Day 9: September 4, 2012

Day 9:

Today I made all of my classes get up and go back out in the hallway and walk quietly back into the room and back to their seats. Then they had to quietly open up their journals and begin writing. I told them we would practice it again and again until we got it right. It really set the tone for the rest of the week. Well, at least the first 5 minutes of class is orderly and quiet!

I also introduced a point system. Each class can earn a certain amount of points for the day. They each decided as a class how many points they have to earn and what their reward would be. They earn points for coming quietly into class and getting started writing in their journals, they get a point for how they behave during class, and they can earn a point for their behavior when it is time to clean up. Each class voted to bring electronics to use/play the last 15 minutes of class on Friday. So far this week, only one class has made it halfway to the required points and tomorrow if Friday. We will see how they do next week. It has helped though with the chatter that happens when we transition from one activity to the next and now they are starting to shoosh each other because they want to earn those points!

I also stole a quite signal from another teacher. The first is I say: "Clap once if you can hear me. Clap twice if you can hear me." Usually after the double clap, I have everyone's attention. I also tell them, "Give your neighbor the finger" when they are chatty, which simply means give them the pointer finger shoosh sign. I stole that from the same teacher. Mrs. Irvine. She sure seems to be on top of it. I would like to observe her class one of these days and learn a few more tricks from her.

Another memorable 7th period event: Boy #1 came into class and found a box of Dora the Explorer fruit snacks on his desk. I was about to make my way over to investigate when I got sidetracked by a kid who was absent and wanted to know what we did the day before. Before I knew it, complete chaos had broken out and I looked up to see kids climbing over the top of each other shrieking and silvery fruit snack packages flying through the air, which were then ripped to shreds by the carnivores who caught them and consumed in a manner not unlike the way my old dog Molly would wolf down a hotdog in 2.0 seconds. I sent them all right back out into the hall asap and required absolute silence. I expressed my deep disappointment for their outlandish and animal-like behavior and made them all march silently back into the classroom and sit down. They were scared this time, I could tell. I am positive that will NEVER happen again (I hope...)