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!

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!

Thumbs-up

One method for managing non-compliant student behavior is using the “thumbs-up” method. This is a particular scenario as to how this method works and is effective:

            Teacher gives Student X the thumbs-up sign. She asks the student to please read pages 56-60 silently. The student then gives the teacher the thumbs-up sign and complies within 15 seconds.

If the student complies, they then receive any kind of positive consequence for their correct behavior. If the student does not comply, the student will then receive a negative consequence. This method provides auditory and kinesthetic engagement and studies have shown that compliance rose from 44 to 95% using this particular strategy.

Resource:  Classroom Compliance: www.sbbh.pitt.edu/files/powerpoint/CompliancetmwSlides.ppt

Pick your battles

  If you have a student that is being continually disruptive you may want to get after the student every time, the problem is then they are getting attention only the wrong kind of attention and could want more so they continue the undesirable behavior.  But if you only discipline the student for the really disruptive behavior and praise them for the desirable behavior you will get more of the behavior you want and less of what you don’t want.  And eventually the students undesirable behavior will get less and less because they are getting good attention.

Rewards

Rewards never hurt anyone.  If you have to start with extrinsic rewards such as stickers or treats and gradually work towards internal rewards such as a way to go or a high five.  I have witnessed in the 4th grade simple rewards such as a high five and the pride that student feels from just being acknowledged when they do something good.

Managing Non-Compliant Behavior: Find the Cause

I have found during my student teaching that finding the cause of non-compliant behavior is so important. When I know why my students are behaving a certain way, I can create my strategy based on the cause of the behavior and successfully change the behavior, instead of guessing how to solve the problem.

Managing Non-Compliant Behavior: Stoplight

My cooperating teacher in my first grade class had a stoplight. When first turned it on it would make a siren noise. If the children were at a good volume level the green light would shine. When it would start to get too noisy, the yellow light flashed. When it got too loud the red light would flash, and the siren would go off. I would use this tool when my class would get too noisy, and they would not quiet down per my request. It worked like a charm. The children would ask me if we could turn the spot light on. They LOVED it. And when the stop light was on they were very quiet and engaged in their work.

Lowering Your Voice

In the class that I am currently teaching in, I have a little Autistic boy. One of the things that I have really been struggling with him is when he interrupts my lessons to tell me what time it is, and where he or the class needs to be right then. Sometimes, he will even interrupt my lessons ten minutes before he or the class needs to be somewhere. I have found that the times when I argue with him and slightly raise my voice to tell him to go sit back down, he just becomes more frustrated and continues to tell me over and over again where he or the class needs to be. I have learned that if I softly and calmly tell him that I am teaching a lesson and that I need him to go sit back down, he seems to calm down and do as I have asked. On some occasions when he does not sit back down and continues to disrupt the class, I will calmly say his name, not look at him, and point to his desk and he will stop arguing and go. I am amazed that this technique has really worked for him, and it has been so nice to save time during my lessons.

Timing Race

This semester I have had several students who have struggled to get their work done in class. They would all begin their assignments strong, and then as a minute or so would pass, they would slowly become bored with their assignment, and it seemed like I was pulling teeth to try and get them to finish their assignments. Something that I found to be helpful with all of these students, was to make time goals with them and turn it into a race. I would say things like, "I bet you can't finish the next five problems in three minutes!" Instantly after saying this, these students would work to prove me wrong and show me that they could do it. It was amazing how well this worked for these students. On some occasions, I would say things like, "Awe man! You were so close! Let's try it again and see if you finish this time." That seemed to help motivate the students to try harder. Other times, I wouldn't come back to the students desk for another five minutes, when I told them that I didn't think they could do it in three minutes. Sometimes in that case, I would still pretend that the student beat the clock and act very amazed that they had proved me wrong. All in all, I have really enjoyed doing this with several of the non-compliant students in my classes. I feel that it is a great motivator as well as a wonderful positive for the students. Especially the ones who feel like they are never good at anything.

