Week 6: Where are we now?

Like I wrote about before, things are literally in a constant state of change here. My classroom is never the same two days in a row, but I'm finally starting to figure out which things really stick. So here's where we're at:

Yesterday I talked on the phone with a teacher who has the BEST behavior management I have ever seen. This noteworthy lady, Mrs. Garla Pacek, has been teaching 2nd grade in California for many years. I had the privilege to observe her for a month straight during January of my freshman year of college (while living with my aunt and uncle, it was paradise...this homegirl went home and sat in the pool/hot tub in the 65 degree heatwave...californians thought I was NUTS)...anyways. I called her this weekend to finally say I NEED HELP WITH BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT. ENLIGHTEN ME. REMIND ME OF YOUR JEDI TEACHER WAYS. PLEASE GARLA PLEASE. She is INCREDIBLE, and I got off the phone with a plan. Today I put that plan into action, and it was the best day I've had yet. So, Garla, THANK YOU. 

Plus some other little updates of our first grade classroom (things that work and things that DO NOT....lesson learned).

This is what we do on the weekends. I can't say I hate it. But it's true. We get up on Saturdays, usually after sleeping in until around 9-10am, then we force ourselves to work in the office (grading, mostly) until about 4pm. This Saturday, we set a goal of being done with grading by 4pm so that we could reward ourselves with Walmart pedicures (YEP). So we did. And then of course the three of us (Alicia, Vanessa and myself) go to the Walmart salon and GUESS WHAT THE WHOLE DANG PLACE IS FULL OF TEACHERS GETTING PEDICURES. Literally, at one point there were 7 teachers sitting there all getting our nails done. I'm sorry, but if that doesn't say something......

So this is one of Garla's ideas that I implemented today. Because our first grade is departmentalized (they go from class to class for each subject...they start in homeroom, then have three 90 minute periods (math, reading, and writing/sci/social), then homeroom again at the end of the day), I have three different classes of behavior management. So we now have our marble jars. For "class points" (whenever the WHOLE class does something AMAZING...like everyone follows directions or they walk really quietly in the halls...), I put a marble in the jar. Garla said this would be effective because it's not only something they can see, but it's also something they can HEAR (besides my nagging voice). In her brilliance, of course, she was absolutely right. I started this today and my GOODNESS the excitement that comes from hearing the marble hit the bottom of the jar. I've never seen so many kids sit up straight and take visible pride in their actions.

This is just my new door theme for September (according to a school grant we have, we need a new door decoration every month). My goal is to get pictures of each of my students wearing shades and post them all over the door. Also, one of my flag girls helped me do this. I was really proud of myself for relinquishing control (it took a conscious effort and deep breaths, but she did a really great job).

Graded work, color coded in their own individual folders, one color for each class that coordinates with their marble jar and their behavior tickets (coming below). This is me handing over some of the responsibility to them. I'm going to start having them file their own graded work so that when parents come, they know where to get it and can show them what we're working on and how they're doing. This idea was thanks to a lovely co-teacher of the month of mine (first grade math teacher Ms. Wright).

I'm FINALLY getting a word wall together. They mostly do "word wall" stuff in reading, but it's so important for me to have it in writing too. So that's my goal for the week. WILD ABOUT WORDS!

But really, how cute?

This has been in effect for awhile, but I want to showcase it because it has made a WORLD of a difference. I gave each student in my homeroom a job (these are listed on a different chart). For example, I have one of my students who has autism in charge of turning the SMARTboard on and off every day. This makes a WORLD of a difference in his behavior, if he can have this control (since he's a little obsessed with the SMARTboard). I have one student per row in charge of collecting papers, one per row in charge of checking pencils, I have a "messenger", I have someone to reset my behavior clips at the end of the day...etc. Everybody has a job and every job is important. But I also have a daily leader. This person helps me with morning meeting every day (they LOVE getting the spotlight, and getting to lead on the SMARTboard), but they are also "my eyes." Because parents and other people are in and out of my room all day, sometimes I have to step into the hall or step aside to have a quick conference. Somehow, in those 30 seconds, the MOST TRAUMATIC THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN. The class becomes utter chaos. Someone gets punched, someone rolls their eyes at someone, someone calls someone else's mama ugly, and someone gets into Ms. Forster's desk. Well, that's how it was in the beginning. Then one of my lovely first grade colleagues suggested that I have a leader "be my eyes" and look out for students who are on their best behavior. My students have really taken this to heart and when it's their day to be the leader (and "my eyes") they own it. It's precious to see them reminding their classmates of their behavior (because I truly believe it reinforces their own understanding of how they should behave). PLUS, they have to set an example of STAR behavior....otherwise they don't get to be the leader...(SUCH a bummer). And to top it off, I'm pretty sure my students could run morning meeting for themselves at this point, thanks to their utter enthusiasm for playing teacher.

I've had this all year. It was a lot prettier in my head. Really. My "new pencil" pot is broken (the bottom shattered off) and "new" is really just a stupid term since majority of the pencils now look like they were found on the side of the road after being chewed on by an animal...but this system works. Each desk has a pencil and an eraser in it. If their pencil breaks or needs to be sharpened, they put it in the "old pencils" pot and take a new pencil from the "new pencil" pot. I usually sharpen them or get one of my flag girls to do it. It works really smoothly. In first grade, even though they're departmentalized, we don't want them carrying supplies from class to class, so we keep them all in the room.

This is a modified idea of Garla's that I implemented today. She uses tickets, but with them being departmentalized, I wanted something that was a lot more concrete and took less time. So here's what I did. Each student has a piece of cardstock with their name on it attached to the front of their desk (color coded for each block...just like the folders and the marble jars). If I see a student do THEIR (personal) best..behaviorally...then I give them a hole punch (this also means that I walk around with a hot pink hole punch in the pouch of my id badge). This is all about reinforcing the positive behavior. You know the classic "kill them with kindness"? Well that's pretty much how it works with kids too. Make the misbehaving kids feel bad by A. ignoring their negative actions (to a certain extent of course) and B. rewarding the students who ARE doing their job. 9 times out of 10 this will make the misbehaving student change their behavior because they want to be rewarded too. Needless to say, it worked FLAWLESSLY with my students today. I am SO excited about it. On Friday, if they get 20, they get to draw from the prize box. The person with the most punches gets first pick...and etc down the line.

AND to top it all off, we were invited to the school board meeting tonight (having no idea why and honestly feeling pretty nervous), and were presented with awards for teacher of the month for August! They made an exception and gave it to the entire first grade team (us three...LOVE these ladies) for the hard work we've put into having our students be successfully departmentalized and changing classes in first grade. I am SO grateful for this team.

Not a bad Monday.

And for funsies. This is what our "office" looked like when we first moved in. We had all these big dreams about making it a cute sunroom where we spend our saturdays daydreaming and painting and fanning ourselves while Mississippi State boys feed us grapes. LOLZ...

This is what it looks like now. Our home office. Complete with three desks (one each), shelves FILLED with teacher supplies, two printers, one copy machine, a paper cutter,endless amounts of post its and pens, and lots of graded papers.

And my wall of motivation, with encouraging student work, pictures of a fun writing project I did with my students, and now my teacher of the month certificate. This keeps me going when the going gets tough.

VOILA. #lifelonglearner