This one is for you teachers. Someone asked me to share more about how I used class points in my classroom, so here’s a post covering all the details on the various rewards systems I had going on in my class! It’s going to sound a little complicated, but I actually had three different reward systems in place to shape student behavior: raffle tickets, team points, and class points. They each served different functions and helped keep me (and the kids) happy. They also added an element of excitement and fun to our daily life!
One important thing is that I found ways to minimize the effort and cost for me while maximizing behavioral outcomes for my students. If rewarding my students became expensive and/or troublesome, it would not be sustainable. So even if you already have systems in place, hopefully this gives you some ideas on how to make it easier for yourself throughout the year!
Reading is always a hot topic during parent-teacher conferences, and for good reason. In elementary school, students learn to read, so that for the rest of their lives, they can read to learn. If a student falls back here, almost every other subject will lag behind as they approach the upper grades. They will struggle with writing, labor over word problems in math, loathe their Science and Social Studies textbooks, and likely experience lower academic self-confidence.
One of my goals as a teacher is to help kids fall in love with reading… or at least not hate it. Every year, I have a couple of parents who insist that their child hates reading. I can see the defeat in their eyes, even as the school year is just beginning. It doesn’t have to be that way! I will share some basic beliefs I have about teaching reading as well as ways to help make reading time more enjoyable and productive time for your child.
Random quick teacher tip: How to Stop an Interrupting Clown. An interrupting class clown, that is. Especially one that is clownin’ on other kids. That’s not nice.
Sometimes I’ll have a student who likes to joke around in class. That’s cool. Except when it’s mean, or when it’s inappropriately disrupting a lesson. Sure, as a first step, I will directly address the student’s inappropriate behavior. But if that’s not enough to stop it, I also pair it with a subtle second step: I give the rest of the class a warning look. A cocked head, a slow blink, and a raised eyebrow that says, What, you think that’s funny? Really? Are you gonna laugh about it? Are you?
It slices laughter in an instant.
If you dig through your child’s backpack anytime in the next couple weeks, chances are you will unearth a request for a parent teacher conference! Sometimes I wonder how parents feel about these conferences. Do they look forward to meeting the teacher? Do they get nervous? Do they think it’s a waste of time?
Aside from the exhaustion of teaching all morning and then conferencing in the afternoons, I really looked forward to meeting my students’ parents and guardians. I loved learning more about my students by meeting the people who raised them, and it helped me remember that each of my students are somebody’s baby.
In a few years, it will be my turn to attend the parent teacher conference for my own baby. It will be so strange to be on the other side, but there are a few things I hope to keep in mind when that time comes. Here are some tips I have for parents (including myself) when conference time approaches.
The Trick
Here is a supersimple handy dandy trick that teachers and parents will love. I know we all have our own methods for getting the whole class’s attention– ring a bell, xylophone, Marco-Polo, “If you can hear my voice, clap once…” and so on. That’s cool. If you don’t use any of these, you should try it! It’s great for quickly getting your students’ attention so you can give the next instructions or just move on.
Sometimes, however, we don’t necessarily need to make the kids stop what they’re doing or make an announcement. Sometimes, the class is just antsy or fidgety or chatty or SOMETHING and you just feel this crazy vibe in the room. Maybe it’s the day after Halloween, or maybe it’s nearing the holidays and the air is just bursting with too much excitement and they have trouble concentrating. Or maybe it’s just a normal afternoon, when the students’ focus is off and we’re all ready for an afternoon nap.
Or maybe it’s Friday. Oh, Fridays.
So far, I’ve shared with you ideas on how to get an individual student’s behavior in line using graduated consequences. What I’m about to share is an idea for the times when it’s not one or two or five students, but your whole class that seems to be driving you nuts. It’s simple. Just say these two magical words: Check yourselves!
A few months ago, I started a series on How to Shape Children’s Behavior, including posts on:
- preventing undesirable behavior in the first place/priming kids to behave well
- focusing your goals to maximize improvement
- using rewards effectively
- using consequences effectively
- the importance of being consistent
- teaching your children a better way to apologize
This was years of experience and teaching wisdom boiled down to seven posts. I had started off writing these with both teachers and parents in mind, and I think most of the things I shared can be effectively used in the classroom or at home. The rest of this post is written with teachers in mind, but anyone who is looking for a simple poster to use for consequences can just edit this one that I made and use it with clothespins! Just write the child’s name on a clothespin, stick it in the green section, and move it to yellow or red as needed.
Seems a little strange that I have so much to say about teaching now that I’m not actually in it anymore. I don’t think I had the space and perspective to reflect and think about it all while I was in the thick of it, and I had never really planned to start a blog about food or teaching or anything. Funny how these things happen.
When I resigned, one thing I feared was that I would forget so many good things I learned, if and when I return to the profession. There were all sorts of habits and procedures and tricks I had picked up, and some I’d already forgotten. It would be so unfortunate if I went back to teaching and couldn’t remember them all! I think that’s part of why I spend so much time writing about it here on this blog. As much as it is to share information with others, it is also to preserve my experiences for myself, so someday I might go back and remember what my classroom was like and what made things run well.
I don’t want to return to the job and feel like a new teacher all over again– that was an overwhelming experience. There are some things I do wish I could tell myself, though. So here is a letter to younger me. New teachers, please feel free to peer over her shoulder.
Wouldn’t it be nice if your child came home from school, and then started on their homework in a timely manner… without you having to remind them? With the start of the new school year, this is the perfect time for some tips on how to train your kids to be more responsible and independent, whether that means they regularly:
- start their homework on their own after school without reminders.
- practice piano on their own before dinner without reminders.
- do their nighttime routine on their own before bed without reminders.
Basically, the goal is to build a habit/routine in your child that doesn’t require you to get on their case about it. Sounds nice, right? Here is my guide on how to train your children to develop that independence!
Today, I miss my classroom.
I miss welcoming your children
and teaching them
and learning about them
and loving them.
I miss pulling into my parking spot,
the sun freshly risen
that apple skin hour
sipping my first-day-back Starbucks
as the cool morning air greets me.
If you lead a group of kids anywhere, they usually walk in clumps. This is fine if we’re trekking about on a field trip or headed out to the playground, but when we need to go from point A to point B in an efficient, orderly way, we need lines.
Meet JoEllen
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