Bullying Lesson

I have been having a problem with one student making fun of group-mates.  The students parents are not very involved and typically don't return phone calls from teachers.  I explained to the group that from now on, if any of them make fun of another student, I am calling home - no warnings!  If the behavior continues after I call home, the student has to call home and explain to his or her parents why they are being called.  The mean student thinks that this isn't fair so to show why I think it is fair, I did the paper lesson that I saw on Pinterest: 

I gave them each a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up into a ball.  I put my nice smooth piece on the board.  Then I gave the group 5 minutes to try to make their wrinkled sheets look like mine again.  They tried everything they could think of!  By the 5 minute mark, most of them had given up.  I had them put their papers next to mine when they were done.  We compared them: mine was flat against the board, the others were all bumpy etc.  Then we talked about how our words can hurt people or crumple them and it is impossible to take back what we said.  Once the paper is crumpled up, it will never be smooth and flat again.  No matter how many times we say sorry or try to make it up to them, the damage is done.  This seemed to have some impact on them.  
They were all very serious during the discussion.  I think it had an impact on them.  Hopefully, the naughty student takes the lesson to heart and changes his behavior.  I'm leaving the paper on the board as a reminder to use kind words and think before you speak.  I'll update you and let you know if it makes a difference!   

Closure, Assessments, and Management Oh My!

This year, my principals have made it clear that our lesson plans must have:

1. A clear objective

2. Details on how the students will reach that objective and

3. An assessment that matches the objective

When observing lessons they want to see:

1. A hook

2. Modeling

3. Guided Practice

4. Independent Practice

5. Closure

6. Assessment

and obviously, a caring learning environment with good classroom management. 

Personally, I don't think this is too much to ask for but with that being said I often do not have a closure to my lessons.  My "closure" sounds like "Okay, throw any finished work into the finished work bin, if you are still working put your work in your cubbie, put pencils away and quietly go back to your class - and please hurry because your late!"  There is never enough time to fit everything into a 30 minute block of time.  Add in fire drills, late students, and ADHD and we are down to about 20 minutes each day.  I also have NO time between groups (one leaves at 12:30, the next one starts at 12:30) which means groups of 4 - 5 chatty children get to walk the halls unsupervised to and from class.  This drives me nuts! 

Yesterday, I tried something new and I love it!  While students were cleaning up, I walked to the door.  Each student had to answer a different yet similar question about the lesson before he or she could go back to class.  It took 60 seconds and covered my closure, assessment, and the hallway management problem!  That is definitely going to become a tradition in my room. 

Feel free to share your closure & assessment tips with me!

-Becky

PS. I love fall but not when it is 35 degrees in the morning!

New Behavior Plan

At the end of last year, I had a few students who did something that blew me away.  One student missed coming to my room for a dentist appointment.  The next day, he went to the library, took out the book, and read the chapter he missed before our time that afternoon.  I was shocked.  This was a boy who can't even finish a sentence without getting distracted and he took it upon himself to catch up on his work without any adult assistance!  I put a star next to his name on our "Make Good Choices" chart.  A few days later, a girl in his group was having a hard time doing her work due to another student annoying her.  Normally, her reaction would have been screaming but this time, she got up and moved to another table without causing a scene.  She too got a star next to her name.  Soon all the kids were asking how they could earn stars too.  I changed my behavior chart to include a spot for exceptional behavior.  This is similar to the clip chart but it is modified for a small group setting.  Here is what it looks like (first time trying to post documents so bear with me!):




I write their names on the chart.  Some students do not come to my room so their names do not go on the chart.  Rule-breaking earns students checks in the warnings, 5 minute, and 15 minute columns.  The number of minutes is the number of minutes the students owe me whether that is during free time or recess.  Good behavior earns stars.  Once 5 stars are earned, the students trade them in for a stripe (Stripes take up less space than stars).  I hope this gives some of you ideas!

Behavior Plan

To follow up the prize box post, I wanted to talk about behavior plans.  I have thought of a thousand different "whole class" (by class I mean all my students) behavior plans.  None of them quite work a small group setting.  To start the year, I made a chart with 5 colored pockets (green, blue, yellow, orange, red).  Everyone starts on green.  Blue is a warning.  Yellow, orange, and red mean increasing punishments (owing me time, behavior slip home to parents).  Each child had a popcycle stick with their name on it.  If they broke a rule, the moved their stick.  The problem is there were too many sticks, nobody could find their stick when they had to move it - the time and confusion it cost wasn't worth it.  My new plan is simple - 2 laminated sheets of paper.  1 will have a chart on it with room for names and then checks (the background for each column is in the same colors as the pocket chart.  As students misbehave, they recieve checks next to their names.  The second sheet (which I haven't made yet - I'm still phasing out the prize box) will have a title and thats it.  When students go above and beyond what I've asked them to do - they can write their name on the second sheet.  Those students will be able to choose from a few free options such as sharpening the pencils for everyone or filing for me or time on multiplication.com.  I haven't worked all the kinks out of the positive reinforcements yet but I have a little time.  When it comes to behavior plans - keep it simple!