Why We Need to Be Prepared in Order to Be Flexible in the Classroom

Did you have a good Monday?  I had a good Monday.  We always want to have good days, but it is even better when a Monday is a good day because...well, it is Monday.

I am generally a very organized person, and I try to be very prepared.  When I am organized and prepared, I feel better.  I feel calm and confident, ready to tackle what may come my way.  When I am less prepared, I am stressed and more likely to frazzle.  (Is frazzle a word?)  As a full-time teacher and doctoral student, I do not need to add extra reasons to my life to be stressed.

This weekend on Saturday, I remembered at 3pm I needed to go to the library this weekend.  Of course, the library would be closed on Easter.  So that meant I needed to go on Saturday right then before they closed.  I made it to the libraries (plural) because you know the stacks of books I wanted existed across two locations to get everything I wanted.  (Note: For next year to be more prepared I am going to make lists of all the books I want for specific activities and then I can just request all those books be delivered to the library I want ahead of time. So next year I will be more prepared.)

Anyway, I got all the books I wanted.  I decided to take them all up to school on Saturday so I wouldn't have to deal with them Monday morning.  Then today, I got to work about 15 minutes earlier than I needed to. You sometimes forget what a difference 10-15 minutes can make.  I got a lot done this morning and was confidently ready to go. Now, I often try to have everything copied by Friday for the next week anyway.  However, just getting to work a few minutes early on a Monday still just allowed me to have a few minutes of quiet to set the right intention for the day.

The rest of the day continued in the same fashion.  I accomplished a lot.  My students accomplished a lot.  I was able to get several big assignments graded. I gave my students important feedback they needed.  We started a group project this week that the students were enjoying.  Often as teachers if we take the time to be prepared...to feel confident...then our students feed off of that.  If we have a good day, they usually have a good day.  If we start out frazzled, then they are more likely to be less productive that day. We set the tone in our classroom.

Tonight at my Implementation and Evaluation of Curriculum class, we also were discussing a study that looked at differences between effective and less effective teachers for improving student performance.  One of the factors that made the biggest difference was the instructional planning of the teacher.  How well do you plan?  How prepared are you?  I often have said some of the best classroom moments I have experienced is when I was inspired by my students' ideas and questions, and we had an impromptu discussion or impromptu activity. However, I feel confident to be flexible...to be inspired...when I am prepared...when I have planned well.

How prepared are you?  How confident did you feel today?  How well did you plan your day?  Does it make a difference in how you set the tone for your classroom?

Form for Checking and Reflection on Grades - Freebie

We all can dispute the value of grading and what to grade and how to grade and when to grade. At the end of the day though, most of us take grades and hand out report cards or progress reports on some regular basis.  Many schools use some type of online system to track grades, and often parents and students have a way to check their grades.  I have used Engrade the last couple years. It is fairly easy to use and students and parents can have access to check grades. I have been reminding students and parents the last few weeks to check student grades and check to see if they have any missing assignments to get turned in since our grading period ends soon.  With my students being 7th and 8th graders, I think they are old enough to find out what they missed if they were sick and to remember to turn assignments in when they are done.

I decided to make a form they all are going to have to fill out this week.  Despite my reminders, many of my students have not checked their grades and are going to be surprised if their grades are lower than they realized. This time of the year it is easy to have a lot of students with various missing assignments due to cold and flue season. So I am going to make them fill out a form to record their current grade and whether they have any missing assignments.  They also will have to fill out a separate form to track any missing assignments for any class for which they had missing assignments.

You can get a free copy HERE. How do you help hold your students responsible for taking ownership of their grades and getting everything turned in.

Classroom Economy as Classroom Management

In the last five years,  I have tried many classroom management systems.  I have tried sticker charts where they purchase items from a classroom store based on their stickers.  I have tried creating avatars and using a point system that works sort of like a video game achievement system. (You can read about the way I used video games as my inspiration for classroom management here.)

This year I tried www.classdojo.com.  I love Class Dojo.  I think it works really well much of the time, and my students loved creating the little avatars.  I decided to try Class Dojo because since all of my students have access to laptops I have tried all sorts of technology and websites. Because we use the computers off and on all day, I think Class Dojo seemed like less of a novelty for my students. They could not see their points all the time, so it was out of sight out of mind.  I do not have a Smart Board to display for everyone all the time.

I recently decided to try something a little different for our classroom management system.  I felt we needed something more tangible and visible.  Another teacher suggested using a classroom economy.  So I went to www.teacherspayteachers.com and searched free resources on Classroom Economy. I found lots of great resources.

I chose to use the classroom cash from this set because I like idea of Hoot Loot.  Our school mascot is the owls, and my classroom is decorated with owls.

Source: teacherspayteachers.com viaApril on Pinterest

We used the little printable wallets from this set to put our Hoot Loot in.

Source: teacherspayteachers.com viaApril on Pinterest

Laura Candler also has a Classroom Economy pack.  Every thing Laura does is amazing!

I created this little form to track our points or cash flow for the week.

I created different categories and for each category they can have cash added or taken away (debits and credits.)  At the end of the week, they turn in their form.  I give them their hoot loot.  They then can purchase items from a class store.  Any cash they do not spend, they save up in their wallets.  You can get a copy of my classroom account summary form here.  It is a Word Document, so you can make any changes you need to.  How do you run a classroom economy?

Video Games as a tool for Classroom Management

2 Crazy Texas Teachers are having a Linky Party on Classroom Management so I thought I would link up this post from a couple days ago.

