Classroom Management with Lego

After years of using a rainbow path Goal Chart in my classroom, I decided to try something a bit different this year. I bought a Lego kit that can be assembled and reassembled in three different ways. When my students do something of note, they get a 'Lego build' which means they get to do a step in the book toward completing the Lego creation. Once the whole creation is complete the class gets a reward such as free time on the computers or extra play time outside.

It's simple enough, but also fun and my students put in the effort to get a Lego build. Lego builds are awarded for class achievements such as: walking quietly in line, working well on a task, keeping the bag area tidy etc

Tech Tips Tuesday

This Week's Tip - IWB Pages

I've been playing with my Interactive Whiteboard more than usual this week. I designed some pages to give other teachers ideas for how they can use their boards. I'm trying to get teachers to turn their boards on at the start of the day so that they are more likely to continue to use them throughout the day. If you have a Smart Board, you can create similar pages of your own.

This first page is a fun way of marking the roll. I used this one for the teachers' staff meeting, but I use the same idea with my class photo. It is simple to make and the kids love it. When they arrive each day, they choose the face that best fits how they feel, and drag it over their face. I can see at a glance how students are feeling and who is yet to arrive. This is great for creating a class community and learning environment. To start fresh the next day, select the faces with a click and sweep action and delete.


To Make This Page:
Step 1: Scan or upload a class photo
Step 2: Insert photo
Step 3: Use text to add a heading
Step 4: Save emoticons from My Emoticons
Step 5: Insert emoticons and place beneath photo. Right-click on them and choose the "Infinite Clone" option.

For another option, you could make a simple line and students determine their mood on a scale between happy and sad. They write their initials to place themselves.


This page is for students to self-regulate as they are finishing their work. You write in the explicit quality criteria for the dot points and set the timer for the desired time. When students have finished the work they move their photo (not shown) or name across the line and hit the little sound icon (near the balloons) to hear a cheer.

To make this page:
Step 1: Make headings (I used a rectangle shape and then a text box)
Step 2: Divide page with a line
Step 3: Add bullet points (you need to put a space before pressing return/enter in order to keep the dot point)
Step 4: Insert timer and balloons and runner from the gallery (search for 'timer' and 'cheer' and 'race')
Step 5: Insert small photographs of students (100 x 75 pixels) or write/type names in individual text boxes.

7th Teaching K-6 Carnival

Welcome to the July edition of the Teaching K-6 Carnival. This month I've had a number of posts relating to professional development for teachers - with plenty of opportunities to expand your skill base during the Northern Hemisphere summer months. Because of this, I've included a "Reflect and Rejuvenate" category this month. For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, you might find something here to inspire you to keep on powering through those wintery blues!

Reflect and Rejuvenate

Not yet a teacher? Considering it as a career option? Alvina Lopez shares Where Can I Find Teacher Scholarships? posted at Smart Teaching. Want to explore the world while studying? Anne Simone presents 100 Free and Useful Web Tools for Students Abroad posted at Best Universities.

If you're yet to discover the wonders of TED Talks, don't wait any longer. There's so much great material here that's easy to watch and very informative. Emma Taylor has sifted through these and offers 25 TED Talks That Will Change Your Life posted at Online Degree Hub.

If you're up for a bit of self-reflection, Susan White has the place for you at 100 Free Quizzes for Your Self-Improvement and Awareness posted at Online College Reviews - College Ratings. Take it a bit further to improve your health with Pankaj Gupta's 10 Little Known Ways to Improve Your Health posted at Best ultrasound technician schools.

Brain Strain

There are many differing opinions on the way that we coax certain behaviours from children. This month Keith Tusing shares his views on Rewards & Bribes posted at CM Buzz. Be sure to share your opinion and keep the discussion rolling. While you're over there, also check out Who is Your Target? to read how Keith is keeping children K-6 engaged in his Sunday School program.

In a knowledge society, lifelong learning is more important than ever. Brooklyn White presents 9 Tips for Being a Lifelong Learner posted at Accredited Online Universities. Reflect on how you're going with this, and consider how you can support the children in your class to become lifelong learners.

