As a teacher I am ALWAYS looking for ways to make my life easier, the students learning better, and my desk/teacher life more organized. When it comes to managing your classroom it's the little things that make a BIG difference. Like where will students turn work in? Their weekly folder? How do they tell you they need to go to the bathroom? What if they need a sharpened pencil? The list goes on and on....really it does. This year I've found a few management tips that have really worked for me and I thought I'd share them with my fellow teachers. :)
HOW ARE WE LEARNING?: This is one of the things I taught my students the first week of school. This chart was actually blank at the beginning. The students were the ones who helped me fill it in. I think its great to have them contribute their ideas. Giving them the opportunity to think of their own expectations and rules helps them become responsible.
PENCILS: Finding a sharp pencil can be a nightmare. Last year I learned that quite well with my 1st graders. This year I found a system that works fairly well though!
I have two jars on my desk, one that says "SHARP" and one that says "NOT SHARP." Whenever students need a sharp pencil they must first put a dull one in the not sharp cup. At the end of the day, the "Pencil Sharpener" in our classroom will sharpen the pencils in the not sharp cup and put them back into the sharp cup.
Whenever the pencils are too short and need to be replaced, the "Pencil Sharpener" tells me and I put a few new pencils into the not sharp cup for circulation. This system WORKS for my kids! Before you pull all your hair out over the loss of pencils, try pencil cups. :)
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU'RE FINISHED: Here is a poster I whipped up at the beginning of the year to manage students who finish their work early, because there is always at least one. On the poster I wrote down things that are appropriate to do when they are finished. These are things that I personally don't mind them doing. If kids getting up and going to the library for a book will drive you nuts, don't put it; have them keep a book at their desk if that works better for you. The thing I love about this system is that 1) I know they are doing something good for their learning and 2) that they can be independent. The key to this system working is teaching them to be independent. If you don't teach them and model the behavior you expect during these activities, believe me, they will do everything they shoudn't do. So whenever I put new math games and activities out, I take the time to teach them, because it will save me a TON of time later.
(Oh! For the Read a Book they can read one of their own or read one of the special books I keep in a bucket that have to do with what we are studying in our subjects. They love to read those. :)
- Rachel
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