Has anyone else tried it? I did!

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Home : 2008 : April : 22

Has anyone else tried it? I did!
By Risa

I introduced the YadaYada Noise Control Scale to my 4th grade students on Monday. I was a bit hesitant since they actually don't tend to get too noisy. (Thank goodness!!:rolleyes: However, last year's group was the complete
opposite! Glad THAT year is over!!)

What I absolutely love about the Noise Control Scale, as was stated in the ClassroomPower blog, is that now we ALL have a COMMON understanding of what I'm referring to when I talk about noise level. I've noticed several times, that when we are doing a partner or team activity, they ask, 'Should we be at 'Low Flow' or does it have

to be 'Spy Talk'? Usually they self-regulate after just one brief reminder, but now they ask ahead of time. I've never had that happen before!:D

Some of them said they have trouble saying "YadaYada" over and over again when we do the morning 'calibration' (as was suggested in the ClassroomPower blog.) I just told them that they can actually say whichever words they want to say, but the important thing is that we all now can agree on what we mean by a given noise level. As I'm typing this I'm thinking that maybe I'll suggest they just say their first and last names over and over again.

At any rate, I noticed that I'M the one who forgets to use the Level names (or numbers) if I have to remind them to use quieter voices. (Same for "Class/OK" or "Teach/OK", too! They love reminding me!) I have a student at the back of the room who just raises his hand and then gestures that we need to 'lower the volume' which is what we do when we calibrate. So when I see him, I follow what he does, and then the others automatically seem to recognize what it means.

We're also using the "Class/OK", "Teach/OK" "Ten Finger Woo" (to acknowledge something well done), or "It's Cool" (when someone gives an incorrect answer or makes a mistake.) Actually, they tend to remind ME that 'it's cool' because I'm the one who makes the most mistakes when I forget to follow through on these strategies! LOL!

So far so good! I'm interested to hear what others have experienced if they've tried any of these strategies with their own classes.