At times we all struggle with time management. But how do students learn this all important skill? This month Meaghan Montrose shares Effective Learning Strategies and Study Skills- Part 4 posted at TutorFi.com.

In the News

Mathew Needleman has written some informative posts about our roles as educators at Open Court Resources.com Blog. In It’s Not the Curriculum, It’s Us he reminds us to quit shifting blame, and to take responsibility for creating engaging learning experiences. In Copyright for Teachers: Persistent Myths he gives a few tips on what we should and should not be doing in terms of copyright in the classroom.

Innovate - Beyond the Slate

Skype has opened up numerous options for communicating across the globe. This month Emma Taylor presents 50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom posted at Teaching Degree.org. This is a comprehensive resource for teachers who have access to Skype in their classrooms.

Innovation is not just about technology. In creating an engaging and dynamic learning environment for our students, we should be drawing on a range of resources and learning experiences. Wendy Piersall shares Plant Life: How Do Plants Grow? posted at Craft Jr., which provides hands-on activities for students to explore the life cycle of plants.

Over at Teaching Degree.org Anne Simone shares 100 Terrific Cheat Sheets for K-12 Teachers.

Look No Further

Here are a couple of iPhone related posts that might be useful for educators with iPhones:

Alvina Lopez presents iKnow: 100 Best Reference Tools for Your iPhone posted at Online Degree Hub.

Emma Taylor presents 100 Awesome iPhone Apps to Work and Study from the Beach posted at Online College Reviews - College Ratings.

Why not submit your post for the next carnival?

The Teaching K-6 Carnival is posted monthly on the 7th. I am collecting submissions throughout the month, looking in particular for posts that discuss and exemplify innovative teaching and the integration of technology in the K-6 classroom. I also invite a few "brain strains" to keep our minds alert and challenged. Please submit only articles of which you are the author and refrain from using this merely as a sales pitch. For full details, please read my call for submissions.

If you have a relevant post that you would like to submit to the next edition of teaching k-6 carnival use our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Support this Carnival

If you enjoyed this edition of the carnival, you can support its continuation by sharing it with others. Link to us, add us to a tweet, stumble or digg us. Thanks!

A Fresh Start #2

Our first day was a lot of fun and productive. My teaching partner and I designed the day around creating a sense of belonging in our unit and generating enthusiasm for the year ahead.
Our school has a big emphasis on team teaching. It is expected that the students in each level will share the teachers for that grade. Teachers should develop a relationship with all the students in their grade. Each teacher has a "home class" for the purpose of administration but teachers share the teaching - sometimes teaching the whole group, sometimes teaching differentiated groups based on student needs.
We spent the first half of the day as a big group and didn't tell students their classes until after recess. In this big group we had a couple of mixers so students could catch up on what they did during the summer holidays and get to know each other a little better. We went through a few administrative details: allergies, sick notes, late notes, toilets, drink bottles, lining up, emergency procedures etc.
Then we shared our vision for the students for the year. We told them about the Quality Teaching Model and the focus teachers will have on it this year. We then shared 6 Quality Learning Goals that we would like to see the students working on. We chose:

• Take charge (of your learning and behaviour)
• Get connected
• Be creative
• Stay active
• Exercise your mind
• Share your knowledge

We then asked students to work in small groups to brainstorm their ideal classroom, teacher and classmate. We ran out of time to take this further, but will revisit it again tomorrow to discuss plans for the year and a classroom agreement ('rules').
After recess we broke into our two home classes. Students had brought in all their stationery, so we spent some time labelling and sorting books. Then students made name labels for their tote-trays. This gave them some time to get organised and gain a sense of their "home class". While students worked I popped around and got a photo of every student to use for portfolios, art activities etc.
Before lunch the two classes met up again to consider options for a class name. Students voted and we are now known as "The Funky Fours".
In the afternoon students created a self-portrait in the style of Andy Warhol's Four Marilyns. We modelled our lesson on the work of students at Edleston Primary School in Crewe. It was a fun end to a great day.