Classroom Management can be very difficult.  Every teacher has a different style and every group of students is different.  Clip charts and changing colors are common with younger grades, but sometimes finding the right approach for 4-6 graders can be difficult. I have seen teachers use tickets or stickers.  Usually, there are consequences for negative behaviors and rewards for positive behaviors.  I think most of us would agree that as teachers we want students to be intrinsically motivated to choose the right behaviors.  However, sometimes the extrinsic motivations can help get students get started in the right direction. When they feel good for making the right choices, they can begin to build intrinsic motivation.

I would really like to read Conscious Discipline.  From Heather's comments, it sounds really good.  I think focusing on the positive helps to build the right sort of classroom community.  Some approaches I have tried in the past for for classroom management have been tickets to earn different types of passes and stickers to use in a classroom store.  I have seen students be motivated by grades or getting in trouble, and I have seen others only be motivated to earn candy. 

Last summer, I decided I wanted to try something different.  Two years ago, I had an extremely difficult class, and I think I did not handle classroom management as well as I would have liked.  I decided I wanted to create something that might appeal to even some of those difficult boys I had the year before.  I knew a lot of them played video games, so I wanted to create a classroom management system that functioned with a video game mentality.

Now, as a gamer wife I can tell you hard-core gamers are motivated by the achievements.  The drive comes from "I conquered it all and I was the best."  They play with perfection, commitment, and immense drive and loyalty. So I created a classroom management system based on achievements.  Students are put into teams (squads) and students earn points throughout the week for behavior, grades, and being responsible.  Students' individual points are added up to create team scores. I then divided the teams in half so there were sides.  In a game, there is almost always two sides - the good and the bad. I created a behavior chart to track the points.  I called my classroom management plan the "Student Scoring System."

At certain point intervals, students earn ranks and achievements.  The achievements were usually passes.  Now, you might be thinking how do the points get displayed?  At the beginning of school, students created avatars and drew them.  I laminated their avatars and put them up on the bulletin board.  I posted their scores next to their avatars. You can download the assignment to create the avatars and the behavior chart here.

Now to decide who my two sides were I struggled.  I decorated with an ocean/beach them, so I decided to do pirates versus navy.  I did some research and found some clipart online and made these personas and descriptions to display in my room. I cut them out, glued them to card stock, and laminated them.  (You can download a copy here.) I also made small pictures of just the "ranks" to display next to their avatars.

So that is one way you can incorporate video games into classroom management.  It was alot of work, but the students really enjoyed it.  They loved earning points and seeing their score go up.  I handed out new score cards each week.  They posted their ending score from the previous week as their new starting score.  They had to keep up with the scoring card throughout the week. If they lost it, they forfeited any points earned that week.  I collected score cards on Fridays.  I had students I trusted help me give out points.  I could walk around the room and add points or tell the class or certain squads to add points.  Students also could lose points for bad behavior or being unprepared.

Parent Communication and Student Responsibility

Lorraine at Fabulous Fourth Grade Froggies is having a linky party on Parent Communication. 

I think this is a wonderful idea.  I know a lot of teachers do newsletters.  I think whenever possible giving the parents the newsletter directly is probably the most effective method of making sure they receive the communication.  Why is that?  Students are irresponsible or forgetful or sneaky.  Depending on the motives or lack of thought. 

Images of lost papers in lockers, hallways, backpacks, cars, recess areas, bathrooms...dancing in my head.

I worked at a school where many of the parents didn't have email.  The school sent home a school newsletter on Wednesdays.  Most of the parents expected the Wednesday newsletter so including anything else you wanted to go home on Wednesday worked pretty well.

I started thinking tonight about the issue of helping the irresponsible and forgetful students do better at managing their time and reminders.  I started thinking why not have a message posted on the board or somewhere in the room and have them copy it down.  Newsletters are great, but whenever possible students need autonomy and often respond well to it.  The most successful round of literature circles I ever had was when I handed the students a calendar and said "You have three weeks to read the book.  You decide as a group how much you will read each day."  They used the calendars to track their progress and most of the groups finished in 1 or 2 weeks and had lots of time to start projects. Some groups started a second book. 

Anyway, I digress.  I decided to create a planner type weekly reminder sheet where students could write down homework, reminders, and messages from the teacher.  Maybe if they are invested in the process, they will help in the parent communication process instead of hindering it. 

Enjoy this weekly reminder handout.  Have a great week!

Classroom Faces - Classroom Community Building

How do you build a sense of community in a classroom?  With things like cyber-bullying becoming more of a problem, how do you encourage positive thinking and kindness in your classroom?  I have been giving this a lot of thought lately.  I know with younger students bucket filling is a common classroom management/community building strategy. 

I have been brainstorming ideas for upper elementary and middle school students.  After talking with a friend, I came up with a Bulletin board idea that mimics Facebook.  This is a fun activity for Teachers and Grades 4-6 to build morale, positive attitudes, and a sense of community. Students and teachers create a Facebook type profile and can send each other Smile Status updates with encouraging messages. I am working on some other ideas, but I think this could be a fun activity at this point of the year when students and teachers are both getting restless and sometimes keeping positive attitudes can become more difficult.

You can purchase the Classroom Faces activity on my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Student Profiles:

Teachers can have fun, too:

Smile Status Updates:

How do you build a sense of community in your classroom?


On a side note, I am working on my writing inspiration for the week. I will post them on Monday.  With April being poetry month, I wanted to create some activities for analyzing poetry to also go along with the poems I post each week. I am hoping to finish tomorrow. Here is a sneak preview: