The Ones Who Got Away

This week was pretty normal. It was my first full week back in the classroom since before spring break (I was absent for Education Interview Day and Honors Day last week), so I definitely was exhausted by the time Friday was over.

For some reason, I have gotten out of the habit of holding my students accountable for their behaviors. That, combined with some of their natural adolescent sassiness and our trip to the book fair, caused me to lose control of them on Thursday. Friday, I tried to make some adjustments and introduced their new set of lit centers. We established their volume level for lit centers, discussed expectations, and I gave them the option of doing exercises out of their grammar book if they could not follow instructions.

However, I did not have alternative activities prepared for students, so that became an empty threat. I ended up assigning six or seven different students silent lunch, but some of the kids were acting so defiant that silent lunch alone seems to no longer be doing the trick.

When discussing this with my placement teacher, she suggested that I investigate some of Harry Wong’s techniques he teaches in The First Days of School and begin practicing these techniques in class. Wong, long considered to be one of the foremost authorities on classroom management, says that establishing procedures is vital for a well-managed classroom.

As I was speaking to Mrs. Ramsay, she suggested that I need to change the way I get students’ attention. I have been using “Look at me if you hear my voice,” but students are now continuing to talk over me when I do that. From now on, I plan to use Wong’s “Give Me Five” approach. Whenever I say “Give me five,” my students are supposed to count to five out loud with me. This is a way of taking their talking and redirecting it. Each number in “Give Me Five” represents a direction: eyes on the speaker, be quiet, be still, hands free, and listen.

I forgot to ask Mrs. Ramsay if the students in the period are already familiar with “Give Me Five”. Many of those students tend to forget what they are told, so I will introduce “Give Me Five” including the five directions when we go over the behavior contract on Monday.

Also, because they are no longer responding to silent lunch as a consequence, I am planning on assigning work during their silent lunch if they earned it. If it continues past that, they will have to create a written response addressing their behaviors in class in addition to the silent lunch assignment.

Although I put one person in charge of getting supplies at each table, there were a few (who I purposefully did not allow to be that person in charge) who were out of their seats for no reason. I think what I will do starting Monday is return to direct instruction. When I have my own classroom from day one, I will hopefully be able to train them to work efficiently. However, since I only have two weeks left in this classroom, I will not be there long enough to truly train them for that level of independence.