You Me Game

You put a T-chart on the board with the label You, Me. When the students are not doing what they are suppose to, The teacher gets a point under the Me side, when they are working like they should they get a point. If they have more points then the teacher at the end of the day they get a small reward if, if the teacher wins then they will have to try again the next day to earn a prize.

Folders

My first cooperating teacher would have folders that she would send home every week. In the folder she would put charts that she could fill out, on one side there was a section with the headings; Date, Prepared 4 out of 5 Days, Obeys School Rules, Comments, and Parent Signature. this is where she would put the missing assignments and other concerns that she had. on the other side of the folder she had another chart that had the headings; Date, What I Was Doing, What I Should Have Been Doing, Teachers Initial. If the children where misbehaving she would give them a warning and then pull there folder where the would have to fill out this section. I really liked it because the parents saw each week if the kids were behaving.

Time to grade papers

It is amazing how quickly worksheets and journal pages can stack up. Finding time to grade them is not always easy. One trick that I have found is to carry a file folder of papers around with me in my teacher bag. Then, whether I am on the bus or waiting for faculty meeting to start, I can pull out some papers and spend my waiting time working on them.

It is important to get papers graded as quickly as possible so they can be used to inform instruction. If we know right away who is struggling with a new concept, we can put in a little extra time with them before they get too far behind.

Have the Student Help Make a Behavior Plan

After struggling through a few weeks of school, my cooperating teacher and I were at a loss of what to do. Finally we sat down with the student, his mother, and the school counselor. We had the student help to come up with a behavior plan. As he followed instructions and kept on task he would get a stamp on the sticker chart on his desk. After a week of high compliance (70% or better) he would receive a prize. We had him choose something that was realistic and he would be excited about. However, he was also given extra responsibility. Because he was the only one in the class with the chart on his desk it was his responsibility to remind us to give him a stamp when his work was completed on time. The chart on his desk served as a reminded of his prize (a hat). The added responsibility seemed to help as well, he had control over something. It has been 6 weeks and he is still doing great!

Emphasize the Positive in Your Request

After a daily struggle with one of my students to get him to do his work I learned a wise lesson... Emphasize the positive in your request. When you as the teacher put a positive spin on the request it is less likely to turn into a power struggle. Whenever possible, avoid using negative phrasing (ex."If you don't return to your seat, I can’t help you with your assignment"). Instead, restate requests in positive terms (ex. "I will be over to help you on the assignment just as soon as you return to your seat").

-Laura

6 researched based techniques to help with those "difficult" students

I found this article online and thought it had some good advice.  I’ve highlighted some of the things that stuck out to me.

Students who are defiant or non-compliant can be among the most challenging to teach. They can frequently interrupt instruction, often do poorly academically, and may show little motivation to learn. There are no magic strategies for managing the behaviors of defiant students. However, research shows that certain techniques tend to work best with these children and youth:

(1) Give the student positive teacher recognition. Even actions as simple as greeting the student daily at the classroom door or stopping by the student’s desk to ask ‘How are you doing?’ can over time turn strained relationships into positive ones.

(2) Monitor the classroom frequently and intervene proactively to redirect off-task students before their mild misbehaviors escalate into more serious problems.

(3) Avoid saying or doing things that are likely to anger or set off a student. Speak calmly and respectfully, for example, rather than raising your voice or using sarcasm.

(4) When you must intervene with a misbehaving student, convey the message to the student that you will not tolerate the problem behavior—but that you continue to value and accept the student.

(5) Remember that the ultimate goal of any disciplinary measure is to teach the student more positive ways of behaving. Punishment generally does not improve student behaviors over the long term and can have significant and lasting negative effects on school performance and motivation.

(6) Develop a classroom ‘crisis response plan’ to be implemented in the event that one or more students display aggressive behaviors that threaten their own safety or the safety of others. Be sure that your administrator approves this classroom crisis plan and that everyone who has a part in the plan knows his or her role.

