Three Weeks In and Three Feet Deep...

Well, we are now completing the 3rd week of school. Time flies when you're having fun...or maybe it's just when you are too busy to eat and sleep...haha. Nah, it hasn't been too bad so far. There have been a few days where I have questioned the outcome of this school year, because I have a couple of periods that are a little trying to the patience; however, I have laid down the law in those classes and called home for several students and things have been much better this week. I created a new system that has worked really well so far in getting those out of control classrooms back into control, so I thought I would share that today. My periods that are a handful are not a disrespectful bunch of kids intentionally; however, they are overly talkative to the point where it becomes disrespectful, because they will not be quiet when it is my turn to talk. Nothing was working for a while and then I got this great idea that involved using post-its...my all time favorite thing. The way the system works is, every day my kiddos get to come in and start off the class period with a clean slate, because I believe in forgiving what happened the day before and giving them a fresh chance to start over every day. So, when they walk in the classroom each student has three strikes to give. If they are talking when they are not suppose to be I simply walk over to their desk, place a post-it on it and write a check mark on the post-it. Once they get to three check marks they have an automatic Lunch Detention with me. However, if they argue with me when I place a check mark we skip getting any more chances and go straight to a Lunch Detention and add on to the days of Lunch Detention they have to serve from that point. This system allows them a couple of fair warnings before there is a severe consequence, since their main problem is just being talkative, not being malicious. It has worked amazingly well so far. I also use the check mark system on quizzes and tests as well. If they are caught talking during those times I put a check mark on their quiz/test and that counts for minus 2 points from their overall score, they can get as many check marks as necessary, however, after 3 it as an automatic lunch detention again, and I warn them that if the check marks do not make their talking stop then I will simply write them up and allow them to spend a day in ISR. We discovered that half of our freshman class that came from one of our feeder schools spent all last year doing whatever they chose to do all day long every day without any consequences. This is causing it to be twice as hard to get those same kids under control this year, because they are not used to having consequences for their actions. Although the kids and I have good days and bad ones overall I enjoy getting to see them every day, they can be a lot of fun.