The Challenges of Teaching

Given the title of this blog, I often have visitors who come looking for a list or explanation of the challenges of teaching. While I do talk about the challenges that I face as a teacher, I'd like to present something a little more accessible for people who arrive here via those searches!

The Challenge of Behaviour Management - This is possibly one of the most significant challenges I faced as a beginning teacher. I still find it a constant challenge as I get to know the intricacies of each child and work towards bringing out their best. Here are some posts on behaviour management.

The Challenge of Planning and Programming - This is one of my favourite parts of teaching. I love creating new learning experiences and nutting out a plan. I like having some things planned out to the letter and having other things that are fluid and generally flexible. There are many factors to consider when programming a unit of work and it helps to start out with some sort of template to guide your planning. You can see examples of some of my programs here.

The Challenge of Assessment - This challenge relates to the planning and programming phase, but takes it a step further. Teachers are constantly storing away information about the children they teach in order to improve learning opportunities for their classes. When it comes time for report writing assessment helps teachers to give a more accurate overview of student performance and helps to determine grades with a greater level of objectiveness. The challenge is in selecting assessment tools which allow students to best present what they know and teachers to best access this data. Click here for a more detailed post about assessment.

The Challenge of Communication with Parents -Children learn so much more effectively when there is effective communication between school and home. In past years I have used Newsletters, My Classes, blogging and email to update parents about what is happening in the classroom. It also helps to involve the school community in special activities and invite parents to assist with reading or other roles in the class. The beginning of a school year is a particularly good time to start building this relationship. For more details on communicating with parents check out Link4Learning.

The Challenge of Differentiation - Classes are made up of students with differing interests, abilities, skills and knowledge. For this reason, one-size-DOES-NOT-fit-all. Teachers face the challenge of meeting the variety of needs they are confronted with. I try to do this through the lessons I prepare and consider this in planning and programming. For examples, look at some of the things we have been doing in class in our Friday Fun posts.

The Challenge of Technology - This varies from teacher to teacher, school to school. In some schools the challenge is learning how to use the technologies available. In others it may be learning how to teach using minimal technologies. Whatever the situation, teachers ask themselves "What are the tools I can be using to most effectively teach my students what they need to know?" Every Tuesday I share Tech Tips that you can try out in your classroom.

The Challenge of Teaming - The job of teaching can be made easier through cooperation and collaboration amongst teachers. So much can be learnt from considering the perspectives of others and building on ideas together. Effective teaming leads to better results for both students and teachers. The challenges are in establishing an effective team and working towards its continued success through regular productive interaction. Read more here.

Please leave your comments about the challenges you face as a teacher.

Classroom Chats #1 Reflections of Beginning Teachers

Classroom Chats is a new feature of the Teaching Challenges Blog. Here teachers chat about the challenges they face in the classroom and the successes they experience. In this episode I chat with Bec and Kym, two beginning teachers, as they reflect on their teaching in the past year.

Bec has previous experience with relief teaching, teaching in a school library, and in 2007 shared a year 2 class with another teacher. This year she had her own class with all the related challenges.

Kym is Early Childhood trained and did her Internship at our school in 2007. In term one of this year she directed a pre-school room in a childcare setting. She joined Bec and I in Year 1 at the beginning of second term. She had the challenge of joining a school partway through the year and taking on a difficult class in her first year of teaching.

Thanks to Matt for the guitar intro to classroom chats. You're a legend Matt!

Click here to listen to our classroom chat.

If you are having trouble with the links, you can see the original to download the audio file.

Tech Tips Tuesday

I know I said that Tuesday was going to be for tips for parents and teachers about something I am covering with my class, but I've changed my mind! It's going to be too hard to maintain that during the holidays, so instead, I present Tech Tips Tuesday. On Tuesday you can find tips for integrating technology into the class or home.

