Journal Entry #7 Classroom Managment Procedures used to Make Class run Smoothly

In my field observation I was observing a kindergarten class at a charter school.  I really like the system the teacher used to have her classroom run smoothly and give the students an understanding of what is expected of them.   Just like in the video from the class module, this teacher uses a daily routine to keeps things running smoothly.  At the beginning of the school year she told the kids what the routine was and sent home a letter to the parents so they would know also.  Before the first bell rings, the students are to line up in the appropriate place in the lunchroom and wait for the teacher.  Five minutes before the bell rings, the teacher will come and get the students and walk them in a single filed line to the classroom.  There the students hang up their backpacks on their designated hook outside the classroom door.  They pull out their blue folder that contains their homework, and then place their lunch bags in the large bin, and their snack bags in the black box.  When they walk into the classroom they all have assigned seating with their name on their seat.  This class sits at tables.   In the center of the table is a box where all the kids put their blue folder. Every morning after the first bells rings, they have 5 minutes to get ready and then the second bell rings and they all say the pledge of allegiance, the whole school together over the intercom and then they sing their school song.   Every morning before the teacher comes and gets the students she sets a paper out at each person spot.  This paper assignment is what they students work on the first 15 minutes of class.  They call this time Self Start.  Self Start because the students come to the classroom and immediately start working on the assignment without any instruction or little instruction from the teacher.  Since they are in kindergarten, most the time it was a coloring paper that had to do with shapes or numbers or counting.  While the students are working on that, the teacher gathers all the homework out of the blue folder and places them in the appropriate spot for grading.  After the 15 minutes are up, is called Morning Meeting.   The teacher has a giant rug in the classroom with about 25 different squares and inside each square is a different picture, like a butterfly, a car, a hotdog, a balloon, ect.   The students are all assigned a different square to sit on and that is their seat.  It rotates throughout the year.  So after self start they come to the rug and sit in their assigned spot.  There they review the calendar, day of the week, the daily tasks that each student is in charge of.  ( Some students are in charge of emptying the trash bins, other are in charge of moving the calendar marker, or being the line leader, or the door holder, or the ticket hander outer, ect but every student has a specific job they are to do.  )  After the morning meeting, they usually do a morning exercise or song to get the kids woken up and ready to learn.   Then the teacher draws their attention the White board at the front of the classroom where she has written the schedule for the day up on the board for everyone to see.  Since most the kids cant read yet, she tells them what the schedule is and reminds them through out the day.   Then they begin their school day. 

I really like this method because Its important for students to realize what it expected of them and to learn to stay on task.  I also like the self start because it teaches kids to be active and achievers without waiting around being told what to do every second.  I think it is important to have a routine, especially for young students so there are no unexpected surprises or confusion.  It helps them get into the flow of things better and also to learn better.  Writing the schedule on the board I think is a great idea as well because it helps the kids look forward to what is coming next.  Sometimes at school you feel like the activity you are doing is never going to end, but when you can see a schedule and have your teacher say. "Okay just 5 more minutes and then recesses"  It really helps the kids to stay focused.

Another tool this teacher uses is a color chart and ticket store.   she has a big chart on the wall, with different colors.  Everyone starts in Green at the beginning of the day.   If you are doing good and staying on task you can move up to blue.  If you are being exceptional and following all the rules, you can move up to purple, the highest color.   However if you fail to follow a rule, you move down to yellow, which is a warning to change behavior and get back on task, but if you are really having an off day and not following the rules, then you get moved down to orange and a note gets sent home to the parent explaining why they had an off day and what can be done different next time.   Every time you move up a color you are rewarded with tickets.  The teacher decides how many tickets to give you.   At the end of the week, Every Friday, the teacher will have  a ticket store where you can turn in your tickets for prizes, or save them up and get bigger and more prizes next time.  I love this concept because it helps kids work toward something and get rewarded for good behavior, however if they are not staying on task, then the punishment is not too harsh where they hare feeling humiliated and judged.  ITs just a simple reminder and they don't get tickets.  I love this concept so much more then the TOADS program that we watched in the class video.  I felt like the TOADS program only focused on negative behavior and not positive and to me that is not a very good motivator.  Kids are kids and they are so full of life and energy and the desire to explore and be active and just ready to soar, however they do need to be taught boundaries and guidelines, but without breaking their spirits down.  So I really enjoyed this method that this teacher used and hope to use something like this in my teaching.