To say this class has been a challenge would be an understatement. However, I believe that God brought me here for a reason and I am determined to learn and gain as much as possible while I am here and to reach these students as best as I can. The following are some changes I have made to help bring some structure and discipline to a class that needs it badly.
1. Starting Fresh
I have tried to treat my coming into the class as if it was the beginning of the school year. I did this by rearranging the classroom completely so that students have a new seating arrangement, a clean desk and a name tag labeling their seat, mailbox, work box and cubbie.
Mrs. Marchewka also allowed me to borrow a few beginning of the year type books to help make rules and routines and encourage friendship amongst one another. I read Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann. Through reading the book we were able to talk about the importance of rules and brainstorm a list of classroom rules and expectations for the class. I tried turning each of their suggestions from a negative statement to a positive. For example, a student suggests No Hitting! I reword it to say Keep our hands to our self, etc. I also read Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister which is a story about how sharing brings happiness and acceptance. We made fun rainbow fish of our own that are currently hanging above their cubbies in the hallway.I have also started a program with my class called Second Step on days that we do not have Religion class. The program teaches social and academic skills such as: listening, focusing, following directions, staying on task, feelings, anger and frustration management, empathy, caring and helping, problem solving, etc. I like the program and I've had surprisingly good feedback from the students during the lessons.
2. Routines
Students previously had buckets with supplies at each of their table spots. I found this to be distracting for them. They were tempted to play with whatever was in their buckets and often were not taking care of their supplies by breaking crayons in half, etc. Students would often accuse one another of taking from each others buckets. They would also keep their snack inside the bucket, often sneaking a bite before snack time. Therefore, I got rid of the buckets all together. Each morning at breakfast, I collect the snack from each student into a class bin which I redistribute during snack time. All of the supplies are divided up into separate places. I have buckets for crayons, pencils, scissors, glue, etc. that I get out when they are needed. Supplies like scissors and glue are passed out. Crayon buckets are shared by table. I also had a talk on the first day (after spending a weekend throwing dried out markers away) about taking care of our supplies. I taught my students to "listen for the click" when they use markers so that we can keep them in good shape and have them last us the whole school year.
I also had a lot of problems with students in line. Many of the students push and shove. They have trouble keeping their hands to themselves. They get upset if they feel someone is budging or cutting in line. Therefore, I have made a line order. Students go everywhere in alphabetical order. They are to walk with their hands behind their backs and their mouths closed. We practiced around the room a few times and our bathroom breaks have been going much smoother because of this. The picture below shows some of my students showing how they stand in line now.
I also had a lot of issues any time we met on the carpet. Students were tempted to sit or lean on a pipe next to the wall. The boys were always summer salting, flipping and trying to wrestle one another when they came to the carpet. I also had the opposite problem where students would sit to close and on their knees overcrowding me and not allowing others to see. Students were complaining about other students being to close or in their space and could not keep their hands and feet to themselves. Therefore, I also gave them assigned spots on the carpet. This also goes by their alphabetic line order. We go over the calendar, number chart, letters and sight words on the carpet each day. These are all in different spots so the students just have to shift their body to see and that way no one is "always in the front". I also do a lot of reading and mini-lessons on the carpet. Students are to sit criss-cross applesauce with their hands in their laps. I have a reminder rhyme with motions that I've done. It goes: Open. Close them. Open. Close them. Give them a little clap. Open. Close them. Open. Close them. Put them in your lap. 3. Discipline
I have adopted the stop-light model for discipline. If I had time to come up with something more original and creative I would have but for now this works. I have a chart in my room with the following colors: blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Each of the students has a clothes pin with their name on it. When a student misbehaves or breaks a rule their clothespin is moved from green to yellow. Yellow is a warning. If their behavior continues it moves to orange. Orange means they are on the wall for part of recess. If they still can not get their act together their clothespin will be moved to red. Students whose clothespins are on red receive a call home to their parents. I have called or talked with 7 of my students parents. It has gotten a bit excessive and I don't know exactly how much support I have from parents so I may have to come up with another consequence as well (such as missing out on a special treat on Fridays, etc.) Any students who were on red on Valentines day unfortunately missed our passing out of candy and valentines. They were able to pass out theirs the following day but missed out on a lot of treats and fun. This week was the first full week that I had the stop light so I sent a behavior chart home with our weekly newsletter. Students had to color the boxes according to the colors they earned each day. Students who had red on their charts at all had a note requiring a parent signature. I'm not sure yet how many I will actually get back but I am keeping track on a behavior chart I have as well so that I can refer to it at conferences in a few weeks.
4. Rewards
The blue on the chart is for students who have gone above and beyond. These students, if they remain on blue all day can receive a special prize. This has so far included: a cool pencil from the pencil bucket, candy hearts (Valentines Day), sticker, special privilege (using stencils when they finish work early rather than doing extra worksheets), etc. You would be surprised how happy students are to be on blue and how badly most say they want it. Actually earning it is a different story. There is not necessarily a student on blue every day. I have not had more than 2 students on blue in one day. They must really be on their best behavior and go above and beyond to earn it.
On Valentine's Day I did a bit of special bribing that I'm not sure about and am definitely not going to make a habit out of but due to the special occasion I though was okay. I brought in a jar of red and white M&Ms. Throughout the day I would pass out one M&M at random times to students who were working quietly in their seats, listening and following directions, etc.
5. Prayer
Lastly and probably most importantly, what I have learned to do is pray. I pray for my class often and I pray that I can reach each student the way that they need to be reached. Being at a Catholic school we sometimes pray in the classroom. After a Religion lesson on forgiveness or love I often have my students do a repeat after me prayer. There have been two or three different times when a student has gotten upset that I have prayed with them. For one of my big temper tantrum students I have found that if I catch the signs early enough I can calm her down by having her count backwards from 10, take a deep breath and then say a quick prayer.
Each night I take the time to pray specifically for one student in particular and I have my family pray for them too. By doing this I've prayed for almost half of my class by now and I usually just choose whichever student comes to my mind. The first night that I decided to do this I was reading In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson and it just so happened that the part I read was about prayer. It talked about how sometimes we have low expectations but that praying gives us God-sized expectations. It also mentioned a Bible verse that says: "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." This reminded me that the more I pray the more I am observant of the small opportunities God gives me. Amen.
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