Mega Management: Lining Up

Oh my gosh, I have been MIA since my camping trip the first weekend of August! And this would be why....

I was planning and prepping and pinkifying for my daughters 5th birthday party....a PRINCESS TEA PARTY!!

And yes, as my husband would say, I totally lived out my childhood dreams through her. It was way, way FAB and I loved every minute of it. 

But now back to reality and time for the next post in my Mega Management Series.

 

How many time have you stood at your door patiently waiting while the students in line are chit-chatting, wiggling around, turning to talk to the person behind them, or some other off task behavior? I know I have done that a time or two. 

It's important to dicuss expectations for lining up. I have a few guidelines that we discuss at the beginning of the year.

• Face forward at all times
• Keep hands to yourself...that means no tapping on windows we walk by or scraping the stucco off the walls while waiting in line. 
• No talking while walking...I like this rhyming little ditty

To ensure that these guidelines are reinforced throughout the year I use a system that my mentor teacher heard about and started using. It's call the Mystery Walker. Any time we line up I pick a student's number from the Mystery Walker cup. I don't tell them who it is...hence the mystery part. If the Mystery Walker follows these guidelines I award the class a point, a marble in the jar, or whatever whole group incentive I'm using at the time. 

Here are a few tips for using the Mystery Walker system:

•  Keep a toilet paper roll in the center of the cup. This way you can separate those students that you want to pick again from the ones you don't. I usually put students in the center of the roll once they've earned a point. The nice thing is students don't know I'm doing this so as far as they're concerned, they might be the Mystery Walker every time. Maybe even announce someone twice in a row so students see that in can happen!

• Don't reveal the Mystery Walker unless he or she earned the class a point. We want to keep this system positive.

• Feel free to make a switcheroo mid "walk" if you notice that a student who usually struggles in line is doing really well. For example, if Johnny (what is with that name and just sounding like a mischievous little one?! hahaha) has a hard time walking in line and I actually picked Lucy to be the Mystery Walker, nobody will know if I announce Johnny as the one who earned the class point. It's a nice confidence booster for Johnny too and his classmates now see him in a positive light. 

Catch up on past posts with these links:

Post 1: Series Kickoff. Why Classroom Management

Post 2: Entering the Classroom

 Post 3: Turning in Homework

Post 4: Transitions

Mega Management: Transitions

Coming at ya with the 4th post in my series:

Post 1: Series Kickoff. Why Classroom Management

Post 2: Entering the Classroom

 Post 3: Turning in Homework

 

Today we're talking about transitions. I love using a bell (the kind you ding, not shake) to signal a transition is coming, but my favorite transitions tool is Word of the Day.

Here's how it works:

Each morning I introduce the Word of the Day. We discuss the meaning of the word and how it can be used in different sentences.

The students know that when it's time to transition they're not allowed to move until they hear the Word of the Day. For example, when changing from Math to Language, and if the Word of the Day were voyage, I might say something like this:

"I'm looking for whole body listeners.

(Proceed when you have everyone's attention)

When (emphasize when in the beginning)

you hear the Word of the Day

I'd like you to clean up your math practice

and have your language books open to page 125. 

The word of the day is voyage."

Later I might ask for the definition of the Word of the Day prior to saying the word. Or I might say, "Today's word of the day means a long trip or journey. The word is____." The students will fill in the word when I pause. 

Here is a FABULOUS video from Teaching Channel where Ms. Noonan shares how she uses the Word of the Day and some other cool ways to manage transitions. 

Mega Management: Series Kickoff

I'm kicking off a series of posts focused on classroom management...an area where MEGA planning is required. Since school is fast approaching, this series will post frequently so I have time to cover it all. Fasten your seat belts and hold on folks, it's time for....

So why all the focus on classroom management? Well, I remember being in college and having to type up a 1-2 page classroom management plan. The directions were vague and included things like how you would arrange desks, how you would collect and return papers, where would you store materials and how would students access those materials, etc. The paper was hard to write when I was considering an imaginary classroom with an imaginary group of students. 

Photograph: Tara Moore/Getty Images

It was during my student teaching that I realized that my 1-2 page little paper wasn't even scratching the surface of what I had to plan for to make my class run smoothly.
 
As I was thrown into my first year of teaching under really extreme circumstances mid year, I realized I was more disillusioned than I thought. I didn't have time to put a lot of thought into classroom management. Sounds crazy right? And like horrible teaching right? Well, consider this: I got my curriculum books on a Sunday night and I started in the class at 8:30 the next morning! I just had to make a quick decision and get things going.

The next year wasn't a ton better as far as time to plan. I was at a new school in a new state and was hired with only 5 days to prepare! Again, I had to just get a plan together and go with it, and as the year progressed I knew a lot of things were falling through the cracks. 

This last year was a bit better, but again, some things were just not running as smoothly as I knew they could. And even worse, there were some things that I hadn't really thought about at all. I had no plan for certain circumstances that would occur in class and that led to confusion and disorder. 

