keeping kids on track

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Home : 2002 : November : 2

keeping kids on track
By Anna

I try to maintain levels of quiet in my room. When the kids are taking a test, there is no talking at all. This is so everybody can concentrate. When the kids are doing individual work, I strongly discourage talking, except
to ask a question. When you keep kids quiet, they also stay on task. The more talking you have in your room, the longer it takes to have kids finish tasks. When the kids do group work, they must talk quietly. I carefully monitor their noise levels and remind them when they are getting too loud. I have also resorted to placing a distracted child into another teacher's room, or

just moving him away from the group and placing him/her in a place facing away from everybody else. Another thing I do is set a timer. I will tell the kids that they have x amount of time to finish a task, then they will see me finish a timer. I have a general idea how long they should take to finish a job. This seems to get them to realize that a deadline is upon them, and they do respond to it. Finally, I will tell kids that if their work isn't finished by the end of class or a certain amount of time, they will have to finish it at recess time. That usually prods them a little, too.