Class - does any one have any quick and easy ideas for transitions for a class that is noisy and has difficulty focusing???????? I have tried raising my hand and waiting....some continue talking and their hand is not even raised.....bell does not work and they basically tune me out! Help!
...spelling out your school mascot's name? This is done at my school and students understand that they need to be quiet and in learning position before we get to the last letter.
More ideas would be appreciated! I need to do some major revisions in my classroom before being formally observed on March 28 and my Spring
Evaluation is also being done that week........some things need to change quickly!
Thanks!
Give me 5
1. Eyes on me
2. Mouths still
3. Ears listening
4. Hands in lap
5. Hearts ready
Now when my class gets noisy I can say "give me 5" or if they are still not concentrating (or I think they will need a bit more time) I will count to 5. They will be still and looking at me at 5, I usually get quieter as I go up too!
I have found that the best way to focus children is to teach and use a variety of aural and visual cues. I will clap a beat and they repeat it; I will count down from 5 with them being ready at 1; I will sing Are you Listening? they will respond yes we're listening; I will very quietly say something like "If you're listening touch your nose (put your hand on your head, stick out your tongue, whatever)" and thank each student who does the action "Thank you for doing your job", or saying "I like how____ is listening". I alternate between these strategies as the spirit moves me. I have found that overuse of one strategies renders it useless so use many, keep them on their toes.
I actually stole this from a substitute teacher and it is awesome. Put up your pointer finger and pinky. Make your middle finger and ring finger touch your thumb....like you would make a "shadow" rabbit. The upper fingers are for ears open. The "together" fingers are for mouths closed. I make the sign and I look for kids making it back. I thank them by name. Thank you, Brianna....Thank you Parker....Pretty soon they are all doing it. If they don't, they know they are breaking a rule and could "sign" the book. I tried the "give me five", but they would put their hand up and I would call on them or ask them "what" and they would say...Nothing! I'm just giving you five! It drove me nuts!
I have a VERY VERY active and noisy class- 14 boys and 8 girls! I use "super speed Simon Says".....I give the directions really fast- "simon says put your right hand up, put your left hand up, simon says right hand down, jump one time, simon says jump one time,..." We don't get people "out"...we play for about 2 minutes for each transition and it takes about 3 seconds to get all the kids up, focused and on task. Works really well in my unbelievably hyped up class!
I have a silly sounding buzzer for when we do transitions. I ask them to get something out and hit the buzzer. Students have to get their books Quickly and Quietly. If they all do this before the buzzer runs out, they get a marble in a jar (titled- transition treat). At the end of the day if they were able to put all the marbles in the jar (ex- 5 marbles for 5 transition times), they get a treat before they leave, such as a pretzel, animal crackers, etc. When the jar is filled they can have a popcorn party! The kids enjoy this!
That sounds like a great idea, because I don't have a very loud voice. It would be good if I could find some kind of m achine that has different noises...
03-07-2007, 05:19 PM
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