Classroom Management
- Ideas on Classroom Management
"Consistency and follow-through are essential. Don't tell the students that
there will be a certain consequence for a behavior if you are not prepared
to carry out that consequence if necessary. Think carefully before state a
consequence. However, if you do say something like "You will have no
recess for the rest of the year!", it's good modeling to the students if
you can admit a mistake." --tip submitted by Christine Proulx
from Devereux School in Rutland, MA.
- Keeping Absent Students Caught Up:"To keep up
with absent students I use a classroom notebook.
A student who is
on time to class will be assigned to copy the notes
and the agenda for absent students to include in this
notebook. This will be a quiz grade. The note taker
will include all handouts given in class with the names
of absent students written on them. Any student who is
absent should check the folder and complete any missed
work in the normal time frame. This notebook will not
leave the classroom at any time. After looking at the
notebook if the student has questions they should be
addressed to me. I will not answer any questions unless
the student has looked through the notebook first." --submitted by
Marc
- Student Responsibility: At the first of the year, I gave my
students a sheet with every week of the year listed, and a place
to record their grades. Every monday, I put student's most current
grades up for them to see. They were responsible for recording this
grade on their sheet. When I collected notebooks, it was part
of their notebook grade that this sheet was filled in. I found it
eliminated students from being able to say "I had no idea I had
an F!" --KR
- Bad Grade Notice: I created postcards that informed parents of
poor grades. (I wouldn't put their actual percent, some parents got
mad that I was sending this information on a postcard...) On these
postcards I listed
reasons why students grades could be lacking in my class. I closed
the postcard telling them where they could reach me if they wanted
to discuss the grade. Once a week,
when I did eligibility, I would send postcards home for those same
students. All I had to do was fill in their name, and check off the
reason(s) why their particular grade was that low. It worked like a
charm, and parents could never say I hadn't told them their child's
grade was low. --KR
- Checkbook Discipline: I am working with middle school
students this year, and I have devised a classroom management system
called "Bank of Mrs. Rust." The kids have official checkbook registers
and covers donated by local banks. I created on my wordprocessor
checks that have my banks' name on them, and made them six to a sheet.
The students have a list of behaviors that they can earn money for, and
a list of behaviors they lose money for. When they are doing what
they are supposed to, I give them a little slip that says "payroll
e-deposit." I usually give them $5 per occurence. They record this in
their register, and then they deposit the slip in the "bank" (just
a covered shoebox with a hole in the top that says Bank of Mrs. Rust)
When they misbehave, they have to write me a check (including a memo of
WHY they have to write me that check). The students who have money can
"buy" candies, mechanical pencils, cheap calculators, etc... (only
during passing time BETWEEN classes, of course.) --KR
Do you have a classroom management tip you'd share with us? Please, submit it here!