the classroom because said parent did not believe in rewards. I would like to read the book to see what it says, but I am pretty comfortable with my belief that it is okay to use extrinsic motivation for young kids, especially little Kindies. Thoughts? ::
So now tell me about how you do you get all of your little angels to make good choices and follow classroom rules and directions?
2 comments:
Whenever I read your posts about not getting anything done in the day I feel like I could've written it. I have 2 kids away this week so I worked from 7-9 this morning and again this afternoon from 4:30-5:30, so I have a huge gap. I already went for a run, cleaned the pantry and made a nice lunch for myself but I still feel like I haven't done enough. I clearly need to relax.
Oh boy, behavior management- I could probably go on about this forever. My principal is not big into systems like you have because she claims that anyone could just "stroll into the classroom" (who does this?) and see who is doing well/not well that day. Some teachers have avoided this by giving the kids numbers so no one would know who is struggling that day. I harbor some inner resentment towards her for being close minded to these programs because I REALLY struggled with management my first year and I think this would've helped a lot. But anyways.
Now I think I'm much better with behavior management. I do put probably 1-3 kids per year on an individual behavior plan that is reinforced at home by the parents hopefully with things like spending more time together rather than a new toy :) I had a little boy with autism this year and he was supposed to be on a token board system but it did not work at all. So we took a big picture of our playground and cut it into puzzle pieces. If he had trouble, he had to take a piece of the playground away and that took away a few minutes of his recess time. I can't even explain to you how well this worked, it was amazing.
For the rest of my kids, they sometimes have to miss some of recess or choice to "practice" something they aren't doing well (such as keeping their mouth shut when I'm talking haha or actually looking at the book when they are supposed to be reading). I'll also have kids stay in to finish work if they were fooling around instead of doing it. I didn't do this as much in half day though because I didn't really have time- I never want kids to miss ALL their fun time.
Next year I have what could be a REALLY tough group coming in (based on some of the children who went to preschool at my school and the visitation we had). I'm seriously considering doing a behavior management plan for the whole class with them. I'm just not sure what it will be yet.
I see that mom/book's point about rewards and I have a friend at work who is very into the no rewards system. However, I don't think a certificate is that big of a deal... it's not like they get ice cream or a big prize/toy every time they are doing- they just get acknowledged which is nice. Also, as our autism director always says, "we wouldn't work for free so why do kids have to?" haha :)
We use a "level" program in my school. I'm not really a fan because there are only 4 levels (4 being best, 1 being worst). Problem is, if you are a fabulous kiddo you NEVER get anything extra for that because you never go up.
So I use the clip-chart management system with it. (Click here to see a picture of it and the cards I got from Vista Print to acknowledge kiddos who do go above and beyond.) The clip chart is a daily thing -- if a child goes down to Parent Contact, they automatically drop a level on the 4-level chart. Otherwise they have opportunities to change their behavior and clip back up and I really, really like that!
I do think I am very strict actually. Not mean, but strict (there is a difference). My students know what I will tolerate and what I won't. Once, when I was first starting out teaching, I got the best compliment from a reading coach -- she told me that the kids love me because I'm warm and caring but I know how to draw the line and be serious when necessary. I expect my students to follow the procedures because we practice them over and over (and yes even mid-year if they don't do something correctly, I remind them of the procedure and have them do it again). You don't have to be a jerk to be strict! You can still use a nice voice, just put a little firmness in it. I have found, at least in my inner city district, that the children actually are more caring toward teachers who know how to be a little more strict versus the ones who just let the kids do whatever they want.
Post a Comment