classroom management ideas

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Home : 2003 : January : 25

classroom management ideas
By Peg

Hi Mrs. S.
I use a color-card system. There is a chart at the front of my room. If a child disrupts the learning process, I remove their blue card. (That's the warning). If a child disrupts again, I remove their yellow
card. (That's a recess detention.) If the child disrupts a third time, they go to red. This means that they are removed from my classroom and I phone the child's home. I have a ring-leader, too, this year. He is a regular comedian. My problem is that I like him and enjoy his sense of humor, so I have myself probably encouraged him to act out, too by laughing. Not anymore. I have tightened

up and have been consequencing him frequently whenever he interrupts. He went to red for the first time the other day, and we followed the plan. He went to a prearranged location to work, and the class got a brief respite. The time out helped all of us. We all got a lot of work done, the class saw him being consequenced, and we enjoyed a peaceful morning. He did not like being removed from the class, so hopefully, he'll put the breaks on next time.
My little guy also has an entourage of little boys who hang on his every word, waiting to see what he'll say and do next. Without him present, they were able to concentrate, and so was he.
Another thing I do is to consequence the students who encourage the clown by laughing. This may seem harsh, but the student who is acting out only does so because he or she has an appreciative audience. If you remove the audience, the clowning will stop.
Don't be afraid to change. Kids need to see us problem solving. After Christmas, my class came back to our room, and found that I had changed the seating arrangements. I generally hate the graveyard seating (everyone in rows and dead), but this class needed it because aside from my clown, I have several who find it extremely difficult to pay attention in groups. When they questioned and whined about the new seating arrangements, I was honest with them. I told them "Well, we've tried sitting in groups, and that didn't work, so now we'll try a new arrangement. This is not to punish you, but to see if it can help you." After the first week, several agreed that they are more on task, and generally got more done. Some still didn't like it, but of course they were the ones who needed it the most. I basically told them, "tough" in my most polite and professional tone that I could muster.
My final word is that I hate behavior charts and systems that have US jumping through hoops instead of them. Don't fall into that trap. Good luck with everything!