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Pace and variety are important for classroom management
Filed Under Behaviour Management, motivating students
I’m constantly reminded how important pace and variety is in classroom management. Many of the students in my math class have difficulty retaining focus and get off task easily. I’ve found the best way to help them retain focus is to keep things moving and change things up frequently. Here are some of the things that I do:
- I greet my students at the door with a smile and a warm-up activity of some sort- a puzzle, a maze etc. ( Ed. helper is a really useful site for math or language puzzles.) This settles them down as they trickle into class and set a positive tone right at the beginning of the class. The kids are pretty competitive so they start the activity as soon as they get it.
- I use an overhead projector to teach the lesson. I’ve found that my students pay attention better when I use the overhead to teach the lesson than when I use the blackboard or chart paper. I’m not sure why that is except maybe they’re more accustomed to looking at screens that light up than black boards that don’t.
- I invite students to be “a teacher for a minute” and put their solutions on the board and explain their thinking. This is a great activity for those kids who can’t sit still because it allows them to move about and get rid of some of that excess energy. Some kids love working at the blackboard. Sometimes I’ve have students film each other when they are “teacher for a minute”. Not everyone volunteers to be filmed, but everyone seems to enjoy watching others being filmed. Of course, to respect the privacy of the students the film is only for classroom use and is never made public.
- I photocopy handouts using different coloured paper. I think that the different coloured paper breaks things up for my students so that it doesn’t seem like I’m asking them to do too much. My struggling/reluctant students groan if I hand them an assignment of four white pages but don’t seem to mind if break up the assignment and first give them the 2 blue pages and then the 2 green pages. It’s the same amount of work but they see it differently. Perception is everything.
- Whenever I can, I try to have my students move about and do things when learning. I’m a great fan of hands on learning and moving about. I’m also a fan of using games in the classroom, student created ones or commercially available ones.
I’ve shared some things that I do in the classroom to help my students be more successful learners. What are some things that you do in your classroom? I’d love to know. I’m always looking for strategies to help me be more effective.
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Great list.
I’ll add that I find jobs for the worst behaved students. They’re not always good at the job but then I find another one for them. Everyone has something that they’re good at and once you find it all of a sudden the student becomes a success and not a failure in your class.
I also find jobs for the “bad” ones. For the ones that can’t really keep still, I let them be door monitors, pencil monitors, or anything that allows more movement than anything else. I also let them earn Lakeshore or any type of play money for their job. At the end of the week they are allowed to purchase from our room store. That’s a great incentive for behaving.
Hi Elona,
I enjoy your ideas; it’s one of the blogs that catch my eye.
I used to use an overhead project alot, but the past few years, I’ve switched to teaching with a data projector. (I invested the grand for my own LCD projector because that way I could leave it permanently set up in my classroom.)
On the whole, I find teaching with the data projector to catch everyone’s attention – especially my students (boys) at risk. I use powerpoint so it’s pretty and easy to read from anywhere in the room. (I’ve wallpapered one side of the wall so that the image goes up to the ceiling.)
I can do my modeled and shared readings using the projector. I can use google translate to translate instructions into first languages for my ELL students who are non-verbal in English. I can use it for media literacy, as well as for shared writing. (I have a wireless keyboard and mouse that students can use to type as we brainstorm ideas.)
The only thing I can’t do well with a projector is write directly on the overhead. Digital ink is tricky and expensive and I haven’t figured out an effective way yet. (So, I still use my overhead projector for when I do syntax-sugery on a piece of text.)
Teaching with a projector isn’t for everyone, but if you can afford the start-up costs and are comfortable with technology, it’s a great hook.
Kisu,
Thanks for sharing your experience with the LCD projector and overhead. I do use a LCD projector too but I have to share it and that’s a pain. I never thought about buying one myself. I’ll have to think about that.
I like using the LCD projector especially to introduce the assignments on the class blog before the kids log on.
I’m thinking maybe I’d like an LCD projector and cart for Christmas. My birthday is in February. Maybe it can be a combined Christmas/birthday gift from the family.