Teaching note

[velvetpage]

For behaviour management: hang five strings from a prominent place near the main teaching area. Label them "Good day," "Stop and Listen," "First Warning," "Second Warning," and "Phone Call Home/Principal's Office." Make a clothespin with each student's name on it. In the morning, all students start out at "Good Day." Whenever their behaviour requires correction, their clothespin moves down one string. If I'm teaching somewhere else in the room, they move it; if I'm teaching near that spot, I move it to avoid disruption.

Reasons I like this: it doesn't require me to have bits of paper, counters, stamps, markers, or any other materials in my hands. I'm terrible for setting things down, taking a minute or two to find them, and by the time I have, I've lost the train of the lesson and the attention of the kids. It's crystal clear at a glance; kids don't even need to be able to read the labels so long as they know what the last one means. They can measure their progress, or lack thereof, very easily. It's easy to reset; I could make it a job for one of my kids - just before they line up for the bus, one or two of them put all the clothespins back at the beginning. It can be used as shorthand in agendas - I just write "GD" for the kids who had a good day, etc, and communicating minor issues with parents becomes a piece of cake. It's cheap - we have string and sign materials at school, and a bag of thirty clothespins costs a buck or two. If kids lose their clothespin accidentally-on-purpose, a new one (with their name in a different colour so I know) is easy to come by.

Borrowed from kibbles' son's teacher. :)

x-posted ontario_teacher