Brain breaks are just what they sound like: breaks for the brain. Giving the brain a break from thinking every so often helps the brain stay focused and attentive to the task at hand. This allows students to learn more and enjoy learning more.
As the weather warms up, students and teachers both will begin to experience spring fever. This oven results in overactive students who would rather act up than sit in class and pay attention. Finding new methods of disciplining and motivating students during this time can be helpful.
Take Advantage of Nice Weather as a Motivator
When motivating students to behave in class as the weather warms up, often the most effective strategy is to go outside. Some ideas include:
Come up with activities that can be completed outside (active games and scavenger hunts are great options).
Reward good behavior with extra recess
Offer an extra class period outside given a set of requirements met.
Focus on Beneficial Life Skills
While the mandated curriculum is important to follow, once the standardized state testing is completed, it is a good idea to shift the focus of lessons to why students need the information. Making the information geared towards life skills will help students stay motivated and will often change the tone of classroom instruction in such a way that discipline problems from spring fever can be minimized.
Remember during these final weeks of school that patience is important. Training students to become life-long learners is as important as any individual lesson so remember to take advantage of every teachable moment in the classroom.
Smile Be positive Greet each student by name Hold your head high Make eye contact Be gracious Be patient Be firm Be consistent Have students Help each other Demonstrate important behaviors State clear rules Predetermine consequences Make learning fun Know your student’s names Over plan lessons Involve parents Genuinely care Ask questions Know which questions to not ask Demand respect Open lines of communication Hold classroom meetings Take time to be silly Encourage sharing Diversify lesson activities Be aware of culture Be there when students need to talk Post rules where students can see them Read to students Be genuine Be committed Collaborate with other teachers View each day as a new day Give second chances Apologize when you make a mistake Praise student effort Be specific in praise State intentions clearly Re-teach rules and consequences as necessary Be strong Do not show fear Leave troubles at home Be present Explain expectations Never give up Eat lunch with students Create individual behavior plans when necessary Allow students some say in positive rewards Allow students to earn rewards Set goals Ask students to set goals Encourage students to help each other Take time to have fun Share jokes Laugh Expect more from students Ask for advice Learn from other teachers Take time for your own family Believe in your students Make lessons obtainable for all students Provide visual aspects to all lessons Provide auditory aspects to all lessons Provide kinesthetic aspects to all lessons Try a new seating arrangement Rewrite class rules Have students decide on class rules Have students decide on class consequences Never raise your voice Avoid showing frustration Do not show anger Listen when students talk to you Provide uplifting activities for students Discourage tattle tails Teach students not to bully Teach students to treat each other properly Do not repeat warnings Make consequences fit the crime Make the classroom a safe place Be a trustworthy confidant Send positive notes home Encourage students to share with the class Look for the reason behind a behavior Find ways to encourage every student each day Prevention is the best method Have a plan in place Keep a June box for confiscated objects in class Relax! Count to 10 before responding to a child pushing your buttons Ignore attention seeking behavior Develop a good relationship with the school counselor Remember that learning is fun Create fun and engaging activities Do not beg students to obey Expect obedience Respect students Don’t be afraid to change Learn how to say no Practice transitions Have fun!
Many education programs are training new teachers to not say the words “good job” to students as this is ineffective praise. Let us take a closer look at why this is, and whether it would be appropriate to use this praise in the classroom.
When praising a student, it is important to be as specific as possible.
“Excellent handwriting!” is praise that will encourage more neatly written work.
“Good question” thanks the student for participating and provides great opportunity to further learning.
“I like the way you….” tells the student exactly what he or she did well.
The more specific the praise, the more sincere it is to the student and the student in turn knows exactly what he or she is doing well.
Does this mean that saying “good job” is bad? Not necessarily. Let’s take a look at when it would be appropriate to say good job to a student.
When praise is appropriate but time is short, good job might be an acceptable statement. For example, after a student gives a presentation to the class, a teacher might say “nice presentation, Sam” and turn to the next student in line. Specifying one thing that the student did well during the presentation might put undue stress on the next student, so a generic well done is appropriate.
Anytime when specific praise might complicate the situation, general praise is useful. For example, if a student has done something that helps prevent embarrassment for another student, a simple thank you is less intrusive than a more specific praise.
Finally, when praising a student for accomplishing a task, such as finding an answer in the text, the general praise “good job” is appropriate. This tells the student that the teacher is pleased when it is not necessary to tell the student exactly what he or she has done.
