Classroom Management - some simple ideas that work!

With my smaller amount of experience in the classroom, I have tried a few different classroom management techniques. During student teaching, my Cooperating Teacher used the Letter System. The class votes on a class prize that they want to earn. The kids then earn letters or lose letters based on their behaviors in order to spell out that word. Once the word is spelled out completely, the class earns it! 

It worked out well, but when I was hired for my first teaching position, I wanted something that was my own. So I got all fancy and designed a football field in which the class would move up or down the field based on classroom behaviors. I was so proud of my field and the planning that went into it, but the system itself wasn't the best. I was not consistent enough with it. 

After trying a few different ideas, I went back to the Letter System this past year. It's just so simple and it works. In the corner of the board, I spell out the word with dash marks for each missing letter. So if the class votes on "A MOVIE" it starts out looking like this on my board " _   _ _ _ _ _ " . Each time they earn for above expectation behavior or doing kind things, I add the letter above the dash. If the class is having a particularly rough day with behaviors or too noisy, etc. , all I have to do is walk towards the board and erase a letter, and students stop in their tracks. It gives them the chance to reassess themselves and still earn the letter back throughout the day. This past year I had a more difficult class and it took them awhile to spell out their words, but it made them try harder and before I knew it, they were encouraging each other to behave so that they could earn. They were so disappointed when a few students' behaviors would ruin it for them sometimes. It became a class effort and it made them work together as a team! I plan on using this again next year!

As I was reading the blog Downeast Teach , I liked her idea of the Teacher / Student Points System. I am thinking I will try implementing both of these systems together somehow. We shall see :)  

Another great way to keep kids motivated is the "UMS" strategy we used. It stands for "Unknown Mystery Student." My students named it "UMS" because it's like saying "Ummmm who is the mystery student?" :) I pick a random student by drawing one of their sticks. That is the student I watch throughout the lesson, the assembly, or the one I get a report back about after a special, whatever the day calls for. The kids LOVED this. If that particular student was on task and behaved, they either earn a letter for the class or an individual prize like bubbles or a pencil.  I didn't use this all the time, which also kept it more exciting when we did do it. The kids would be like, "can you please pick an UMS"?

For those students that need a little of their own attention, I tried the tally marks on a sticky note on their desks. This way I could just walk over and mark a tally, without stopping the lesson. When consistent, this works. I am looking for ways to minimize constantly pointing certain students out as they struggle to learn appropriate behaviors. These individual types of behavior systems will always change with each class, with each student, so I am always looking for new techniques and ideas!! 

Summer

Summer has begun! Because I refuse to go back to waitressing, I won't have a paid job this summer. However, I will most definitely be working - on all of the new adventures for next school year. I have already begun planning for our new reading program (the one that we have a lot of freedom to try and figure out on our own this coming year- which is awesome yet overwhelming), standards based grading, a new management system, improving my Social Studies Units, etc. It is such a refreshing feeling to be able to reflect on what worked and what didn't and just start all over! 
I think I have given myself more tasks than I can handle in 2 months, but if I can at least tackle half of my to-do list, I will be happy. Of course, I am not forgetting to update my Summer Bucketlist! When I write down all of the adventures I would like to do this summer that are not school related, it becomes a constant reminder of what I need to do for myself, family, friends, etc.! 
As I start to figure out how to make my Blog neat and orderly, I will post more images and ideas, but for now, my written thoughts are all I got :) Happy Summer!      

Closing the Year

Well, so far this blog has proven to be unsuccessful :) School is out in 10 days and this is my second post! But my adventure is just beginning. It is great to reflect on what worked and what didn't through the year and then have the opportunity to start fresh with new ideas. I already have so many ideas for next school year.

Next year our district is pretty much changing everything. We are going from marking periods to trimesters, from percentage scores/letter grades to 1- 4 Standards Based Grading, a whole new Reading Program that we are using next year to "figure out" and of course PARCC testing. If I thought this year was a year of learning, I am sure in for it. However, we all know as teachers, every new year is a year of learning. 

This weekend I am working on the Progress Report Revision Project to present to my committee on Monday - an example of an assignment with a Standards Based Grading rubric. I have no idea where to start! This should be fun...at least I can work outside on this beautiful day! 

Sunday evening and the example is  finished....but I have no idea how to embed the example in my blog. Still figuring all of this out :) 

"I get by with a little help from my friends..."

I have been inspired by countless blogs. I spent last summer reading blog after blog, trying one good idea after the next. I thought to myself how I would love to start a teaching blog to record my thoughts and share my own ideas. However, when is there ever time during the week or weekends?! By the time I am finally done with my work at home during the week, my brain hurts and when the weekend approaches, there are a million other things to be done. So I continued to just browse blogs in between grading and planning and pin interesting ideas to my Pinterest - "Pin now, read later".

I finally caved this weekend and knew it was time for my very own blog. Maybe to share my somewhat novice ideas and to just have a place to write and release - start slow. Last week hit hard. With all of the wintry weather, last week was our first "normal" week. No delays, no early dismissals, and no snow days. Actually there might have even been a delay - I have completely lost track. Needless to say, not only am I frazzled, but my kids are off their schedules as well. It feels like the first couple weeks of school, but in February. I feel like my usual everyday smile and cheer has been fading and the kids behaviors are getting more difficult to handle. 

As the snow and ice have been weighing heavy on our minds, they have also been weighing on our roof tops. The water stains that speckled my ceiling tiles appeared fast and didn't slow down. Before I knew it, the building and grounds personnel, roofers, engineers, and architects were swarming through my room. (Imagine the kids hype then!) My room was evacuated and completely cleaned out. Except for a few things I left on my walls, my classroom was completely relocated to a smaller, but available room. Four classrooms total in my hallway had to be evacuated and cleaned out indefinitely. 

The faculty room was turned into a 4th grade classroom and my poor 5th grade partner is still waiting for a place to put her stuff while her class occupies the Media Center. On day 1, I went home crying. On day 2 (the big move), I faced the day head on and promised myself I would smile for the kids all day! But through all of the chaos I found happiness! I know it sounds cliche, but my colleagues (friends) were so supportive and really stepped up to the plate. They were jumping at the chance to help and it put a smile on my face to hear, "How can I help?" or "Wow! its's really starting to look like a real classroom in here." (even when it wasn't just yet) It made me so proud to work with such amazing people. Between helping hands, positive messages, words of wisdom, laughs, and of course some Dunkin Donuts, my school really came together for one another. Without this compassion and kindness, as a first year teacher, I would have felt helpless and lost. That night I went home singing, "I get by with a little help from my friends..."