One final thought: While you can never predict what behaviors your students might bring into your classroom, you will usually achieve the best outcomes by remaining calm, following pre-planned intervention strategies for misbehavior, and acting with consistency and fairness when intervening with or disciplining students.

More ideas can be found HERE.

Classroom Library

Teachers love books! Every classroom I have been in has a classroom library. Teachers spend lots of money and collect books through the years. There needs to be a system in place to keep track of them. Start a spreadsheet that lists the title and author of the books you have. You could even add a column for AR book level and AR points. This gives you an inventory of your books. Develop a checkout system. One teacher I know has a file box and creates an index card for each book he has. He files them in alphabetical order. When a student checks out a book, they put their name and date on that book's card. When they check in the book, he crosses their name off. He puts the check out cards in a separate section at the front of the file box. He can tell at a glance how many books are out. Periodically, he checks these cards to see if anyone has kept a book for more than a month. Another teacher I know also has an index card for each book, but she keeps the card in the book. If a student checks it out, they put their name and date on the card and give it to her. She files it in a small card file. When they return the book, she crosses off their name and puts the card back in the book.

Saving Time!

We all know that so much time can be wasted if not managed. Waiting for students to put away materials from one lesson and get out something else for the next lesson, waiting for students to clean up the floor, waiting for students to pass papers, and waiting for students to get back to their seats from an activity are some examples of how time can be wasted. Our sweet students tend to want to socialize or will just lazily get to where you've asked them to be.

One way to manage this wasted time is to give a time limit. I learned this from a cooperating teacher last semester and I've used it during student teaching and it's GREAT!

First state what you want the students to do. For example, "I want you to put away your practice books and get out your writing notebooks." or "I want you to pick up as many things off the floor, throw them away, and go back to your desk." Then give them a time limit. For example, "You need to do this by the time I count to 10." Then tell them to "GO!" It always amazes me to see how quickly they complete the task.

Now different tasks take seconds rather than minutes and you can make the most of your instructional time.

Assign Student Numbers

My cooperating teacher gives each student a number at the beginning of the year. The number is written on their name tags taped to their desks for the first part of the year so that students have plenty of time to get familiar with it. Her materials (art supplies, whiteboards, homework cubbies, etc.) are all located in an organized fashion at the back of the room with numbers on them that correspond to the students' numbers. When it is time for students to retrieve materials for an activity or to turn in/retrieve work, she calls the students by number. ("Students 1-4 please go get your whiteboards and markers.") This is just an alternate version of calling students by tables to go get materials, but she can use the numbers for a variety of other reasons as well (assessments, partner work, lining up, etc.) so it keeps the students used to the same system for many activities throughout the school year. Amanda Rose

"Material Caddies"

In one classroom that I worked in, the teacher had "material caddies" for each student to keep their supplies in (glue, crayons, whiteboards, etc.), They were hanging pockets that hung on the back of the student chairs. She would put whatever materials that they were going to need for the day in the pockets and whenever students needed to get something, they would just need to reach in their pockets (rather than getting up out of their seats and losing transition time) and pull it out by the time she counted to five. She had the students trained from the beginning of the year that the pockets were not to be touched unless they were instructed to do so, so they did not cause a distraction in class. Seemed like a great way to manage materials without losing transition time in between activities!

Routines

My teacher has established a really good routine for managing all of the materials that students use on a daily basis. When the students walk in the door, they show the teacher their backpack and turn anything in, they go put their chair down and, if there are any papers that need to be taken home, the teacher has already put one on each student's chair to put in their backpack right away. They keep their backpack on their chair and go get things from their cubby (name card, pencil, crayon, and calendar) and start right into the morning routine of coloring the day on the calendar (in a pattern, of course, there has to be a purpose for everything right?!). I've noticed that this routine cuts down on transition times (they don't have to walk back and forth from cubbies to backpacks to desks), and helps students develop the skills to manage their own materials so that the teacher has time to manage the bigger things.