Woah!

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Home : 2004 : September : 23

Woah!
By Melonjar

Well, what discipline system do you have in place? We have a color system. Students move an object (apple, face etc.) to Yellow, blue or red. Green is a good day. Yellow a warning. Blue no recess and red see the principal.
It works pretty well for us.
Also, have you tried praising those who do quiet down and respond to the cues? Such as, "Thank you so and so for walking quietly in the hall." Or "I like how so and so is being so responsible." Etc...
I enjoy walking the halls quietly, but a friend of mine does something different that might work for you. Anytime her class leaves the room, they begin

in a whisper voice )which usually turns into a normal voice) saying the days of the week, months of the year, counting to 20, counting by 2s, 5s, 10s etc as they walk through the hall to go to lunch, specials...anything. Since your class is so talkative maybe it will work. Worth a try.

Another way would be to tell them what is expected. (Quiet feet, quiet mouths, no touching as we walk). Then go down the hall. If they get to noisy stop and wait. Continue and stop everytime they are too noisy. If you have to stop 3 times on the way to wherever, they miss some recess as a class. Maybe just 10 minutes or maybe the entire recess whatever you think. But as it sounds I'd start with the entire recess to get them to understand.

Another variation on the above. For everytime you stop that's how many times they have to practice going back and forth quietly for practice in the hall as a group. At first they might not care, but after a while of walking up and down and up and down over and over, they'll get the point.

Good luck! I had a challenging class like you do a couple years ago. This year I got so lucky! Only 16 students and they are all wonderful!

Hang in there!

Melonjar