WOW! I can't believe we are three weeks into the 2015-2016 school year! Every school year I try to implement something that will help me stay organized, something that will help our classroom run a bit more smoothly. In this post, I would like to share a few organizational and classroom management tips and techniques that I use in my classroom with my students.
Pencils!
One of my "pet peeves" is sharpening pencils throughout the entire day! I've tried everything! Last year I gave each student a pencil pouch with 8 pencils and an eraser. Every Friday I would collect these pouches, sharpen their pencils, and check to see if all eight pencils were still there AND in good shape. If students had all 8 pencils, they would receive a "prize". This became more work for me, AND a few months into the school year students lost their pouches. This year I'm trying something different. I have two containers marked "Pencils that need sharpening" and "Sharpened Pencils". I keep a supply of sharpened pencils in one container. These pencils are marked to indicate "teacher's pencils". Students sharpen their pencils before 9:00 a.m. At 9:01 a.m. I unplug the pencil sharpener. If students' pencils break or become dull they trade it in with a sharpened pencil. The broken or dull pencil is placed in the "Pencils that need sharpening" container. At the end of the day "teacher's pencils" are returned to the container. A designated student sharpens all pencils and places them in the "Sharpened Pencils" container. Students' pencils are returned. It's only been three weeks, but it seems to be working beautifully! I don't have students sharpening pencils throughout the day. If students need to replace their pencils they do so quietly. No interruptions! Teaching and learning continue!
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| Click here to get these signs for your classroom! |
Our Daily Schedule!
Having our class schedule displayed in the classroom keeps my students (and myself) focused! I love color and clip art, so I created these signs using "free clip art" and formatting in Microsoft Word. I have used posted schedules before, but these are large enough for ALL to see. In fact, I see students looking at the schedule when finishing up one subject then prepare for the next one WITHOUT me prompting. This saves time, time I can use to faciliate learning!
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| Click here to have access to these signs! |
The Daily Five and our READING NOOKS!
I started using the Daily Five with my students about five years ago. Daily Five is a "Readers Workshop" type of reading block. While I work with a small group or conference with individual students, the rest of the students choose Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Word Work, or Listen to Reading (Computers). I like to have my students comfortable when they read AND I do have many "comfortable" areas. I created our "Reading Nooks" that my students rotate through. Each student's name is on a clothespin. Every morning as students enter class they will find their clothespin next to their reading nook for the day. I NEVER have arguments over my various reading nooks!
I found these wonderful signs here! I took the blank signs and added my reading nooks!
CHAMPS
It didn't take me long to realize that many student's misbehaviors occur because I wasn't clear with my expectations! WOW! What a revelation! CHAMPS allow me to make my expectations clear when it comes to voice level, seeking help, the activity, movement, and what participation should look like. Once I implemented CHAMPs in my classroom the students knew what my expectations were and uninterrupted instruction took place. Before any instruction or activity, I make my expectations clear by displaying signs. C stands for conversation level. Before an activity I would tell my students what I expected, 0 means no voices, 1 means students need to whisper, 2 stands for quiet voice, 3 stands for "teacher" voice. I would then tell students what they need to do if they need help. A is for activity, this tells students the activity they will participate in. M is for movement. This tells students if they can get water, go to the restroom, or if there is no movement. P stands for participation. What should it look like? If all expectations are followed then we will have success!
With expectations established at the beginning of a lesson or activity, learning takes place as misbehaviors diminish! If a student raises his or her hand to get water, I just quietly point to the expectation of movement. His or her hand goes down, no interruption takes place, learning continues! What a concept!
Growth Mindset
After reading Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, I realized many students shut down academically because of a fixed mindset. Many students give up due to fear of failure. In a fixed mindset, students (people) believe their intelligence or talent are fixed traits. Instead of developing their intelligence or talent, they spend time "documenting" them. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through hard work and dedication. They view intelligence and talent as the starting point. "Growth Mindset" creates a love of learning!
To help cultivate a growth mindset in my students, I created a bulletin board entitled "Change your words, Change your Mindset"!
In fact, just last week one of my students made a comment during math (we were working on rounding). She said, "This is too hard, I can't "do" math"! I quickly went to the mindset board and explain, "YES, you can"! Instead of saying "This is too hard, I can't do math", let's say "This is going to take some time and I'm going to use some strategies to get this". She smiled and agreed.
Also, to help create a growth mindset, I have this poster outside my classroom.
I am so excited for this school year! I love to learn new things and implement them right away! Stay tuned for learning strategies I'm implementing this year!
CHAMPS
It didn't take me long to realize that many student's misbehaviors occur because I wasn't clear with my expectations! WOW! What a revelation! CHAMPS allow me to make my expectations clear when it comes to voice level, seeking help, the activity, movement, and what participation should look like. Once I implemented CHAMPs in my classroom the students knew what my expectations were and uninterrupted instruction took place. Before any instruction or activity, I make my expectations clear by displaying signs. C stands for conversation level. Before an activity I would tell my students what I expected, 0 means no voices, 1 means students need to whisper, 2 stands for quiet voice, 3 stands for "teacher" voice. I would then tell students what they need to do if they need help. A is for activity, this tells students the activity they will participate in. M is for movement. This tells students if they can get water, go to the restroom, or if there is no movement. P stands for participation. What should it look like? If all expectations are followed then we will have success!
With expectations established at the beginning of a lesson or activity, learning takes place as misbehaviors diminish! If a student raises his or her hand to get water, I just quietly point to the expectation of movement. His or her hand goes down, no interruption takes place, learning continues! What a concept!
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| My CHAMPS posted in the front of the room! |
Growth Mindset
After reading Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, I realized many students shut down academically because of a fixed mindset. Many students give up due to fear of failure. In a fixed mindset, students (people) believe their intelligence or talent are fixed traits. Instead of developing their intelligence or talent, they spend time "documenting" them. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through hard work and dedication. They view intelligence and talent as the starting point. "Growth Mindset" creates a love of learning!
To help cultivate a growth mindset in my students, I created a bulletin board entitled "Change your words, Change your Mindset"!
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| If you would like these posters for your classroom, click here! I recently "revised" and updated these posters. Please check them out! |
In fact, just last week one of my students made a comment during math (we were working on rounding). She said, "This is too hard, I can't "do" math"! I quickly went to the mindset board and explain, "YES, you can"! Instead of saying "This is too hard, I can't do math", let's say "This is going to take some time and I'm going to use some strategies to get this". She smiled and agreed.
Also, to help create a growth mindset, I have this poster outside my classroom.
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| If you would like to have this outside your classroom, please click here! |
