Category: Classroom management

Posted in Classroom environment, Classroom management, Sensory

Chapter 76: Dia duit!

Posted on by redforkhippie

Dia duit! (That’s Irish Gaelic for “good morning.”)

I had a very good morning Thursday, and a very good afternoon, too, despite it being the day before Easter break. There were several reasons for this, but I think the main one was the set of Celtic music CDs I found in the free basket in the teachers’ lounge.

I had to track down a CD player, because there isn’t one on my computer, but Ron had an external drive that he let me use, and I spent part of Thursday morning ripping music to my hard drive while the kids were busy with club meetings.

Then I did a magic trick.

This is an old trick that I’ve heard other teachers mention favorably, but it’s one I’ve never used before, and it worked way better than I anticipated: I turned the music to a low volume — loud enough to hear when the room is quiet, but not loud enough to be distracting — and told the kids to keep their voices soft enough to hear the music in the background.

I’ve never heard them quieter.

The music was nice — very soothing, and a great addition to that sensory-friendly “Nature Company, ca. 1997” vibe I’m trying to cultivate in my room — but I think what really kept them quiet was the fact that we now have a tool to help them self-police. If I say, “You’re too noisy; please quiet down,” they’re skeptical. How do I know they’re too noisy? What does that even mean? “Too noisy” is completely subjective. But if I say, “Guys, I can’t hear the music,” they can listen for a second, confirm that the music is, indeed, inaudible above the din, and make adjustments on their own.

I wish I’d done this in August. My whole year probably would have been easier. I’m definitely keeping this idea for future use.

Posted in Advice for rookies, Classroom management, Discipline

Chapter 69: Notes

Posted on by redforkhippie

One of my favorite behavior management strategies is to send out handwritten notes on pretty cards with no return address. Most of the time, the notes are good news: I write to parents when their kids have improved their grades, worked hard on a project, been unusually kind to a classmate, etc.

Every now and then, the notes are less pleasant. If I have warned a kid to settle down in class multiple times, with no sign of improvement, I’ll send a little message to the child’s parents, letting them know that we have an ongoing behavior issue that needs to be addressed at home.

Here are the keys that make this system so effective:

  1. I send out far more positive notes than negative. Within the first month of school, I try to send every child’s family a note praising something about the child. This gets the parent on my side and makes it far more difficult for a kid to pull the “my teacher is just picking on me because she hates me” card if I have to send out a critical note later.
  2. Even my critical notes have an upbeat tone. Whenever I send a note asking a parent to help address a behavior issue, I praise the child’s good qualities, express concern for the child’s future, and spin the misbehavior into a potential asset (e.g., incessantly cutting up in class = wonderful sense of humor). Most people aren’t going to get defensive if a teacher says, “I care about your kid and want him to be successful, which is why I’m asking you to help me channel his gifts in a more productive direction.”
  3. I make the notes virtually impossible to intercept. They come without warning, on cute stationery, with no return address. They are always handwritten, but I always switch up the lettering style on the envelopes; the colors of the envelopes; and the ZIP codes from which I send the notes. It’s hard to intercept a letter if you don’t know it’s coming and can’t tell it’s a note from your teacher because it looks like a random greeting card. (My favorite was a fun little Halloween card I picked up at Walmart one night and sent to a guardian whose grandsons were failing English because they refused to do any work. She found the incongruity between the card and its contents absolutely hilarious and happily agreed to send the boys to my next after-school makeup work session so they could get caught up.)

The snitch notes are useful, but the real power lies in the positive notes. I’ve had parents call me to tell me that I’m the only teacher who has ever reached out to them to tell them something good about their child. I’ve had kids message me on social media several years after graduation to share pictures of the notes I sent to their parents, which have turned into cherished keepsakes. And I’ve seen notorious troublemakers straighten up and apply themselves in my class once they realized I cared enough to make them look good to their parents.

I really need to spend more time writing notes to parents. The payoff is always worth the investment of time.

Posted in Classroom management, Discipline, Getting over myself

Chapter 39: It’s Not About You

Posted on by redforkhippie

No matter how carefully they’re constructed, teacher-ed programs cannot fully prepare you for your first year in the classroom. You just have to experience it, eat a few mistakes, and make adjustments until you figure it out. That said, life is easier when you understand one very important fact:

Kids’ behavior is not about you.

You have to address disrespectful behavior, but how you address it is up to you. When one of my students does something out of character, I find out what’s going on before I respond. Continue reading “Chapter 39: It’s Not About You” →

Posted in Classroom management, Discipline, Humor, Pranks, Shenanigans

Chapter 8: Trickery

Posted on by redforkhippie

My English IV students have, over the course of the semester, picked up a bad habit of steering every conversation in the most inappropriate possible direction. Every time they do it, I remind them that my classroom shares a wall with the superintendent’s office, and it would be most unfortunate if she overheard some of their comments.

They are unbothered. They are also hilarious, but a girl has to draw the line somewhere, and I decided to draw it in a memorable but largely painless fashion: I talked my superintendent into coming in during class and convincing them that she had heard every word that had come out of their ornery little mouths.

While I tried (and mostly failed) not to corpse, she came in and delivered a stern lecture in a tone so calm and so icy, it unsettled me a little bit — and then, instead of tipping her hand and letting the kids in on the joke, she simply walked out, like:

obamamicdrop

It was GLORIOUS.

I pointed out that I had warned them, turned back to the board, and let them sit there for a few minutes in stricken silence while I continued reviewing for their final.

About a minute before the end of class, I told the kids I was going to let them in on a little secret. With a purely Slytherin grin, I said, “She’s never heard a single word through that wall. She just came in here to mess with you because I put her up to it.”

I wish I had video of their reactions. They couldn’t decide whether to be horrified, outraged, or delighted by my deception, so they basically did all three at once.

I reminded them that there was a moral to the story: Watch your mouth, because if your superintendent is that intimidating when she’s pretending to be mad, you probably do not want to see the real deal.

We’ll see if that works. Probably not, because seniors, but at least I tried.

Emily