I love my little bell. It's the kind you press down on to ring, the type you find on store counters everywhere.
When I started working with small groups, volume control for the students working on their own was a problem. I let students know that if I rang the bell, that was their signal to quiet down. If I rang it twice in a day, the class would lose recess.
The lovely thing about this is that I don't need to stop working with my small group to quiet down the entire classroom. I ring the bell and a hush descends. I ring it a second time and there is a collective groan. I will occasionally issue a sharp reminder after ringing the bell, but I've realized it's not necessary. The bell is effective on its own.
One mystery of classroom management solved, 10,000 more to go ...
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
sweet
Our end-of-day routine includes me standing by the door and offering students the option of a hug, handshake or high-five. Most of my girls will take me up on the hug. For the last few days, Pirate has surprised me by giving me a hug on the way out. It's one of those slightly awkward, boy hugs -- the kind that say, "I'm-only-9-so-I'd-still-like-to-hug-you, but-I-don't-want-people-to-think-I'm-a-sissy" hugs. Which makes it all the sweeter, really.
Speaking of hugs, Quarterback came in tired-eyed, out of sorts, and as grouchy as a bear one day last week. He started verbally picking on someone. I pulled him outside to talk. Turned out he was tired from staying up late to pick up grandma at the airport. I ended the conversation by saying, "you look like you need a hug," which he happily accepted. I've realized that while he will rarely initiate a hug, he often needs one, and he has much better days in the classroom if I make it clear that I care about him. It's just hard sometimes to dredge up the patience to pull him on the side and give him the positive pep talk and gentle reminders. I wonder if that's why we call some of our students challenging? Not just for those difficult behaviors, but because they challenge us to be better teachers and people?
Speaking of hugs, Quarterback came in tired-eyed, out of sorts, and as grouchy as a bear one day last week. He started verbally picking on someone. I pulled him outside to talk. Turned out he was tired from staying up late to pick up grandma at the airport. I ended the conversation by saying, "you look like you need a hug," which he happily accepted. I've realized that while he will rarely initiate a hug, he often needs one, and he has much better days in the classroom if I make it clear that I care about him. It's just hard sometimes to dredge up the patience to pull him on the side and give him the positive pep talk and gentle reminders. I wonder if that's why we call some of our students challenging? Not just for those difficult behaviors, but because they challenge us to be better teachers and people?
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