This week's tip:
If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, consider the free "Easy Relax" application. This application has theme 'soundtracks' that you can play in the background of your class. Themes include 'Into the West', 'Hawaii Vacation', 'Jungle' and a number of pre-programed soundtracks. Alternatively, you can create your own themes with background music and up to three extra sounds with self-selected intervals.
As an award to groups who are focused on their work, I have been allowing them to select a pre-programmed soundtrack or create a team soundtrack. It has been fun, a good behaviour reward and an easy way for students to program their own soundtrack. The soundtrack also adds to the flavour of the class and some students work more quietly just to hear the sound of the rain, thunder, croaking frog, or whatever else!
To amplify it across the classroom, I plug the audio cord that leads to the Smart Board into the audio socket on my iPhone - easy.
As a sidenote, I found it quite nice to fall asleep to one day as well!

Friday Fun - 28/11/08

I've been reading blogging tips from Successful Teaching, that originally came from someone else. One of the things covered this week was the idea of having a blogging schedule with regular items. I see this on a lot of other people's blogs - things like Wordless Wednesday, Carnival of Education etc. So, I'm going to try out 'Friday Fun' where I do a quick recap of the fun activities of the week. I'll also try 'Tuesday Tips' where I'll give tips for teachers and parents for things we're covering in class. And on the weekends, I think I'll do a philosophising post - one where I ponder and discuss issues around teaching. On other days I may or may not do posts relating to what's going on in the classroom. I'll have to see how it goes.

Fun this week:
First 'Classroom Chat' - On Monday, after school, I interviewed my two team teachers about their experiences as beginning teachers. We discussed the challenges and support they experienced and celebrated their successes. We also reflected on our hopes for next year. We are in the process of editing and hope to have it up sometime next week.

Making Geckos - We looked at geckos on Flickr and painted our own cardboard geckos. (This tied in with 'Are We There Yet?')

Constable Kenny - A local police officer brought 'Constable Kenny' to our school to talk to the K-2 classes about traffic safety.

Cooking 'Uluru Buns' - My class reached the next star on the goal chart and was awarded an Aussie cooking session using recipes from an old Kraft Cheese recipe book. I showed them the choices and they voted for their preference (I graphed the results as we went along). The cooking session went well and the buns were delicious.

Real travel journal - Prue from 'My Life as the Good Twin' sent us some scanned images and text from the travel journal she had as a child when she travelled around Australia. It was a lot of fun to read about her story of Kakadu and Uluru. The kids were fascinated.

Market Day - The Year 6 students organised a whole bunch of stores for the rest of the school to buy from. There was a really great variety of things including a petting zoo, obstacle course, guessing competitions, skill testers, and PLENTY of junk food. The kids in my class were very sugared up by the end of the day.

Dealing with Conflict

This week I read a post on Successful Teaching about teaching students social skills. I have been working with my students on dealing with conflict. I am trying to train them to work through their problems independently. I stand by to mediate, and then at the end check that both parties are happy with how the situation has been dealt with.

I taught my students this basic script:
1. Tell the person how you felt when they did what they did.
eg. "When you pushed me I felt annoyed and it hurt my arm"
2. Tell the person that it was disrespectful:
eg. "It was disrespectful"
3. Tell the person what you would like to see happen in order to move forward.
eg. "I'd like you to say 'sorry' and not push me again"

At this point, it is up to the 'offender' to respond with apology and/or appropriate action as suggested by the 'offended'. I often find that students will then turn the tables with the 'offender' describing how they have been offended.

For the most part, students in my class can now work through this quite well on their own. I do, however, step in when one party refuses to listen, acknowledge the impact of their behaviour, or responds aggressively to the discussion.

This strategy is based loosely on Restorative Practices - Corridor Questions, but I am trying to get my students to own the resolution rather than having to guide them through questions step by step.

Teaching Responsibility

I am discovering my own personal benefits of teaching social/emotional skills. When I teach my students about things, such as being responsible, it helps me to see the areas in my own life where I can improve further. And I've decided to share this honestly with my students.