See that lady drowning in papers? Yah, that is how I felt at the end of oh so many days!

When it comes to classroom management we all know that what works really well for one group might not work so great for the next. On the other hand there are some parts of a classroom management plan that stick around from year to year. 

So this summer I have spent a lot of time thinking about all those things that I've done successfully, things that I would like to implement, and things that I'm going to keep in my arsenal of tools to implement for those "special" students, parents, and circumstances. 

See you next time with my first topic:

Managing Behavior During Dismissal

I'm linking up with What the Teacher Wants! for a behavior linky party. They're looking for the top 3 behavior management ideas to feature on their blog. Your entries must be in by Friday night so hop on over and check it out. 

  

My behavior management idea deals with a scenario that may be specific to our school, but you might be able to adapt it to a time that works in your class. 

Our school requires that every child be picked up at the classroom and "checked out" by the teacher. This means I have to stand at the door, make sure adults match children, check ID's when necessary, and mark all of this on our check out sheet. While this is going on I have a classroom full of students who know that my attention is focused elsewhere. 

The first few weeks of school were crazy. The kids were out of their seats, they were noisy, I felt distracted...overall it was no bueno. 

Then I remembered a technique I used when I was working with my former church's Awana program. Sometimes I needed the kids to be quiet while I listened to others recite verses and often times the coloring page just didn't keep their attention. But this little ladybug stuffed animal thingy did!

Here's how I started:

1. I made sure that they knew how incredibly special this ladybug was.

2. I explained that in order to have the privilege of holding the ladybug you had to be in your seat and quiet. 

3. I instructed the student with the ladybug to walk the classroom in search of another student who was sitting and quiet.

4. When the searching student found someone, they were to pass the ladybug to them, go back to their seat, and the new person was to repeat the searching process. 

Result: S-I-L-E-N-C-E!

Now this was done with a group of kids in grades K-2. 

I was skeptical about how this would go over with 3rd graders. I thought for sure the idea of carrying around a stuffed animal*  would seem childish and silly to them. 

*I use the animals that I've been getting through the KOHL's Cares program.

Let me tell you...they LOVE it!

I've never had such quiet dismissal times. It's amazing. Just be sure not to skip step number one. You have to really get the "buy in" for this one to work. 

Maybe a stuffed animal wouldn't work for you, but some other item might. I'd love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and adaptations of this little behavior management trick. 

Don't forget to head on over to What the Teacher Wants! for some more brilliant behavior management techniques.

Clip Up, Clip Down: A Behavior Management System

Confession: I have been envious of all of the darling behavior clip charts that I've seen on fellow teacher blogs. 


So you can imagine my excitement when my vice principal caught me in the parking lot after sports camp and handed me a copy of this:

 

We have a school wide behavior plan that uses the "pull a card" method, which is fine, and it's what I've always used regardless of it being mandatory or not. But, nonetheless, I still envied the cuteness of those clip charts. Here are some of those cuties!

 

(I couldn't trace this darling movie themed chart, so if it's yours let me know so I can give you credit!)

(from Mrs. Sheehan over at Learning in Wonderland)

 

(A magnet version from Teaching in Flip Flops)

 

Don't you just LOVE them!

First of all, I felt honored that she would ask me to look it over and give her some thoughts and feedback. 

Second, I was so excited to think that I might be able to implement this system in my class. 

Since I'm taking good notes anyways, I figured there's no better place to also share those thoughts than here!

Rick Morris, creator of New Management, was not the mastermind behind the clip chart system for behavior management, but he offers some good explanations about why it's a good method to use. He also gives some good ideas to deal with the rebuttals that may come from the "pull a card" veterans. Snag his free e-book here if you want more details. 


Here are a few of the reasons Rick suggests we consider the clip chart over the "pull a card" method:


-All students start on the best color with the "pull a card" method, which is a level that was not achieved or earned by any of their actions. He calls this giving a sense of false accomplishment. 


-Because there is no redemption value in the "pull a card" method (you can't earn cards back) teachers may be hesitant to pull a card, or even worse, make threats about pulling cards. 


-With the pull a card method, you're focusing on negative behaviors. Students quickly learn that if they break the rules they'll pull a card, but if they have good behavior, nothing will happen. 


Overall, the clip chart has the ability to send a much more positive message to students. I love the fact that with the clip chart you can praise good behaviors as well. 


Here is my one concern: 


We give behavior grades on report cards and in the past it has been determined by how many times a child pulls a card. So.....how do I easily keep track of behavior when students are moving up and down the behavior chart all day?


Rick suggests using a behavior card called Making Better Choices that the student has to fill in when they move their clip down. You can either file it for conferences or send it home for parents to sign.

I'm thinking a fun Vistaprint project may be in the works....hmmm.....

Do you use a clip chart in your class? What do you love about it? How do you keep track of those pesky "clip down" moments?