Freshmen Routine

My assistant Principal is a great guy. He interviewed me for the job last August and I look up to him a lot. We were talking after school today about classroom order. I'm seeing his recommendations come to life left and right. The freshmen need order a lot. This is what we do every day:

1. The students stumble in before and after the bell. I check that their shirts are tucked in and that they have IDs on. I take IDs of tardy students and put them on my desk for attendance.

2. After the bell I tell them conversations are over in 5,4,3,2,1..."be quiet! he gon' start counting mississippis!"...1 mississippi 2..."shut up man, he's counting." They know they will owe me each mississippi after the bell rings at the end of class.

3. "I'm grading you on your participation and diligence...I need pens out and papers on the desk. There is no help or conversation. "Can I go to the bathroom?" During CHAMPS...."What does that word mean?" "Did you get my assignment" I can't talk to you right now...there's no conversation or help".

4. (5 minutes later attendance is in and late IDs are returned) Alright participation is allowed. Raise your hand if you know the answer to number 1...

5. Next we do slate work. I've cut up sections of white erase boards and each student has a marker to answer review questions on. I ask the question and count down from five. They answer furiously...I give them public affirmation for correct answers. They erase furiously...I give them 5 or 7 more questions.

6. Students copy the EQ. For teachers outside of SC, this is a question that guides the lesson. Today the lesson was, "How did early River Valley people solve problems?"

7. I tell the students that for the next ten minutes there is no talking or help while we go over notes or silently read. I know this sounds bad not to let them ask earnest questions but you don't understand that their questions at the wrong time COMPLETELY throw off others because they don't ask questions for the good of the whole.

8. I've been doing reading strategies lately. I am committed to using Social Studies to teach reading and not the other way around. I think they need these repetative reading exercises. They have been reading paragraphs at a time doing outlines and summarizing the main points. I learned this from the teacher at Frazee center who works with elementary students...teach with pictures, motion, questioning, modeling, summarizing etc. they don't do these things on their own.

9. Today we did a practice MC quiz where they answered Multiple Choice questions on the reading they just did. This is similar to standardized tests they will take.

10. Once they have given me 15 solid quiet focused learning I explain what to do for CHAMPS. CHAMPS means EVERYTHING is allowed. Coversation (80 percent work/20 percent social), Help (from students and teacher) Assignment, Movement, and Participation. They are excited to get up and sit with their friend and work together on different ongoing assignments. They all work at different speeds and pick among several options of assignments for their points...poems, journals, outlines, maps, essays. These all get put together every two weeks for PORTFOLIOS.

11. With 5 minutes left of class I count down from five again and end CHAMPS, hopefully its been a good class. Marker captains go and pick up the whiteboards and markers and students sit at their desk to complete their "ticket out the door". Today and most days its simply to answer the EQ from the beginning of class to summarize their learning. They tear off a half sheet of paper and give it to me when they get up at the bell. That is if they don't owe me mississippis from during class.

We've been doing that every day. The students seem to like it. I know it's easy on me. Some one said at the beginning of the year: "Aren't you concerned there is too much external motivation and they won't learn to manage their actions?" I think my reply to that is simply that they don't come from worlds with any positive motivation. I'm not an expert but I think that if they were at a certain level, autonomy would be the next step. But for now I can see their starving for measurable goals that they can work toward and receive feedback. They don't trust that the world offers rewards for those that wait. I see this method as something that nurtures that trust.