Yesterday I read the book "I'll do it" by Brian Moses to my students. It helps children to explore the idea of responsibility. We discussed the pages as we read and then we all decided an area that we need to work on to become more responsible. We posted these goals next to our photos on the goal wall (see this post for more detail). I realise that I need to get better at doing things without reminders, and take more care for my things. My specific goal for this week is to take care of my computer and my iPhone.

I think it is important for teachers to reflect upon their own lives as they teach children values. None of us are perfect, or ever will be. There is something for each of us to work on, all of the time. Perhaps this is the best lesson that children can learn about values: to continually reflect upon the way we live our lives and be prepared to make changes.

What do you think?

Teddy Bears' Picnic

Today my class had a teddy bear picnic and teddy related activities to celebrate reaching the next marker on our class goal chart. As a behaviour management strategy/award system, I give 'ticks' on the chart when I see the sort of behaviours that I want to encourage. These could be from individuals, groups, or the whole class.

Often I will reward students for walking silently in the corridors, working quietly at their desks, helping out in a special way, showing kindness to another class member, working cooperatively - whatever I think is appropriate.

I read about this in the work of Spencer Kagan as one element of his Cooperative Learning. I like for the students in my class to work together toward a common goal. After 20 ticks on the rainbow chart, the class reaches a sticker point. They then open the envelope to discover their reward. This time...it was a teddy bears' picnic. The class is always very excited about opening the envelope and it can be something as simple as 15 minutes of free drawing and they will still be happy to have achieved that goal.

This time, as we have been learning about their grandparents' childhood, and singing The Teddy Bears' Picnic, I thought it would be fun to bring in teddies and eat lunch together. I was going to leave it at that, but I ended up doing more with the teddies than initially planned.

We began the day by singing some songs to the teddies (as seen in this photo). I took a photo of each child with their bear as they introduced them to the class. After that, we read "Boris and Borsch" by Robin Klein. This story is about two very different boys, with two very different bears and the adventures they got up to when they accidentally swapped houses. The children discussed with a partner which bear they are most like and which home they would prefer to live in.

Students then wrote a description of their bear using prompt words: is, has, does. For example, Fred is a big brown bear. He has soft fur and white paws. He cuddles with me when I am sad and helps to cheer me up.

Some children wrote three sentences, while others wrote many. We then stuck the photos at the top of the pages and bound them together to make a book about our bears. As students finished their writing, they found a quiet place in the room to sit and read a book with their bear.

We went to a special part of the playground called "The Native Garden" where native plants have been planted. The children sat with their bear and their friends and ate their lunches under a big tree. Once they finished, they played with their bear in the garden. Of course, one little boy's bear decided to 'climb' high up in the tree where the little boy couldn't get him! (I went back and climbed up to get him down when the children weren't watching! I still like to climb, but not in front of kids!)

After lunch we had a circle time with our bears and explored a few things with Maths.

Check in: We went around the circle and each child took their turn to say: My name is ____ and I think my bear is bigger than/smaller than/the same size as ______'s bear.

Mixer: We compared the sizes of bears in the circle, ordering them from smallest to largest around the circle. Students sat with their bear in this new seat.

Activity: We sorted the bears in different ways and then used Microsoft Excel on the Smart Board to quickly graph the data. We sorted by fur type, colour, size and leg type/movement!

Energiser: We played a version of 'hot potato' using three of the soft toys - a turtle, a teddy and a kangaroo. Students had to pass these three toys around the circle and avoid being caught out with the kangaroo. The turtle moved slowly, the bear average, and the kangaroo fast. One student covered her eyes and called stop when she chose to. Whoever was holding the kangaroo was out. My class got too silly and rude during this, so I had to stop, but I think I would try it again another time.

Check out: As we went around the circle, each child said "My name is _________ and my teddy bear goes to bed at ________." They moved the hands on a teaching clock to show the correct time.

By the time we made it to the afternoon recess, I was quite beared out, so we didn't continue with the beariness for the last hour. Probably if I were to do the day again, I would consider prizes for different types of bears with the intention of covering everyone - spottiest, biggest, smallest, happiest etc... I would also have liked to had some games or races outside with the bears, or to have played "hide-and-see" like in the song.

