Because we ALL know we didn't learn that in college ;)
I tend to compare it to looking in at my class from the outside in. How do we all get on the same page as a constructive, caring, cohesive family vs. all of us doing our own thing in that tiny room of ours. We all do better when it's like a well oiled machine, ya' know.
One thing I have done in the past was the CHAMPS classroom management system.
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| Awesome picture courtesy of: Pathways for Learning Blog |
It really is a great idea, and I do believe that your classroom will be pure chaos if your kids aren't sure of the expectations. CHAMPS leaves all the guesswork out. It allows students to "know" ok, can I get up and use the bathroom right now? Can I have a full on conversation with my friends right now? But, the issue lied in the fact that it wasn't easy for me to keep up. The idea behind CHAMPS is that you have cards posted for each letter- C= conversation (how loud can I be?), H= help (how do I ask for help?), A= activity (what is it that we will be doing), M= movement (can I get up and move around the room?), P= participation (how do I respond to this lesson/ how do I look?), S= success! The issues I had were changing the cards. I struggled to stay on top of that. I tried having students do this as a job, but it would often be them looking at me trying to figure out which card to put up. AH! Not so much! Therefore, it didn't work. You can learn more about CHAMPS here, and maybe you can share your ideas on how to make it easier on the teacher, because it really can be awesome!
NOW...on to the one and only (AND MOST AMAZING) classroom management approach in my
LOVE. IT.
I modified it to fit my class and my teaching style, as with any new research based approach, it's best to do a little research and tailor it to fit you and your kids.
But, I am in love. It is SUPER easy and really, the whole classroom management part is handled by the students. Stress free for me? YES PLEASE! Whole Brain Teaching lends itself to a FUN classroom where we use games to practice a lot of the things we learn, we take mini brain breaks, and the environment is student centered and encouraging.
Here is an example of a 6th grade teacher using the approach:
Aren't they adorable? Head on over to her blog to check them out!
My rules are just in a different order, and I am not exactly sure why I did that ;) ha!
But, with each rule, we do a hand gesture or movement, and we recite the rules every morning. I feel like it sets the stage for the day, it give the students a reminder of 5 simple things to be cognizant of throughout the day.
The rules and gestures are simple:
Rule #1: Raise your hand to speak or stand. (We put our hand up in the air like we are raising our hands.)
Rule #2: Be safe, be kind, be honest. (We count on our fingers 1, 2, 3.)
Rule #3: Respect yourself and others. (We put our hands on our hearts.)
Rule #4: Follow directions quickly. (We snap our fingers loudly at the word quickly.)
Rule #5: Listen when your teacher is talking. (We put our finger over our mouth on the word listen, and put our hand up to our ear for the word talking.)
Perhaps I will get a little more creative with our gestures this year?!
Throughout the year I will post more ideas and pictures of how we use Whole Brain Teaching strategies in our classroom. For now, head on over to their website HERE to learn more about this management strategy, and to grab all of their freebies!!
P.S.- Blogger pros, I have tried to fix my comments so that I can respond to each comment individually, but am having no luck. I embedded the code in my design template and still no luck?! Anyone want to help a bloggy sister out?! THANKS!