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>>teacher: So school's going to start next week and I have already been anxious for
the last week and a half. I've had the butterflies. Um we always assume that new
teachers are the ones that going through that but it doesn't matter-I mean I've
already been teaching-this is my twelfth year. And I still get the jitteriness, I still
get the anxiousness. I still can't sleep the night before. Um, it's-it's very normal
to-to still be nervous. So when it comes to classroom management and discipline, I like
to make sure my students know that this classroom is a welcoming environment but
at the same time that a there's going to be expectations and strategies that they have
to follow.
I always like having them something to do as they come in the room so that it gives
me time to take attendance or if I have a parent that needs to talk to me. Um, this
is isn't what I usually have them do. Um, that takes a little bit longer but I figured
this is something they know what to do as soon as they come in.
Alexandria, do you want to do me a favor actually? Do you want to be my caboose?
My caboose is a very important job. My caboose is the one to make sure that she
is at the end of the line making sure that nobody gets lost between now and the time
we get to class. So you need to make sure that everybody stays in line. So go ahead and
take that job behind Adris please. So my first day I-I really don't waste any time.
I think I needed to let students know that we're back to business right away. So when
I needed them to stand in that line I had to show them you know this is your square,
you need to stand here. So I had to show them you know where their square was and
what I meant by putting their two feet in there and that kind of thing so they exactly
knew what my expectation was. This is how you're going to come in every morning when
we get to class. And if you're too close to her you can always leave a little room and
that's perfectly okay...So when students come in right away, I want to set just the
tone of what my expectations are immediately. So that's why I start with my
rules. And the two rules that I emphasize the most on is I really like to teach students
to-to be respectful. I think that's something that we need to-students need
to know from you know a young age. So I focused a lot on them using you know being
respectful and using the words please and using the words thank you. Rule number three
and this is actually going to go into one of our school wide rules which is to respect
others, respect yourself, and respect your school. And later I am going to go into a
little more detail about what it means to be respectful. Um, a big very important
word for me in this classroom is right here: say please. If you are asking someone
to let you borrow their eraser or their pencil or any material, you say may I please
borrow your pencil? May I please borrow your eraser? So the word please for me is
very important because you are being respectful to that person. So that is part
of my classroom rule. So routines and procedures are-are crucial. Um, basically
the way that I do it for me and I know it works differently for everybody, but for me
it's, I take whatever it is I expect for them and I have to make sure that I model
everything. So there's, I model it, we practice, we re correct or pre correct
and then model again and continue to practice. So there's routines and procedures
for everything even for the most minute thing. I can't assume that students already
know how to do things.
Another thing that you're going to want to ask me for permission is to get a new pencil.
Now sometimes I understand that pencils do break, but guess what? We're still
using not the big fat pencils but we're using the medium sized pencils. These are very
hard to break. But if it does break, you take your pencil and you lift it up in the air
like this. You wait for me until I give you direction, and tell you yes, you may grab
a new pencil. Notice what I'm doing right now, I'm shaking my head, right? I'm nodding
I'm telling you, yes, you may grab a new pencil. If I give you permission to grab a new
pencil, you quietly get out of your seat, you carefully walk to this corner of the room.
In this corner of the room we have two different containers. One container says
unsharpened. The other container says sharpened. So if you need a new pencil,
you just quickly, notice how I said quickly, you take the pencil that broke, you
put it in there and you quickly grab another pencil and you get back to your seat
Now your pencils do have your number on them. The reason why I did that this year is
because I've had a lot of students chew their pencils, who break their pencils, who
destroy their pencils. Well guess what, I will know who did that because it has your
number on it. So if I see that number two is chewed on, who's number two? Albert. So
I'll go up to Albert and say, Albert, Are we being responsible with this pencil because
it's all chewed up.
Your pencils have your number for that reason.
I need you to take one hand and lift up all of the books and materials that you need
except for the test blocker. So grab from the white board and lift it up
and slide your hand in there.
Then with your other hand you're just going to grab that test blocker and you're going
pull the test blocker out. I know it's going to be hard for right now but you are
going to get so good at this that you’re going to be like what, I can't believe I
couldn't do it the first day of school.
Okay, I see a few people that have already done it. Once you have done it just go ahead
and put them on your table flat.
I'm sorry, I'm still hearing people talking.
Give me a thumb up if your test blocker is already on your desk.
Perfect.
So we're going to try that again. When I say, go, you're going to get your test
blocker ready. Go.
Perfect. I love the way that uh Albert has it up and his hands are still on his desk
clasped together.
So PBiS, with PBiS you have to maintain the five to one ratio. I mean it's very easy
sometimes to want to call out the things that you're seeing that students are not
doing. You have to remember that students will model from the positives. And it's very
as soon as I say, oh I really like the way that so and so is sitting up straight, you
see all the little bodies you know straighten up. Positives work and I notice that they
work better than the negatives, but I try to remind myself, I need to keep it positive
so that everybody follows what I want to see and I don't want them to copy
what I don't want them to see. We're probably not going to finish it all, I'm
just going to have you get started on it. Okay, Luis go ahead and walk us in please.
Excuse me. Thank you. I love the way you guys are coming in with a voice level zero
which is our expectation. So today was Friday of the first week and I had had a
previous conversation with the librarian and I asked her, I said, you know I know today
is our day that we would normally come to the library. We're not going to come in to
check books, but I do want students to kind of know that we're going to have routines
and procedures in the library. And I know they've been here in the past but they
forget, so I wanted to go through the library expectations while we were there
so that they had that expectation ready so that next week when we go, I don't spend
so much time on the routines and procedures, we spend more time on getting
our books. And don't forget I always have my phone with me and my phone has the
Dojo app so I will be able to give points if I see that people are following that
expectation and I will be able to take away points if people are not following that
expectation. Some teachers believe that we only teach the routines and procedures once
and the kids are going to get it. We need to take the time to teach them now, and yes
it will take time, but it saves me time in the long run. If I can get them to learn
those routines and procedures now, I'm not going to be spending such a long time to
re teach. So if I can get it down now, later on it's just a very quick reminder and
I can just get them back into shape, so in the long run, it is saving me time.
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