All in all it was a great day. I'm sure you also may have done teddy bears' picnics, and I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Compliments to Strengthen the Heart

Earlier in the week, I did a lesson on "looking after other people". I followed this up by having my students work on complimenting one another. I photocopied an A3 heart, divided into 20 spaces (one for each of the kids in my class and for me to write a compliment in). After talking about some of the things we could write to build one another up, I set my students free to roam the room and write their compliments. We probably had about 20 minutes, and did not quite complete all compliments for all students. I think another 20 minute session will finish it off.

It was interesting to hear the comments that students made as they went around the room. Some, of course, got caught up in counting how many comments they had! But, most were really engaged in leaving compliments for others. I found that my students were quite interested in reading the compliments that I left. I think that they will learn more about how to compliment by seeing how others do it.

One little boy came running up to me after reading my compliment and asked, "How do YOU know that I am imaginative?" I laughed and told him that I see it in his artwork and in his writing. He confirmed it and told me that he is also very imaginative at home.

I really enjoyed this activity as it also gave me the opportunity to remember all the special things about these kids and to verbalise it to them. Too often I will think all the good things about them, but forget to tell them!

Creation Station Celebration!

The Creation Station in my classroom is still going strong. The children all want very much to be chosen to go to the Creation Station, and once there are producing very creative and colourful pieces of work.

One mother came in to see me about some other issue, but told me that her son is very excited about the Creation Station and has been talking about it at home. Another little girl wrote me a letter to remind me that she hasn't had a chance to go to the Creation Station yet, and was inquiring as to why not! So, it's a hit with the kids to say the least.

This week, as Spring has sprung here in Australia, I was going to take in some flowers and photograps from last year's Floriade festival in Canberra. I've actually decided to upload the photos to Flickr instead (see them here), rather than print them all out. The student computers are right by the Creation Station, so will be easy to access while students are working. I can even set the pictures to run through in slide-show. I have some empty vase pictures for students to create flowers to fill. I want them to have examples to look at, but also to create new flowers from their imaginations!

Another blog that I was reading refered to 100 Days of Monsters and the Daily Monster I am going to use this as inspiration after the school holidays. It involves creating a picture of a monster around an inkblot. I think that my boys in particular are going to love this idea and I'm sure I'll see some VERY creative monsters.

Let me know how things go for you if you decide to try this idea.

Bringing out the Creativity of Kids

I don't really like to advertise on my blog, but when I find something useful, I want other people to know about it too. I bought a copy of this book by Taro Gomi while I was in New York City for a vacation, and I painted in it with my portable watercolour set on the plane ride back to Australia. The people on the plane must have thought I was really 'special', but I found it helped pass the time, and kept me somewhat sane.

I have been really inspired by the pages in this book. Unlike the average colour-in-book, this book helps you to think outside the box and gives some direction to your creativity. As a teacher, this is what I try to do for my students - to give them some guidance, but allow them to create something that is truly their own. It is important to me that my students not produce work that looks like a carbon copy (or in these days photocopy!) of everyone else in the class.

Combining the ideas of 'exploring creativity' and 'maintaining sanity', I set up a CREATION STATION in my classroom. It is really just a table with some watercolour paints, some crayons and some creative colour-in sheets. When students have been working well, or when I just feel like treating someone to something special, I invite them to the CREATION STATION while the rest of us continue as normal. For 20 minutes or so, they are free to get creative and use a different part of their intellect.

So far it has been working really well, and the kids have been loving their chance in the CREATION STATION. It's a simple reward, costs me nothing, and has benefits for all of us.

Behaviour Goals and Build-ups!

This week I'm trying a couple more things to work on how students are treating each other. Our class goal for the week is to "look after other people". I made a display with this goal and put up individual photos of all the kids in my class. Next to their photo, each student has considered a personal goal to meet this and written it on a post-it note. Some include "I will be a better listener", "I will say nice things", "I will respect property" etc. Throughout the week I will get my students to consider how they are going with their goals.

