Lockers

I know this isn't ideal at every school, but my school had lockers. They worked great! The students backpacks and coats were out of the way, which created more space in the classroom. When lockers are out of the question, have a designated spot for coats and backpacks in the classroom. Make sure that the students take care of their own stuff. This can help with space in the classroom.

Boxes

In my first placement, my cooperating teacher used these boxes to keep work for the week. She would have copies run off on Friday and put each days work into that days box. It worked so good! That way she didn't have to worry about finding space for all the papers for the week.

Increase Your Space

Give yourself more space for group work by storing tools (scissors, glue, crayons, etc) in an over-the-door shoe organizer.

Utilize Your Space

My first collaborating teacher had rolling, double-sided book shelves. This allowed students to access the materials they needed and their teacher to store extra materials facing the wall -twice the storage without taking valuable classroom space!

Homowork

I had a first grader who had decided that she wouldn't do homework at home anymore. During Parent Teacher Conferences, her mom told us about how she would act like she didn't know how to do the work (she was one of our brightest students) and she would refuse to do it. That was starting power struggles between the mom and her daughter. My teacher's solution was simple. When she wouldn't do her homework, the mom would email my teacher, who would then have the girl stay in at recess, or miss a class activity, and do her homework during that time. That solved the problem in no time.

Choices

My first grade cooperating teacher taught me to allow the non compliant child to choose what to do. Give them a choice like "You can either finish this assignment now with the class, or you can do it during your recess time." Then the student feels they are having more of a choice and understand that just not doing their work is an option. It worked really well in my first grade class.

Behavior Plan

During this semester, I witnessed another method for managing non-compliant student behavior demonstrated by my cooperating teacher. A particular student refused to do any sort of work; he would not look either of us in the eye, would not pick up his pencil, or even participate in interactive class activities. As this continued for a couple of weeks, my cooperating teacher decided to place this student on a behavior plan. This plan included an attitude measurement chart and a completion chart of all assignments and activities the class did during the school day. If the student complied, did all the assignments, had a good attitude, and had his parents sign the plan each night, he was then allowed a special reward each day. Within a few weeks, he was completing most of his assignments with a much better and positive attitude!