Back to School Linky: Behavior Management
I'm really excited to participate in the Back to School Linky with Miss V's Busy Bees and Mrs. D's Corner. This week's posts are focused on behavior management.
Let's start with my philosophy on behavior management...I believe behavior management is strongly rooted in classroom procedures. When there are clear expectations and those expectations are clearly articulated to your students, behavior management takes care of itself.
A friend and co-teacher of mine has taken me on as her mentor project, so to speak. She lent me some of her materials from Harry Wong, THE behavior and classroom management guru. One of those items she lent me was an audio book. One of the comments that Mr. Wong made in that audio really made me rethink my entire behavior plan in my classroom. He clearly explained the difference between rules and procedures. We shouldn't be overly focused on rules, per se, and we should only have 5 real rules at the most. (I've included mine in the photos below; these are my adaptations from WBT.) He explained that broken rules have consequences...on the other hand, procedures are what you should really have the most of in your classroom. Procedures are what make your classroom run effectively and efficiently. When a student doesn't follow a procedure properly, he or she doesn't get "in trouble" because no rules were broken. When a student doesn't follow a procedure properly, you and the student (or the class as a whole) simply review the procedure! This may seem overly simple, but I had just never thought about it quite that way...and then I started reflecting on how to bring it to action in my own classroom.
(If you want to snag these posters I made at a super low price, check them out here.)
As an itinerant teacher, I need to make the most of every second I have with my students. (Of course, we all do, but the less time I can spend on correcting behaviors and the more time I can spend on instruction, my students and I both win!) I've been thinking about the procedures I want to implement this year, and here's what I have so far.
Feel free to leave your advice and suggestions for effective procedures in your classroom that make a difference in your behavior management. I'm always open to new ideas.
Let's start with my philosophy on behavior management...I believe behavior management is strongly rooted in classroom procedures. When there are clear expectations and those expectations are clearly articulated to your students, behavior management takes care of itself.
A friend and co-teacher of mine has taken me on as her mentor project, so to speak. She lent me some of her materials from Harry Wong, THE behavior and classroom management guru. One of those items she lent me was an audio book. One of the comments that Mr. Wong made in that audio really made me rethink my entire behavior plan in my classroom. He clearly explained the difference between rules and procedures. We shouldn't be overly focused on rules, per se, and we should only have 5 real rules at the most. (I've included mine in the photos below; these are my adaptations from WBT.) He explained that broken rules have consequences...on the other hand, procedures are what you should really have the most of in your classroom. Procedures are what make your classroom run effectively and efficiently. When a student doesn't follow a procedure properly, he or she doesn't get "in trouble" because no rules were broken. When a student doesn't follow a procedure properly, you and the student (or the class as a whole) simply review the procedure! This may seem overly simple, but I had just never thought about it quite that way...and then I started reflecting on how to bring it to action in my own classroom.
As an itinerant teacher, I need to make the most of every second I have with my students. (Of course, we all do, but the less time I can spend on correcting behaviors and the more time I can spend on instruction, my students and I both win!) I've been thinking about the procedures I want to implement this year, and here's what I have so far.
- Classroom entry and exit
- Supply management
- Broken pencils
- Emergencies and drills
- Visitors and phone calls
- Data notebooks
- Journals
- Classroom library
- iPad assignments
- Class Dojo
- Delivering materials to our classroom
- Restroom
- Testing
- Word Wall
- Technology
Feel free to leave your advice and suggestions for effective procedures in your classroom that make a difference in your behavior management. I'm always open to new ideas.
Your advice from what you learned from Harry Wong's book is so amazing. I've heard of him (you said it, he is THE behavior and classroom management guy!), but never read his book or anything. Now I think I really need to! I agree with not setting too many rules. It's too much to keep track of when a student breaks a little rule. Plus, I speed when I'm driving all the time (I mean, no I don't :) ), so how can I expect students to do X,Y, and Z when I can't even drive the speed limit. LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up with us this week! Can't wait to read all about assessment in your classroom next week!
Stephanie
Thanks so much, Stephanie! I just updated the blog post with a link to the specific audio book I mentioned. (I don't know why I didn't think to do that earlier.) I also wanted to let you know that Harry Wong has free previews of his books on his website too. Since I'm an Amazon Prime member, it was cheaper for me to order from them, but you can get more of a taste of what he's featuring in the book on his site.
DeleteYour rule posters are ADORABLE and so is your blog! Harry Wong is a genius, and I feel like I learned a TON from him!!! Your blog is super cute, too!!
ReplyDeleteLori
Mixing it up in Middle
Thanks so much, Lori! I can't believe I made it this far without knowing about Harry Wong! I appreciate you stopping by and hope you'll visit again.
DeleteOkay, first - thank you for linking up with Stephanie and myself! We're super happy to have you.
ReplyDeleteSecond - I absolutely LOVE that point from Harry Wong - I never really noted the difference between procedures and rules… kind of just lumped them into one. But, now that you point out the difference, I can totally see the reasoning for only having FEW rules, and then plenty of procedures.
Thank you so much for sharing this HUGE point, as it's honestly given me a lot to think about and ponder.
See you this week for our assessment discussion!
Sara
Miss V's Busy Bees
ventrellasara@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Sara! I'm thrilled to be here! I'm so glad that you appreciated that procedures vs. rules idea too. It was a total eye-opening moment for me. I couldn't believe I'd never considered it before. I really hope it helps you the way that it helped me. I would really recommend his audio book for more great tips!
Delete