Today I also did a Circle Time session on "Build ups - Not Put downs". I showed my class the effect of put downs, by tearing up a paper heart as I gave examples of put-downs someone could receive in a day. In pairs students then brainstormed build-ups that we could use to build a wall. I taped the pieces of the heart back together as we went through the build-ups. (Unfortunately I couldn't get it back to how it was because my tearing was too eratic. If you want to do this activity, keep in mind how you will put it back together again!)

I've now made an A3 worksheet for each student with a great big heart on it. The heart has been divided into 20 sections (for the number of students in my class). Our next step is to travel around the classroom and write a build-up for everyone in the class. I am thinking that this should take a couple of sessions, as I really want them to be doing quality work and not just recycling the same compliment for everyone.

Teaching Morality

Here's an interesting idea to discuss: How do we teach morality in a government school? In recent years, schools have been taking on more and more responsibility when it comes to teaching children social skills. Many programs have been developed with this particular goal in mind.

Some parents of children in my class have come to me at a loss as to how to deal with children stealing, or playing inappropriately. As a teacher, I don't always feel competent to help them with their concerns. I know how my parents brought me up, but I was brought up with Christian values and the Bible as a guide. And this advice doesn't work for people from other beliefs. I know how I try to deal with things in my classroom, when they arise, but I feel that this really is an area where parents could be carrying the load.

I have been trying to teach my students more about the meaning of 'respect' over the past couple of weeks. We read a book about respect. We filled out a Y chart of what it looks like, sounds like and feels like. We made posters for our classroom to show how to respect our classroom environment. We made a book of how to respect others in our classroom. I've been using the word throughout the day and rewarding 'respectful' students with stickers and computer time. I've been reminding students if their behaviour is disrespectful. But it seems that all this talk and all this thinking through and planning has had little effect on how the students are behaving. Well...maybe that is unfair. There have been some changes - the classroom is being left much tidier. And it has been a while since someone actually told me that they thought my lesson was boring or refused to join in.

I guess I'm hoping to see some more evidence of respect in terms of how the children treat one another. Maybe that is an area that just requires more training...or more time.

Please leave a comment to let me know how you deal with the challenge of teaching morality.

(Photo by Trois Tetes on Flickr - some rights reserved)

A Challenging Week

This week I really struggled with the behaviours in my class. I've put so much energy into making things fun, relevant, interesting etc that it really gets to me when my class won't listen, or boos at my activities. As I don't tolerate this sort of behaviour, I find I have to deal with all this rubbish before I can get to teaching and inspiring them. Of course, it's not the whole class, and generally, I don't think that they do it out of spite. There are just a number of children who don't think before they speak and can often appear quite rude and disrespectful.

Early in the week I had to call off a Circle Time because more than a quarter of the class were making a joke of it. Maybe I could understand it if the kids were 11 year olds, but these are 6 year olds! Feeling discouraged, I only did one more circle time that week and I included lollies and balloons in the lesson as an attempt to win over the kids who were starting to revolt! I also had them apologise to the class for having spoilt the previous circle time.

After explaining an art activity this week, one of my boys yelled out, "That's STUPID". I sent him to another class for the afternoon with a Maths worksheet instead. I hope he will think twice before insulting my lesson again! Later in the week a boy got frustrated with his wombat origami and yelled "This is so dumb!". Sticking to my new plan, he missed out on the rest of the activity, despite his repeated begs to join back in. Like I said earlier, I just have some very vocal students who let EVERYONE know if they don't like an activity.

On the positive side, most of my wombat lessons and activities were well-received by the class (see my previous blog for more details). They seem particularly excited about our new 'pet' wombat who they will get to take home for a night and write about his visit in his journal. The assessment tasks I set showed that most of them had learnt new facts about wombats during the week and could make the links between Jackie French's own experiences and the stories she wrote.

Next week I will be out of school for a couple of days, co-convening an Athletics Carnival, and on Friday we will have book week. Hopefully, that will give me a little time to recover from the tough week with my class, and renew my love for teaching them! Hopefully.