Great Ideas!!!

As you all know, I am still in college to become a teacher. Yesterday in my science methods class, my teacher was talking about different classroom management ideas. Here are the ones that I wrote down because I thought they would work great in an early childhood classroom (or any elementary school classroom for that matter!!!) Hope you enjoy it and get some great ideas!

Monkey Students

1. If a student wants to raise their hand and keeps going OH OH OH! stop the lesson and explain that there are no monkeys in the classroom. This will put a silly spin to the lets raise our hand like a nice kindergartener, 1st grader, etc. 

Armpit Mouths

2. If your students are having a hard time staying quiet while they raise their hands, give them the idea that they do not have a mouth in their armpit! Again, this adds some humor to telling them what to do but they almost might feel a little bit embarrassed by raising their hands and blurting out. They don't want their friends to giggle at them if they have a 'mouth in their armpit' so this will help that behavior!

3. I'm Going to Wait

The phrase, "I'm going to wait" makes the students responsible for their own voice. They will feel guilty about speaking or their friends will notice you looking at them and say, Hey! She is looking over here!!! Be quiet! Make sure to make the comment at a whisper or at a normal talking level so that you are not adding to the noice. This will also help them be quiet because they have to lower their voices or turn them off if they want to hear the instructions.

4. The Buckets:

If you are having a problem of respect in your classroom or being nice to each other, read the book Have You Filled A Bucket Today? By Carol McCloud. The book talks about filling each others buckets (in a sense being nice to each other) and by doing that, you fill your own bucket as well as the person you were nice to. If your students are being great listeners, you can talk to them and tell them that they just 'filled' your bucket and how much that meant to you. It will teach them that doing good makes them feel good and that they will get praised for it. It calls attention to being nice, not being naughty which is how some students get their attention.

This isn't something about classroom management, but something that should inspire you! This video is about an elementary school principal in Nevada who is helping her school and community in the best way possible. Try to help each student in your classroom, you never know what their home life is like, or even if they have one. Just know that if you give a child a hug at school, it could be the only one they get all day. You CAN make a difference in the life of a child.

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxFiE_PgDdA

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhwdnRwHa0s&feature=relmfu

I hope you really enjoyed this video. It makes me want to be an educator like her when I am out of college.

Happy Learning!!!

Ms. Sarah