Make boxes out of 2 milk cartons – make one side name, arrow up for I understand, arrow down for I don’t understand, green light/red light for answering questions.
Use a thinkmark – This allows students to write their thoughts as they read a book.
Journals – split into color folders and collect a different color every day to write back.
Hedgehog desk – “I need space” place for children to choose to go to instead of getting into a fight.
Color code baskets for each subject for assignments.
When setting up a behavior plan it is vital for the child to have a say in the rewards that he receives for success. This will make the reward a motivation for changing daily behavior and will encourage him or her to get back on track after a bad day.
Have a conference with the child prior to setting up the behavior plan and explain that there will be a plan targeting this specific behavior problem and that as the child improves his behavior, you want to provide rewards. Allow the child to provide input into what rewards he will receive for proper behavior.
Guide this conversation so that it does not turn into a pot of gold situation where you can’t assign homework or some other important aspect of learning. It is also vital that every reward is agreed upon by both the teacher and student and that those rewards are the only ones used on the behavior plan. Otherwise the plan will fail because the student will not find the rewards motivating.
When a teacher is writing a behavior plan for a troublesome child, it can sometimes be a problem trying to choose what behavior to target on the plan. It is important to choose only one or possibly two major behaviors to focus on, this way the child will not be overwhelmed and will be able to succeed.
When attempting to choose the target behavior, think through the behavior problems the child has and list them. Then, order them in degree of importance or seriousness. If there is a behavior that is potentially harmful to the child or to other children/adults in the classroom, that needs to be the target behavior.
It is important to think through each behavior as well, because if a child throws chairs frequently, that may not be the best behavior to choose because by the time the child has thrown the chair he is already in a state of out-of-control anger. Finding a behavior to target at the onset of this anger is a much better place to focus.
Once one behavior has been targeted and improved upon, it is time to celebrate and move onto another problem behavior. Once the child begins to see success in one area, it will be easier to continue that success to other areas.
Student are going to only become more and more excited as Christmas comes closer, causing teachers to have to work extra hard to keep students focused on the lessons. Here are a few ideas to help focus students and minimize unruly behavior.
Focus lessons around a holiday theme. For example, for math class, find ways to tie the lesson into a holiday related theme. For more ideas check out: Christmas Math Lessons
Bring Christmas into the Classroom. Create bulletin board displays that get students involved and participating in the preparations for Christmas. Here are some Christmas Bulletin Board ideas.
Start some Christmas related traditions in the classroom. This will not only help teach students about the true meaning behind Christmas, but keep them excited and focused on the activity, minimizing behavior issues. Here are some ideas for Christmas traditions that teachers can implement in the classroom.
While organizing the classroom might not seem like an important part of classroom management, in fact the physical environment is as important as the rules and consequences in keeping students focused.
Seating Chart
The seating chart has a huge impact on the classroom management strategies of a teacher. While the actual seating arrangement is based more on the teaching style of an individual teacher than on the management strategy in place for students, there are two things that are important to keep in mind:
All seats need to be positioned so that each student can clearly see the teacher. To ensure this, the teacher can take a moment to sit in each seat.
All seats need to be positioned so that the teacher can quickly reach each student at a moment’s notice to handle any academic or behavior problem that may come up.
Classroom Decorations
It is very important to have the room decorated appropriately for students. The posters and other decorations aid in boosting student enthusiasm, increasing student motivation and reinforcing academic skills and concepts. At the same time, though, it is important to not overdecorate a room. Too much decoration can overstimulate student’s and cause them to become distracted. An important rule of thumb for decoration is to ensure that there is blank wall space around each decoration. If in doubt, take something down.
I have had a problem with my fourth graders being too talkative during lessons so I tried the silent lesson and it worked wonderfully! What I did was plan an entire lesson with lots of visual and tactile aspects. I also wrote the rules on the blackboard:
No talking!
Work together
Write down any questions you have
Anyone who remains quiet receives 10 extra minutes at recess
I included that last rule about 10 extra minutes at recess in order to motivate the students to stay quiet. I realized afterward though that I may not have needed to because they found the entire lesson as a game!
This lesson got them involved and focused on learning without focusing on chatting with their friends. I repeat the silent lesson at least once a month as a great exercise for my lesson planning skills and to remind my students that they can enjoy school even without talking to their friends!
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